GA 4 Question

[emilycarimus]

What differences are you typically seeing in Google Analytics 4 compared to UA? For one site I have, UA says there were 2,342 new users. GA4 says there were 1,899 new users for the same time period. Does that seem like a normal amount of difference between the two platforms?

[gooday2day]

The thing is, in UA, there are two user metrics while in GA4, there are three - New users, Total users, and Active users, with the last one being a primary user metric in GA4. This is the number of distinct users who visited your website; so the users who have an engaged session, or when analytics collects these parameters:

• the first_visit event from a website
• the first_open event from an Android app
• the first_open from an iOS app

I spent some time trying to figure out GA4 and how it's different in terms of Google Analytics affiliate tracking (talking about the software I use). For example, in GA4 there is maximum data retention of 14 months, so there is some data discrepancy between the two. On the bright side, a 7-hour session timeout window is available.

[Kateparish]

@emilycarimus Google Analytics 4 is different from UA in a few ways. For example, GA4 focuses more on events and user behavior, while UA tracks pageviews and sessions. Also, GA4 is still relatively new, so there may be some kinks to be worked out.
As for the difference in new user counts for your site, it's hard to say whether that's normal without more information. It could be due to differences in tracking methods, user behavior, or other factors. But it's not unusual for various analytics platforms to report slightly different numbers. That being said, the difference between 2,342 and 1,899 new users seems high, so it is worth investigating further to ensure everything is set up correctly.