There are a lot of analytic programs and systems out there that are awesome but not many WordPress Plugins for those systems that I trust to do a good job of, well, simply not breaking.
The fact is that I’d much rather insert the code myself instead of banking on a plugin that may become old, outdated, or deprecated. Not a risk I’m typically willing to take!
But, here are 5 Analytic Plugins that I’ve used historically that haven’t failed me (yet):
1. WP Stats Dashboard
This is an oldy but goody. Used on WordPress.com sites this is a standard for most self-hosted WordPress blogs as well. Get it, Got it, Good.
2. Google Analyticator
This one is also pretty much a standard, especially for people not interested in adding the code themselves to their blog. It’s robust and I’ve used it on a dozen blogs+.
3. Blog Stats by W3Counter
Connecting to the free analytics service W3Counter, it adds a dashboard to your blog admin that includes real-time tracking. The reason I’ve used this in the past is because lots of people have this analytics package already running and want to keep it through a redesign, etc. It works.
4. Blog Metrics
This is a personal favorite as it displays a host of information about your blog, especially your post count, word count, and even other author’s and their respective information. If you’re running a blog with multiple authors this one is a no-brainer.
5. Feed Stats Plugin
Like Feedburner? Want to know what’s happening with your feed without logging into your account? This plugin’s for you. And if you don’t use Feedburner… then… I have nothing to say to you except start using Feedburner…!
6. All the Rest…
There are tons of others out there, but again, these are ones that I’ve personally used that have not failed me (yet). What other one’s have you used that you’ve been happy with?
I’ve been trying out woopra. It’s real time analytics, so watching it can be adicting.
yeah, but woopra is charging now… and they cause serious slowness.
Make that addicting. Sorry.
Thanks for posting this. I become overwhelmed by the sheer number of plugins available. It is good to see five of these singled out as trustworthy and useful.
FeedBurner is okay if you like seeing your numbers randomly go up and down with no real rhyme or reason.
Seriously though, good post – looking forward to using some of these in order to get a clearer picture than what's provided by some of the more popular add-ons (namely Google Analytics and WP-Stats).
Woopra all the way!
i'm going to nose through these …thanks for the tip
Thanks for linking to these. I've been bad at checking my stats. I've installed the WP Stats Dashboard and Google Analyticator. Sometimes your posts have a way of kicking my butt in gear to do things I've been meaning to do for awhile.
Very useful. Thanks, John!
sure thing!