Wondering why some of your WordPress posts perform brilliantly while others fall flat? Analytics plugins for WordPress can show you exactly what's happening behind the scenes of your website.
No more relying on gut feelings or random attempts to improve your content. With the right analytics tools, you can track user behavior, measure engagement, and make strategic decisions backed by solid data.
In this guide, I'll walk you through 9 essential analytics plugins – from robust free options to premium solutions – that will transform how you understand and optimize your WordPress site. Whether you're a blogger, business owner, or digital marketer, you're about to discover how to make decisions that actually drive results.
Why Do You Need a WordPress Analytics Plugin?
If you're investing time and effort into your WordPress site, you want to know what's actually working. A WordPress analytics plugin removes the guesswork by showing you clear data about your site's performance and visitor behavior.
Here's what you can track with the right analytics plugin:
With these insights, you can make informed decisions about your content strategy and marketing efforts. Instead of relying on hunches or general advice, you'll have concrete data showing what resonates with your specific audience.
This means you can focus your resources where they'll make the biggest difference – whether that's creating more of your best-performing content, fixing pages that aren't converting, or fine-tuning your marketing to attract more of your ideal visitors.
9 Best Analytics Plugins for WordPress
There are a number of free and paid website analytics plugins available on WordPress.org.
But how do you know which ones to trust? Here's our list of the best WordPress analytics plugins we'd like to recommend.
After reading through this list, select a couple of plugins to try out until you find the best one that suits your needs.
1. MonsterInsights (Best Google Analytics Plugins for WordPress)
With over 3 million active installations, MonsterInsights is the best Google Analytics plugin for your WordPress website.
If you struggle to understand Google Analytics reports, this is the plugin for you.
MonsterInsights helps you set up Google Analytics in minutes and offers a user-friendly dashboard to track your site data (e.g. pageviews, bounce rates, outbound links, conversion rates, etc.) with ease.
This plugin also works with Universal Analytics and the newest version of Google’s analytics platform, Google Analytics 4 (GA4). You connect to whichever version you’re running, or you can connect to both versions at the same time with MonsterInsights’ Dual Tracking feature.
Lastly, you can use this plugin to stay on top of your key SEO metrics — view how users engage with your social media accounts, link tracking, tracking custom events (like active installs and form submissions), and much more.
Key Features Include:
- Super easy setup: Simply install MonsterInsights and enable the data you want to see on your Google Analytics dashboard — with just a few clicks, no coding needed.
- In-depth audience reports: Access detailed audience reports to identify your top performing posts & pages, number of new users vs returning users, and even the devices used to access your website.
- Real-time tracking: MonsterInsights provides real-time analytics, so you can see how many visitors are viewing your website at any given time, the posts & pages they're viewing the most, etc.
- Detailed eCommerce reports: Track important store analytics like conversion rate, transactions, average order value, and more.
This plugin offers you 50% off your first year, with its most affordable plan starting at $99.50/ year.
Check Out MonsterInsight's Pricing
And if you want to take your analytics journey a step further, you should try UserFeedback by MonsterInsights.
UserFeedback helps you understand what your site visitors are really thinking. While analytics can tell you what your visitors are doing, User Feedback gives you insights on the "why" behind their actions.
With this plugin, you can ask an unlimited number of questions to truly understand how your audience feels about your website, the content you publish, and even the products you sell.
ExactMetrics is one of the top Google analytics plugins for WordPress websites.
This plugin lets users to install the latest Google Analytics tracking code into their site’s header to view reports directly in their WordPress admin area.
Like MonsterInsights, ExactMetrics provides WordPress site owners with easy-to-understand reports on their website's performance. You can track all the essential metrics like pageviews, referrals, session duration, and more.
This plugin also provides advanced event tracking and custom dimensions, so you can refine your reports and ensure you’re reviewing the most relevant data.
Pricing starts at $199.00 per year.
Key Features Include:
Straightforward Analytics Dashboard for easy viewing
Real-time stats on your site’s demographics and user behavior
eCommerce tracking functionality to help you gain actionable insights on how customers interact with your store.
Track form conversion rates for your WordPress lead forms, contact forms, and registration forms.
Google Analytics is the most popular solution available for tracking your WordPress website's performance -- and it's also free.
Getting started with Google Analytics is straightforward. Just create a Google Analytics account or signup with an existing Google account.
Google Analytics provides in-depth information on every aspect of your website - from real-time data on your visitors' behavior on your site, to detailing the sources of your traffic and conversions.
Key Features Include:
If you know how to use Google Analytics, this will be valuable tool for optimizing your website for conversions.
However, if you're not experienced with code or have limited technical experience, you might struggle with this tool. That's why we recommend using a plugin like MonsterInsights, which handles the complicated technical stuff for you.
4. Analytify
Analytify is a WordPress analytics plugin that helps you get started with Google Analytics in one-click.
This plugin is ideal for non-techies and business owners who want access to their site's performance data fast. And just like MonsterInsights, you can access all this data right from your WordPress dashboard.
Pricing starts from $99/year.
Key Features Include:
- Page-level analytics for every post and page (including custom post types like portfolios and galleries).
- Social media stats that can be viewed from your WordPress dashboard
- Enhanced eCommerce tracking like the number of people who clicked "Add to Cart", insights on where visitors drop off your shop page, and where your customers are coming from (country, search engine, etc.)
- Automated email reports that provide notifications on your site’s performance (this feature is an add-on and might not be available on every plan)
5. GA Google Analytics
GA Google Analytics is a lightweight and GDPR compliant WordPress analytics plugin.
To get additional features, you’ll have to upgrade to the pro version of the plugin. Once you install at activate it and paste in your tracking ID, it will place Google Analytics data tracking code on all the pages of your site.
This plugin lets you easily customize your tracking code before embedding it. But it won't display your site stats inside your WordPress admin panel.
You’ll have to log in to your Google Analytics account to view the analytics data.
Cost: There is a free version, but the features are limited. Premium version starts at $15.
WP Statistics is a simple WordPress analytics plugin that displays your site's data in your WordPress admin area.
You can access insights on the most important metrics for your WordPress website, including data on the search engines, devices, and operating systems your site visitors use. Standard stats like visitor's country and city are also available for you to review.
This plugin displays its data in the form of stats and graphs that are easy to read.
This plugin is free to download, but WP Statistics also has a Premium plan that offers advanced features for more in-depth tracking. Pricing for the Premium plan starts from $119/year.
Crazy Egg focuses on providing you with data centered on your visitors' behavior. You can find insights on what your site visitors are clicking on your website, how far they scroll on your pages and other stats relevant to how your users interact with your content.
We wouldn't recommend this plugin for beginners, as it is quite technical in nature. But if you've got some experience in tracking analytics and don't want to spend time creating customized reports to find the data you need - Crazy Egg could be ideal for you.
Crazy Egg offers a 30-day trial before requiring customers to commit to a paid plan. Paid plans start from $29/month (billed annually).
8. Matomo
Matomo is a Google Analytics alternative that's focused on protecting your data and your site visitors' privacy. This plugin prides itself in giving you 100% ownership of your data, as well as the core features you need to track your website's performance.
Unlike plugins like MonsterInsights, Matomo doesn't offer an instant one-click installation. So if you're a non-techie WordPress user, you might struggle to navigate this tool.
Matomo offers a free plan and a premium plan that starts at $20.
9. Fathom Analytics
Fathom Analytics is a simple Google Analytics alternative that prioritizes simplicity and your privacy.
With this plugin, you don't need to worry about annoying your site visitors with annoying cookie consent banners - drastically improving your audience's experience.
You'll also have access to all the key insights you need to optimize your website's performance - pageviews, user sessions, top pages & posts, real-time metrics etc.
FAQs
Q: What is an analytics plugin in WordPress?
A: A WordPress analytics plugin allows you to access all your website's data and metrics, so you can understand how your visitors interact with your website.
Google Analytics is one of the most popular tools for tracking your website's performance, but there are simpler, more powerful options like MonsterInsights and Analytify.
Q: What is the best analytics tool for WordPress?
A: We recommend MonsterInsights because of its straightforward, one-click installation, customizable dashboards that provide in-depth data, and its simple reports that are super easy to understand.
Q: Should I add Google Analytics to WordPress?
A: If you have limited technical experience, or struggle to navigate complex tools, we don't recommend using Google Analytics. Instead, use a simpler plugin like MonsterInsights, WP Statistics, or ExactMetrics.
Q: Does WordPress have built-in analytics?
A: No, WordPress does not have built-in analytics. You need to install a WordPress analytics plugin.
Q: Do you recommend Site Kit by Google?
A: Site Kit by Google is a free, open-source plugin you can also use to track your website’s analytics. But it’s not as powerful as the other options listed here.
In addition to that, Site Kit doesn’t offer you detailed reports in your WordPress dashboard. You’ll need to go into Google Analytics to view your insights. And if you aren’t experienced with Google Analytics, this could be a problem.
Are You Building Your Website with the Right Tools?
An analytics plugin is only as effective as the quality of your website.
Your website hosts all your blog posts and provides a first impression to your site visitors.
If your site doesn't look good or function well, you’ll lose a lot of potential customers -- tanking your web analytics.
Here are four free tutorials to show you what a good business website should look like:
And if you feel like it’s time to make a change to your website, so you can finally reach your business goals, you should consider buying Thrive Suite.
Thrive Suite is an all-in-one toolkit that contains plugins to help you build impressive landing pages, quizzes, online courses, and even conduct a/b testing to make informed improvements.
If you've been thinking about building your own independent business and want to use high-quality tools for a crazy reasonable price - Thrive Suite could be for you.
