Title: MilkStats
Author: javdgraaf
Published: September 10, 2026
Last modified: September 10, 2026
---
Search plugins
# MilkStats
By [javdgraaf](https://profiles.wordpress.org/javdgraaf/)
[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/milkstats.1.8.0.zip)
* [Details](https://wordpress.org/plugins/milkstats/#description)
* [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/plugins/milkstats/#reviews)
* [Installation](https://wordpress.org/plugins/milkstats/#installation)
* [Development](https://wordpress.org/plugins/milkstats/#developers)
[Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/milkstats/)
## Description
**MilkStats** keeps visitor statistics without collecting personal data.
All data
stays local in your own WordPress database — nothing is shared with external analytics
services (no Google Analytics, no external scripts or fonts). A product by [5Names](https://5names.nl).
#### What is measured?
* **Page views** — counted and aggregated per page, per day
* **Sessions** — how many unique visitor sessions there were
* **Time on page** — how long someone stayed on a page
* **Navigation paths** — which page most often leads to which next page
* **Sources** — did the visitor arrive via a search engine, social media, a
referring
site, an AI assistant, or directly? Plus UTM campaign tags (`utm_source`, `utm_medium`,`
utm_campaign`) if you use them in your own marketing links.
* **Events** — clicks on outbound links and download links are detected
automatically,
plus optional custom events via the `data-milkstats-event` attribute. See “Custom
events” below.
* **AI crawler visibility** — how often known AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot,
PerplexityBot, and others) visit your site, separate from human traffic.
#### What is NEVER stored?
* No IP addresses
* No tracking cookies — the session ID lives only in the browser’s
sessionStorage
and disappears as soon as the tab is closed. The only cookie this plugin can
ever set is the optional opt-out cookie described below, and only if you or a
visitor chooses to set it.
* No browser fingerprinting
* No full referrer URLs — only the domain (e.g. “google.com”), never the
path
or a search query that might be contained in it
* No data sent to external parties
#### How does it work technically?
On every page view, a small, first-party JavaScript file (`assets/tracker.js`)
sends an AJAX request to your own `admin-ajax.php`. That request contains the page
URL, page title, a random session ID, and — only on the first page view of a session—
the hostname of the referring site and any UTM parameters. When the page is left,
the time on page is sent afterwards via navigator.sendBeacon.
This data ends up in the following tables in your WordPress database:
1. `wp_milkstats_pageviews` — daily totals per page. Kept indefinitely: just
counts,
no session information.
2. `wp_milkstats_session_events` — individual page views per session, with
time on
page. Automatically deleted after the configured retention period.
3. `wp_milkstats_sessions` — one row per session with the traffic source
(first-touch
attribution). Also cleaned up after the retention period.
4. `wp_milkstats_events` — custom events (outbound link clicks, downloads,
manual
events). Cleaned up after the retention period, same as session data.
5. `wp_milkstats_device_stats` — daily aggregated device/browser/OS counts.
Kept
indefinitely, like page totals — never traceable to an individual.
6. `wp_milkstats_ai_crawler_hits` — daily aggregated hits from known AI
crawlers.
Kept indefinitely, like page totals.
A daily WP-Cron job cleans up session data older than the configured
retention
period. Page totals are never deleted. Bots are recognized and ignored based on
the User-Agent.
#### Custom events
Besides page views, MilkStats also measures events, without any
configuration needed:
* **Outbound links** — a click on a link to another domain is automatically
recorded,
with the domain as the label.
* **Downloads** — a click on a link to a file with a known download
extension (
pdf, zip, docx, xlsx, and more) is automatically recorded, with the file name
as the label.
* **Manual events** — add the `data-milkstats-event="label"` attribute to a
link,
button or ``.
Events count if the visitor is not excluded (see Settings) and are shown on
the
statistics page under “Events”, with the top labels per type.
#### Excluding yourself (opt-out)
Besides the role exclusion (only works while logged in), you can also
exclude yourself—
or an external tester — without logging in:
* **Via the admin bar** — administrators see a MilkStats item at the top
(“tracking
on”/”tracking off”) to flip this with one click.
* **Via a link** — visit `?milkstats_optout=1` to exclude yourself, or
?milkstats_optout
=0 to be counted again. Also works while logged out, handy to share with external
testers.
* **Via the settings page** — a button (“Exclude my visits in this browser”)
showing
the current status.
This sets a first-party cookie (`milkstats_optout`) in that one browser. The
cookie
itself has no tracking purpose — purely a toggle — and works alongside the role
exclusion, not instead of it.
#### Settings
Under **Site Analytics Settings** you can configure:
* **Excluded roles** — which user roles are never counted (default:
administrator,
editor, author, contributor)
* **Exclude yourself** — a button to exclude your own visits in the current
browser,
even while logged out (see “Excluding yourself” above)
* **Member segment** — optional: which role(s) should be counted separately
as
a “logged-in segment” (e.g. members, clients, subscribers), with a custom name
for that segment in the statistics. Up to three additional named segments can
be configured, each pickable from a dropdown on the statistics page.
* **Retention period** — after how many days session data (time on page,
navigation
paths, sources) is automatically deleted
#### Where do I see the statistics?
* A compact overview on the WordPress dashboard (widget)
* A full statistics page under **Site Analytics** in the main menu, with a
rolling
period filter (7/30/90/365 days) plus a calendar period picker (today/yesterday,
this/last week, this/last month, this/last quarter, this/last year), bar chart,
top pages, navigation paths, source breakdown, device/browser/OS breakdown, and
AI crawler visibility
#### Credits
The admin screens use the [Inter](https://rsms.me/inter/) typeface by Rasmus
Andersson,
bundled with the plugin under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 (`assets/fonts/OFL.txt`).
It is served from your own site — never from an external font CDN.
## Screenshots
[⌊The compact "Visitor Statistics" dashboard widget — today, the last 7
days and
the last 30 days at a glance, with a 14-day trend line and the
top visited pages,
right on the WordPress dashboard.⌉⌊The compact "Visitor Statistics" dashboard widget—
today, the last 7
days and the last 30 days at a glance, with a 14-day trend line
and the
top visited pages, right on the WordPress dashboard.⌉[
The compact “Visitor Statistics” dashboard widget — today, the last 7 days and the
last 30 days at a glance, with a 14-day trend line and the top visited pages, right
on the WordPress dashboard.
[⌊The Site Analytics page: rolling and calendar period filters, the privacy
badges,
the stat cards with period-over-period comparison, the "Views per
day" chart and
the "Visitor sources" breakdown (search engines, referring
sites, social media,
AI assistants and direct visits).⌉⌊The Site Analytics page: rolling and calendar
period filters, the privacy
badges, the stat cards with period-over-period comparison,
the "Views per
day" chart and the "Visitor sources" breakdown (search engines, referring
sites, social media, AI assistants and direct visits).⌉[
The Site Analytics page: rolling and calendar period filters, the privacy badges,
the stat cards with period-over-period comparison, the “Views per day” chart and
the “Visitor sources” breakdown (search engines, referring sites, social media,
AI assistants and direct visits).
[⌊Device, browser and operating-system breakdown — classified server-side,
the raw
User-Agent is never stored — next to the most visited pages with
average time on
page.⌉⌊Device, browser and operating-system breakdown — classified server-side,
the raw User-Agent is never stored — next to the most visited pages with
average
time on page.⌉[
Device, browser and operating-system breakdown — classified server-side, the raw
User-Agent is never stored — next to the most visited pages with average time on
page.
[⌊The most common navigation paths: which page most often leads to which
next page.⌉⌊
The most common navigation paths: which page most often leads to which
next page
.⌉[
The most common navigation paths: which page most often leads to which next page.
[⌊The AI-crawler visibility report: how often GPTBot, ClaudeBot,
PerplexityBot,
Google-Extended and other AI crawlers hit the site,
separate from human traffic,
with a per-crawler and per-page breakdown.⌉⌊The AI-crawler visibility report: how
often GPTBot, ClaudeBot,
PerplexityBot, Google-Extended and other AI crawlers hit
the site,
separate from human traffic, with a per-crawler and per-page breakdown
.⌉[
The AI-crawler visibility report: how often GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-
Extended and other AI crawlers hit the site, separate from human traffic, with a
per-crawler and per-page breakdown.
[⌊The Settings page: excluded roles, the logged-in member segment with a
custom
label, self-exclusion, and the session-data retention period.⌉⌊The Settings page:
excluded roles, the logged-in member segment with a
custom label, self-exclusion,
and the session-data retention period.⌉[
The Settings page: excluded roles, the logged-in member segment with a custom label,
self-exclusion, and the session-data retention period.
## Installation
1. Upload the `milkstats` folder to `/wp-content/plugins/`.
2. Activate the plugin via **Plugins** in WordPress.
3. Go to **Site Analytics Settings** to set roles, segment and retention period as
needed — the default settings also work fine without changes.
4. View your statistics under **Site Analytics** in the main menu.
## FAQ
### Is this plugin GDPR-compliant without a cookie banner?
Yes. No tracking cookies are placed, no IP addresses are stored, and no data
is
shared with third parties. The session ID is generated in the browser itself, lives
only in `sessionStorage` (not persistent), and cannot be traced back to an individual.
The only cookie the plugin ever sets is the optional opt-out cookie, and only if
you or a visitor chooses to set it — that cookie serves no tracking purpose.
### Are administrators/editors counted?
Not by default — administrator, editor, author and contributor are excluded.
This
can be changed under Settings.
### Can I exclude myself, even while logged out?
Yes. Besides the role exclusion (logged in only), you can exclude yourself
via
the admin bar, the settings page, or the `?milkstats_optout=1` link in the browser
you’re currently using — handy for testing while logged out or to share with an
external tester. See “Excluding yourself (opt-out)” above.
### Does this work with caching plugins?
For regular visitor statistics, yes: that tracking runs via a separate AJAX
request
after the page loads, so a cached page is still counted correctly. The AI crawler
report is an exception: that runs server-side (WordPress must actually run to see
a visit), so visits from AI crawlers to fully cached pages (e.g. a “supercached”
page with WP Super Cache) are missed in that report.
### What happens to my data if I deactivate or delete MilkStats?
Deactivating the plugin (from the Plugins screen) leaves all data untouched
— your
tables and settings are still there if you reactivate later. Deleting the plugin(
via “Delete” on the Plugins screen, which runs its uninstall.php) permanently removes
every MilkStats database table (page views, sessions, session events, device stats,
custom events, AI crawler hits) and every MilkStats setting. This cannot be undone,
so export any data you want to keep (see the Export dashboard (.html)/CSV buttons
on the statistics page) before deleting the plugin.
### Can I use this on multiple sites?
Yes, the plugin is deliberately kept generic: every site-specific choice
(roles,
segment, retention period) is configurable, not hardcoded.
## Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
## Contributors & Developers
“MilkStats” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this
plugin.
Contributors
* [ javdgraaf ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/javdgraaf/)
[Translate “MilkStats” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/milkstats)
### Interested in development?
[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/milkstats/), check
out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/milkstats/), or subscribe
to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/milkstats/) by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/milkstats/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).
## Changelog
#### 1.8.0
* Existing installs of the older “Pion Analytics” plugin (and its interim
“AVG
Proof Site Analytics” release) are now upgraded to MilkStats automatically on
activation, without losing any historical data. The existing page-view and session
tables are renamed into place (never copied, so nothing is duplicated or left
orphaned), the old Dutch visitor/member labels are converted to the format MilkStats
uses, and the previous plugin’s scheduled cleanup task is removed. To switch
over: deactivate the old plugin, install MilkStats, and activate it.
* The admin menu item is now labelled “MilkStats” (was “Site Analytics”) and
uses
the MilkStats icon instead of a generic chart-bar icon.
* Every dashboard tile now has a small ⓘ icon in its top-right corner —
click
it for a short explanation of exactly what that tile shows. The same icons and
explanations are included in the “Export dashboard (.html)” file, for the tiles
that appear there.
* New “Help” menu item, right after “Settings”: a full explanation of the
dashboard
plus a dedicated section on how MilkStats protects visitor privacy (what is and
isn’t stored, retention periods, excluded roles, and the opt-out cookie).
#### 1.7.0
* Excel export has been removed entirely (the “Export Excel” button and the
vendored
PhpSpreadsheet library are both gone). A formula-driven Excel workbook turned
out to be the wrong format for a shareable, interactive dashboard export — the
new .html export below replaces it.
* New “Export dashboard (.html)” button next to Export CSV: generates a
single,
self-contained .html file with the full Site Analytics dashboard (KPIs, the views-
per-day chart, visitor sources, device/browser/OS breakdowns, top pages, and
the AI crawler report) for all 14 period options at once. It needs no WordPress
access or internet connection to view — just open the file in any browser — and
switching between periods recalculates everything instantly with plain JavaScript,
no page reload and no spreadsheet formulas involved.
#### 1.6.0
* New calendar period picker on the statistics page, next to the existing
rolling
filter (7/30/90/365 days): today/yesterday, this/last week, this/last month,
this/last quarter, and this/last year. Unlike the rolling filter, these are calendar-
aligned (e.g. “last month” is always the full previous calendar month, not the
last 30 days).
* Period-over-period comparison now also works for calendar periods. For a
“this…”
period still in progress (e.g. this month, part-way through), the comparison
is capped to the same number of elapsed days in the previous period, so the percentage
stays a fair, apples-to-apples comparison rather than always favoring the completed
period.
* CSV export now reflects whichever period control is active (rolling or
calendar),
including the file name.
#### 1.5.0
* New AI-crawler visibility report: see how often known AI crawlers (GPTBot,
ClaudeBot,
PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, CCBot, and others) visit your site, separate
from human traffic — with a top-pages breakdown per crawler. Detected server-
side, since crawlers don’t run the JavaScript tracker.
* Known limitation: full-page caching can hide crawler visits from this
report(
documented on the statistics page and in the FAQ above).
* New “Export CSV” button on the statistics page: a lightweight export of
the
top pages table.
* The statistics page can now switch between multiple configured segments
via
a dropdown next to the period selector, without a trip to Settings. Up to three
additional named segments can be configured under Settings, alongside the existing
one.
#### 1.4.0
* Self opt-out: exclude your own visits via an admin bar toggle, a settings
page
button, or a manual `?milkstats_optout=1` URL parameter — works even while logged
out, alongside the existing role exclusion.
* Privacy policy text and the WP Privacy Policy Guide integration updated to
mention
the new opt-out cookie (functional only, no tracking purpose).
#### 1.3.0
* Custom event tracking: outbound links and file downloads are detected
automatically,
plus a manual `data-milkstats-event` attribute for custom events (e.g. form submissions).
* New “Events” card on the statistics page with top event labels per type.
* Privacy policy text and the WP Privacy Policy Guide integration updated to
mention
the new events data.
#### 1.2.0
* Renamed from AVG Proof Site Analytics to MilkStats.
* Full i18n: English source strings with a bundled Dutch translation.
* Period-over-period comparison on the page-views and sessions stat cards.
* Landing & exit pages report.
* AI assistants (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, Claude.ai, etc.) as a
separate
traffic-source category.
* Device, browser and OS breakdown, classified server-side — the raw
User-Agent
string is never stored.
* Privacy policy integration via wp_add_privacy_policy_content().
* Visual redesign of the statistics page: a real line chart (this period vs.
previous
period), donut charts for traffic sources and device/browser/OS, and a refreshed
MilkStats brand look.
#### 1.1.0
* Added source tracking: referrer category (search engine, social, referral,
direct)
and UTM campaign tags, with first-touch attribution per session.
* Version-based upgrade routine so existing installs automatically get the
new
table without reinstalling.
#### 1.0.0
* First release: page views, sessions, time on page, navigation paths,
configurable
role filtering and member segment, dashboard widget and statistics page with
period filter.
## Meta
* Version **1.8.0**
* Last updated **7 hours ago**
* Active installations **Fewer than 10**
* WordPress version ** 5.8 or higher **
* Tested up to **7.1**
* PHP version ** 7.4 or higher **
* Tags
* [analytics](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/analytics/)[cookieless](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/cookieless/)
[GDPR](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/gdpr/)[privacy](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/privacy/)
[statistics](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/statistics/)
* [Advanced View](https://wordpress.org/plugins/milkstats/advanced/)
## Ratings
No reviews have been submitted yet.
[Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/milkstats/reviews/#new-post)
[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/milkstats/reviews/)
## Contributors
* [ javdgraaf ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/javdgraaf/)
## Support
Got something to say? Need help?
[View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/milkstats/)