What Counts as a Session in GA4?

The number of sessions that began on your site or app. GA4 starts a new session after 30 minutes of inactivity, or at midnight, by default.

Ask it in plain English

"How many sessions did my site get last month?"

Field details

TypeMetric
GA4 API namesessions

Good to know

Time-based, not calendar-based: a session starting at 11:55pm and continuing past midnight is still one session, not two. A mid-session change in campaign parameters does start a new session even inside the 30-minute window - GA4 treats a traffic-source change as session-worthy on its own.

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Sources

  • Google Analytics Data API - dimensions & metrics reference (official Google documentation)