Description
PrivateStater is a privacy-friendly SaaS that combines three things you usually need three separate services for:
- Analytics — page views, sessions, and click tracking, without cookies.
- Captcha — protect WordPress comments, login/registration, and Contact Form 7 forms with a no-image puzzle + proof-of-work challenge.
- Feedback widget — a floating button that lets visitors send text feedback, ratings, or screenshots.
Once activated, paste your website name and PrivateStater loads on every public-facing page. The Captcha integrations stay off until you turn them on.
Why PrivateStater?
- No cookies. No cross-site tracking. No data sold to third parties.
- One small script for all three features.
- I run PrivateStater myself — questions go directly to a real person, not a ticket queue.
External services
This plugin connects to PrivateStater’s servers to provide analytics, Captcha, and feedback functionality. It does the following:
- Loads the PrivateStater script (
https://privatestater.com/privatestater.js) on every public-facing page after a site administrator enters a website name. The script provides visitor analytics, the feedback widget, and (when enabled) the Captcha widget. - Sends analytics and feedback events to PrivateStater’s servers. Depending on which dashboard features are enabled, this can include page URLs, referrers, browser and device details, click events, feedback text, ratings, and visitor-provided screenshots.
- Sends Captcha verification requests to
https://privatestater.com/api/captcha/validatewhen a protected form is submitted. The request includes the configured website name and the Captcha token returned by the visitor’s browser.
For details on what data is collected and how it is processed, see:
- Terms of service: https://privatestater.com/terms
- Privacy policy: https://privatestater.com/privacy
Installation
- Upload the plugin ZIP via Plugins Add New Upload Plugin, or copy the
privatestaterfolder intowp-content/plugins/. - Activate PrivateStater through the WordPress Plugins menu.
- Go to Settings PrivateStater and paste your website name from the PrivateStater dashboard.
- Optional: enable Contact Form 7, comment, or login Captcha protection from the same settings page.
Adding Captcha to a Contact Form 7 form
Edit any CF7 form and add the form tag [privatestater_captcha] where you want the Captcha to appear. The plugin verifies the token server-side on submit.
FAQ
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Do I need a PrivateStater account?
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Yes. The plugin connects WordPress to the PrivateStater SaaS, so a PrivateStater account and website name are required. All plugin code is available without local feature locks.
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Does this plugin send any data to third parties?
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The plugin loads
privatestater.jsfromprivatestater.comafter a site administrator enters a website name, and verifies Captcha tokens againstprivatestater.com/api/captcha/validatewhen Captcha protection is enabled. PrivateStater does not sell or share visitor data with third parties. See https://privatestater.com/privacy. -
Will it slow my site down?
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The script is loaded with
asyncand weighs about 36 KB. Analytics requests run in the background. -
Does it work with caching plugins?
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Yes. The script tag is added with
data-no-optimize="1"so optimization plugins do not break it.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“PrivateStater” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
Translate “PrivateStater” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.0.0
- Initial release: analytics + feedback widget auto-injection, optional Captcha for Contact Form 7, WordPress comments, and login/registration forms.