A perfect alternative to Jetpack Stats, Koko Analytics is a WordPress plugin that only does what is expected of it. That is to say giving the traffic statistics of a WordPress website. Light and free, it is GDPR friendly, which doesn’t spoil anything.
Let’s move on to discovering it! 🙂
Sommaire
Focus on Koko Analytics the WordPress plugin
It was while looking for a lighter alternative to Jetpack and its statistics functionality which pays off beyond a certain number of page views for a website, that I came across Koko Analytics last year.
I wanted a WordPress traffic statistics plugin that was:
- light
- free
- GDPR friendly
It was therefore without fear that I turned to Koko Analytics after testing various plugins. Indeed, highly rated on the official WordPress plugin repo, with 5 stars out of 116 votes (in May 2024), it has already proven itself.
However, if you want to dig in and check the details relating to the Koko Analytics plugin, go to the extension page: Koko Analytics
What does Koko Analytics WordPress do?
The Koko Analytics plugin tracks visits and the number of page views of a WordPress site every day. Then, it gives them back to you in the form of a graph which is very reminiscent of that of jetpack Stats in its classic form (not the new one). Here is the screenshot that you can see on the official WordPress website (French):
The plugin is therefore minimalist in its visual and textual restitution of daily visits and views of a WordPress website. In dark red we have the number of visitors over a 24-hour period. And more clearly, the number of pages viewed for the same 24-hour period.
Koko analytics GDPR & Cookies
Yes, a majority of us want to be 100% compliant in terms of respecting the GDPR law. For people who are in Europe. We want to respect the confidentiality of our visitors personal data. In this case, if you want to avoid cookies being placed on your audience equipment, at least for those who do not have ad blockers on their browsers, you can opt for Koko Analytics to operate without Cookies .
Disable the use of cookies for Koko Analytics
Be careful though, by default the Koko Analytics plugin uses cookies. On the other hand, to disable the plugin’s use of cookies, simply go to the plugin settings and check the “No” option in the extension’s rare settings.
Below is the configuration in screenshot if we let Koko use cookies. Simply check no to deactivate cookies:
Of course, there is a small consequence to disabling the use of cookies on a visit and view tracking tool. In this case, it is clearly indicated under the ‘yes/no’ choice that Koko will not be able to detect returning visitors very well compared to new ones.
It must therefore be concluded that deactivating the use of cookies will make your statistics less precise and therefore less reliable. Unfortunately we cannot have everything!
Exclude WordPress admin visits and views
Have you just launched your website and installed Koko Analytics? Consider excluding your own Administrator account visits and views. And potentially those of your editors and other accounts who work on your WordPress website.
For this, everything is planned in the few settings possible via this WordPress statistics plugin :
In this case, all you need to do is select the “Administrator” account status to exclude your visit and view data. So that Koko doesn’t count them. And if other people with administrator status or other work with you, ditto. Select all the account statuses concerned and validate your action.
Thus, only statistics relating to your visitors and their views will be counted and displayed in your statistical reports .
Other Koko Analytics settings options
Among the few other settings available today in Koko Analytics, you can:
- Set the time period you want to display on your dashboard for the collected statistics.
- The number of months of retention of statistical data stored in the database . Any data older than the defined number of months will therefore be automatically deleted from the database.
Finally, note that at any time, via a dedicated button at the bottom of the settings page, you can delete all of the statistical data already stored in the database if there is any.
Flaws of Koko Analytics the WordPress stats plugin
The plugin is not yet translated into certains languages, although it is in very accessible English and is available in many other languages. For example, there’s no translation for french users. A priori, numerous translation proposals have been made on the official site for a French version which I hope will not be long in coming.
This is to date the rare and only fault that I find in this WordPress plugin for having simple and essential statistics .
Strengths and advantages of Koko Analytics
The Koko Analytics plugin offers various advantages:
- it is free and open source (like WordPress)
- It is lightweight and without calling/exchanging data with third-party services outside the website where it is installed (eco-friendly)
- storing statistical data can be mastered without knowing anything about code (duration, purge/dump)
- it respects the personal data of visitors . It counts the number of visits and the number of views. Not the gender or even the age of the visitors…
- It’s plug & play if you need/want to go fast. Unless you want to refine the settings mentioned above, you install and activate the plugin. And you wait until the data is collected.
It goes without saying that statistics will only start to be collected and displayed once the plugin is activated.
Conclusion
The Koko Analytics plugin is the perfect WordPress statistics plugin for use that goes to the essentials. The fact that it is free, GDPR friendly and open source makes it a real asset on an installation that we prefer to be light and eco-friendly in Europe.
