Segments and cohorts

Segments and cohorts both narrow Amplitude analysis to a group, but they serve different purposes.

• Segment: An advanced filter for analysis. A segment returns the events that meet a set of user, session, or event conditions.
• Cohort: An audience. A cohort returns the set of users who met conditions in a fixed or dynamic date range. You can use a cohort as an analysis filter, but its primary use is activation in other Amplitude products or external tools.

A user-scoped segment automatically uses the date range of the chart or dashboard you apply it to. A cohort uses its own date range. Use a user-scoped segment when the filter should follow the chart's date range.

Convert a segment to a cohort

You can convert a saved segment to a cohort in one step. During conversion, select the date range the cohort uses. Amplitude applies any later changes to the segment definition to the cohort automatically.