Many of you received an email on the night of June 5 to 6, 2024. Announcing the automatic update of WordPress from 6.5.3 to version 6.5.4. And for people who have the Jetpack plugin on their WordPress site, an update of this plugin (sometimes as much criticized as it is popular) is offered.
For my part, I like to check what an update of such a plugin offers. And in this case, it’s interesting since we learn that with this update of Jetpack, the old version of historical stats is deprecated. Basically, it will be deleted soon. For the benefit of the new version.
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Old version of jetpack stats deprecated
Let’s look directly at what we can discover from the list of elements cited and delivered with this umpteenth update of the Jetpack WordPress plugin:
To summarize, if you use Jetpack stats on your WordPress and you have the old version of the stats , soon you will have by default (and you will have no/no choice) the new version of the stats. Called “New Experience”. While the famous old version is here called ‘old experience’.
When will it take place? No date set at the moment, but a priori, it is better to expect it at any time. Jetpack doesn’t deliver updates all the time like others. But whether the old version of the stats stops before the summer, in the summer of 2024 or before September would not be a surprise. At worst, by the end of 2024, it will be over.
Old stats deprecation message after Jetpack update
When you have updated Jetpack, you will see the following image in the stats interface:
At least it’s clear! That said, it has been months and months since the proposal to switch to the new version was made.
However, be careful, if when you go to the page dedicated to Jetpack stats settings you click on “Activate the new Jetpack Stats experience”, you will no longer be able to go back (whereas in the past, you could switch from the old one) to the new one and back to the old one).
In any case, you might as well get used to this new version quickly since the old version of the stats will soon be deleted.
With the new Jetpack stats, what’s new?
Visually, the old stats were more telling informations. Now it’s slightly less readable. Or at least you have to get used to it.
But the element that can be disturbing for historical users of this Jetpack feature which are the famous stats, is the “paid” part which arrives with the “new stats experience”.
Indeed, beyond 10,000 views , you will have to checkout to access the details of your stats… And this is not surprising when we know that Jetpack, many of whose options were in the past completely free, become partially free (and very limited at the same time). This is the case of:
- Social jetpack
- Jetpack Newsletter
However, you can have the non-commercial license and the new version of Jetpack stats for free if:
- If you displays ads on your website
- If you do not sell products or services on your website
- If you promote no business on your website
- If you do not make donations or sponsorships on your website
Basically, this won’t be ok for any site:
- professional
- e-commerce
- editorial with advertising or whatever the format of the website, if there is advertising
- if you receive or make donations/sponsorships
- if you do sponsorship (whatever it is, posts etc…) of companies, brands…
In summary, only personal blogs without advertising can keep the stats for free.
What alternatives to Jetpack stats?
There are a lot of them! But the alternatives to Jetpack Stats still need to be:
- are free
- are GDPR friendly
- are open source (ideally)
Roughly speaking, you can very well approach GA4 (i.e. Google Analytics 4 in its latest version after July 2023).
In terms of free and open source plugins, you will find in particular Koko Analytics for which you can configure GDPR friendly tracking, without depositing a cookie. I cite this plugin because I test it professionally and personally.
The perpetual evolution of Jetpack
The year 2024 is particularly rich in movements and changes for Jetpack. But also in the company Automattic which offers this WordPress plugin. Indeed, it is also in this month of June 2024 that the discontinuation of Jetpak Manage (a product intended for WordPress professionals and web agencies) is announced. The product will be replaced by another called: “Automattic for Agencies”.
