Update time: April 23, 2026
Issue
You may occasionally notice something that looks incorrect in Google Analytics 4: New Users are higher than Total Users.
At first glance, this seems impossible—how can the number of new users exceed the total number of users?
However, this is not a bug—it’s a direct result of how GA4 defines and calculates these metrics.
Reason
To make sense of this, it’s important to understand how GA4 calculates these two metrics:
- New Users：Counted based on the number of first_visit (web) or first_open (app) events.
- Total Users ：Counted based on unique identifiers such as Client ID or User ID, depending on your Reporting Identity settings.
Read More：New Users vs Returning Users vs Users vs Total Users in GA4
There are two common scenarios where this discrepancy occurs:
- Duplicate first_visit/first_open: A single user may trigger multiple “first-time” events. Since GA4 counts New Users based on events, duplicates can inflate this number.
- Blended or Observed Reporting Identity: When using Blended or Observed identity, GA4 attempts to merge users across devices using signals like User ID or device data. This can reduce the Total Users count while leaving New Users unchanged.
Example Scenario:
- Morning: User visits on Device A →
first_visitsent → logs in (User ID set) - Afternoon: Same user visits on Device B →
first_visitsent → logs in again
With Blended/Observed identity, GA4 recognizes them as the same user, so Total Users = 1，New Users = 2
Solution：How to Handle It
- Case 1 (Duplicate Events)：There is currently no reliable way to fully eliminate duplicate first_visit or first_open events.
- Case 2 (Identity Merging)：You can switch Reporting Identity to Device-based to avoid cross-device merging.
This is not a bug—it’s a result of how GA4 defines and calculates metrics.
New Users measure events, while Total Users measure people (based on identity logic).
Once you understand this distinction, the discrepancy becomes much easier to interpret and explain.