Matomo Analytics for WordPress
Full Matomo analytics platform running inside WordPress, with ecommerce, goals, tag manager and GDPR tools; premium plugins add heatmaps and more.
86
Independent Analytics
Privacy-friendly, self-hosted WordPress analytics with cookieless tracking and reports in the admin; Pro adds real-time, campaigns, clicks, forms and sales.
Free installs100K+WordPress.org, active
Est. Pro installs~6KLikely 3K–12K
Vendor claims100K+Vendor's own figure
Rating4.8/5167 reviews
Price from$49/yrFreemium
Last updated22 Oct 2026Version 2.16.2
Overview
Independent Analytics is a self-hosted analytics plugin from developers Ben Sibley and Andrew Mead, positioned as a simpler alternative to Google Analytics. It starts tracking as soon as it is activated, with no external account. Each view is sent by a small deferred request to your own site’s REST API and stored in your WordPress database, and reports appear in the WordPress admin.
The plugin uses no cookies and stores no personal data. Repeat visitors are recognised with an ID built from the IP address and user agent, and the IP itself is not stored. The developers say this means no consent banner is needed under GDPR or CCPA. Treat that as the vendor’s claim and check it against your own legal advice.
Free version
- Pages, Referrers, Geographic (country and city) and Devices reports with views, visitors, sessions, bounce rate and session duration.
- Filtering by date, post type, author and category, saved reports, and CSV and PDF exports.
- View counts in the Posts list, admin toolbar stats, a dashboard widget and an optional public view counter.
- Role-based sharing, ignore rules for roles and IPs, automatic deletion of old data, multisite support and a developer API.
Pro
Pro adds real-time analytics, a Campaigns report for UTM links, click tracking, form tracking for more than 20 form plugins, and eCommerce analytics for WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, SureCart, FluentCart and Paid Memberships Pro. It also adds user journeys, a customisable Overview, solo reports for single pages and referrers, and scheduled email reports. All Pro plans include the same features; they differ only by number of sites.
Limitations: there is no Google Search Console data, no scroll tracking, and no import from Google Analytics or Jetpack Stats. Data uses your own database (roughly 200–300MB per million sessions), and very busy sites may find the Analytics screens slow down. Disguised malicious bots are not filtered.
Who should pick it: bloggers, small businesses and agencies who want simple, privacy-friendly stats inside WordPress without Google or cookie banners, and stores that want affordable sales attribution through Pro.
Best for: Site owners who want simple, cookieless, self-hosted analytics inside WordPress without Google or consent banners.
Independent Analytics is one of the easiest privacy-friendly options: install it and the reports are ready, with no Google account or cookie banner involved. The free version covers what most content sites need, and Pro adds affordable conversion and sales attribution. It is not a replacement for Search Console data or deep GA4-style analysis.
Pros
- Cookieless tracking with no personal data or third-party requests
- Data stays in your own WordPress database
- Generous free version with exports, filters and role sharing
- Lightweight tracking request that doesn't slow pages
- Affordable Pro with all features on every plan and a lifetime option
- Pro sales and form attribution by referrer and campaign
Cons
- No Google Search Console integration
- No scroll depth tracking
- Can't import historical data from Google Analytics or Jetpack
- Stats share your database, which grows with traffic
- Real-time, campaigns and click tracking are Pro-only
Key features
What Independent Analytics highlights on its WordPress.org page and its own website, split by version.
Free version WordPress.org
- No cookies or personal data stored
- Data kept in your WordPress database
- Unlimited tracked views and sites
- Pages, Referrers, Geographic and Devices reports
- Filters by author, post type and category
- CSV and PDF exports
- View counts in Posts list and toolbar
- Role-based report sharing
- Ignore roles and IP addresses
- Automatic old data deletion
- Multisite support
Pro / paid adds From $49/yr
- Real-time visitor analytics
- Campaigns report for UTM links
- Click and download tracking
- Form tracking for 20+ plugins
- WooCommerce and EDD sales analytics
- User journey timelines
- Customisable Overview report
- Solo reports for pages and referrers
- Scheduled email reports
- Lifetime licence option
Feature checklist
23 of 27 features we track in Analytics Plugins, feature score 85/100
Tracking setup 5/7
Google Analytics 4 integration Key
Connects a GA4 property and adds the tracking code for you.
Not a Google Analytics plugin; it is a standalone alternative that needs no Google account.
Not included
Self-hosted stats Key
Tracks visits itself and stores data in your WordPress database.
Tracks visits itself and stores all data in your WordPress database.
Included
Cookieless tracking Key
Counts visits without setting tracking cookies.
Sets no cookies; repeat visitors are recognised via a hashed IP and user agent that isn't stored.
Included
Real-time stats
Shows who is on the site right now.
Real-time view of current visitors, pages and referrers is a Pro feature.
Paid version Pro
Google Tag Manager
Adds or works with Google Tag Manager containers.
No Google Tag Manager integration; it does not use Google services.
Not included
Server-side tracking
Records hits on the server, unaffected by ad blockers.
A small first-party script posts each view to your own REST API; there is no pure server-log mode.
Partial
Lightweight tracking script
Small or no front-end script, so tracking does not slow pages.
Deferred request to the site's REST API with no third-party scripts; vendor says Core Web Vitals are unaffected.
Included
Events & ecommerce 6/7
Link, click & download tracking Key
Tracks outbound links, file downloads and button clicks.
Pro click tracking for links, buttons, outbound links, emails and file downloads via link patterns.
Paid version Pro
Form conversion tracking
Tracks form views and submissions.
Pro tracks submissions and conversion rates for 20+ form plugins.
Paid version Pro
WooCommerce tracking Key
Tracks orders, revenue and products from WooCommerce.
Pro records WooCommerce, EDD, SureCart, FluentCart and PMPro sales, refunds and conversion rate.
Paid version Pro
Campaign & UTM reports
Reports on UTM campaigns, sources and mediums.
Pro Campaigns report and campaign link builder for UTM-tagged URLs.
Paid version Pro
Goals & conversions
Set goals and see conversion rates.
Pro conversions for eCommerce sales, form submissions and tracked clicks.
Paid version Pro
Custom dimensions
Report by author, category, post type, user role and similar.
Free filters and stats by post type, author, category and publication date.
Included
Scroll depth tracking
Measures how far visitors scroll.
Scroll depth tracking isn't listed in the free or Pro feature lists.
Not included
Reports in WordPress 7/8
Reports inside WordPress Key
Traffic reports in the WordPress admin, no need to open another tool.
Pages, Referrers, Geographic and Devices reports in the admin plus a dashboard widget.
Included
Top pages & posts
Shows which content gets the most visits.
Pages report ranks posts and pages, including landing and exit pages.
Included
Traffic sources & referrers
Where visitors come from.
Referrers report covers sites, search engines, social networks and AI platforms.
Included
Location & device reports
Country, browser and device breakdowns.
Country and city reports with a world map, plus device type, browser and OS.
Included
Stats per post
Visit numbers shown on each post or in the editor.
View counts in the Posts list and admin toolbar stats on each page.
Included
Search Console data
Search queries and rankings from Google Search Console.
No Google Search Console integration is offered.
Not included
Email summaries Key
Scheduled email reports with key stats.
Pro sends scheduled HTML email reports daily, weekly or monthly.
Paid version Pro
Export reports
Export to CSV or PDF.
Free CSV and PDF exports of reports.
Included
Privacy & admin 5/5
GDPR & consent tools Key
IP anonymisation, consent mode or cookie-banner integration.
Cookieless, no personal data and no external requests, so the vendor says no consent banner is needed.
Included
Exclude users & roles
Leave admins or chosen roles out of the stats.
Ignore chosen user roles and IP addresses in the free version.
Included
Bot filtering
Filters out bots and crawlers.
Self-identifying bots such as crawlers and uptime monitors are ignored automatically.
Included
Report access by role
Choose which user roles can view reports.
Share analytics with other roles, optionally limiting authors to their own content.
Included
Multisite support
Works across a WordPress multisite network.
Works on multisite; each sub-site gets its own Analytics menu and stats.
Included
Pricing
Free
$0On WordPress.org
Free
Freeper yearUnlimited
Unlimited tracked views; core reports, exports, role sharing.
Pro Standard
$49per year1 site
All Pro features. Renews at the price originally paid. Lifetime option shown alongside at $147 (one-time).
Pro Hobbyist
$79per year3 sites
All Pro features. Lifetime option shown alongside at $237 (one-time).
Pro Agency
$199per yearUnlimited
All Pro features. Lifetime option shown alongside at $597 (one-time).
Prices are list prices from the vendor's site, checked 14 Oct 2026. Many vendors discount the first year.
How many sites use Independent Analytics?
Free installs from WordPress.org, the vendor's own claim, and our estimate of paid installs.
Free version (WordPress.org)
100K+
Active installations reported by WordPress.org.
Vendor claim
100K+
Sites/users claimed on the vendor's website. source
Estimated Pro / paid installs
~6K
Our estimate, see method below.
How we estimated this: The vendor figure (100K+) is within WordPress.org's rounding of the free installs, so it says nothing about paid sites. About 150K free installs x 4% (the usual share of free sites that also run the paid version when most features are free) gives 6K. Likely range: 3K to 12K. This counts sites running the paid version, including sites whose licence has lapsed. Estimates are rough and based on public figures as of 14 Oct 2026.
Stats & health
Weekly downloads
22,944 downloads last week, 3.2M all time
Rating breakdown
| Version | 2.16.2 |
|---|---|
| Last updated | 22 Oct 2026 (11 days ago) |
| Tested up to | WordPress 7.1.4 |
| Requires | WordPress 5.9+, PHP 8.0.30+ |
| Support threads (2 months) | 8 of 8 resolved |
| On WordPress.org since | 31 May 2022 |
Company & policy
| Refund policy | 30-day money-back (source, 10 Oct 2026) |
|---|
Independent Analytics compared
Alternatives to Independent Analytics
MonsterInsights
Freemium Google Analytics plugin from Awesome Motive that adds GA4 tracking and in-dashboard reports, with eCommerce, forms and custom dimensions in paid…
84
Burst Statistics
Self-hosted, privacy-focused WordPress analytics with goals, real-time stats and optional cookieless tracking; Pro adds UTM, forms and WooCommerce.
78
Site Kit by Google
Google's free official plugin that connects Analytics, Search Console, Tag Manager, AdSense and PageSpeed Insights and shows their data in WordPress.
70
ExactMetrics
Freemium Google Analytics dashboard plugin from Awesome Motive, a close sibling of MonsterInsights, adding GA4 tracking and reports to WordPress.
82
WP Statistics
Long-running self-hosted WordPress analytics plugin with cookieless tracking, detailed content, referral and geo reports, and paid add-ons for marketing.
73
FAQ
Is Independent Analytics free?
Yes. Independent Analytics has a free version on WordPress.org. Paid plans start at $49/yr.
How many sites use Independent Analytics?
WordPress.org reports 100K+ active installations of the free version. The vendor claims 100K+ sites in total. We estimate around 6K sites run the paid version.
Does Independent Analytics have google analytics 4 integration?
No: not included. Not a Google Analytics plugin; it is a standalone alternative that needs no Google account.
Does Independent Analytics have self-hosted stats?
Yes: included. Tracks visits itself and stores all data in your WordPress database.
Does Independent Analytics have cookieless tracking?
Yes: included. Sets no cookies; repeat visitors are recognised via a hashed IP and user agent that isn't stored.
Does Independent Analytics have link, click & download tracking?
Yes: paid version (Pro). Pro click tracking for links, buttons, outbound links, emails and file downloads via link patterns.
Does Independent Analytics have woocommerce tracking?
Yes: paid version (Pro). Pro records WooCommerce, EDD, SureCart, FluentCart and PMPro sales, refunds and conversion rate.
Does Independent Analytics have reports inside wordpress?
Yes: included. Pages, Referrers, Geographic and Devices reports in the admin plus a dashboard widget.
Does Independent Analytics have email summaries?
Yes: paid version (Pro). Pro sends scheduled HTML email reports daily, weekly or monthly.
Does Independent Analytics have gdpr & consent tools?
Yes: included. Cookieless, no personal data and no external requests, so the vendor says no consent banner is needed.
Do I need a cookie consent banner with Independent Analytics?
The developers say no, because it sets no cookies, stores no personal data and makes no external requests. Check your own legal requirements, especially if other tools on the site use cookies.
Can I import my Google Analytics history?
No. Importing from Google Analytics, Jetpack Stats or other tools isn't currently possible, though you can run it alongside them.
What's the difference between the Pro plans?
All Pro plans have the same features; they differ only by number of sites (1, 3 or unlimited). Annual licences renew at the price you paid, and a lifetime option is offered.
Will it slow down my site?
Tracking uses a small deferred request to your site's REST API with no third-party scripts. Very high-traffic sites may see the Analytics screens slow down, but not the front end.
Does it work with caching plugins?
Yes, but clear your page cache and CDN cache once after installing so cached pages include the tracking script.
Last updated 10 Oct 2026. Spotted something wrong? Suggest an edit.