How long does GTM server-side tracking take to set up?

gtm setup time hours implementation developer time

Quick Answer

50-120 hours minimum for a proper implementation. Cloud hosting setup (2-3 hours), GTM web container config (2-4 hours), GTM server container config (3-5 hours), DNS/CNAME setup (1-2 hours), then multi-platform tag configuration and testing. At $100-200/hour, that is $5,000-$24,000 before hosting costs.

Full Answer

GTM server-side implementation involves multiple steps: setting up cloud infrastructure (Google Cloud Run, Stape, or TAGGRS), configuring your web container to send data to the server container, configuring the server container with tags for each destination, setting up custom domains for first-party cookies, and extensive testing in dual preview modes. Industry estimates put this at 50-120 hours of developer time.