MonsterInsights alternative
A MonsterInsights alternative that counts visitors inside WordPress
MonsterInsights shows stats in your WordPress admin, but every number comes from Google Analytics. That means a Google account, a GA4 property and the Google tag on every page. SwiftWebDev Dashboard is a free MonsterInsights alternative that counts visits on your own site instead: visitors, top pages, referrers, AI traffic and speed scores, right on your dashboard. Nothing to connect, no cookies, and the data stays in your own database.
Counted on your own site
Why people look for a MonsterInsights alternative
The same four reasons come up again and again. Each one has a plain answer.
No Google account to connect
MonsterInsights needs the Google account that owns a Google Analytics 4 property.
Instead: install, activate, done. No account, sign-up or API key.
Simple numbers, not GA4 reports
Many site owners only want to know how many people came, what they read and where they came from.
Instead: one screen with visitors, page views, top pages, referrers, devices and trends for 7, 30 or 90 days.
No Google tag or analytics cookies
MonsterInsights loads the Google tag (gtag.js), which sets the _ga cookies.
Instead: one small counter script after the page loads. No cookies, no browser storage, and IP addresses are never saved.
Useful reports without a paid plan
In MonsterInsights, page speed reports and real-time stats sit in the paid plans.
Instead: free PageSpeed tests with fixes, AI visitors and AI crawlers, and a weekly email report.
MonsterInsights vs SwiftWebDev Dashboard, side by side
MonsterInsights facts come from its pricing, features and WordPress.org pages, checked October 2026. SwiftWebDev Dashboard facts are from version 1.1.0. MonsterInsights wins several rows, and that is fine: the two plugins are built for different jobs.
- Better heremarks the plugin that does that job better
- Dependsmeans it depends on what you need
| MonsterInsights | Topic | SwiftWebDev Dashboard |
|---|---|---|
| Setup and privacy | ||
| Install, then connect the Google account that owns your Google Analytics 4 property. | Setup | Better here Install and activate. No account, sign-up or API key. |
| Loads the Google tag (gtag.js), which sets the _ga cookies. Works with consent plugins. An EU compliance addon comes from the Plus plan. | Cookies | Better here No cookies or browser storage. Each visit is a one-way hash with a daily random value. IP addresses are never saved. |
| In Google Analytics. MonsterInsights shows the reports inside WordPress. | Where data lives Depends | In your own WordPress database. Raw visits are deleted after 48 hours and daily totals are kept for 180 days. |
| Better here As far back as your Google Analytics property keeps it. | History | Starts on the day you activate it. Daily totals are kept for 180 days. |
| What you see in WordPress | ||
| Better here Top posts and pages, referrals and countries in the free Lite version, read from Google Analytics. | Top pages and referrers | Top pages, referrers and devices in the free plugin. Countries come with PRO. |
| Reads AI assistant visits from Google Analytics, where they arrive as referrals. AI crawlers do not run the Google tag, so they never show up. | AI traffic | Better here AI visitors from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and more, AI crawler visits by company, and a check of what your robots.txt allows. Counts are a minimum. |
| Page speed reports are a paid feature. The free Lite version does not include them. | Page speed | Better here Free mobile and desktop scores, Core Web Vitals and a ranked list of fixes for any page of your site. |
| Better here Rankings, clicks and CTR from Search Console, as a paid feature. | Search Console | Not available. |
| Not listed on its features page. | Updates and site health | Better here Pending updates, PHP version, Site Health and recent activity on the same screen. |
| Deeper analytics | ||
| From the Plus plan. | Real-time visitors Depends | Visitors online now in the toolbar for free. A full Real-time tab in PRO. |
| Better here WooCommerce and eCommerce revenue tracking, from the Pro plan. | eCommerce | Not offered. PRO goals can count visits that reach your order thank-you page, without revenue amounts. |
| Form conversion tracking for the major form plugins, from the Pro plan. | Forms and goals Depends | PRO goals, form submissions, clicks and custom events. |
| Not listed. The Elite plan adds surveys and heatmaps through UserFeedback. | Session recordings | Better here In PRO, with form fields masked and recordings stored in your own database. |
| Better here More than 2 million active installs on WordPress.org. | Track record | New: first released in 2026, now at version 1.1.0. |
| Price | ||
| Yes, MonsterInsights Lite. | Free version Depends | Yes, the full plugin with no locked cards. |
| Billed yearly. The first year is discounted and renewals are at the full price, per its pricing page. | Paid plans Depends | An optional PRO add-on, billed yearly. Every plan has every PRO feature. See PRO plans. |
Plans and prices change. Check both pricing pages before you buy.
Also weighing Site Kit by Google? A Site Kit alternative with no Google account
Site Kit by Google is free and brings reports from your Google accounts into WordPress. Here is where it overlaps with SwiftWebDev Dashboard, and where each one stands alone. Site Kit facts come from its plugin page and documentation, checked October 2026.
Only Site Kit
- Search Console clicks, impressions and search queries
- AdSense and Google Ads reports
- Google Analytics reports
- Tag Manager setup
Both
- Stats on your WordPress dashboard
- PageSpeed scores for mobile and desktop
- Free to install
Only SwiftWebDev Dashboard
- No Google account or analytics cookies
- Visit data in your own database
- AI crawlers and a robots.txt check
- Updates, PHP and Site Health
- Weekly email from your own site
Gathering data?
Site Kit shows reports from your Google services, so a new setup can say gathering data for a while. SwiftWebDev Dashboard counts from the first visit after you activate it.
Real time
Site Kit shows current-day data but no real-time report. SwiftWebDev Dashboard shows visitors online now in the toolbar, and PRO adds a Real-time tab.
Use both
They are separate plugins with separate screens. A common setup keeps Site Kit for Search Console and uses SwiftWebDev Dashboard for daily visitors, speed and updates.
Is SwiftWebDev Dashboard the right MonsterInsights alternative for you?
Find your situation in the list. The tag on the right says what I would do in your place.
- Switch
- Stay with MonsterInsights
- Run both
You want visitor numbers without a Google account or the Google tag.
Switch
You want traffic, speed scores and updates on one screen.
Switch
You want to see how many visitors AI assistants send and which AI bots read your site.
Switch
You check a few numbers a week and would like them by email.
Switch
You sell with WooCommerce and need revenue and eCommerce reports.
Stay with MonsterInsights
You rely on Search Console data or GA4 audiences for your ads.
Stay with MonsterInsights
You need several years of history in one place.
Stay with MonsterInsights
Your marketing team lives in Google Analytics, but you want simple daily numbers in WordPress.
Run both
You are not sure yet and want to compare the numbers first.
Run both
How to switch from MonsterInsights (no history import)
SwiftWebDev Dashboard does not import Google Analytics or MonsterInsights history. It starts counting on the day you activate it, and your old data stays in your Google Analytics account.
Install SwiftWebDev Dashboard
Free from WordPress.org. Counting starts with the next visit. Turn on the weekly email if you want a Monday summary.
Run both for a few weeks
MonsterInsights reports from Google, SwiftWebDev Dashboard counts on your server, so one does not affect the other. Expect different totals: each tool counts in its own way.
Check what you still need
If you rely on eCommerce revenue, Search Console or GA4 audiences, keep Google Analytics, through MonsterInsights or Site Kit.
Deactivate MonsterInsights
Your history stays in your Google Analytics account. You can still sign in to Google Analytics to see it.
Review your banner and privacy policy
With the Google tag gone, both may need an update. What they still need depends on the rest of your site and where your visitors live. This is not legal advice.
Watch the visitor stats before you switch
This tutorial walks through visitors, page views and sessions, the period picker, and how each visit is counted without cookies or a Google Analytics account.
Read the transcript
Real visitor stats. No cookies, no Google account. Open SwiftWebDev in the admin menu. Your visitor stats are on the dashboard, in six cards. You do not need a Google Analytics account, and no cookies are used. The top three cards are Visitors, Page Views, and Sessions. Visitors are the unique people who came to your site. Page views count every page they opened. Sessions are separate visits, so one person can have several.
Use the period picker at the top to choose the last seven, thirty, or ninety days. Thirty is the default. Each card compares the total with the period just before it. Green means it went up, red means it went down, and the sparkline shows the daily trend. Visitors over time shows a bar for each day, with page views as a line. Hover a bar to see the numbers for that day. Busiest days shows the average visitors for each day of the week, and names your busiest day.
Engagement adds four numbers: pages per visit, visits per visitor, average visitors per day, and your best day in the period. How is a visit counted? After a page loads, one small script sends a single request to your own site. Bots, link previews, and prefetched pages are skipped. Logged-in users are not counted by default, so your own visits do not inflate the numbers. You can change this in SwiftWebDev Dashboard settings, in your user menu.
There are no cookies and no browser storage. Your server turns the IP address and browser into a one-way code, mixed with a random value that changes every day. The IP address, browser details, and page addresses are never saved. A new session starts after thirty minutes without a page view. Because the code changes daily, a person who visits on two different days is counted once on each day.
Raw visit records are deleted after forty-eight hours. Only daily totals are kept, for one hundred and eighty days, enough to compare ninety days with the ninety before. Everything stays in your own WordPress database. For deeper reports, like real-time visitors, traffic sources, and top pages, there is the separate SwiftWebDev Dashboard PRO add-on. The free stats work fully on their own.
That is cookieless visitor stats in SwiftWebDev Dashboard. Next: Google PageSpeed scores for any page of your site. Subscribe for more SwiftWebDev Dashboard tutorials.
MonsterInsights alternative questions
Short, straight answers. Setup steps live in the SwiftWebDev Dashboard docs.
Is there a free MonsterInsights alternative that does not need Google Analytics?
Yes. SwiftWebDev Dashboard is free on WordPress.org and counts visits on your own site, so there is no Google Analytics account to connect. For a wider look at the options, read WordPress analytics without Google Analytics.
Is SwiftWebDev Dashboard a full replacement for MonsterInsights?
For visitor stats inside WordPress, yes. For Google Analytics features such as eCommerce revenue, Search Console reports or GA4 audiences, no. It does not connect to Google Analytics. It counts visits on your own site instead.
Does MonsterInsights need a Google Analytics account?
Yes. MonsterInsights connects your site to a Google Analytics 4 property, and you sign in with the Google account that owns it. SwiftWebDev Dashboard needs no account of any kind.
Can I import my MonsterInsights or Google Analytics data?
No. SwiftWebDev Dashboard does not import history. It starts counting on the day you activate it. Your past data stays in your Google Analytics account, where you can still see it.
Can I run SwiftWebDev Dashboard and MonsterInsights at the same time?
Yes. They work separately, so you can compare them side by side for a few weeks. Expect the totals to differ, because each tool counts in its own way.
Do I still need a cookie banner with SwiftWebDev Dashboard?
SwiftWebDev Dashboard sets no cookies and stores no IP addresses, so it adds no cookie of its own to your banner. Whether your site needs a banner depends on everything else on the page, such as embeds, ads or other tools, and on where your visitors live. This is general information, not legal advice.
Is SwiftWebDev Dashboard a good Site Kit alternative?
For daily visitors, speed scores, updates and site health, yes, and it needs no Google account. For Search Console, AdSense or Google Ads reports, no. Many sites keep Site Kit for Search Console and use SwiftWebDev Dashboard for the rest.
Why does Site Kit say it is gathering data?
Site Kit shows reports from your Google services, so it waits until Google has data for your site. A new setup can show gathering data for a while. SwiftWebDev Dashboard counts from the first visit after you activate it.
Does it track WooCommerce sales like MonsterInsights?
No. Neither the free plugin nor PRO reports eCommerce revenue. PRO goals can count visits that reach your order thank-you page. To ask WooCommerce customers how they heard about you and see revenue by answer, look at SourceSay.
Will SwiftWebDev Dashboard slow down my site?
The visitor counter is a small script that sends one request per page view after the page has loaded. The plugin adds nothing else to your front end. You can check your PageSpeed score before and after to see the effect on your own site.
What does it cost?
The plugin is free, with no locked cards. The optional PRO add-on is billed yearly, and every plan has every PRO feature: see the PRO plans. MonsterInsights also has a free Lite version and paid yearly plans.
Keep your visitor stats inside WordPress
SwiftWebDev Dashboard is free. Install it next to MonsterInsights, compare for a few weeks, then keep the one that fits.