Forum Discussion

lherbert501's avatar
lherbert501
Post Prodigy
1 year ago
Solved

Google Analytics New vs Returning

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

Need Help
  • Ritaf1983's avatar
    Ritaf1983
    1 year ago

    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

3 Replies

  • Ritaf1983's avatar
    Ritaf1983
    Super User
    1 year ago

    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