How to See Total Users in Google Analytics 4

Finding the total number of users who visited your website seems like it should be the simplest task in Google Analytics. However, with the switch to Google Analytics 4, you might have noticed the default reports now focus on "Active Users," leaving many people wondering where the once-standard "Total Users" metric has gone. This article will show you exactly how to find and report on Total Users in GA4 and explain why understanding the difference between user types is more important than ever.

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What Exactly is 'Total Users' in GA4?

In Google Analytics 4, Total Users is the total count of unique users who have logged any event on your website or app within the selected date range. If someone visits your site, triggers a page view, scrolls, or clicks a button, they are counted as one "Total User." It’s your broadest measure of audience reach.

This is a departure from Universal Analytics (UA), which was based on sessions. GA4’s event-based model means everything a user does – from a page_view to a file_download – is an event. A "Total User" is simply any unique user ID that has triggered one or more of these events. This gives you a high-level view of how many distinct individuals interacted with your site in any way, shape, or form during a given period.

Why Does GA4 Focus on 'Active Users' Instead?

One of the first things you'll notice in GA4 is that nearly every standard report showcases "Active Users" by default. So, why did Google make this change?

The short answer is engagement. An Active User is an individual who has either:

• A first_visit event (i.e., they are a new user).
• An engaged session.

An "engaged session" is GA4's way of filtering out bounce traffic. A session is considered engaged if it lasts longer than 10 seconds, includes a conversion event, or has at least two pageviews. By focusing on Active Users, Google is trying to give you a clearer picture of your engaged, core audience – the people who aren't just briefly landing on your site and leaving.

While valuable for measuring core audience interaction, "Active Users" doesn't show the full picture of your website’s total reach, which is why knowing how to find "Total Users" is still a critical skill.

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How to See Total Users in a Standard GA4 Report

While it’s not shown by default, adding "Total Users" back into your standard reports is a straightforward process. The best part is that once you customize a report, you can save the changes so it’s always there.

Let's add "Total Users" to the Traffic acquisition report, a popular report for analyzing marketing channels.

Step 1: Navigate to the Traffic Acquisition Report In your GA4 property, go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition.

Step 2: Customize the Report In the top right corner of the report, you'll see a pencil icon labeled "Customize report." Click on it.

Step 3: Add the 'Total Users' Metric A menu will appear on the right. Under "Report Data," click on Metrics. The screen will now show you the list of metrics currently in the report. Click on Add metric.

Step 4: Find and Select 'Total Users' A search bar will appear. Begin typing "Total Users." It will pop up in the list. Click on Total Users to add it to your report.

Step 5: Reorder and Save Your Metrics You can now see "Total Users" at the bottom of your metrics list. For easier viewing, you can drag and drop it higher up in the list. For example, you might want to place it right next to "Active Users" to quickly compare the two. You can even set it as the default sort metric by clicking the three dots next to it.

Once you are happy with the order, click the blue Apply button in the bottom right.

Step 6: Save Your Changes You will now see the "Total Users" column in your report view. To make this change permanent, click the blue Save button in the top right, and then select Save changes to current report. Confirm your save in the pop-up.

That's it! Now, every time you visit the Traffic Acquisition report, the "Total Users" metric will be there waiting for you.

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Creating a Custom 'Total Users' Report with Explorations

For more flexible analysis, you can build a custom report from scratch using GA4’s "Explorations" tool. This allows you to combine dimensions and metrics in ways that standard reports don't allow, giving you a powerful, granular view of your data.

Here’s how to build a simple table comparing Total, Active, and New users by marketing channel.

Step 1: Open the Explorations Menu On the left navigation pane, click on Explore and then choose Blank or Free form to start a new exploration.

Step 2: Name Your Exploration At the top left, give your exploration a descriptive name, like "Total vs Active Users by Channel."

Step 3: Import Your Dimensions In the "Variables" column, click the + sign next to Dimensions. Search for a dimension you want to analyze, like "Session default channel group," and check the box next to it. Click the blue Import button.

Step 4: Import Your Metrics Now, click the + sign next to Metrics in the same "Variables" column. Search for and select the following metrics:

• Total users
• Active users
• New users

Once selected, click the Import button.

Step 5: Build Your Report Table You have now loaded your ingredients. To build the report, drag and drop the dimensions and metrics from the "Variables" column to the "Tab Settings" column.

• Drag your dimension "Session default channel group" into the Rows section.
• Drag your metrics "Total users," "Active users," and "New users" into the Values section.

The report will instantly generate on the right-hand side, showing you a clean table with your chosen marketing channels in the rows and a direct comparison of all three user metrics in the columns. This view is incredibly useful for seeing not just the total reach of a channel but also its ability to attract new audiences and retain an engaged user base.

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An Easy Comparison: Total vs. Active vs. New Users

Getting these user metrics mixed up can lead to incorrect conclusions about your marketing efforts. Here’s a simple way to remember what each one tells you:

Total Users

• What it is: Every unique person who visited your site at least once.
• What it measures: Overall reach.
• Use it to answer: "How many different people did my brand reach this month?"

Active Users

• What it is: New users plus any returning users who had an engaged session.
• What it measures: Core audience engagement.
• Use it to answer: "How many people are actively engaging with my content?"

New Users

• What it is: People visiting your site for the very first time.
• What it measures: Audience growth and acquisition effectiveness.
• Use it to answer: "How effective are my ads at bringing in a new audience?"

Think of it like a retail store. Total Users are all the unique customers who walked into the store this quarter. New Users are the people who came in for the first time. "Active Users" are the new shoppers plus anyone who returned and stayed long enough to seriously browse or make a purchase.

When Should You Use the Total Users Metric?

Since GA4 defaults to active users, when should you make the effort to look at total users?

1. Measuring Brand Awareness Campaigns: If you're running display, video, or social campaigns designed to maximize reach, Total Users is a much better indicator of success. It shows how many unique eyeballs saw your brand, regardless of whether they engaged deeply on their first visit.
2. Understanding Your Maximum Audience: Total Users defines the largest possible audience pool you had during a specific time. Comparing it to Active Users can reveal the gap between your reach and your engagement.
3. Long-Term Trend Analysis: Looking at Total Users on a quarterly or yearly basis provides a smoother trend line for overall brand growth compared to the more volatile Active Users metric.
4. Validating List-Based Ad Campaigns: When running retargeting campaigns against an audience of a specific size, tracking Total Users can help you gauge how many of that list you successfully drove back to your site.

The key is to use these metrics together. One isn't "better" than the other – they just tell different stories. The complete story comes from understanding both your total reach and your ability to convert that reach into an engaged audience.

Final Thoughts

Finding the Total Users metric in Google Analytics 4 is a simple matter of customizing your existing reports or building a quick, flexible analysis in the Explore section. By adding this metric back into your reporting workflow, you can get a more complete understanding of your website’s performance, from its total top-of-funnel reach to its core of active and engaged visitors.

Manually customizing reports is a great skill, but endlessly logging into different platforms to pull data can become a huge time sink. At Graphed , we created a way to skip these steps entirely. You can connect Google Analytics and your other data sources, then simply ask questions like, "Show me a comparison of total users and active users trended monthly for the last year" and get a live, automated dashboard in seconds. This allows you to focus on the insights and strategy instead of getting lost in the report setup process.