CloudScale Site Analytics vs Plausible Analytics

CloudScale Site Analytics solves the fundamental problem with page view tracking on cached WordPress sites. When Cloudflare, Fastly, or any CDN serves a cached HTML page, WordPress never executes. Server side counters like Jetpack Stats miss the view entirely, resulting in severe undercounting — typically 5 to 10 times lower than actual traffic. CloudScale uses a lightweight JavaScript beacon that fires after the cached page loads, recording every view through a REST API endpoint that bypasses the CDN cache. The result is accurate view counts regardless of cache status. Key Features Accurate counting behind Cloudflare and other CDNs Session based deduplication (no double counting on refresh) IP throttle protection against view inflation attacks Jetpack Stats one click migration tool Dashboard widget with hourly, daily, monthly, and 6 month charts Top Posts and Recent Posts sidebar widgets with pagination Configurable view counter badge on posts (badge, pill, or minimal style) Five colour options for the view counter (blue, pink, red, purple, grey) Admin column showing views on the Posts list Full statistics page with period comparison and top posts REST API endpoints for custom integrations Privacy focused: IP addresses are hashed with wp_salt, never stored raw How It Works Cloudflare serves the cached HTML page at full speed The browser loads the page and executes the beacon script The beacon fires a lightweight POST to a WordPress REST endpoint That endpoint bypasses CDN caching via headers and Cloudflare Cache Rules WordPress records the view in the database and increments the counter The page counter updates live without a reload Requirements WordPress 6.0 or higher PHP 7.4 or higher A Cloudflare account with Cache Rules (free tier is sufficient) External services This plugin optionally connects to the following external services: Telegram Bot API (optional, alert notifications only) When you configure Telegram alerts in the plugin settings, the plugin communicates with the Telegram Bot API: * Service URL: https://api.telegram.org/ * What is sent and when: (1) When an admin clicks “Fetch Chat ID”, the plugin calls the getUpdates endpoint with your bot token to discover your chat ID. (2) When an admin clicks “Send Test” or when a plugin event triggers a notification, the plugin calls sendMessage to deliver the alert text to your configured chat ID. No visitor data, page view analytics, or site content is transmitted — only the admin-authored alert text and your Telegram bot credentials. * This service is only used when an admin has entered a bot token and chat ID in the plugin settings. * Telegram Privacy Policy: https://telegram.org/privacy * Telegram Terms of Service: https://telegram.org/tos DB-IP Lite (optional, geolocation only) IP geolocation is optional. To enable it you click “Download DB-IP Lite” on the plugin’s statistics page, which fetches the free DB-IP City Lite database directly from DB-IP’s servers: * Service URL: https://download.db-ip.com/ * The first download happens only when you explicitly trigger it from the admin panel. After that, while the auto-update option is enabled (it can be turned off on the statistics page), a daily WP-Cron event checks the calendar month and downloads a fresh database once per month to keep geolocation accurate. No automatic download ever occurs until you have performed the first download yourself. * What is sent: only the standard HTTP GET request required to fetch the database file. No site, post, or visitor data is transmitted to DB-IP. * DB-IP Privacy Policy: https://db-ip.com/privacy.php * DB-IP Terms of Use: https://db-ip.com/tos.php * The database file is stored locally in your site’s uploads directory after download. CartoCDN (optional, geography map tiles only) When the optional DB-IP geolocation feature is enabled and you view the Statistics page, the geography heat-map (powered by Leaflet.js) loads map tile images from CartoCDN: * Service URL: https://basemaps.cartocdn.com/ * When it fires: only when an admin user views the Geography section of the Statistics page and a DB-IP database has been downloaded. Never fires on the public-facing site. * What is sent: standard tile requests (HTTP GET for map image tiles). The request URL includes zoom level and tile coordinates; no site data, post data, or visitor data is transmitted. * CartoCDN Privacy Policy: https://carto.com/privacy/ * CartoCDN Terms of Service: https://carto.com/legal/ No visitor or site data is transmitted to any external service during page view tracking. The JavaScript beacon communicates only with your own site’s REST API endpoint, and view counts never leave your server. Third-party libraries The following open-source libraries are bundled with this plugin. The minified production builds are shipped; the full, unminified source for each is available at the linked upstream project, and each is under a GPL-compatible licence: Chart.js 4.4.1 — MIT License — https://github.com/chartjs/Chart.js/releases/tag/v4.4.1 Leaflet 1.9.4 — BSD-2-Clause License — https://github.com/Leaflet/Leaflet/releases/tag/v1.9.4 MaxMind DB Reader (PHP) — Apache License 2.0 — https://github.com/maxmind/MaxMind-DB-Reader-php License This plugin is free software released under the GPLv2 or later license. Copyright (C) 2026 CloudScale (https://cloudscale.consulting) You may copy, distribute and modify the software as long as you track changes/dates in source files. Any modifications to or software including (via compiler) GPL licensed code must also be made available under the GPL along with build and install instructions. Full license text is included in LICENSE.txt and available at https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

Plausible Analytics is a simple, lightweight and privacy-friendly WordPress analytics plugin and a Google Analytics alternative for WordPress. Understand your website stats, traffic, content and conversions with a clean analytics dashboard that doesn’t slow down your WordPress site or require complex setup. No cookies. No consent banners. Fully compliant with GDPR, CCPA and PECR. Live Demo. You need a subscription to Plausible Analytics to track your stats. There’s a free 30-day trial with no credit card required. We’re completely independent, self-funded, bootstrapped and debt-free. We’re not interested in raising funds or taking investment. We choose the subscription business model rather than surveillance capitalism. We’re operating a sustainable project funded solely by the fees that our subscribers pay us. Visit our website for full details. Why WordPress users choose Plausible Most analytics tools are complex, slow and difficult to use. Plausible is built to be simple, fast and easy to understand. “I use Plausible for traffic analytics. Privacy-friendly, no cookie banner needed, lightweight script that doesn’t slow down the page.” — Joost de Valk, founder of Yoast SEO “I really like the simplicity of the dashboard, not bloated with countless options and tabs. I know exactly where to look.” — Tomzur, co-founder of Kinsta Here are the main reasons that WordPress users love Plausible. Simple analytics dashboard for WordPress Get all your key metrics in a single, clear dashboard. See traffic, top pages, referrers and conversions at a glance without digging through multiple reports or menus. Check your traffic within your WordPress dashboard and get all essential insights on one page in one minute. Lightweight analytics that won’t slow your WordPress site Built for speed, Plausible adds almost no weight to your pages. Our script is at least 54 times smaller than Google Analytics. Your site stays fast, your visitors get a better experience, and your analytics won’t impact performance. More accurate analytics you can trust Get a clearer picture of your traffic, even when visitors use ad blockers or privacy tools. First-party tracking option helps bypass blockers No data sampling or estimation Count more real visitors compared to traditional analytics tools Features a real time dashboard, that’s actually real time Your stats reflect what’s actually happening on your site, not partial or distorted data. Read about our accuracy practices. WordPress analytics without cookies or consent banners Plausible comes with in-built privacy and compliance with various laws around the world such as GDPR, CCPA, etc. No cookies No personal data collection No persistent identifiers No cross-site or cross-device tracking Your site data is not used for any other purposes. All visitor data is exclusively processed with servers owned and operated by European companies and it never leaves the EU. You can track your traffic without showing cookie consent banners. Track events, content, marketing campaigns and revenue Understand how people use your site and what drives results. Track: Engagement and behavior — scroll depth, bounce rate and time on page Content performance — top pages, entry pages, authors, categories and taxonomies Events (no code needed) — outbound links, file downloads, form submissions, site searches, 404 pages and affiliate link clicks Marketing campaigns — analyze traffic from UTM-tagged campaigns across ads, email and social Custom events — define your own goals and conversions without writing code Revenue and funnels — track purchases, conversion rates and customer journeys Built-in WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads analytics Plausible provides automated WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads analytics solutions to track conversions, revenue and attribution. Track activities like adding to cart, removing from cart, entering checkout and completing a purchase Track revenue and conversions automatically View the full purchase funnel from product view to checkout Measure cart abandonment and drop-off points Understand which channels drive sales Shareable and client-friendly dashboards Your stats are private by default but can be shared. Public dashboards via custom links Private links with optional password protection Team access with user roles Open source and transparent Plausible is open source software. You can inspect and verify the code on GitHub. We’re an independent, bootstrapped company funded by our customers, not by advertising or data collection. Your data stays yours. If you’re happy to manage your own infrastructure, you can self-host Plausible too. Smooth transition from Google Analytics Switching from Google Analytics is simple and you won’t lose the insights that matter. Plausible gives you all the essential metrics in a clean, easy-to-use dashboard, including real-time traffic, top pages, referrers and campaign performance. No complicated configuration, no learning curve, just clear insights from day one. Import your historical stats from Google Analytics and learn how to get the most out of your Plausible experience. Built for WordPress Plausible fits naturally into how WordPress sites are built and managed: Works with any WordPress theme Compatible with caching and performance plugins Works with multilingual sites built with WPML, with each language domain on its own dashboard No need to edit theme files or use tag managers Simple setup with no coding required View your stats directly in your WordPress dashboard Google Analytics alternative for WordPress If you’re looking for a simpler and more privacy-friendly alternative, Plausible offers everything you need without the complexity. No overwhelming reports or menus No data sampling No complex configuration One intuitive dashboard No GDPR, CCPA, PECR, etc., compliance headaches Who is this for? Bloggers, publishers and content creators who want to understand which posts perform best, where traffic comes from, and how readers engage Businesses and marketers tracking conversions, campaigns, and growth across SEO, ads, email and social channels WooCommerce and digital store owners who want simple revenue tracking, funnels and insights into customer journeys Agencies and freelancers managing multiple WordPress sites and sharing clean, client-friendly dashboards Product teams and startups measuring user behavior, key events and conversion funnels without complex setup Privacy-conscious site owners who want analytics without cookies, personal data collection or consent banners Anyone switching from Google Analytics who wants a simpler, faster and more intuitive analytics experience Features Easy setup and integration Automatically includes tracking code in your site header Simple plugin settings page with onboarding guide Works with caching plugins and CDNs Proxy support to bypass ad blockers and improve stats accuracy Import your historical Google Analytics stats Our product is updated several times per week and with our WordPress plugin you always have access to all the latest features WordPress-specific tracking Automatically track post authors, categories and custom taxonomies for deeper content insights Enable Enhanced Measurements to track file downloads, outbound links, affiliate clicks, form submissions, site searches and 404 error pages automatically Track events without coding using CSS classes directly in the WordPress editor No JavaScript knowledge required — everything can be configured from the plugin settings Disable tracking for admin users or selected user roles Ecommerce and conversions WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads integration Revenue tracking Conversion tracking and funnels Campaign tracking with UTM parameters Integrate with Google Search Console for search queries data within Plausible dashboard Insights and reporting One-page dashboard with all key metrics View your Plausible stats directly in your WordPress dashboard (you can grant access to other user roles too) Email and Slack reports Traffic spike notifications Filter and segment by any metric For more information: How to setup Plausible Analytics WordPress plugin. Pricing Plausible Analytics is a subscription-based service. Free 30-day trial No credit card required No data selling or tracking We’re funded by our customers, not by collecting or selling personal data.