Understanding Sessions in Session Replay: Estimating Totals with Mixpanel
what constitues a session in session replay, how can i best estimate my current total of session based on current mixpanle implementation
what constitues a session in session replay, how can i best estimate my current total of session based on current mixpanle implementation
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A session in Mixpanel Session Replay is defined according to your project's session configuration, which can be one of the following:
- Timeout-Based (Default): A session starts when a user performs any event and ends after a period of inactivity (default is 30 minutes, but configurable). Each period of activity separated by the timeout is considered a new session.
- Event-Based: A session starts and ends based on specific events you define (e.g., "Login" as start, "Logout" as end).
- Property-Based: A session is defined by a property (like session_id). All events with the same session_id are grouped into the same session. When the value changes, a new session starts.
Sessions are reset every 24 hours at midnight in your project’s timezone, so the maximum session length is 24 hours. The session definition you choose in your Mixpanel project settings determines how sessions are computed for both analytics and Session Replay purposes. You can change this definition at any time, and it will apply historically to your data Sessions: Compute sessions based on existing event data.
Estimating Your Current Total of Sessions:
To estimate your current total number of sessions (and thus a rough estimate of how many replays you might generate if you enable Session Replay), you should look at the count of "Session Start" events in your Mixpanel data. This is especially accurate if you use timeout-based sessions, as each "Session Start" event corresponds to a new session. You can find this in an Insights report by querying the "Session Start" event.
Keep in mind that while "Session Start" events are a good proxy, the actual number of replays may differ slightly because sessions are defined at query time and may be affected by your sampling rate or manual capture settings for Session Replay Session Replay FAQ Session Replay (Web) FAQ.
Summary: - A session is defined by your session settings (timeout, event, or property-based). - To estimate your current total sessions, count "Session Start" events in Mixpanel. - Use this number as a proxy for potential replays if you enable Session Replay, adjusting for any sampling you plan to use.
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