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GA4 Total users vs. Active users: which number should you watch?

Gleamworthy · October 25, 2026

If you’ve compared numbers from two Google Analytics 4 tools and found they don’t match, there’s a good chance you’re looking at two different metrics that both get called “users.”

The two metrics

  • Total users (totalUsers in the API) counts every distinct user who triggered at least one event in the date range.
  • Active users (activeUsers) counts distinct users who were engaged: they had an engaged session, or Google Analytics recorded their first visit or engagement time.

Since every active user is also counted in total users, Total users is always at least as large as Active users. On most websites, the two are close. On sites with many quick, single-page visits, the gap can be bigger.

Which one does Google Analytics show?

In GA4’s standard reports, the column labeled Users is Active users. Total users is available too, but you usually need to add it yourself in a custom report or exploration.

That’s why a tool showing Total users will often report a slightly higher number than the GA4 report you’re comparing it to. Neither is wrong; they’re answering different questions.

Which should you watch?

  • Watch Total users if you want to know how many people reached your site at all, engaged or not. It’s the broader measure of reach.
  • Watch Active users if you care specifically about people who stuck around.

What matters most is consistency. Pick one, and compare it against itself over time.

What Synopsy shows

Synopsy labels its metric Visitors, and it’s GA4’s Total users, queried over the entire date range. Its growth figure compares that total with the immediately preceding range of the same length. For the full list of how Synopsy calculates its numbers, see What the numbers mean.

Other reasons numbers differ

If the metric isn’t the explanation, check these:

  1. Date range. Does it include today? Synopsy’s ranges do.
  2. Time zone. GA4 reports use each property’s reporting time zone.
  3. Data freshness. The most recent day or two can still change as Google finishes processing.
  4. Thresholds and sampling. Google sometimes hides or estimates data to protect privacy or speed up reports.
  5. Summing. If a tool adds up daily users, its weekly total will be too high. Here’s why you can’t add up daily users.