WordPress analytics without cookies or an analytics plugin

You can track a WordPress site without installing a dedicated analytics plugin by pasting one 4 KB async script into your site header. Clicktag gives you visitors, pageviews, traffic sources, top posts, goals and Search Console queries in a clean dashboard at clicktag.app, without setting cookies, storing IP addresses or slowing down your WordPress admin.

Your options for WordPress stats

There are four common ways to get traffic numbers on WordPress:

• Jetpack Stats: Built into every WordPress.com site and available as a plugin for self-hosted WordPress.org sites. The free tier shows views, visitors, top posts, referrers, clicks, search terms, authors, downloads, video plays and countries, while UTM stats, devices and city/region locations need paid Stats, priced by monthly views, with a tier at EUR 7.95/month billed yearly.
• Google Site Kit: Google's free, open-source plugin (version 1.190.0, with 5+ million active installations on WordPress.org). It connects Google Analytics, Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, AdSense, Google Ads and Tag Manager inside your WordPress dashboard.
• MonsterInsights: A popular WordPress plugin for Google Analytics with 2+ million active installations for the free MonsterInsights Lite version, and paid plans starting at $99.50/year (list $199.00) for 1 site. If you want to skip GA4 plugins, see how Clicktag works as a MonsterInsights alternative.
• A plain script tag like Clicktag: Instead of loading reports inside wp-admin, you paste one async <script> tag into your header and read your stats in a fast, separate dashboard.

WordPress analytics tools compared

Prices and limits checked on October 29, 2026, on each vendor's official pricing or help pages.

How to add Clicktag to self-hosted WordPress.org

On a self-hosted WordPress site, you do not need a dedicated analytics plugin to add analytics to your website. You only need to place the Clicktag script inside your site's <head> so that WordPress sends it in the server-rendered HTML.

1. Copy your script tag from Clicktag

Sign in at clicktag.app with your Google account, add your domain and go to Site settings > Installation, step 1. Copy your snippet, which includes both data-hostname and data-verify:

<script
  async
  src="https://clicktag.io/latest.js"
  data-hostname="example.com"
  data-verify="YOUR_SITE_VERIFY_TOKEN"
></script>

2. Paste it with WPCode or your child theme

If you already use a header-snippet plugin like WPCode, paste the <script> tag into its Header box and save. WPCode prints the tag in the HTML that your WordPress server sends, so Clicktag can verify your site automatically on the first visit.

If you prefer zero extra plugins, open your child theme's header.php file and paste the snippet just before the closing </head> tag. If you load the tag only through client-side JavaScript, verify ownership with a DNS TXT record or a file under /.well-known/ instead, because the automatic check reads the homepage HTML your server sends.

3. Skip pages you don't want counted

WordPress admin screens don't load your theme's header, so the tag doesn't run inside /wp-admin/. To skip front-end routes such as account pages, add data-ignore-pages with comma-separated path patterns, as shown in the installation docs:

<script
  async
  src="https://clicktag.io/latest.js"
  data-hostname="example.com"
  data-verify="YOUR_SITE_VERIFY_TOKEN"
  data-ignore-pages="/my-account/*,/cart/*"
></script>

One 4 KB script in your WordPress header gives you traffic, referrer and goal reports without an analytics plugin in wp-admin; connecting Search Console adds up to 16 months of query data.

What about WordPress.com sites?

WordPress.com handles custom code and plugins differently depending on your billing tier:

• All WordPress.com plans include Jetpack Stats out of the box.
• Free WordPress.com sites cannot install plugins; plugins need a paid plan (Personal, Premium, Business or Commerce).
• Built-in Google Analytics integration on WordPress.com (where you paste a Measurement ID) requires a Premium, Business or Commerce plan; free and Personal sites must upgrade.

On a paid WordPress.com plan, install a header-snippet plugin and add the Clicktag script the same way you would on a self-hosted WordPress.org install.

What you see in your reports

Once your site is verified, new hits appear in the Live view within about a second, and the feed opens with the last 5 minutes. Before you install, you can browse the reports on the live demo, which uses synthetic data.

For day-to-day blog analytics and business sites, your dashboard covers:

• Visitors, pageviews and time on page: Distinct daily visitors (counted with a daily salted SHA-256 hash, no cookies and no stored IP addresses), total pageviews, top pages, entry pages, median time on page for views lasting 5 seconds or more, and average scroll depth.
• Traffic sources and campaigns: Referrers, UTM source, UTM medium and UTM campaign, plus devices, browsers, operating systems and countries (derived from the browser's time zone). Visits from AI tools like ChatGPT (utm_source=chatgpt.com), Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and Copilot appear as their own sources.
• Google Search Console queries: Connect Search Console analytics to backfill up to 16 months of queries, clicks, impressions, CTR and position, then refresh the trailing 10 days every 6 hours.
• Goals, funnels and retention: Set up to 50 goals per site on pageviews or custom events (including funnels of 2 to 6 steps completed on the same UTC day) and check weekly retention cohorts across up to 12 follow-up weeks.
• AI crawler tracking: If your WordPress site is proxied through Cloudflare (any plan, including Free), connect a read-only Cloudflare token to see hits per page from GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Googlebot and other bots, with verified and unverified requests kept apart.

Clicktag does not record outbound link clicks, file downloads or form submissions automatically; you track those by calling window.tt_event(name, metadata, callback) in the browser or posting JSON to /events from your backend. Clicktag also does not offer WooCommerce revenue tracking, heatmaps, session recordings, bounce rate or a widget inside the WordPress admin sidebar.

FAQ

Does Clicktag slow down my WordPress site?

Not noticeably. Clicktag adds one async latest.js script of about 4 KB compressed that downloads without blocking the page, and it runs no PHP queries and stores no analytics tables in your WordPress database.

Can I see my stats inside the WordPress admin dashboard?

No. Clicktag has no WordPress plugin or wp-admin widget; you view your reports at clicktag.app, can share a site view-only with up to 25 people who sign in with Google, make a verified site's dashboard public, or schedule email traffic reports to up to 25 recipients per site.

Does WPCode work with Clicktag site verification?

Yes. WPCode adds your <script> tag to the HTML your server sends, so Clicktag can read the data-verify token on the first visit without a DNS TXT record or /.well-known/ file.

Can Clicktag import my old Google Analytics or Jetpack Stats history?

No. Clicktag supports historical imports from Simple Analytics, and connects to Google Search Console to backfill up to 16 months of search query data, but it does not support Google Analytics imports or CSV uploads.

What are the limits on Clicktag's free plan?

Clicktag is free with no credit card required and no paid plan today. One Google sign-in account includes up to 50 websites, up to 50 goals per site, up to 12 report filters at once, up to 25 email report recipients per site and up to 10 active Stats API management keys.