Understanding User Visits and Active Users in Discourse

Documentation Site Management
,
1

:bookmark: This guide explains and differentiates two key metrics in Discourse: User Visits and Active Users.

:person_raising_hand: Required user level: Administrator, Moderator

“User Visits” and “Active Users” are two metrics designed to help site staff understand user engagement. While they may seem similar, they measure different aspects of user activity.

User Visits

User Visits is a metric found in the Admin reports that counts daily, non-anonymous site visits.

Key points about User Visits:

  1. The User Visits metric is the number of non-anonymous visits by unique users. (This could mean the user logged into the site during their visit or visited the site while already logged in.)
  2. The sum is cumulative over the given period

User Visits Examples:

One User Visit can indicate:

  • One non-anonymous user visited one time
  • One non-anonymous user visited multiple times in a single day

Three User Visits in a week can indicate:

  • Three unique, non-anonymous users each visited one time
  • Three unique, non-anonymous users visited multiple times in a single day
  • Two unique, non-anonymous users visited on one day, and one visited on another day
  • One non-anonymous user visited on three days, and no one else logged in

Where to find the User Visits report:

You can find this metric on the Admin Dashboard under the Activity Metrics section. Click the User Visits counter to see the full report, or navigate to the full User Visits report directly by appending /admin/reports/visits to your site’s url.

Active Users

Active Users is a metric found on your site’s About page that counts the number of unique, eligible users who have been seen on the site within a specific time period. A user is eligible if they are a real (non-system), activated, non-suspended, and non-silenced account. If the must_approve_users setting is enabled, users must also be approved.

Key points about Active Users:

  1. Active Users is a count of unique users based on their last_seen_at timestamp
  2. The metric is computed for three time periods: last day, 7 days, and 30 days. The About page displays the 7-day figure; all three periods are available via the /about.json API endpoint.
  3. A user’s last_seen_at is updated when they load a page while logged in (subject to rate limiting), so any browsing activity counts — including reading.

Active User Examples

One Active User can indicate:

  • One eligible user visited one time
  • One eligible user visited multiple times during the period of time being evaluated

Three Active Users can indicate:

  • Three unique, eligible users each visited one time
  • Three unique, eligible users visited multiple times during the period being evaluated

Where to find Active Users:

You can find this metric in the Site Activity section of the /about page of your Discourse site.

Comparing User Visits and Active Users

  • User Visits will be higher than Active Users when unique, non-anonymous users visit your site multiple days during the evaluation period
    • If a single, logged-in user visits your site three out of 7 days, they will account for three User Visits but only one Active User during that 7-day period.
    • If three logged-in users visit your site four out of 7 days, they will account for twelve User Visits, but only three Active Users during that 7-day period.
  • Active Users provides a clearer picture of how many individual users are engaging with your site.

Further analysis

Data Explorer queries such as the examples provided in How to measure active users can help you gain deeper insights into your site’s user engagement.

Last edited by @southpaw 2025-07-22T20:46:37Z

Check documentPerform check on document:
6 Likes