xbiz world
xbiz premiere

Tool Tips: Piwik

For webmasters seeking a website analytics solution that offers the comprehensive reporting of page tagged services such as Google Analytics, combined with the data ownership, privacy and security benefits of a self-hosted solution, along with the flexibility and freedom of a plugin-based open source architecture, a relative newcomer may be just what you're looking for.

According to its publisher, Piwik is a downloadable, GPL licensed web analytics software program that provides users with detailed reports on their website's visitors; including the search engines and keywords they used to find your site, the language they speak, your most popular pages, and much more.

Designed to be an open source alternative to Google Analytics, Piwik uses PHP and MySQL and is installed on your own webserver using a five minute installation process. The software generates a small JavaScript tag that you copy and paste on to the websites you wish to track. A variety of existing plugins can do this automatically.

Piwik boasts a number of advantages, including the method by which its features are built inside plugins; allowing users to add new features and remove the ones that are unneeded. Developers can build their own analytics plugins.

For many prospective users, one of the most attractive features is that you own your data and do not need to provide it to outside companies, such as is needed with third-party solutions.

"Let's suppose you are using another of the many large third party tracking programs, who do you think owns all of that valuable data that is being tracked from your site?" Internet Marketer Marc Lindsay wrote on the Piwik blog. "It's certainly not you. Sure you may be able to analyze that data and see some nice pretty reports, but at the end of the day that data does not belong to you and you are confined within the restraints that the third-party solution would put on you."

"Because Piwik is installed on your server, the data is stored in your own database and you can get all the statistics using open APIs (publishing the data in many formats: XML, JSON, PHP, CSV)," stated a company spokesperson. "The user interface is [also] fully customizable: you can drag and drop the widgets you want to display and create a report especially tailored to you!"

Piwik offers sophisticated charting of report data, all of which can be embedded into a website, either for webmaster-only or public display. For example, Piwik can display your website's access statistics graphs on your WordPress Dash and display a pie chart on your home page showing where visitors are currently coming from.

According to the company, this server-based solution offers better real-time performance, with more current stats than hosted solutions. Backed by the makers of the OpenX Ad Server, an online demo and free download are available from the Piwik website.

Related:  

Copyright © 2026 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More Articles

opinion

How to Convert Fans Through Scarcity and Exclusivity

Nothing sparks fans’ ongoing desire in the long term like making them feel personally prioritized. It gives them a sense of belonging and sparks a level of loyalty that goes far beyond just loving your work. Forging that degree of connection, however, requires knowing how to employ two key tactics: scarcity and exclusivity.

Sara Stars ·
opinion

How to Reinvest Back Into Your Creator Business

Early in their careers, most creators necessarily focus on survival. Money goes toward basic expenses, equipment upgrades and keeping content flowing. Once income becomes more consistent, however, it’s time to begin thinking about growth and sustainability. How can you build something that lasts beyond the next release or trend?

Megan Stokes ·
profile

Stripchat's Jessica on Building Creator Success, One Step at a Time

At most industry events, the spotlight naturally falls on the creators whose personalities light up screens and social feeds. Behind the booths, parties and perfectly timed photo ops, however, there is someone else shaping the experience.

Jackie Backman ·
opinion

Inside the OCC's Debanking Review and Its Impact on the Adult Industry

For years, adult performers, creators, producers and adjacent businesses have routinely had their access to basic financial services curtailed — not because they are inherently higher-risk customers, but because a whole category of lawful work has long been treated as unacceptable.

Corey Silverstein ·
opinion

How to Build Operational Resilience Into Your Payment Ecosystem

Over the past year, we’ve watched adult merchants weather a variety of disruptions and speedbumps. Some even lost entire revenue streams overnight — simply because they relied too heavily on a single cloud provider that suffered an outage, lacked sufficient redundancy and failover, or otherwise fell short when it came to making sure their business was protected in case of unwelcome surprises.

Cathy Beardsley ·
opinion

Building a Stronger Strategy Against Card-Testing Bots

It’s a scenario every high-risk merchant dreads. You wake up one morning, check your dashboard and see a massive spike in transaction volume. For a fleeting moment, you’re excited at the premise that something went viral — but then reality sets in. You find thousands of transactions, all for $0.50 and all declined.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

A Creator's Guide to Starting the Year With Strong Financial Habits

Every January brings that familiar rush of new ideas and big goals. Creators feel ready to overhaul their content, commit to new posting schedules and jump on fresh opportunities.

Megan Stokes ·
opinion

Pornnhub's Jade Talks Trust and Community

If you’ve ever interacted with Jade at Pornhub, you already know one thing to be true: Whether you’re coordinating an event, confirming deliverables or simply trying to get an answer quickly, things move more smoothly when she’s involved. Emails get answered. Details are confirmed. Deadlines don’t drift. And through it all, her tone remains warm, friendly and grounded.

Women In Adult ·
opinion

Outlook 2026: Industry Execs Weigh In on Strategy, Monetization and Risk

The adult industry enters 2026 at a moment of concentrated change. Over the past year, the sector’s evolution has accelerated. Creators have become full-scale businesses, managing branding, compliance, distribution and community under intensifying competition. Studios and platforms are refining production and business models in response to pressures ranging from regulatory mandates to shifting consumer preferences.

Jackie Backman ·
opinion

How Platforms Can Tap AI to Moderate Content at Scale

Every day, billions of posts, images and videos are uploaded to platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X. As social media has grown, so has the amount of content that must be reviewed — including hate speech, misinformation, deepfakes, violent material and coordinated manipulation campaigns.

Christoph Hermes ·
Show More