Google Analytics New vs Returning

[lherbert501]

Hi there,

I can go into Google Analytics and easily use the New Users and Returning Users metrics as below.

When I use the connector via Power BI there isn't a returning users metric, only a new users one.

Does anybody know how to obtain the returning users in Power BI?

Thanks

Liam

[Ritaf1983 · Accepted solution]

Hi @lherbert501 

Issue isn’t with Power BI— it’s with Google Analytics itself.
When Power BI’s Google Analytics connector queries data, it uses GA’s API. That API does not include a pre‑calculated “Returning Users” metric— it only returns “New Users” and “Total Users.”
GA4 does expose a dimension (New/Returning), but no direct count for “Returning Users” through the API. Some tools approximate it as Total – New, but this isn’t always accurate (due to cookie behaviour, thresholds, sampling, etc.).
To get a reliable Returning Users metric in Power BI, you’ll need to either use a third‑party connector that calculates it for you (e.g. Coupler.io, Windsor.ai), or pull GA4 data into BigQuery and compute it yourself.
This isn’t a bug in Power BI—it’s simply a limitation of the data source.

If this post helps, then please consider Accepting it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly

[lherbert501]

Thankyou @Ritaf1983 for your reply 🙂

[Ritaf1983]

Happy to help 🩷