User path vs. user flow?

A path belongs to one person and preserves that person's exact order of actions. A flow aggregates thousands of paths and reports the share of each branch instead of any individual order. One is a single observation, the other is the collective pattern.

Does a user path end when the session ends?

By default yes, because most reports close the path at the session boundary. Following multi-session behaviour requires defining the path at user level over an explicit time range, which depends on a persistent user identity.

User Path

Beginner

Updated Jul 11, 2026 Shahin editorial 2 min read

PronunciationEN/ˈjuzər pæθ/

A user path is the ordered sequence of pages or events that one specific user recorded, within a single session or across a chosen time range.

A user path is the raw unit of this family of reports; aggregate views such as user flows and path analysis are built by stacking thousands of them, so the difference is level rather than kind. The shape of a path depends on two technical decisions: the session boundary, where a thirty-minute gap splits one long path into two, and whether consecutive repeat views and page refreshes are collapsed or counted as separate steps. The common error is generalising from one path. A single user's route makes a vivid and persuasive story, but it is a sample of one and is not a basis for a product decision until path analysis shows how common that pattern is.

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