Independent Analytics – Google Analytics Alternative for WordPress

March 30, 2023

Independent Analytics – Google Analytics Alternative for WordPress Plugin

A simple WordPress analytics plugin that is GDPR compliant, lightning fast, and an alternative to Google Analytics.

Independent Analytics is a GDPR-friendly website analytics plugin made exclusively for WordPress. Give it a try if you’re ready for a Google Analytics alternative.

This is a free plugin and doesn’t require you to create an account on another site. All features outlined below are included in the free plugin.

Main Features:

  • Analytics dashboard inside your WP admin
  • Shows your most popular posts and pages
  • Lists your top traffic sources
  • Geodata with interactive world map
  • Virtually zero performance impact
  • GDPR compliant

PRO version now available
Independent Analytics Pro adds Campaign URLs, Real-time analytics, WooCommerce integration, and email reports. It’s on sale for a limited time at 45% off.

Beautiful & Customizable Dashboard

Independent Analytics adds a full-featured analytics dashboard into your WP admin. The analytics dashboard shows you:

  • Quick Stats show you the total views & visitors
  • Visual Chart shows you traffic for each day
  • Data Table includes every page that’s received a visit

You can also sort and filter your data by any column, such as the page type, author, publication date, title, and more.

The ONLY analytics tool with full WordPress integration

Independent Analytics is different from Google Analytics and other analytics WordPress plugins.

Other tools show you a list of URLs alongside their metrics. Independent Analytics can show you the title of every page, the page type, the author, the publication date, the categories, and more, all alongside metrics like Views and Visitors.

We call it a page-based analytics tool.

No more copy & pasting tracking codes

Just install the plugin, and tracking starts right away. You don’t need to mess with any tracking codes, edit your site’s head element, or create an account elsewhere.

GDPR Compliant

Independent Analytics is GDPR compliant out-of-box. Here’s what makes it privacy-friendly:

  • Does not use cookies
  • Does not store personally identifiable information
  • Data is created and stored entirely on your server

Since Independent Analytics uses cookie-less tracking, you don’t need to add a cookie popup to your site.

Top traffic sources

Find out where your site visitors are coming from with the Referrer report. It shows you:

  • Every website that sent you a visitor
  • Automatic detection for popular search engines and social sites
  • Filter and sort referrers however you want.

Using the traffic analytics, you’ll quickly figure out which marketing tactics are working and which ones aren’t.

Geolocation report

Find out where your visitors are located with the Geolocation dashboard. It includes the following data for every visitor:

  • Continent
  • Country
  • Subdivision/Region
  • City

Like other reports, you can set a custom date range, sort, and filter the results.

Data portability

As an analytics WordPress plugin, your data is collected and stored entirely on your servers. This means you can:

  • Backup your analytics every time you backup your site
  • Transfer your analytics to any domain
  • Export your data to CSV whenever you want

Unlike the other analytics solutions that use your URLs, Independent Analytics keeps track of your pages, so if you transfer to a new domain, you won’t see any difference in your analytics – the URLs will automatically update to match the new domain.

Who’s it for?

Independent Analytics is easy enough for a total beginner to use while still offering tools for deep data analysis for any WordPress website.

  • Bloggers: use Independent Analytics as a simple blog stats plugin. Find out how many views your posts get and how much traffic you get from search engines and social media.
  • eCommerce stores: track views and visitors for your WooCommerce products and find out which countries visit your site the most.
  • News sites: get same-day statistics for all your posts and filter by author to find your most successful writers.
  • Startups: start tracking your visits right away and find out which early marketing tactics are driving results.

All Features

Our WordPress statistics plugin is more robust than a simple hit counter and includes all of the following features:

  • Simple analytics dashboard
  • Views and Visitors metrics
  • Filter your analytics by page type
  • Instantly sort the data table
  • Pick custom date ranges
  • One-click pre-defined date ranges
  • Dashboard widget for quick referencing
  • Daily site views tracking
  • Referrer tracking & report
  • Ignore views from logged-in users
  • Ignore views from specific user roles
  • See searches on your site
  • Find 404 errors you missed
  • Beautiful data charts
  • Site stats for views & view growth
  • Responsive toolbar
  • CSV export for views and referrers
  • GDPR-compliant web stats
  • No cookies
  • Track visitors in WordPress
  • Public post view counter
  • Lightning fast tracking code
  • Fully internationalized and ready for translation
  • Custom calendar starting day and localized date formatting
  • Blog analytics
  • Dark mode
  • IP blocking
  • User role permission management
  • Views & Visitor growth over time

Do even more with Independent Analytics PRO

We’ve launched Independent Analytics Pro, which includes campaign URL tracking, a campaign URL builder, Real-time analytics, WooCommerce integration, and email reports. We’re also offering a steep 45% lifetime discount for any early adopters who signup now.

Installation

The easiest way to install Independent Analytics is by visiting your Plugins > Add New menu. Search for “Independent Analytics” and install the first result you see there.

To install with the zip file downloaded from this page:

  1. Login to your WordPress dashboard
  2. Visit the Plugins > Add New menu
  3. Click the Upload Plugin button at the top
  4. In the upload form that appears, click the Choose file button and select the independent-analytics.zip file you downloaded here
  5. Click the Install Now button
  6. Once the page reloads, click the blue Activate link

Screenshots

  1. The analytics dashboard

    The analytics dashboard

  2. See page titles and types instead of just URLs

    See page titles and types instead of just URLs

  3. Find your top traffic sources

    Find your top traffic sources

  4. Full Geolocation data world map geo chart

    Full Geolocation data world map geo chart

  5. Switch to Dark Mode

    Switch to Dark Mode

FAQ

Does this use Google Analytics?

No, Independent Analytics is an alternative to Google Analytics.

Can I use Independent Analytics and Google Analytics at the same time?

Yes, you can run them both simultaneously without any issues or errors.

Will it slow down my site?

No, the tracking script is only 2kb and is inlined to the page, so there will be virtually zero difference in your site’s performance after installing Independent Analytics.

Does tracking start right away?

Yes, the moment you install Independent Analytics it will start tracking views. If you don’t see any views right away, clear your site’s cache and then visit your site in a private browser tab to record your first view.

What metrics does it track?

It tracks Views, Visitors, Referrers, and the approximate location of your visitors.

Do I need to use a cookie popup with it?

No, Independent Analytics does not use cookies.

Is there a tracking code?

Yes, but you don’t have to add it yourself. It gets included on all of your site’s pages automatically once Independent Analytics is activated.

Does it work if I use Matomo?

Yes, Independent Analytics will run smoothly and won’t create any errors even if you’re already using Matomo or any other analytics plugin.

Are bot visits counted?

We use best practice techniques to filter out bot visits as efficiently as possible. If you compare to traffic from Google Analytics, you’ll find that your views and visitors are very similar. If you need to further eliminate bots from getting counted, we recommend adding a Firewall with Cloudflare.

Changelog

1.20.0 – March 30th, 2023

  • Feature: added new Comments column to Pages dashboard
  • Fix: some text not marked for translation properly
  • Update: removed decimal places from Visitors Growth and Views Growth to improve readability

1.19.1 – March 13th, 2023

  • Fix: views counter was not showing view count for WordPress sites using a custom table prefix
  • Fix: reposition sessions column to show after views column

1.19.0 – March 13th, 2023

  • Feature: added the new Sessions metric
  • Update: updated geolocation database for improved accuracy
  • Fix: the REST API notice was showing for private sites even if the API wasn’t blocked
  • Fix: support for Polylang added so the view counter label can be translated to multiple languages

1.18 – March 1st, 2023

  • PRO feature: 3 new WooCommerce metrics: conversion rate, earnings per visitor, average order volume
  • PRO feature: added WooCommerce orders and sales to the quick stats and graphs
  • Update: added integration for Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode by Colorlib
  • Update: updated Danish translation
  • PRO fix: Top Ten section in PDF report sorting by visitors but showing views
  • Fix: view counter shortcode wasn’t working on archives (categories, tags, etc.)

1.17.4 – February 20th, 2023

  • Fix: filtering geographic data didn’t also filter the map
  • Fix: geographic map wasn’t rendering for some hosting
  • Fix: database connections failed without a defined character set
  • Fix: fixed an issue that caused the “Delete all data” button to fail

1.17.3 – February 14th, 2023

  • Fix: migration bug fix for 1.17

1.17.2 – February 14th, 2023

  • Fix: migration bug fix for 1.17

1.17.1 – January 31th, 2023

  • Fix: migration bug fix for 1.17

1.17 – January 30th, 2023

  • Pro Feature: Woocommerce integration: see how much revenue you’re earning from each traffic source, geolocation, and campaign
  • Pro Feature: Email reports: schedule an automated monthly email with a performance review of the site
  • Feature: Ignore user by role: track logged-in subscribers while ignoring admins, editors, and other user roles
  • Update: PDF Viewer plugin integration: views on PDFs are now recorded
  • Fix: numerous compatibility improvements for a wider range of hosting environments
  • Fix: the first click on the “Visitors” column would sort in the same direction
  • Fix: added warning for the All In One Intranet plugin blocking the REST API

1.16 – December 12th, 2022

  • Update: the table is now sorted by Visitors by default instead of Views
  • Update: Views Growth & Visitors Growth are both hidden by default and can be displayed via the Edit Columns button
  • Update: a notice was added to remind users to clear their cache after activating Independent Analytics
  • Update: a notice was added to let users know when the REST API is blocked because this prevents Independent Analytics from tracking data
  • Update: updated the Danish translation
  • Fix: the starting day of the week setting wasn’t saving
  • Fix: the table layout was broken when more than 8 columns were displayed at once
  • Fix: the date picker wasn’t showing up when filtering pages by publication date

1.15 – November 22nd, 2022

  • Feature: Real-time analytics added to Independent Analytics PRO
  • Feature: Views Growth and Visitors Growth columns added
  • Feature: added option to white-label the analytics page for non-admin users
  • Feature: support for wildcard addresses added to IP blocking
  • Update: recognizing more referrers by name, such as Brave search
  • Fix: data table wasn’t loading for sites that don’t have the intl PHP module installed
  • Fix: geodata chart had incorrect data after applying a filter
  • Fix: calendar previous month button could be clicked even when the calendar was closed

1.14 – November 1st, 2022

  • Update: added percentage of total views visitors to each table row
  • Update: added Dutch translation
  • Fix: initial sorting incorrect for some environments

1.13 – October 27th, 2022

  • Feature: Report URLs – you can now copy the dashboard URL to reuse the same settings later (saves the filters, columns, date, and sorting)
  • Feature: IP blocking – block any IP address from being recorded in your analytics
  • Feature: User permissions – allow other user roles on your site to view the analytics
  • Update: the date range you select now persists between reports
  • Update: more social media and search engine sites are recognized in the Referrer dashboard
  • Update: added sidebar link to our new feature request board. Please submit and vote on features there to help guide development: https://feedback.independentwp.com/boards/feature-requests
  • Fix: layout issue with the PDF Poster plugin
  • Fix: view counter not showing on all custom post types
  • Fix: fatal PHP error on WordPress versions prior to 5.9

1.12 – September 28th, 2022

  • Update: Independent Analytics Pro now available!

  • Update: improved caching for even faster dashboard performance

1.11 – September 6th, 2022

  • Update: huge performance improvement for the analytics Dashboard
  • Update: added pagination to the data table

1.10.1 – August 31st, 2022

  • Fix: compatibility fix for the dashboard widget and WPForms plugin

1.10 – August 29th, 2022

  • Feature: added dashboard widget with quick stats and views chart
  • Feature: added view counter to display your page/post views on the front-end of your site
  • Feature: added new Learn menu with search bar and links to tutorials

1.9 – August 15th, 2022

  • Feature: Geo data added! Find out where your visitors are coming from in the new Geographic dashboard.
  • Fix: visitors weren’t counted properly for some hosts like Rocket.net due to the use of Cloudflare Enterprise
  • Fix: extremely long search qeuries from users could affect the data table’s formatting

1.8 – July 20th, 2022

  • Update: added Scroll to Top arrow to make navigating large tables easier
  • Update: back-end improvements to data integrity and performance
  • Update: added migration system to make updates from older versions smoother
  • Fix: views weren’t tracked if WP was installed in a subdirectory

1.7 – June 29th, 2022

  • Update: added the day of week to the tooltip that shows when hovering over a day in the chart
  • Fix: added Visitors to the Referrers CSV export
  • Fix: sorting for Visitors now working as expected

1.6 – June 28th, 2022

  • Feature: Visitors are now tracked in addition to Views
  • Update: UI style and layout improvements
  • Update: Removed the site’s domain from the URL in the table, so only the slug shows (ex. /blog/post-title/)
  • Update: the Views & Referrers report can both be filtered by Visitor counts
  • Update: when filtering, you can see your unfiltered Visitor & View totals next to your filtered totals
  • Update: added a button to review the plugin in the header (please leave us a rating if you like Independent Analytics!)

1.5 – June 14th, 2022

  • Update: added more one-click date ranges to date picker
  • Update: added option in Settings to delete all data
  • Update: added Analytics Dashboard link in the Plugins page
  • Fix: no longer tracking views for post previews
  • Fix: added placeholder text for pages missing a title
  • Fix: displaying correct date format in CSV exports
  • Fix: data displayed in the dashboard didn’t recognize the local timezone

1.4 – June 3rd, 2022

  • Feature: added new Post Category column
  • Update: styled Freemius optin form
  • Fix: filter reset button not visually disabled when unusable
  • Fix: conflict with SG Security plugin
  • FIx: conflict with plugins using Twig

1.3 – May 31st, 2022

  • Feature: Added option to change starting date
  • Update: Add support for PHP 8

Details

  • Version: 1.20.0
  • Active installations: 5,000
  • WordPress Version: 5.5
  • Tested up to: 6.2
  • PHP Version: 7.3.29

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