After upgrading WordPress Jetpack Plugin to version 4.3 we noticed stats were missing from our WordPress dashboard. To get your stats, logging into WordPress.com is now required.
Update 09/27/16 Jetpack is now history. See update below this post.
WordPress stats are adequate for a quick view into the days visitors, popular posts, etc. It was real handy to have WordPress Stats in WP-Admin sidebar menu, but after version 4.3 that option is gone.
When going to > Jetpack > Dashboard > a short graph is available.
Currently the view old stats option is not working here. In order to view your blogs full stats a login to wordpress.com is required.
Viewing WordPress stats was simple before Jetpack 4.3. A quick click brought up your sites stats (obviously in an iframe) from wordpress.com. Jetpack stats also record a lot of bot hits that can give a false visitor count.
Other options are available without the bloat of Jetpack, which adds a lot of additional scripts consuming resources. WordPress is a resource hog within itself, add a lot of plugins and it can be dog slow, especially for mobile users. You can check your sites load time here with Google’s Page Speed Insights.
We only run Jetpack stats and WP shortlinks. And the short-links are not really needed. So Jetpack might wind up getting the bums rush soon.
Other stats options are: Google Analytics that works well and is more true to human hits. Simply add Analytics tracking code to your header of footer, can also be installed in a widget that’s visible everywhere on your site. If running under CloudFlare simply add your Analytics ID to > plugins > Analytics.
Visitor Maps and Who’s Online by Mike Challis is great for a quick dashboard view of your recent visitors. We have used this plugin for many years and love it.
Slim Stats Analytics is another stats WordPress plugin that is highly configurable and works well. We have used this plugin before but found it used quite a bit of resources. As of this publication slim stats analytics plugin was updated two weeks ago. Time to evaluate again as a possible JetPack stats replacement.
09/27/2016: Jetpack is now history around here. Actually about a week ago we gave it the bums rush. Too many resources consumed in our opinion.
Google Analytics is much better to collect our website stats. Even better is it’s android app that makes viewing stats a cinch from anywhere. It is highly configurable to show just what a WordPress webmaster is needing.
Just my two cents worth as usual 😉
Ed 'Doc' Koon
I'm an original Floridian and hobbyist Internet webmaster who specializes in SEO and WordPress while hanging out in cyberspace keeping up with tech. I am healthy and still going strong at 72, and are a non smoker/drinker/substance user, living a healthy lifestyle. looking for a good hearted lady friend/lover near my age who wants to enjoy her golden years with good looking southern boy. Is that you? Say hello 52FLC.ORG❤️
