The best free analytics plugins for WordPress

If you’re running a WordPress site, analytics can tell you a lot about what’s working and what isn’t. From your most popular pages and traffic sources to how visitors interact with your content, the right data can help you make better decisions about your website.

A good analytics plugin makes those insights easier to access, often directly from your WordPress dashboard. Depending on the plugin, you can monitor traffic, track important interactions and understand how your campaigns are performing without having to piece together data from multiple tools.

In this guide, we compare some of the best free analytics plugins for WordPress, looking at their features, privacy, ease of use and limitations to help you choose the right option for your website.

Analytics helps you understand how people find and use your WordPress site. You can see which pages attract the most visitors, where your traffic comes from and how people interact with your content, giving you useful data to guide your decisions.

A good analytics plugin can make this information easier to access by bringing key insights directly into your WordPress dashboard.

Depending on the plugin you choose, it can help you:

• Set up analytics without manually adding tracking code.
• View important website data without switching between multiple platforms.
• Track interactions such as button clicks, downloads and form submissions.
• Monitor website activity while keeping performance in mind.
• Manage analytics with greater control over privacy and data collection, helping you meet requirements such as GDPR and cookie consent.

The best free analytics plugin for your WordPress site will depend on what you want to track, how much control you need over your data and whether you want to manage everything from your WordPress dashboard. Before choosing a plugin, consider the following:

• Core analytics: Does it track useful metrics such as page views, visitors, sessions and traffic sources?
• Real-time data: Can you see what’s happening on your site right now?
• Event tracking: Can you track interactions such as button clicks, downloads and form submissions?
• WooCommerce support: If you run an online store, check whether it supports WooCommerce analytics and the metrics you need.
• WordPress dashboard: Can you view your analytics without leaving WordPress?
• Ease of use: Look for straightforward setup and reporting that matches your level of experience.
• Performance: Consider how the plugin collects and processes data and whether it has an impact on WordPress performance.
• Privacy and data ownership: Check where your analytics data is stored, whether it is shared with third parties and what controls you have over it.
• Privacy compliance: Consider what features are available to help you meet relevant privacy and cookie consent requirements.
• Free vs premium features: Check which features are included for free and which require a paid upgrade.

We’ve compared three popular free analytics plugins for WordPress, each suited to different needs, from privacy-focused analytics to Google Analytics integration.

Burst Statistics is a privacy-friendly analytics plugin built specifically for WordPress. It keeps analytics data on your own server and provides an easy-to-use dashboard without requiring a Google Analytics account.

What it offers in the free version:

• Self-hosted analytics, with data stored on your own WordPress server.
• Key metrics including page views, visitors, sessions, time on page and referrers.
• Real-time insights directly from your WordPress dashboard.
• Built-in event tracking to help you understand how visitors interact with your site.
• Privacy-friendly tracking, with cookieless options available.
• No Google Analytics account required.

What is limited to Pro:

• More advanced analytics and reporting features, including UTM campaign tracking and geolocation insights.

Best for: WordPress site owners looking for a simple, privacy-focused analytics solution with greater control over their data.

We’ve found that the sites which review their analytics monthly grow faster, because they spot what’s working and drop what’s not.

MonsterInsights is a popular WordPress analytics plugin that makes it easier to connect your website to Google Analytics and view key reports from your WordPress dashboard.

What it offers in the free version:

• Easy Google Analytics (GA4) integration without manually adding tracking code.
• Analytics reports directly inside the WordPress dashboard.
• Key insights into website traffic, visitor behaviour and top-performing content.

What is limited to Pro:

• More advanced reporting and tracking features, including enhanced e-commerce tracking and some conversion-focused reports.

Best for: Bloggers and small business owners who already use Google Analytics and want an easier way to connect it to WordPress and view key insights from their dashboard.

Site Kit by Google is Google’s official WordPress plugin, bringing data from several Google services into your WordPress dashboard. The plugin is completely free to use.

What it offers:

• Connects Google Analytics, Search Console, PageSpeed Insights and AdSense with WordPress.
• Simple setup and authentication using your Google account, without manually adding tracking code.
• Provides insights into website traffic, popular content and search performance directly from WordPress.

Limitations:

• Reports are more streamlined than the full reports available within individual Google services.
• Less suited to users who need advanced analytics, custom reporting or more detailed e-commerce insights.

Best for: WordPress site owners who use several Google services and want to view key insights from them in one place.

Once you’ve chosen the right analytics plugin for your site, follow these general steps to get set up and start collecting useful data.

Go to Plugins → Add New in your WordPress dashboard. Search for your chosen plugin, such as Burst Statistics, MonsterInsights or Site Kit, then click Install Now followed by Activate.

For plugins that use Google Analytics, such as MonsterInsights and Site Kit:

1. Create a Google Analytics (GA4) property or select an existing one.
2. Follow the plugin’s setup process to connect your Google account and select the relevant property.
3. Check that analytics tracking is working correctly on your site.

For Burst Statistics:

• No external analytics account is required, as your analytics data is stored locally.
• Review the plugin’s privacy settings and configure cookieless tracking if appropriate for your site.

• Exclude administrator, editor or other logged-in user roles where appropriate, so your own activity doesn’t skew the data.
• Enable real-time statistics if they’re available and useful for your needs.
• If you run an online store, review the plugin’s WooCommerce or e-commerce tracking options.
• Review the plugin’s privacy settings, including options for IP anonymisation, cookieless tracking, data retention and excluding logged-in users where available.

Event tracking helps you understand what visitors do beyond simply viewing a page. Depending on your plugin and plan, you may be able to track interactions such as:

• File downloads
• Button and link clicks
• Form submissions
• Other important actions or conversions on your site

Check which events your chosen plugin tracks automatically and which require additional setup or a paid plan. Focus on the interactions that are actually useful for measuring your website’s goals.

• Review your most popular pages and posts to understand what content is performing well.
• Compare traffic sources to see which channels are bringing visitors to your site.
• Monitor important conversions, such as sign-ups or sales, and look for potential drop-off points.
• Use what you learn to improve your content, internal links, CTAs and site structure.

• Test your site before and after installing the plugin using a tool such as PageSpeed Insights to check for any significant changes in performance.
• Review your cookie consent and privacy settings to make sure analytics tracking is configured appropriately for your site and visitors.
• Keep WordPress and your analytics plugin up to date so you benefit from the latest performance, compatibility and security improvements.
• Back up your WordPress site regularly so you have a recent restore point if an update or configuration change causes problems.

The best free analytics plugin for WordPress depends on what you want to measure and how you prefer to manage your data.

MonsterInsights is a good option if you already use Google Analytics and want to make GA4 easier to access from WordPress, while Site Kit is useful if you want to bring insights from several Google services into your dashboard.

If privacy, simplicity and greater control over your analytics data are priorities, Burst Statistics is a strong choice. It provides key website metrics and event tracking directly within WordPress, with your analytics data stored on your own server and no Google Analytics account required.

Whichever plugin you choose, the important thing is to regularly review the data you collect and use it to make informed decisions about your content, marketing and website.