Disrepancy when getting data from Reports API endpoint

[developerf43676]

Hi,

I have a question regarding the https://analytics.adobe.io/api, specifically the /reports endpoint. We’re seeing a potential data discrepancy reported by one of our clients. They observe one set of values in the Adobe Analytics UI and another in the data fetched via the API and stored in their destination system, which is handled by Fivetran.

The discrepancy is partial - out of 9 metrics being pulled and stored, 6 match the UI values exactly. However, the following 3 metrics show mismatched values:

• visits

• unique_visitors

• mkz_qualified_visits

We don’t perform any transformations on these values - we request them from the API and write them to the destination as-is. I would appreciate any guidance or context around why such discrepancies might occur for these specific metrics, and whether there are any known limitations or caveats with the /reports endpoint that could explain this behavior.

This is an example of the request performed by Fivetran:

curl -X POST --data '{"rsid":"investorsgrmackenzieprod","globalFilters":[{"type":"dateRange","dateRange":"2025-01-01T00:00:00.000/2025-01-02T23:59:59.999"},{"type":"segment","segmentId":"s300005393_5f9c2f0d0d9f0c5e4e8e0d3d"}],"metricContainer":{"metrics":[{"columnId":"0","id":"metrics/downloadlinkinstances","filters":["0","1"],"sort":"desc"},{"columnId":"1","id":"metrics/itemtimespent","filters":["0","1"],"sort":"desc"},{"columnId":"2","id":"metrics/visitors","filters":["0","1"],"sort":"desc"},{"columnId":"3","id":"metrics/pageviews","filters":["0","1"],"sort":"desc"},{"columnId":"4","id":"metrics/visits","filters":["0","1"],"sort":"desc"},{"columnId":"5","id":"metrics/event7","filters":["0","1"],"sort":"desc"},{"columnId":"6","id":"metrics/bounces","filters":["0","1"],"sort":"desc"},{"columnId":"7","id":"cm300005393_6729221be248b00df166f48e","filters":["0","1"],"sort":"desc"},{"columnId":"8","id":"cm300005393_673ca150e248b00df16719ea","filters":["0","1"],"sort":"desc"}],"metricFilters":[{"id":"0","type":"breakdown","dimension":"variables/daterangeday","itemId":"1250001"},{"id":"1","type":"breakdown","dimension":"variables/marketingchannel","itemId":"8"}]},"dimension":"variables/campaign","settings":{"limit":1000,"page":0}}' -H 'Accept: application/json' -H 'Authorization: Bearer xxx' -H 'x-proxy-global-company-id: investb' -H 'x-api-key: eabc8d8f5fc84d8ebea69e2b8eeddb55' -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -A 'Jersey/2.45' 'https://analytics.adobe.io/api/investb/reports'

The same query pattern is used to fetch data for the entire month of January. For comparison purposes, I’ve highlighted the columns where discrepancies were observed, along with the page_views column, which matches the UI perfectly. A screenshot of the output file is attached below to illustrate this.

Could someone take a look at this and help us determine whether there’s something off in the way we’re fetching data from the API, or if there’s indeed an ongoing discrepancy between the API and what’s shown in the UI?

Kind regards,
Fivetran Developers

[SSampsa · Accepted solution]

Hello!

In most cases with minor differences this is a feature and is related to how the values are calculated, just as the case seen here: Solved: Visits in Workspace and API not the same - Adobe Experience League Community - 359330

Adobe's reference material from the solution directly: Visits | Adobe Analytics and another one for visitors: Unique visitors | Adobe Analytics

This was not the answer I wanted back in the day, but it is why numbers for visits and visitors do not match.

P.S. Please consider editing your post and removing parts like API key, as these may be misused.