- GA4 counts as active a user who triggered an engaged session, not simply loaded a page.
- It is GA4's default audience metric, which is why it comes out lower than total users.
- Counting relies on an identifier: without consent, the same person can be counted several times.
Definition
An active user is a visitor who had at least one engaged session in the period, meaning a visit of at least ten seconds, with two page views or one key event.
Worked example
A property shows 9,200 total users and 8,400 active users over thirty days. The 800 difference are visitors who arrived and left immediately: traffic with no value, often tied to one specific source worth identifying.
Orders of magnitude
A 5% to 15% gap between total and active users is common. Beyond 30%, look for a poor-quality traffic source.
The most common mistakes
- Comparing to Universal Analytics users. The definition changed, the figures are not comparable.
- Adding up active users across two periods. The same person present in both months would count twice.
- Overlooking the effect of consent. A visitor who declines cookies then returns is counted as a new user.
Where to find the metric
In GA4, the Active users metric, displayed by default in the acquisition and engagement reports. The 1-day, 7-day and 28-day variants are used to measure loyalty.
Frequently asked questions
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