Differences between Email Insights and Stats
Email Insights and Stats report many of the same metrics, but they count them differently. In this context, Stats means Global Stats, Category Stats, Advanced Stats and the /v3/stats API family.
For the same date range, the two can show different numbers. This page explains each difference and how large a difference to expect.
| Difference | Stats | Email Insights | What you'll see |
|---|---|---|---|
| When an event is counted | On the date the event happened | On the date the message was sent | Opens and clicks land on earlier days in Email Insights. Daily numbers differ the most. |
| Time zone | Your account's time zone | UTC | Daily numbers shift by your account's UTC offset. Ranges of a week or more are close. |
| Location, device and client | One set of rules for location, device and client | A different set of rules | Breakdowns by country, device or client differ. Overall totals don't. |
| History | Longer history | Starts from when collection began | No Email Insights data for older date ranges |
This accounts for the largest difference between Email Insights and Stats.
Stats counts each event on the date it happened. Email Insights counts each event toward the time its message was sent.
For example, a message is sent on Monday, October 5 and opened on Wednesday, October 7. Stats counts the open on October 7. Email Insights counts it on October 5.
Email Insights works this way so that each rate is tied to the send that produced it. Monday's open rate is the opens of Monday's mail divided by Monday's deliveries, no matter when those opens happened.
That has three effects:
- Daily engagement numbers differ: Opens and clicks move to earlier days in Email Insights.
- Recent days keep growing: In Email Insights, the numbers for the last few days rise as opens and clicks arrive for those sends. A day that looks low today can fill in over the next several days.
- Date ranges include different events: For a date range, Email Insights counts all engagement for messages sent in that range, including opens that happen after the range ends. Stats counts all engagement that happened in the range, including opens of messages sent before it.
Delivery events usually happen within minutes of sending, so delivered, bounce and block counts are barely affected. The exception is deferred mail. Twilio SendGrid retries a deferred message for up to 72 hours, so a delivery or bounce after a retry can land on a later day in Stats.
How large a difference to expect:
- Daily opens and clicks: These can differ a lot, especially for the last few days.
- Delivery metrics for a full day: Usually close.
- Totals for a range of a week or more that ended at least two days ago: Much closer than daily numbers. Most of the difference comes from the first and last days of the range.
Stats builds each day using your account's time zone. Email Insights uses UTC for all dates and times.
For example, if your account is set to New York time (UTC-4 in October), October 5 in Stats runs from 04:00 UTC on October 5 to 04:00 UTC on October 6. In Email Insights it runs from midnight to midnight UTC.
How large a difference to expect: daily numbers shift by your account's UTC offset. Ranges of a week or more are close.
Email Insights and Stats use different rules to work out an open's location, device and email client. The same open can land in a different group in each product.
How large a difference to expect: overall totals match, but individual rows in a breakdown by country, device or client can differ. Small groups differ the most.
Stats has a longer history. Email Insights history starts on August 20, 2026, and builds forward from there until it reaches 13 months. Date ranges before August 20, 2026 show no data in Email Insights.