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The Total Active Users in GA4 is Greater Than the Sum of Segmented Active User Counts
Hey there, I’m a bit puzzled by something I’ve noticed on Google Analytics 4 (GA4) while I’m trying to track user data.
So here’s what’s going on. I’ve got three different user groups – UserGroup1, UserGroup2, and UserGroup3. When I take a look at the active users in each group individually, the numbers come up to 5, 4, and 2 respectively, making it a total of 11 active users. But here’s the kicker, when I look at the total on my GA4 custom dashboard, it’s only showing 6 active users.
Now, I’ve double checked to make sure there are no overlaps, each user can only belong to one group. The data isn’t sampled and the total still isn’t adding up. I’ve also gone through the GA4 definitions and I’m sure I’ve done my segments right.
Has anyone come across this issue before? Any idea why this might be happening?
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2 Replies
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One possible reason for the discrepancy you’re seeing could be due to the different ways Google Analytics defines an “active user.” For instance, seeing 5 active users in UserGroup1, doesn’t necessarily mean that those users were active the same day or week that you’re looking at on your custom dashboard. The cumulative total for each user group might be covering a longer time span than the specific date or period you’ve selected on your dashboard. It’s quite possible that out of the 11 active users across your groups, only 6 of them were active within the timeframe displayed on your dashboard. Additionally, Google Analytics might be applying different filters or rules at the dashboard-level. Ensure that your dashboard’s settings match with individual user groups’ settings. If you are still facing issues, it might be a good idea to get in touch with Google Analytics Support for more detailed troubleshooting.
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It sounds like you’re dealing with a bit of a mystery. The problem may be due to the way GA4 handles “active users” calculations. Sometimes, active users from different time periods or sessions might be treated as individual users in separate user groups but as a single user in the total count. So, even though there’s no overlap within groups, GA4 might be seeing some users as the same across different groups when calculating the total.
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