Looking to set up and track Google Analytics events in WordPress?
WP Google Analytics Events and MonsterInsights can both help you set up events tracking in WordPress with very little coding.
But, which plugin is going to be the easiest to use and help you set up the most events so you can gather the data that’ll help you grow?
In this article, we’ll compare two of the top event tracking WordPress plugins: WP Google Analytics Events and MonsterInsights.
Table of Contents
- WP Google Analytics Events vs. MonsterInsights: Features
- WP Google Analytics Events vs. MonsterInsights: Ease of Use
- WP Google Analytics Events vs. MonsterInsights: Pricing
- WP Google Analytics Events vs. MonsterInsights: Which is Best?
Let’s jump right in and get comparing.
WP Google Analytics Events vs. MonsterInsights: Features
Both event tracking plugins have some helpful features that’ll help you track events. Event tracking is a slightly more advanced function of Google Analytics, so having some help setting them up can be huge.
WP Google Analytics Features
WP Google Analytics is very focused on event tracking, so it has a few features that are pretty great for doing just that. It integrates with YouTube to track video clicks, has the capability to track how far your users are scrolling down your pages, and can track clicks on just about any element on your site.
A few examples of click events you can set up with WP Google Analytics:
- Outbound links
- Contextual (internal) links
- Images
- Sliders
- Forms
- Buttons
- Videos
MonsterInsights Features
MonsterInsights is not solely focused on event tracking. Instead, this plugin is the most comprehensive Google Analytics plugin for WordPress, so it has many other features in addition to event tracking.
For events, this plugin tracks outbound link clicks, file downloads, scroll depth, and form submissions without you setting up an event at all. MonsterInsights automatically tracks these events for you.
It also has the capability to track any other click events you’d like to set up with its Enhanced Link Attribution feature.
Here are a few of MonsterInsights’ features in addition to event tracking:
- Google Analytics dashboard inside WordPress
- EU compliance
- Google AMP tracking
- eCommerce analytics and easy enhanced ecommerce setup
- Site speed reports
- Custom dimensions
- Popular posts
WP Google Analytics Events vs. MonsterInsights: Ease of Use
The interfaces in these Google Analytics event tracking plugins are very different, and the way you use them to create events is different, too.
These plugins are geared toward different users, with one being for someone with a little more knowledge of event tracking and one being more for a beginner.
WP Google Analytics Events Ease of Use
The WP Google Analytics Events interface is pretty simple-looking, with a few tabs across the top for different events and tracking information.
To set up a click event, you’d go to their “Click Tracking” tab and click Add New to bring up the event options:
Now, you have to know what you’re doing a bit here to set up these events. You’ll need to understand how to find an event Selector, and then you can input your Category, Action, Label, and Value.
WP Google Analytics Events does have a “Getting Started Guide” that you can sign up to get in your email. The guide will help you understand how to find and create the parameters you need for each event.
The Scroll Tracking tab brings up the same options as above for your scroll tracking events.
To access the analytics on your events, you’ll need to head to Google Analytics.
MonsterInsights Ease of Use
MonsterInsights has two main pages: Reports and Settings.
The Reports dashboard looks like this:
And the Settings look like this:
Setting up events with MonsterInsights is a little more of a beginner-friendly process, since it has built-in event creation. If you’re looking to track outbound link clicks, file downloads, scroll depth, or form submissions, you don’t have to go through any event setup at all.
To set up event tracking on any other elements, you’ll need to add a short HTML snippet to the element you want to track. It looks like this:
<a href="https://www.example.com" data-vars-ga-category="customcategoryhere" data-vars-ga-action="customactionhere" data-vars-ga-label="customlabelhere">Your Link Text</a>
For a full look at how to set up custom event tracking with MonsterInsights, read How to Set Up Google Analytics Event Tracking in WordPress.
To access your event reporting in MonsterInsights, you’ll find your clicks in the Outbound Links report inside your WordPress dashboard:
WP Google Analytics Events vs. MonsterInsights: Pricing
Pricing is a pretty big deal when you’re trying to manage your website budget. Let’s look at the differences in price between our two plugins.
WP Google Analytics Events Pricing
To access some of the best features, you’ll want at least a Personal license. Then you’ll be able to track video clicks and all other event clicks. A Personal license is $79.00 per year.
MonsterInsights Pricing
To access some of the best MonsterInsights features, you’ll want at least a Plus license. Then you’ll have access to scroll tracking and download tracking. For forms, you’ll need the Pro license.
MonsterInsights has different sales, so check the Pricing page for current pricing.
WP Google Analytics Events vs. MonsterInsights: Which is Best?
Now that we’ve compared features, ease of use, and pricing between WP Google Analytics Events and MonsterInsights, let’s look at which one is best overall.
For the most part, the answer to this question depends on your needs, your skill level, and familiarity with Google Analytics.
If you’d like to have most of your event tracking done for you and have easy access to Analytics reports, MonsterInsights is the best option. It’ll help you track events, but also show you the analytics that’ll help you make the best decisions to grow your business.
If you have more experience with Analytics and event tracking, you might do well with WP Google Analytics events.
Get Started with MonsterInsights Now!
For more on all the reports you can get with MonsterInsights, read Your Ultimate Guide to MonsterInsights Dashboard Reports.
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