How comparison periods work in your metrics
How Comparison Periods Work in Metricool
Metricool explains how comparison periods are calculated and what percentage changes mean, so you can interpret your data accurately and understand trends in your social media performance.
Before diving in, it's important to know that the comparison logic is not the same in Analytics and in downloadable Reports:
In Analytics, the comparison always uses a period of equal duration (e.g., “Last 30 days” compares to the previous 30 days).
In Reports, when selecting a full month, the comparison is full month vs. previous full month, even if the months have different lengths.
With this distinction in mind, here’s how comparison periods work depending on your selection.
If percentages do not appear, it is because there is no equivalent previous period available for comparison. This usually happens with recent connections or when the selected date range is large and there is not enough historical data to generate the previous equivalent period.
Reports
Full Months
When selecting a full month from the dropdown, Metricool automatically compares it to the previous full month.
Example: A report for May (31 days) compares to April (30 days).
The automatic monthly summary always compares with the previous month.
Custom Ranges
When selecting a custom date range, Metricool compares it to the immediately previous range of equal duration.
Example: June 15 to July 14 (30 days) compares to May 16 to June 14 (30 days).
Analytics
Analytics filters (“Last 7 days”, “Last 30 days”, etc.) always compare with the exact previous days of the same duration.
This ensures equal-length comparisons in real time, while reports prioritize month-to-month comparisons.
Understanding Trends and Percentages
The arrows indicate whether your results have increased or decreased compared to the previous period.
Up arrow: growth
Down arrow: decrease
Hovering over a metric shows the exact breakdown:
Absolute value (e.g., +2026 followers)
Percentage (e.g., +1.80%)
This helps you quickly identify trends and understand how your performance evolved.
It is not possible to manually change the comparison period.