Key takeaways
- Total users count any visitor who triggered at least one event, even leaving immediately.
- GA4 foregrounds active users, stricter: the gap between the two measures entry quality.
- The metric isn't additive: the sum of days always exceeds the month's total.
Definition
Total users are the number of distinct visitors who triggered at least one event over the period.
Worked example
A property shows 11,500 total users and 9,900 active users, so a 14% gap. Segmenting by source, the gap rises to 38% on a display campaign: this traffic arrives and leaves, it doesn't earn its budget.
Orders of magnitude
A gap of 5 to 15% with active users is common. Beyond 30% on a specific source, that source is worth examining.
The most common mistakes
- Comparing to Universal Analytics users. The identification rules changed.
- Adding up users from several periods. One person would be counted several times.
- Using this metric as the reference audience measure. GA4 favors active users, and so do the default reports.
Where to find the metric
In GA4, the Total users metric, to add manually in most reports where only active users are shown by default.
Frequently asked questions
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The Adwise team connects Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, GA4 and Search Console so agencies and freelancers can run their campaigns from a single place.