A Google Analytics alternative for WordPress
Add privacy-first analytics to your WordPress site without cookies, without a consent banner, and without a heavy plugin. PlainStats is one small script you paste once.
Why WordPress sites look for an alternative
On WordPress, running Google Analytics the compliant way usually means a consent plugin plus a cookie banner, and often a fairly heavy analytics plugin on top. That is a lot of moving parts for "how many people visited". A cookieless tool removes the banner and the plugin weight.
What you get with PlainStats
- No cookies and no consent banner from your analytics. See cookieless analytics.
- No personal data stored, so nothing per-visitor to manage.
- One small async script, no bulky plugin slowing the page.
- Live visitors, sources, top pages, countries, and devices, in real time.
- EU-built and EU-processed. See EU web analytics.
How to add it to WordPress
You only need to put one script tag in your site's <head>. Two common ways:
Option 1: a header-insert plugin
Install any "insert headers and footers" type plugin, then paste your PlainStats tracking snippet into the header box. Done. Most WordPress users already have such a plugin.
Option 2: your theme header
In your child theme, add the snippet to header.php just before </head>. You will find the exact snippet for your site in the docs once you create it.
An honest note
Google Analytics has a large WordPress ecosystem and deep ad integrations, and it is free. If you live inside Google's marketing stack, that pull is real. PlainStats makes a different trade: simple, cookieless, privacy-first numbers with far less to wire up. Read the broader Google Analytics alternative overview, or try the live demo first.
General information, not legal advice. Whether you need a consent banner depends on every tool your site loads, not only your analytics.