Description
WSH Views Counter is a lightweight WordPress post views counter with built-in statistics and reporting.
Track views for posts, pages, WooCommerce products, and other public post types directly inside WordPress. Analyze views by post, author, date, taxonomy, and WooCommerce product category to understand which content and products attract the most attention.
View statistics are stored locally in your WordPress database. The free plugin does not require an external account, license, or third-party analytics service.
WordPress Post Views Counter
WSH Views Counter provides a simple way to track how often your WordPress content is viewed.
It supports posts, pages, WooCommerce products, and other public post types. View totals can be analyzed directly from the WordPress admin area without relying on an external analytics dashboard.
The plugin uses a dedicated database table for statistics and also maintains the total view count as post meta, allowing view totals to be accessed efficiently from WordPress.
Free Features
- Track views for posts and pages
- Track WooCommerce product views
- WooCommerce product view statistics
- Product view reports by WooCommerce product category
- Views by taxonomy for products
- Support for other public custom post types
- AJAX-based view tracking
- Works with cached pages
- Daily view totals
- Mobile and desktop view statistics
- Logged-in visitor statistics
- Reports by post
- Reports by author
- Reports by date
- Views by taxonomy
- Sort and filter view reports
- Optional automatic view-count display
- Shortcode
[wshub_vc_views] - Views column in the WordPress Posts screen
- View-count controls on the post edit screen
- Exclude administrators from counting
- Exclude selected WordPress roles
- Optionally exclude guest views
- Bot filtering
- IP address exclusions
- Configurable repeat-view interval
- Import existing view counts
- Tools for managing collected data
- Local WordPress database storage
- No external account required
- No license required
Cache-Friendly View Tracking
Many WordPress sites use page caching for better performance. Traditional server-side counters can miss views when a cached version of a page is served without executing WordPress again.
WSH Views Counter uses AJAX-based tracking after the page loads, allowing a view to be recorded even when the page itself was delivered from a cache.
This makes the counter suitable for WordPress sites that use page caching.
Built-In View Reports
View statistics are available directly inside the WordPress admin area.
Reports can be viewed by post, author, and date, making it easier to understand which content receives attention and how views change over time.
Statistics include total views as well as mobile, desktop, and logged-in counts.
Reports can also be filtered by period and post type.
Taxonomy reporting provides another way to analyze how groups of related content perform.
WooCommerce Product View Statistics
WSH Views Counter works with WooCommerce products and provides product view statistics directly inside WordPress.
You can track and analyze:
- Total views for WooCommerce products
- Individual product view counts
- Product views over time
- Mobile and desktop product views
- Logged-in product views
- Product view statistics by WooCommerce product category
- Views by taxonomy when reports are filtered to products
- Product view totals directly in the WordPress admin area
When the taxonomy report is filtered to WooCommerce products, product categories can be used to analyze how different groups of products are being viewed.
This provides store administrators with a simple way to understand which products and product categories are attracting attention without requiring an external analytics service.
WSH Views Counter tracks product views only. WooCommerce funnel analytics and other advanced ecommerce analytics are part of the separate PRO add-on.
Display Post View Counts
WSH Views Counter can automatically display the number of views on your content.
For more control, use the included shortcode:
[wshub_vc_views]
This allows the current view count to be placed inside supported WordPress content.
Developers can also use the available PHP helper when integrating view statistics into custom themes or templates.
Flexible Counting Rules
Not every request needs to become a view.
WSH Views Counter provides controls for excluding administrators, selected user roles, guests, bots, and specific IP addresses.
You can also configure how much time must pass before another visit from the same visitor is counted again.
These controls make it possible to adapt view counting to the needs of different WordPress websites.
Privacy-Friendly by Design
The free plugin keeps its view statistics inside your WordPress installation.
For each counted view, the plugin stores the content being viewed, the date, device type, and whether the visitor was logged in.
A visitor IP address may be read temporarily to apply exclusions and repeat-view rules, but the IP address is not stored as part of the view statistics.
The free plugin does not collect referrer analytics, visitor sessions, live visitor data, geographic information, or WooCommerce funnel events.
No external analytics account is required.
WSH Views Counter PRO
For websites that need more advanced analytics, WSH Views Counter PRO is available as a separate commercial add-on from WPPluginsPRO.io.
The PRO add-on extends WSH Views Counter with additional analytics and reporting capabilities, including:
- Geographic analytics
- Referrer reports
- Realtime reporting
- Data exports
- Trending content widgets
- WooCommerce funnel analytics
WSH Views Counter PRO is a separate commercial plugin and is not included with this WordPress.org download.
The free WSH Views Counter plugin is fully functional on its own and does not require the PRO add-on.
Developed by Web Solutions Hub
WSH Views Counter is developed and maintained by Web Solutions Hub LLC.
We build professional WordPress, WooCommerce, ecommerce, and custom software solutions.
Screenshots
Installation
- Upload the plugin folder to
/wp-content/plugins/wsh-views-counter/, or install it from Plugins Add New. - Activate WSH Views Counter.
- Open Views Counter Reports.
- Open Views Counter Settings to choose post types and exclusions.
FAQ
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Does the free plugin send visitor data to another server?
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No. Each counted view stores the post, the date, the device type and whether the visitor was logged in. The visitor IP is read only to apply exclusions and to limit repeat counts. It is not stored. Referrers, sessions, live visitors, country data and WooCommerce funnel events are not collected by this plugin. Those reports belong to the separate PRO add-on.
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Does counting work with a cache plugin?
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Yes. The count is sent with a small script after the page loads, so a cached page can still be counted.
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Can I show the count in a post?
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Yes. Use the shortcode
[wshub_vc_views]. You can also turn on automatic display in Settings. -
Can I track WooCommerce product views?
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Yes. WooCommerce products are supported along with posts, pages, and other public post types.
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Can I see product views by WooCommerce category?
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Yes. When the taxonomy report is filtered to products, WSH Views Counter can display view statistics for WooCommerce product categories.
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Does the free plugin require an account or license?
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No. The free plugin works without an external account or license.
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Where are the view statistics stored?
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View statistics are stored locally in your WordPress database. The plugin uses its own table for statistics and also maintains the total view count as post meta.
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Can I exclude administrators or other users from view counting?
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Yes. You can exclude administrators, selected user roles, guests, bots, and specific IP addresses from counting.
Reviews
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Contributors & Developers
“WSH Views Counter” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
Translate “WSH Views Counter” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.3.43
- Internal names use the wshub_vc prefix. The shortcode is [wshub_vc_views].
- A new install creates the wshub_vc_views table and stores the total in the wshub_vc_views_count post meta.
- This release does not read data stored by earlier versions.
1.3.42
- The taxonomy report query uses a separate placeholder for each taxonomy.
1.3.41
- Views by Taxonomy lists product categories when the report is filtered to products.
1.3.40
- Request values are unslashed before they are sanitized.
1.3.39
- Report titles are links again. The title text is escaped, and the address is escaped separately.
1.3.38
- The free plugin no longer collects referrer, session, live-hit, country or WooCommerce funnel data. Those reports belong to the separate PRO add-on.
- Existing view counts are kept.
- Admin scripts and styles are loaded through WordPress.
- Import, delete-all and the PRO notice dismissal require a nonce and the right capability.
1.3.37
- Plugin Check no longer warns about queries on the plugin’s own tables, or about the read-only report filters.
1.3.36
- Dashboard chart and top posts pass the post type list through a prepared query.
1.3.35
- Plugin Check cleanup for the WordPress.org release: translation folder, prefixed functions, sanitized request data, and escaped custom table names.
- Deleting all data now clears the sessions table.
1.3.34
- Repeat-view limit uses the real client address. Forwarded headers count only when the request comes from a private proxy.
- Logged-in users, guests and selected roles are skipped when those exclusions are turned on.
- Live hits older than two days, and sessions idle for 30 days, are removed by the daily cleanup.
- Tested on WordPress 7.1.
- Admin styles and scripts are loaded through WordPress, and the Post Views Counter import writes through prepared queries.
1.3.33
- Counts only published content, and ignores a repeat view from the same visitor inside the chosen interval.
- Statistics stay on the site when the plugin is removed, unless deletion is turned on in Settings.
- PRO links open the product page on wppluginspro.io.
1.3.32
- The free plugin no longer looks up visitor countries. That lookup belongs to the PRO add-on.
- Settings are saved only after a nonce and capability check.
- Privacy policy text explains what is stored on the site.
1.0.0
- First public release.