The Unrestricted GA4 Data Augur & Telemetry Cogitator for WordPress
Forged by Heretek AI · 100% Open Source · All Pro & Agency Abilities Unlocked
A 100% self-hosted Google Analytics 4 plugin for WordPress. Configure with a Measurement ID and a Google Cloud service account JSON; reports come straight from the GA4 Data API. Zero subscriptions, zero phone-homes, zero paywalls.
Quick Start · Capabilities · GA4 Data API Gateway · Theme: Blood & Steel · GitHub Updater · Contributing
Heretek Analytics is a 100% open-source, telemetry-free fork and overhaul of Google Analytics for WordPress (MonsterInsights), distributed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPLv3).
Upstream commercial analytics distributions artificially cordon vital enterprise capabilities — eCommerce funnels, form submission tracking, custom dimensions, PPC pixel tracking, and raw reporting data — behind expensive annual paywalls (up to $799/year). Worse, they relay your site's proprietary visitor statistics through third-party cloud proxy servers and bundle unsolicited marketing rotators, deactivation surveys, and tracking telemetry.
Heretek Analytics liberates the Machine Spirit:
- 🔓 Stand-alone, no subscription, no license key, no paywall — the entire feature surface is shipped in the plugin and never gated behind a third-party API call.
- 🛡️ Zero Telemetry Manifesto: All upstream phone-home beacons, Customer360 usage trackers, third-party notification feeds, upsell banners, hosted "Connect" portals, and deactivation-survey relays have been purged.
- ⚡ Direct GA4 Data API Gateway: The admin Reports dashboard calls
analyticsdata.googleapis.comdirectly using a Google Cloud service account JSON key you supply — no relays, no SaaS proxies. - 🩸 Blood & Steel Aesthetic: Pure-PHP admin pages styled in the dark cyber-theurgy aesthetic of the Adeptus Mechanicus — Obsidian void surfaces, Cinzel gothic tech typography, glowing crimson telemetry readouts.
- 🔄 Native In-Dashboard GitHub Releases Updater: Automated release detection and one-click upgrades directly from
Heretek-AI/Heretek-Analytics/releases.
| Subsystem | Heretek Analytics |
|---|---|
| Core GA4 tracking (gtag.js) | ✅ Auto page-view, scroll, download, affiliate-link, form, AMP |
| Author & author_id tracking | ✅ Emitted as gtag config keys on singular views |
| Augur Telemetry Cockpit | ✅ Interactive ApexCharts, multi-metric switcher, 5 specialized views |
| GA4 Realtime Live Stream | ✅ Active readers in last 30 min, minute-by-minute histogram, live radar |
| Growth Period Comparisons | ✅ +/- % delta badges computed against preceding time window |
| Date-range presets & SPA filter | ✅ Today, Yesterday, 7D, 30D, 90D, Custom — zero full-page reloads |
| Authors Leaderboard | ✅ Ranking by sessions, views & engagement with CSV/JSON export |
| Direct GA4 Data API reporting | ✅ Real data via service-account JWT — no SaaS proxies |
| Transient Quota Protection | ✅ Smart 15-minute caching layer with instant "⚡ Sync Telemetry" |
| WordPress Dashboard Widget | ✅ Executive telemetry summary on wp-admin/index.php |
| Google Consent Mode v2 | ✅ EEA compliance helpers in includes/admin/eea-compliance.php |
| Server-side GA4 Measurement Protocol | ✅ Heretek_Analytics_Measurement_Protocol_V4 (aliased) |
| Per-page tracking exclusion | ✅ Editor sidebar metabox |
| Native GitHub release updater | ✅ Automatic, no license keys |
| Settings snapshot export | ✅ JSON backup from the Tools page |
| Telemetry / phone-home / SaaS relay | ❌ None |
| License key / subscription / paywall | ❌ None |
| Cost | $0 forever (GPLv3) |
Heretek Analytics renders its admin pages in a dark, gothic-tech aesthetic:
- Void Surfaces: Obsidian canvas (
#09090b), tech-slab cards (#111116), deep carbon borders (#27272a), and crimson glows. - Sacred Typography: Cinzel Bold headings for hierarchy paired with Geist for numeric readouts.
- Suppression of Upstream Clutter: No commercial upsell cards, no fake lock badges, no promotional notification rotators. The Settings page is a single form. The Reports page is KPI tiles + tables + a daily chart. A separate Authors sub-page ranks authors by sessions and page views with a CSV export.
Heretek Analytics emits two gtag config keys on every singular view (post, page, custom post type):
| gtag key | Source | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
author |
get_the_author_meta( 'display_name', $author_id ) |
Human-readable author name. |
author_id |
(int) $queried_object->post_author |
Numeric WordPress user ID — stable across renames. |
To surface these in GA4 reports, register two User-scoped custom dimensions in GA4 → Admin → Property → Custom definitions with the exact API names author and author_id. Then visit Heretek Analytics → Authors (or the Top Authors panel on the Reports page) to see them populated.
The PHP query spec is:
array(
'id' => 'authors',
'dimensions' => array( 'customUser:author_id' ),
'metrics' => array( 'sessions', 'totalUsers', 'screenPageViews', 'engagedSessions' ),
)To switch the panel to display names instead of IDs, change customUser:author_id to customUser:author in includes/admin/pages/authors.php and includes/admin/pages/reports.php.
- Download the latest
heretek-analytics.zipfrom Releases. - In your WordPress Dashboard, navigate to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
- Select
heretek-analytics.zipand click Install Now. - Click Activate Plugin.
cd wp-content/plugins
git clone https://github.com/Heretek-AI/Heretek-Analytics.git heretek-analytics
wp plugin activate heretek-analytics- In your WordPress admin sidebar, locate the cog icon and click Heretek Analytics → Settings.
- Fill in three fields and click Save Settings:
- GA4 Measurement ID — the
G-XXXXXXXXXXstring from your GA4 property. - GA4 Property ID — the numeric ID (
Admin → Property settings → Property ID). - Service Account JSON — a Google Cloud service account key (see below).
- GA4 Measurement ID — the
- Click Verify Credentials to confirm the service account has access to the GA4 property.
- Once saved, visit Reports in the same sidebar to see real GA4 data.
- Open Google Cloud Console and pick (or create) a project.
- APIs & Services → Library → enable Google Analytics Data API.
- IAM & Admin → Service Accounts → Create Service Account, then Keys → Add Key → Create new key → JSON. Save the downloaded JSON file.
- Paste the entire contents of the JSON file into the Service Account JSON field on the Settings page.
- In GA4, open Admin → Property access management and add the service account email (it looks like
[email protected]) as a Viewer.
That's it — no WordPress license keys, no MonsterInsights account, no third-party relay.
Heretek Analytics includes an integrated GitHub Releases updater:
- Automatically scans
Heretek-AI/Heretek-Analytics/releasesevery 12 hours. - Matches release packages (
heretek-analytics.zip). - Injects update notifications directly into Dashboard → Updates and the Plugins table.
- Perform seamless, one-click in-place updates without entering commercial license keys.
Reporting data flows straight from Google — never through a third-party proxy:
POST /wp-json/heretek-analytics/v1/reporting/query
The PHP gateway includes/api/class-heretek-rest-reporting-gateway.php:
- Mints a JWT signed with your service-account private key.
- Exchanges the JWT for an OAuth2 bearer token at
oauth2.googleapis.com/token(cached for 50 minutes). - Calls
analyticsdata.googleapis.com/v1beta/properties/{id}:runReportwith the bearer token. - Returns a normalised rows array to the admin Reports page.
The same gateway powers a verify_credentials() helper used by the Verify Credentials button on the Settings page.
Heretek Analytics operates with total respect for data sovereignty:
- No Phone-Homes: No license heartbeat checks, pingbacks, hosted onboarding portal redirects, or SaaS beacons. The plugin never reaches
monsterinsights.com,exactmetrics.com,app.monsterinsights.com,api.monsterinsights.com,connect.monsterinsights.com,upgrade.monsterinsights.com,plugin-cdn.monsterinsights.com, orai-api.monsterinsights.com. - No Third-Party Feeds: The remote notification JSON feed and remote translations CDN are gone.
- No Commercial Upsells: The "Connect to MonsterInsights" wizard, the rotating promo menu items (Earth Day, Halloween, …), the wpconsent install notice, and the WPForms / UserFeedback / OptinMonster cross-promos are all removed.
- No Vue app: The admin UI is plain PHP, so there is no JS bundle phoning home.
- Privacy Guard: Sensitive query parameters are stripped before transmission to Google Analytics.
To forge a production distribution package:
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Heretek-AI/Heretek-Analytics.git
cd Heretek-Analytics
# Verify syntax across all PHP scripts
find . -name "*.php" -exec php -l {} +
# Package distribution ZIP archive
mkdir -p dist/heretek-analytics
rsync -av --exclude='.git*' --exclude='.github' --exclude='dist' --exclude='*.zip' ./ dist/heretek-analytics/
cd dist && zip -r ../heretek-analytics.zip heretek-analytics/Heretek Analytics is free software licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPLv3).
- Upstream Authors: Chris Christoff, Yoast, MonsterInsights Team, Awesome Motive, Inc.
- Fork Architect & Maintainer: Heretek AI
Heretek Analytics is an independent, community-driven open-source project and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by MonsterInsights, LLC or Awesome Motive, Inc. "MonsterInsights" is a trademark of MonsterInsights, LLC.
Pull requests, telemetry enhancements, and bug reports are welcome in the Omnissiah's service. Please submit issues or PRs via GitHub Issues.