WordPress Plugin
Popular posts, tracked on your own site
The Hits List keeps post view tracking on your own WordPress site, with a block, widget, shortcodes, dashboard cards, post-list columns, and theme helpers — instead of sending view data to someone else’s analytics endpoint.
Free and open source. View data stays in your database.
- Version
- 1.4.0
- Requires WP
- 6.2+
- Tested to
- 7.1
- Requires PHP
- 7.4+
- View data
- Stays local
What it does
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Local view tracking
Overall and daily view counts stored in your own WordPress database, with configurable retention.
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Block, widget, shortcodes
Popular-content lists in block layouts, sidebars, footers, and post content, with the same capabilities across all of them.
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Trending
Ranks posts by how fast views are rising relative to their own baseline, rather than by total views.
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Refresh candidates
Surfaces established posts whose readership has quietly fallen away, so you know what is worth updating.
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Dashboard cards
Five cards covering daily and all-time top posts, views over time with period comparison, trending, and refresh candidates.
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Privacy-friendly by default
Stores view counts only — no IP addresses, no user accounts, no cookies of its own, and no third-party endpoint.
Every feature, in full
| Feature | What It Does for You |
|---|---|
| Local View Tracking | Stores overall and daily view counts in your WordPress database. |
| Popular Posts Block | Adds popular-content lists to block editor layouts. |
| Popular Posts Widget | Places popular content in sidebars, footers, and widget-ready theme areas. |
| Trending | Ranks posts by how fast views are rising, not just by totals. |
| Refresh Candidates | Surfaces well-read posts that have quietly fallen away. |
| Dashboard Cards | Five cards covering daily and all-time top posts, views over time, trending, and refresh candidates. |
| Shortcodes | Places popular content directly in post content. |
| Post List Columns | Adds view-count visibility where editors already review content. |
| Top 10 Migration | Imports compatible Top 10 counts without double-counting unchanged reruns, and keeps existing Top 10 widgets and shortcodes working. |
| Export | Downloads your view counts as CSV or JSON. |
| Privacy-Friendly Operation | Keeps view-count tracking local instead of sending it to a third-party analytics endpoint. Stores view counts only — no IP addresses, user accounts, or cookies of its own. |
Who it’s for
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Publishers and blogs
Surface what is climbing now, not just the same evergreen list.
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Editors
Review view-count signals directly in wp-admin, where you already work.
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Agencies
Replace Top 10 while keeping familiar popular-post output on client sites.
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Privacy-conscious sites
Keep tracking data in the WordPress database, with configurable retention.
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Theme developers
Render popular content through template tags and shortcodes as well as the block and widget.
Version 1.4.0 adds trending, which ranks posts by how fast views are rising relative to their own baseline rather than by total views. It is available in the block, widget, shortcodes, template tags, and a new dashboard card. A Refresh Candidates card joins it, listing established posts whose readership has fallen away, and the views-over-time card gains period comparison so you can see how the window compares with the one before it.
The block and widget now have the same capabilities: the block can filter by category and post ID, and the widget can render grids and list markers. Daily data retention is configurable from the settings screen instead of filter-only.