Plugin comparison
SwiftWebDev Dashboard & Analytics vs Site Kit by Google: a Site Kit alternative without a Google account
Both plugins put numbers on your WordPress dashboard. The big difference is where those numbers come from. Site Kit brings in reports from your Google accounts. SwiftWebDev Dashboard counts visits on your own site.
Short answer
Choose Site Kit by Google if you want Search Console, Google Analytics, AdSense or Google Ads data inside WordPress and you are happy to connect a Google account. Choose SwiftWebDev Dashboard if you want visitors, PageSpeed scores and updates on one screen with no Google account, no cookies and the data kept in your own database.
Where one visit travels
Site Kit by Google4 stops
- Visitor
- Google tag
- Google services
- Site Kit
Reports come from your connected Google accounts. Google usually needs 2 to 6 hours to process new traffic.
SwiftWebDev Dashboard3 stops
- Visitor
- Your database
- SwiftWebDev Dashboard
Counted on your own site without cookies. Nothing to connect and no Google account.
Site Kit vs SwiftWebDev Dashboard, row by row
An honest scorecard. The last column says who is stronger on each point, and Site Kit wins several of them. Site Kit facts come from Google's own plugin page and documentation, checked October 2026.
- Site Kit is stronger
- SwiftWebDev Dashboard is stronger
- Depends on your needs
| What you compare | Site Kit by Google | SwiftWebDev Dashboard | Stronger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup and privacy | |||
| Setup | Install, then connect a Google account and follow the setup flow. Each admin connects their own Google account. | Install and activate. No account, no license key and no API key. | SwiftWebDev Dashboard |
| Google account required | Yes. | No. | SwiftWebDev Dashboard |
| Cookies and consent | Google serves cookies through Analytics and Ads. Site Kit offers consent mode, which needs the WP Consent API plugin plus a consent management plugin. Consent is the site owner’s job. | Visitor stats are counted with no cookies and no browser storage. Each visit gets a one-way hash that changes every day. | SwiftWebDev Dashboard |
| Where the data lives | In your connected Google services. Information about site use is shared with Google. | In your own WordPress database. Raw visits are deleted after 48 hours, daily totals are kept for 180 days. | Depends |
| Script on your pages | The Google tag when Analytics or Google Ads is connected. Plugin conversion tracking adds more JavaScript when you turn it on. | One small counter script that runs after the page has loaded. Nothing else on the front end. | SwiftWebDev Dashboard |
| Data you see | |||
| Google Search data | Search Console impressions, clicks and the queries people used to find you. | Not available. SwiftWebDev Dashboard does not connect to Search Console. | Site Kit |
| Ads and revenue | AdSense earnings, Google Ads, Tag Manager and Reader Revenue Manager. | Not available. | Site Kit |
| PageSpeed scores and fixes | PageSpeed Insights for mobile and desktop, lab and field data, and a How to improve tab. | One-click mobile and desktop tests with four scores, Core Web Vitals, field data when Google has it and a ranked list of fixes to reach 90+. Free tests your homepage or any other page. PRO adds weekly tests of up to 10 pages with email alerts. | Depends |
| Real-time visitors | Current-day data, but no real-time reporting. | Free shows the last 7, 30 or 90 days. PRO adds real-time visitors. | SwiftWebDev Dashboard PRO |
| Form and click tracking | Conversion tracking for Contact Form 7, WPForms, Ninja Forms, WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads and more. Enhanced measurement adds file downloads, video plays and form interactions. | PRO tracks forms, clicks, bots, on-site search and custom events. | Site Kit |
| Session recordings | Not listed among Site Kit’s services. | PRO records sessions with form inputs masked. | SwiftWebDev Dashboard PRO |
| Your WordPress admin | |||
| Updates and site health | Not part of Site Kit’s listed services. | Pending WordPress, plugin and theme updates, PHP version, Site Health status and recent activity. | SwiftWebDev Dashboard |
| Dashboard and menu | Its own Site Kit dashboard, per-page stats in the admin bar, and a view-only dashboard you can share with other user roles. | Adds its own dashboard under one SwiftWebDev menu item, restyles the admin menu with your logo, and keeps the classic dashboard one click away. | Depends |
| Price | |||
| Free and paid | Free and open source. The Google products you connect may have their own terms and fees. | Free plugin. Optional PRO add-on from $25 per year for 1 site, $100 for 5 sites, $299 for unlimited sites. | Depends |
Want the technical detail on cookieless counting? Read WordPress analytics without Google Analytics or the SwiftWebDev Dashboard docs.
Watch a PageSpeed test run from the dashboard
This tutorial tests a page on mobile and desktop from SwiftWebDev Dashboard, then reads the four scores, the Core Web Vitals and the list of fixes. No Google account or API key is needed.
Read the transcript
How fast is your site, really? Find out from your dashboard. Open SwiftWebDev Dashboard and Analytics, and click the gauge icon in the header to open Speed and Optimize. Click Run test. Google PageSpeed Insights tests your homepage on mobile, then on desktop. Each test takes up to thirty seconds, and you do not need a Google API key. To test another page, paste its full address into Test another page, and click Test.
Only pages of your own website can be tested. Google can only test a site that is online at a public address, so run tests on the live site, not a local copy. You can run ten tests every ten minutes, and each run is two tests, mobile and desktop. Each device gets four scores: Performance, Accessibility, Best practices, and SEO. Ninety to one hundred is good, fifty to eighty-nine needs work, and below fifty is poor.
Next come the Core Web Vitals. The lab test is one simulated visit by Google Lighthouse. It measures Largest Contentful Paint, Cumulative Layout Shift, Total Blocking Time, First Contentful Paint, and Speed Index, each marked good, needs work, or poor. Then comes real-user data from the Chrome UX Report: real Chrome visitors to this page over the last twenty-eight days. If the page alone has too few visits, you see your whole site instead.
Google only publishes this data for sites with enough visitors. Until then, use the lab results. Potential speed improvement areas lists what to fix to reach ninety plus, biggest impact first. Each item shows its impact, what was measured, the estimated savings, and What to do, in plain language. Switch between mobile and desktop, or open the full Google report. SwiftWebDev Dashboard only reports.
It never changes your site. Your dashboard shows your homepage results too. Speed scores has your mobile and desktop score, Run test, and Test another page. Potential speed improvement areas shows the three changes that would help your mobile score the most. Weekly scheduled tests are part of SwiftWebDev Dashboard PRO. That's it. Test your homepage and your key pages on the live site, read the four scores and the Core Web Vitals, then work through the fixes from the top.
Next: Quick Links, the admin menu, and site health. Subscribe for more SwiftWebDev Dashboard tutorials.
Which one fits your site?
When to choose Site Kit by Google
- You want Search Console queries and impressions in WordPress.
- You run AdSense or Google Ads and want earnings and conversions in one place.
- You already use Google Analytics and want its reports next to your posts.
- You need conversion tracking for WooCommerce or your form plugin without writing code.
When to choose SwiftWebDev Dashboard
- You want visitor numbers without a Google account or an analytics cookie.
- You want visitor data kept in your own WordPress database.
- You want PageSpeed scores with a plain list of fixes, next to updates and site health.
- You want real-time visitors or session recordings later, with SwiftWebDev Dashboard PRO.
Using both together, or switching
They are separate plugins with separate screens, so you can run both. Site Kit lets you connect only the services you need, and its Google tag is used for Analytics and Google Ads only. So a common setup is Site Kit for Search Console and SwiftWebDev Dashboard for daily visitors, speed and updates. If you switch completely, your Google Analytics history stays in your Google account. SwiftWebDev Dashboard does not import it and starts counting the day you activate it.
Site Kit alternative questions
Short, straight answers. Setup steps live in the SwiftWebDev Dashboard docs.
Is SwiftWebDev Dashboard a full replacement for Site Kit by Google?
For daily visitors, speed scores, updates and site health, yes. For Search Console, AdSense or Google Ads reports, no. SwiftWebDev Dashboard does not connect to Google accounts, so keep Site Kit if you need those reports.
Do I need a Google account to use SwiftWebDev Dashboard?
No. Visitor stats are counted on your own site. Speed tests run through the SwiftWebDev speed test service with our own Google PageSpeed key, so you do not need an API key either.
Does Site Kit by Google use cookies?
When you connect Google Analytics or Google Ads, Site Kit places the Google tag on your site and Google serves cookies to measure traffic. Site Kit offers consent mode, which needs the WP Consent API plugin and a consent management plugin. SwiftWebDev Dashboard counts visitors without cookies or browser storage.
Can I use SwiftWebDev Dashboard and Site Kit at the same time?
Yes. They are separate plugins with separate screens. A common setup keeps Site Kit for Search Console data and uses SwiftWebDev Dashboard for visitors, PageSpeed scores and updates.
Which plugin adds less to the front end of my site?
SwiftWebDev Dashboard adds one small counter script that runs after the page has loaded. Site Kit adds the Google tag when Analytics or Google Ads is connected, and more JavaScript if you turn on plugin conversion tracking. You can check your PageSpeed score before and after to see the effect on your own site.
Will I lose my Google Analytics data if I switch?
No. Your Google Analytics data stays in your Google Analytics account. SwiftWebDev Dashboard does not import it. It starts counting from the day you activate it and keeps daily totals for 180 days in the free plugin.
Try the dashboard that needs no Google account
SwiftWebDev Dashboard is free and works on WordPress 6.5 or later with PHP 7.4 or later. Install it, open it, and your visitors, speed and updates are on one screen.