How does the live visitor count work?
- It counts distinct sessions seen in the last five minutes, so one active visitor is one, no matter how many pages they load.
- It counts people, not bots — traffic identified as bots is filtered out before it reaches the live count.
- It decays gradually. As each visitor goes quiet, their session ages out of the window, so the count falls one visitor at a time rather than dropping all at once.
What do the live sessions show?
Alongside the count, the live sessions view lists the individual sessions active in the last few minutes — where each visitor came from, their location and device, and the pages they’re on. Open a session to see its full timeline in Sessions.When should I use Realtime?
- Confirming an install. After you add the tracking snippet, visit your own site and watch your session appear. See verify your setup.
- Watching a launch or campaign. See traffic arrive live when you publish a post, send an email, or go live on a channel.
- Spotting a spike. Notice a surge as it happens, then switch to the Overview to break it down by source.
Frequently asked questions
Does one visitor viewing ten pages count as ten in Realtime?
Does one visitor viewing ten pages count as ten in Realtime?
No. The Realtime count is the number of distinct sessions seen in the last five minutes, so one active visitor counts as one no matter how many pages they load. It measures people rather than events.
Does the Realtime count include bots?
Does the Realtime count include bots?
No. Traffic identified as bots is filtered out before it reaches the tinyanalytics live count, so the number reflects people on your site rather than crawlers.
Why does my Realtime count drop gradually instead of all at once?
Why does my Realtime count drop gradually instead of all at once?
The Realtime count decays by design. It counts distinct sessions active in the last five minutes, so as each visitor goes quiet their session ages out of that window individually. The number falls one visitor at a time, which keeps it an accurate read of current activity.
How do I use Realtime to check my tracking script works?
How do I use Realtime to check my tracking script works?
Add the tracking snippet to your site, deploy it, then open your own site in a browser and watch Realtime. Your own session appears in the live count and in the live sessions list, which confirms the script is sending data. See verify your setup for the full checklist.
Related
Dashboard overview
Top-line metrics, trend, and breakdowns for any date range.
Sessions
Inspect a single visit from entry to exit.
Verify your setup
Use Realtime to confirm tracking works.
Filter your data
Narrow reports to the visitors you care about.