Click Counter and Heat Maps (Free) vs Machete

Click Counter and Heat Maps by Code Domination is a comprehensive click tracking solution that lets you monitor user interactions on any element of your WordPress site using CSS selectors. Track button clicks, link clicks, form submissions, or any other clickable element with detailed analytics and insights. Key Features Visual Element Picker * Click-to-select any element on your site * Automatically generates the CSS selector * No coding knowledge required Advanced Analytics * View click counts with timestamps * Track page URLs where clicks occurred * Filter data by date range * Visual charts showing click trends over time * Detailed click logs with full information Goal Tracking * Set click goals for any tracked element * Receive email notifications when goals are reached * Track progress with visual progress bars * Perfect for conversion tracking Data Management * Export click data to CSV * Automatic data retention policies * Rate limiting to prevent spam * Bot detection and filtering Smart Exclusions * Exclude all logged-in users * Exclude specific user roles (Admin, Editor, etc.) * Self-ignore mode with cookie-based tracking * IP-based rate limiting Developer Friendly * Shortcode support: [click_count selector=".buy-button"] * Clean, efficient code following WordPress standards * Custom database tables for optimal performance * Translation ready How It Works Add a Tracker: Use the visual picker or enter a CSS selector (like .buy-button or #signup-form) Set Goals (Optional): Define click targets and email notifications Track Clicks: The plugin automatically tracks all clicks on matching elements Analyze Data: View charts, logs, and export reports Take Action: Use insights to optimize your site’s performance Perfect For E-commerce: Track add-to-cart, checkout, and purchase buttons Lead Generation: Monitor form submissions and signup clicks Content Marketing: Measure engagement with CTAs and links A/B Testing: Compare performance of different elements Conversion Optimization: Identify high-performing buttons and links Privacy & Performance No external dependencies for click tracking Non-personal site data shared weekly to improve the plugin (see External Services) Hashed IP addresses (never stores actual IPs) Bot detection prevents false clicks Lightweight JavaScript using native browser APIs Works with all caching plugins External Services This plugin makes connections to external services under specific circumstances: 1. Site Telemetry (Automatic) – When: Weekly via WordPress cron, and on plugin activation/deactivation – What’s sent: Website URL, domain name, plugin version, estimated monthly pageviews (aggregated, non-personal), average server response speed (milliseconds), and activation/deactivation/update events – Where: https://plugins-for-wp.com/wp-json/st-telemetry/v1/collect – Why: To understand plugin usage patterns, ensure compatibility across WordPress versions and hosting environments, improve plugin features, and provide better support – User control: This data collection is a condition of using the plugin. No personally identifiable visitor data, IP addresses, or individual click-level tracking data from your site visitors is transmitted. 2. Deactivation Feedback (Optional) – When: Only when you deactivate the plugin and choose to submit feedback – What’s sent: Plugin slug, site URL, reason for deactivation (selected from predefined options), optional user comments, WordPress version, PHP version, and plugin version – Where: https://plugins-for-wp.com/wp-json/st-feedback/v1/submit – Why: To help us improve the plugin based on user feedback – User control: Completely optional – you can click “Cancel” or simply close the feedback dialog without submitting anything External Service Policies: – Terms of Service: https://www.plugins-for-wp.com/terms-and-conditions/ – Privacy Policy: https://www.plugins-for-wp.com/privacy-policy/ Privacy What This Plugin Does NOT Do: – Does not store actual IP addresses (only hashed) – Does not use cookies for tracking (only for self-ignore feature) – Does not transmit individual visitor data to third parties – Does not track across sites – Does not collect personal visitor information What Data Is Stored Locally: – Click counts per CSS selector – Timestamp of each click – Page URL where click occurred (optional, can be disabled) – Hashed IP address (for rate limiting only) – User agent string (for bot detection) – User ID (only if user is logged in) – Aggregated daily pageview counts (for telemetry reporting) What Data Is Transmitted: – Non-personal site-level data is sent weekly to plugins-for-wp.com to help improve the plugin (see External Services section above for full details) – No individual visitor data, IP addresses, or click-level data is ever transmitted

Machete is a simple suite of tools that solves common WordPress annoyances using as few resources as possible. Machete doesn’t cover every single use case, but there is a huge amount of sites that would require less plugins if they used Machete. All Machete tools have two things in common: they solve problems faced by many web developers and they do it using as few server resources as possible. So far, Machete includes the following tools: WordPress Optimization WordPress places a lot of code inside the tag just to keep backward compatibility or to enable optional features. You can disable most of it and save some time from each page request while making your installation safer. Cookies & GDPR Warning We know you hate cookie warning bars. Well, this is the least hateable cookie bar you’ll find. It is really light, doesn’t affect your PageSpeed score and plays well with static cache plugins. Analytics and custom code You don’t need a zillion plugins to perform easy tasks like inserting a verification meta tag (Google Search Console, Bing, Pinterest), a json-ld snippet or a custom stylesheet (Google Fonts, Print Styles, accessibility tweaks…). The Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager tracking codes are PageSpeed optimized, GPDR friendly. Maintenance mode The maintenance mode that ships with WordPress is just a basic lock-down that is activated whenever you do a major update. With machete Maintenance Mode you can hide your unfinished page from visitors and search engines, give your clients a secure temporary access and lock your site without affecting your SEO. Post & Page cloner Adds a “duplicate” link to post, page and most post types lists. Also adds “copy to new draft” function to the post editor. Social Sharing Buttons Social sharing done the Machete way. The icons are made as a custom webfont embedded in a minified CSS file that only weighs 5.8KB. The sharing actions use each platform’s native share URL. WooCommerce Utils WooCommerce was designed to work for every possible use case, but that often leads to unexpected behavior. These simple fixes can improve the WooCommerce user experience by making it behave as clients expect.