Advanced Analytics is the larger analytics product that lives alongside the built-in Statistics system. Where Statistics tracks two numbers per object — views and shares — Advanced Analytics adds the context that turns those numbers into decisions: who is viewing, where they are coming from, how engaged they are, and which content is actually earning attention.
Most of Advanced Analytics is still under development. This article describes what each capability is intended to surface, which tier it belongs to, and how it relates to the core Statistics already shipping.
Location FotoGrids → Statistics → Advanced
Relationship to core Statistics #
Advanced Analytics builds on the same fotogrids_statistics table and the same REST endpoints that core Statistics uses today. Nothing about the Free statistics changes when an Advanced Analytics module ships — the new modules layer on top, reading the same data plus new event streams that the modules themselves record.
The core Statistics article covers what is tracked today: views and shares per Gallery, Album, and item, retained for 365 days, viewable inside wp-admin. Everything below is in addition to that.
Engagement Tracking #
Engagement Tracking measures how visitors interact with a Gallery beyond just opening it. Instead of a single “view” event per page render, the module records the actions a visitor actually performs.
- Time spent viewing each item in the Lightbox.
- Navigation patterns — how many items each visitor flips through before leaving.
- Zoom and fullscreen activations.
- Pause and resume on auto-progress Lightbox slideshows.
- Filter and sort interactions on Galleries that expose those controls.
Engagement Tracking comes in two tiers. The basic version surfaces the headline numbers on the Statistics page. The advanced version adds per-visitor sequences, drop-off points, and the ability to spot the items that are consistently closed within the first second.
User Behavior Insights #
User Behavior Insights turns the raw engagement data into a higher-level picture of how Galleries are actually consumed.
The module is intended to answer questions like: which items are scroll-stoppers, which Galleries lose visitors at a particular position in the grid, whether visitors who open the Lightbox are reaching the end of the carousel or bailing partway through, and which Album covers convert into Gallery views at the highest rate.
These are derived insights — they do not require new data collection beyond what Engagement Tracking already records. The value is in the surfacing.
Traffic Sources #
Traffic Sources records where each Gallery view originated. The module reads the referrer header at view time, groups referrers into sources (direct, search, social, internal links), and exposes per-Gallery and per-Album breakdowns.
Galleries embedded in posts that are widely linked from social media show very different traffic patterns from Galleries used as standalone portfolio pages. Traffic Sources makes that visible without having to instrument Google Analytics on every page.
Device & Platform Insights #
Device & Platform Insights records browser, operating system, screen size class (mobile, tablet, desktop), and connection type at view time.
The module’s primary purpose is responsive design feedback — if 60% of a Gallery’s traffic is mobile and the Gallery has been tuned for desktop, that is a finding the dashboard should surface. It also helps debug Lightbox or layout issues that only appear on a specific device family.
Multisite Extensive Analytics #
The Agency tier ships a multisite version of every analytics module above, aggregating data across an entire WordPress multisite network into a single dashboard. Network administrators see totals across every subsite, with per-subsite drill-down. This is intended for agencies running dozens or hundreds of client sites from a single network installation.
Tier summary #
| Module | Tier |
|---|---|
| Engagement Tracking — Basic | Pro Starter |
| Engagement Tracking — Advanced | Pro Plus |
| User Behavior Insights | Pro Plus |
| Traffic Sources | Pro Plus |
| Device & Platform Insights | Pro Plus |
| Multisite Extensive Analytics | Agency |
Privacy #
The Advanced Analytics modules are built to the same privacy standard as core Statistics. Data is stored on your own server. No data is sent to FotoGrids, Anthropic, Google, or any third party. Visitor-level data uses a rotating, non-PII identifier — no IP addresses, no cookies that can be used to identify a returning visitor across sessions. Sites that need to comply with GDPR, CCPA, or similar will be able to honour Do-Not-Track and to wipe all stored analytics data at any time from the plugin settings.
Modules in this article are roadmap items. Availability and exact behaviour may change before each module ships — this article will be revised as each one lands.
Tips #
If you are evaluating which Pro tier to subscribe to, the analytics modules are usually not the determining factor — most users adopt FotoGrids for the layout, Lightbox, and integrations first. Treat the analytics modules as additive value: useful once a site is established and is generating enough traffic that the patterns are worth analysing.
For sites running today that need richer analytics in the meantime, the fotogrids/actions/share/tracked action and the public stats REST endpoints make it straightforward to forward FotoGrids events into an external analytics platform.
