AJAX Hits Counter Popular Posts Widget for WordPress

The good stuff

What really clicked was how it ignores bots. I noticed the numbers didn’t spike after SEO crawlers hit the site - that’s rare. And the admin column showing post views? Super handy. You can sort by view count right in the editor, which made it easy to spot underperforming content. I used the shortcode to show a “Top 5 Posts” list on the sidebar, and it just worked. No config hell. Also, the ability to reset counts is weirdly useful - like when you’re testing or re-launching a section of the site. And if you’ve got data from WP-PostViews, you can import it. Nice touch for people switching plugins.

The not-so-good

It’s not exactly flashy. No graphs, no export options, nothing beyond basic view counting and a simple widget. If you’re looking for detailed analytics - like user behavior or traffic sources - this isn’t it. And honestly, the developer’s name isn’t even listed. That’s a red flag if you’re paranoid about security, though I haven’t seen any issues. Also, the plugin hasn’t been updated in years. It still works, but it’s kind of sitting there, quietly doing its job. Might be risky long-term. And yeah, it’s free - which is great - but also means no support if something breaks.

Bottom line

If you need a no-fuss AJAX Hits Counter Popular Posts Widget for WordPress for Wordpress that tracks real views without slowing things down, this gets the job done. It’s not fancy, but it’s reliable. Skip it if you want insights or updates. But if you just want to know what’s actually being read, it’s worth a download. For basic view tracking, it’s solid.