TrueAna – True Analytics Dashboard vs Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin

Google Analytics 4 wasn’t built with WordPress or WooCommerce in mind. Getting real store and website data into GA4 usually means wiring up Google Tag Manager, hand-coding dataLayer pushes for every events, and then leaving your WordPress dashboard entirely just to check how everything performing. That’s the gap TrueAna closes. TrueAna connects your site to Google Analytics 4 with a single OAuth sign-in, fires 35+ WordPress & WooCommerce events automatically with zero configuration, and puts real GA4 report data — the same numbers you’d see in analytics.google.com — directly inside your WordPress admin. No Tag Manager. No custom dataLayer code. No switching tabs to check how your website is doing. Who’s it for? * Content sites & bloggers — get audience, acquisition, and behavior reports plus GA4 dashboard widgets right on the WordPress home screen, no separate login required. * WooCommerce store owners — see product views, cart abandonment, checkout drop-off, and revenue by traffic source without leaving wp-admin, and fire Facebook, Google Ads, TikTok(Pro), and Pinterest pixels(Pro) off the same events. * Agencies & freelancers — connect a client’s GA4 property once and hand them a dashboard they can actually read, instead of teaching them the GA4 interface. * Subscription businesses — track the full WooCommerce Subscriptions lifecycle (renewals, plan switches, churn) as GA4 events, and watch MRR and churn rate in a dedicated dashboard (Pro). * Publishers with multiple authors — see which authors, categories, tags, and post types actually drive pageviews with Content Analytics Reports, instead of digging through GA4’s generic page-path view (Pro). * Lead-gen & SaaS sites — track form views and submissions per form, with conversion rate against the previous period, so you know which forms are actually producing leads (Pro). * Marketers running landing pages — track clicks on any link or button site-wide, from CTA buttons to outbound links, without touching Tag Manager (Pro). * Startups & early-stage founders — get straight to traffic source, channel, and acquisition data from day one to see what’s working, without setting up GA4 Explorations or waiting on an analyst. * Video-driven sites & course creators — see plays, completion rate, and average watch depth per video across YouTube, Vimeo, and HTML5 embeds, so you know which videos actually hold attention (Pro). * Ad-funded content sites — pull Google AdSense revenue and ad clicks by page title into the same dashboard as your traffic data, instead of cross-referencing two separate logins (Pro). * Paid traffic managers — build and track UTM campaign links from inside wp-admin, then watch performance roll up in Acquisition Reports without a separate spreadsheet (Pro). * Multi-site consultants & in-house teams — save custom GA4 Explore-style reports as pinned dashboard tabs and reorder them per site, so recurring client or stakeholder reviews take minutes, not a rebuild each time (Pro). How It Works TrueAna talks to Google’s APIs on your behalf using OAuth 2.0. After you connect your Google account, the plugin uses your access token to: Send tracking events to GA4 via the standard gtag.js snippet, and server-side via the GA4 Measurement Protocol when an API secret is configured. Pull report data from the GA4 Data API and render it inside your WordPress admin dashboard. Manage custom dimensions in GA4 through the Management API (Pro only). No Analytics data passes through a third-party proxy server. Every Google Analytics Data API call goes directly from your WordPress site to Google. APIs Used Google Analytics Data API — powers all dashboard reports inside WordPress (audience, acquisition, behavior, and all Pro report tabs). GA4 Measurement Protocol — server-side event delivery when an API secret is configured, so events still fire when JavaScript is blocked. Google Analytics Management API v3 — Pro only; auto-creates custom dimensions in your GA4 property with a single click. Google OAuth 2.0 — secure sign-in; TrueAna requests only the Analytics read/write scopes it needs. gtag.js (Google tag) — Google’s standard tracking snippet, loaded on your site’s frontend to send events and pageviews to GA4 and Google Ads. TrueAna Proxy Service – The plugin uses a proxy service for OAuth authentication with Google services. What You Can Track GA4 connection — one-click OAuth or manual Measurement ID + API Secret entry, User ID tracking, IP anonymization, Google Consent Mode v2, enhanced link attribution. User activity — login (with checkout vs. My Account context), login errors, logout, registration form views, new sign-ups, reviews, comments. WooCommerce shopping journey — every step from product view to purchase, refunds, and coupon usage (30+ events, all free — see the full list below). Conversion pixels — Facebook Pixel and Google Ads out of the box; Bing, TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn Insight, and Snapchat in Pro. Subscriptions — the complete WooCommerce Subscriptions lifecycle, from creation to cancellation (Pro). Custom dimensions — author, category, tag, post type, user role, form ID/name, subscription ID, and more, auto-registered in GA4 (Pro). Free Features GA4 Connection One-click OAuth sign-in or manual Measurement ID entry Supports GA4 property IDs (G-XXXXXXXX) and manual API Secret for server-side Measurement Protocol User ID tracking to follow logged-in users across sessions IP anonymization for GDPR compliance Google Consent Mode v2 — respects visitor consent before firing any tracking Enhanced link attribution Event Tracking User login (with checkout vs. My Account context), login errors, logout Registration form view, new user sign-up Product review written, comment posted WooCommerce error logging WooCommerce Event Tracking — 30+ events, all free Conversion Pixels — free Facebook Pixel — PageView on all pages; ViewContent on product pages; AddToCart on cart events; Purchase on order completion Google Ads Conversion — conversion event with revenue value and transaction ID on order completion Built-in Analytics Dashboard — free tabs Audience Reports — Users, new users, sessions, engagement rate, avg. session duration; breakdown by country, language, and device category Acquisition Reports — Active users by channel group, traffic source, medium, and screen resolution Behavior Reports — Top pages by traffic, time on page, age group, gender, and operating system WordPress Dashboard Widgets — Quick stats, overview chart, users by country, device, and language — visible right on the WP Dashboard home screen Pro Features Upgrade to TrueAna Pro to unlock subscription event tracking, 14 additional dashboard reports, custom dimensions, and five more ad pixel integrations — everything a growing store needs to move past basic pageviews. WooCommerce Subscriptions Event Tracking (Pro) Requires the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin. TrueAna Pro tracks the complete subscription lifecycle — 10 events automatically fired via WooCommerce Subscriptions hooks: Every subscription event includes custom dimension parameters — automatically populated once custom dimensions are set up. Custom Dimensions — Pro, 11 dimensions auto-created in GA4 TrueAna Pro registers the following dimensions in your GA4 property with one click. No manual setup in the Google Analytics UI is needed: Author ID of the page or post writer Post or product category Post or product tag WordPress post type Current logged-in user role ID of the submitted form Name of the submitted form TrueAna persistent user identifier new / renewal / re-subscription WooCommerce Subscription ID Number of renewals for the subscription These dimensions unlock the Pro dashboard reports for Content, Forms, and Subscriptions. Advanced Pixel Integrations — Pro In addition to the free Facebook Pixel and Google Ads, Pro adds five more advertising platforms. Each pixel fires in sync with the same WooCommerce hooks as GA4, keeping revenue and product data consistent across every platform: Bing UET Pixel — Page load, ViewProduct, AddToCart, Purchase TikTok Pixel — PageView, ViewContent, AddToCart, Purchase Pinterest Tag — PageVisit, ViewCategory, AddToCart, Checkout LinkedIn Insight Tag — Site-wide page tracking + Purchase event Snapchat Pixel — PAGE_VIEW, VIEW_CONTENT, ADD_CART, PURCHASE Pro Dashboard Reports The following dashboard tabs show an upgrade prompt in the free version. Pro unlocks real GA4 data for each: Real-Time Reports — Active users right now, live page views, live visitor locations, active traffic sources Form Tracking Reports — Views, submissions, and conversion rate per form vs. the previous period (powered by ga4wp_form_id and ga4wp_form_name custom dimensions) Video Tracking Reports — Video plays, completion count, completion rate, and average watch depth per video title WooCommerce Conversion Reports — Total revenue, transactions, revenue per user, session conversion rate; breakdowns by product, traffic source, device, and state/region Purchase Journey / Funnel Reports — Product views → add to cart → checkout → purchase funnel by device category with previous-period comparison Product Performance Reports — Best-selling products ranked by revenue, product views, cart additions, and purchases WooCommerce Subscriptions Dashboard — Subscriber MRR/ARR trend, active/churned/on-hold subscriber counts, churn rate, renewal rate, and subscription revenue chart Content Analytics Reports — Top authors, categories, tags, and post types ranked by pageviews (powered by custom dimensions) Google Ads Reports — Ad group cost, ad group traffic, search query report, ad distribution network performance Google AdSense Reports — AdSense revenue by page title, ad clicks by page title Saved Explore Reports (Pro) Pin custom-built GA4 Explore-style reports as persistent dashboard tabs. Enable or disable individual saved reports and reorder all dashboard tabs via drag-and-drop. Scheduled Email Reports (Pro) Receive automated GA4 summary reports by email on a schedule you define — daily, weekly, or monthly — without logging into WordPress. UTM Builder (Pro) Built-in UTM parameter generator for building properly formatted campaign tracking URLs directly inside your WordPress dashboard. Free vs Pro at a Glance Connection & Tracking GA4 OAuth sign-in and manual Measurement ID — Free & Pro GA4 Measurement Protocol (server-side events) — Free & Pro User ID tracking, IP anonymization, Google Consent Mode v2 — Free & Pro Enhanced link attribution — Free & Pro Event Tracking Login, logout, login errors, sign-up, registration form view — Free & Pro Write review, post comment, WooCommerce error log — Free & Pro 30+ WooCommerce GA4 events (view, cart, checkout, purchase, refund, etc.) — Free & Pro WooCommerce Subscriptions lifecycle events (10 events) — Pro only Conversion Pixels Facebook Pixel (PageView, ViewContent, AddToCart, Purchase) — Free & Pro Google Ads conversion tracking — Free & Pro Bing UET, TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn Insight, Snapchat pixels — Pro only Custom Dimensions Custom dimensions in GA4 (11 dimensions, one-click auto-create) — Pro only Dashboard Reports Audience Reports (users, sessions, country, language, device) — Free & Pro Acquisition Reports (channels, sources, mediums) — Free & Pro Behavior Reports (top pages, time on page, age group, gender, OS) — Free & Pro WordPress Dashboard Widgets — Free & Pro Real-Time Reports — Pro only Form Tracking Reports — Pro only Video Tracking Reports — Pro only WooCommerce Purchase Journey Funnel, Conversion & Revenue Reports — Pro only Campaign Performance Reports — Pro only WooCommerce Subscriptions Dashboard — Pro only Content Analytics Reports (author, category, tag, post type) — Pro only Google Ads Reports — Pro only Google AdSense Reports — Pro only Other Pro Features Custom Explore Reports with drag-and-drop tab ordering — Pro only Scheduled Email Reports (daily / weekly / monthly) — Pro only UTM Builder — Pro only Why TrueAna Instead Of… Site Kit by Google alternative — Site Kit connects GA4 but leaves WooCommerce event tracking, custom dimensions, and subscription reporting to you. TrueAna fires 30+ WooCommerce events out of the box with nothing to configure in Tag Manager. Tag Manager + GTM container setup alternative — Skip building and maintaining triggers and variables by hand. TrueAna ships the WooCommerce and subscription event map already built and tested. MonsterInsights or ExactMetrics or GA Google Analytics alternative — TrueAna’s free tier already includes 30+ WooCommerce events, Audience/Acquisition/Behavior dashboard reports, and full Google Consent Mode v2 support — no upgrade needed just to get compliant support, accurate tracking. Server-side Measurement Protocol delivery also means events still reach GA4 even when a visitor’s browser blocks gtag.js due to some js errors, so your numbers hold up better than JS-only tracking. Pro is reserved for what genuinely needs it super powers to understand stats in more detailed way. A self-hosted analytics plugin alternative — Self-hosted tools write every pageview and other data straight into your WordPress database, so your site’s own performance degrades as traffic and data grow, and large sites eventually need manual pruning just to keep the DB manageable. They also can’t feed Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or GA4-based remarketing and lookalike audiences, so you lose the marketing usability of having sales and conversion data inside the ad platforms you actually spend on. If you want to move off Google Analytics entirely, that trade-off may be worth it — but TrueAna is built for the opposite goal: getting more out of the GA4 property, and the ad platform integrations, you already have. TrueAna doesn’t store visitor data on your server at all; it reads and displays data live from your own GA4 account. Requirements WordPress 5.7 or higher PHP 7.4 or higher A Google Analytics 4 property (G-XXXXXXXX) A Google account with access to your GA4 property Privacy TrueAna does not collect or store visitor data on your server beyond what WordPress and WooCommerce already store. Analytics data lives entirely in your Google Analytics account; the plugin reads it via the GA4 Data API solely to display inside your dashboard. IP anonymization and Google Consent Mode v2 are available as one-click toggles. When Consent Mode is active the plugin sets a lightweight first-party cookie to carry the visitor’s consent state into server-side Measurement Protocol requests if enabled.

Google Analytics is complicated! You shouldn’t have to spend hours on tracking scripts, variables, dimensions, and other complexities just to answer basic questions about your visitors. That’s why we built Independent Analytics. Independent Analytics gives you simple, common-sense stats you can use to grow your website. It automatically tracks your visitors and adds easy-to-read reports right inside your WordPress admin dashboard. As a Google Analytics alternative, Independent Analytics also offers superior privacy for yourself and your visitors. It does not use cookies, store personal data, or communicate with external servers. All of your data is created and stored in your WP database. This is a free plugin and doesn’t require you to create an account on another site. Loved by the WP Community ❤️ Independent Analytics has received praise and renown from WP Tuts, Web Squadron, WP Weekly, WP Builds, and many more publications. Get Started in 60 Seconds Visit your Plugins > Add New menu Search for “Independent Analytics” Install and enjoy 🙂 Independent Analytics starts tracking visitors immediately. No JavaScript. No code snippets. No account to create. Just install and activate, and clear your cache once if you’re using a caching plugin. Your data starts showing up right away, so you can refresh the page and check how it’s going. Who’s it for? Bloggers: Find out which posts are getting traction without wading through a dashboard built for enterprise marketing teams. Use Independent Analytics for simple blog statistics and blog stats that show you what’s actually being read. Builders & agencies: Give your clients analytics that they can easily understand and access from within the WP dashboard. No more fielding questions about complex GA4 reports or Google Tag Manager configurations. eCommerce stores: Check which products get the most views and what visitors are searching for before buying. Uncover your most valuable traffic sources to streamline your marketing, and get more advanced eCommerce store analytics with the Pro version. News sites: You need same-day site stats and a fast way to see what’s resonating now. The analytics update in real-time and you can quickly check your post views in the Posts menu while you work. You might also enjoy the real-time dashboard included in the Pro version. Startups: Get straight to the most valuable data without digging through endless menus. Find out where your early adopters are coming from and what messaging resonates with them. Nonprofits: You want to know where your donors come from and which campaigns get attention, without using cookies that violate donor trust. Easily share analytics access with other team members to get everyone on board with using data to advance your mission. Fully Private for You and Your Visitors Without privacy friendly analytics, you could be at risk of violating regional privacy laws, such as the GDPR (DSGVO) or CCPA. Independent Analytics Analytics is a privacy first analytics solution designed from the ground up for legal compliance. No communication with external servers No cookies No personal data Skip the complexity of consent banners and data processing agreements by using self-hosted, cookieless analytics. What You Can Track Independent Analytics includes a wealth of metrics for understanding your visitors: Visitor tracking – track visitors across your site and see your unique visitor count, page views, and sessions. Engagement tracking – see how long people spend on your site, how often they “bounce,” and how many pages they view on average. Referral tracking – see your top referrers and traffic sources. Know which sites, search engines, AI platforms, and social networks send you traffic. Geographic tracking – see the countries and cities of your visitors. Device tracking – discover the device types people are using to access your site, including a mobile vs. desktop comparison. Campaign tracking – use UTM tracking to measure the performance of your marketing campaigns. Create UTM links and track results in the Campaigns report (Pro). Click tracking & link tracking – track clicks on any link or button. Includes outbound link tracking and download tracking for file download tracking (Pro). Form tracking & form analytics – automatically track form submissions across 20+ form plugins (Pro). Sales tracking & revenue tracking – connect your store for full eCommerce tracking with WooCommerce analytics and WooCommerce tracking. Also supports FluentCart, Easy Digital Downloads, SureCart, and PaidMembershipsPro (Pro). Metrics at a Glance Your analytics dashboard displays all the web analytics you need in one place: Page view and unique visitor counter Bounce rate and views per session Session duration and page view duration Popular posts and popular pages (top pages sorted by any metric) Top referrers and traffic sources Landing pages, entry pages, and exit pages Country statistics and city statistics with an interactive world map Device statistics, browser statistics, and operating system breakdowns Visitors growth and views growth Every metric updates in real-time so you always have fresh website traffic data. Filter, sort, and segment by date range, post type, author, and many other factors. Explore the Simple, Yet Powerful Features Our WordPress statistics plugin is more robust than a simple hit counter and includes all of the following features: Pages report – discover your most visited pages. Referrers report – find the sites sending you traffic. Geographic report – see which countries and cities your visitors are from. Devices report – get a breakdown of traffic by device type, browser, and operating system. CSV exporting – export any report to CSV for further analysis in tools like Excel or Looker Studio. PDF exporting – export any report as a beautiful PDF report to share with colleagues. Saved reports – create and save custom reports to the sidebar. Share access with authors – share access with any user role in a few clicks and optionally limit the stats to only content published by the author. White-label the dashboard – white-label the analytics for non-admins to remove any branding and external links. View counts in the Posts menu – check how many views your recent posts have while browsing the Posts menu. Dashboard widget – get a quick look at your stats when you login. Admin toolbar stats – see how many views each page has while viewing or editing it. Public view counter – show off how many views each post on your site has gotten. Ignore user roles – easily ignore activity from admins while recording traffic from .Subscribers and Customers. Ignore IP addresses – add any IP address to your ignore list in just two clicks. Automatically delete old data – delete data older than X months/years to limit the total data storage. Filtering system – segment your data with the powerful filters. Essential metrics – find your views, visitors, sessions, bounce rate, session duration, and views per session metrics in the Quick Stats, chart, and data table. Visitors Growth – find your fastest-growing pages and referrers. Author stats – sort and filter your pages by author. Post type stats – segment by post type to view stats for your posts, search results, custom post types, 404 pages, and more. Landing page stats – Use the Entrances metric to find your top landing pages. Developer API – the rudimentary developer API lets you get stats from any page on your site. RTL support – Independent Analytics works just as well for right-to-left languages. Mobile-friendly – the Analytics dashboard is fully compatible with mobile devices. Campaigns report (Pro) – create and track UTM campaign links. Real-time analytics (Pro) – see live visitors on your site right now. Click tracking (Pro) – track clicks on any link without touching code. eCommerce analytics (Pro) – integration with WooCommerce, FluentCart, EDD, SureCart, and PaidMembershipsPro. lets you find your most profitable campaigns, landing pages, and referrers. User journeys (Pro) – explore every recorded session including a timeline for each one, so you can understand exactly how visitors use your website. Form tracking (Pro) – automatically track form submissions and discover where your leads are coming from. Integration with 20+ top form plugins, such as WPForms, Contact Form 7, Fluent Forms, Gravity Forms, Mailchimp for WordPress, Ninja Forms, Formidable Forms, and more. Overview report (Pro) – create the perfect analytics dashboard for your website with the customizable Overview report. Solo reports (Pro) – view dedicated reports for individual pages and referrers. HTML email reports (Pro) – schedule a beautiful daily, weekly, or monthly email report for yourself and your clients. Explore every feature with screenshots here → Built for Speed and Accuracy Independent Analytics is a lightweight analytics plugin that won’t slow your site down. It uses a single, optimized database query to record each visit. No external scripts. No third-party requests. Without the need for a consent banner, your analytics are much more accurate. Only 31% of visitors accept cookie banners. Unlike sampling-based tools, every single visit is recorded and no additional data is simulated. What you see in the dashboard is what actually happened on your site. A Better Alternative If you’re tired of bloated or invasive analytics tools, Independent Analytics is a refreshing change. People use it as a: Google Analytics alternative – no account needed and no data sent to Google. All your website analytics stay on your server. Matomo alternative – lighter weight, easier to use, and fully self-hosted without needing to maintain a separate application. Jetpack Stats alternative – faster, more feature-rich, and doesn’t require a WordPress.com connection. MonsterInsights alternative – view your web analytics natively in WordPress without connecting to Google Analytics. Plausible alternative – similar privacy-first approach but fully free and self-hosted with no monthly fee. Fathom alternative – similar simple analytics philosophy, but free and hosted entirely on your own server. Clicky alternative – real-time analytics without sending your visitor data to an external service. WordPress Stats You Can Count On Independent Analytics is the WordPress stats plugin trusted by over 100,000 websites. Whether you need simple site stats for a personal blog or full website statistics for a growing business, it gives you everything in one plugin. Use it as your complete web analytics solution: track website traffic, monitor website traffic patterns over time, and understand where your visitors come from and what they do. It’s the WordPress analytics plugin the web has been missing. Independent Analytics Pro Get more valuable insights with the Independent Analytics Pro plugin, which includes UTM campaign tracking, real-time analytics, click event tracking, eCommerce sales tracking (WooCommerce, FluentCart, EDD, SureCart), user journeys, form conversion tracking, HTML email reports, and a customizable Overview report. Click here to get Independent Analytics Pro → Who Made This? Independent Analytics is designed and developed by Ben Sibley and Andrew Mead in the beautiful city of Philadelphia. Check out our interview on the WP Builds podcast if you’d like to hear our story.