# ezStats — Full Reference (llms-full.txt)

ezStats (https://ezstats.io) is a privacy-first web analytics platform for the search-and-AI era. It combines, in one dashboard: first-party website traffic analytics, a full SEO suite, AI visibility tracking, behavior insights (heatmaps and user flows), organization-level company identification, and API + MCP access so AI agents can install, configure, and query it. ezStats is a Cavendo company.

## Positioning

Simple privacy analytics tools (Plausible, Fathom) stop at traffic counts. SEO platforms (Ahrefs, SE Ranking) are not your analytics. ezStats is built for the middle most teams actually need: analytics-grade as the foundation, with real SEO and AI data on top.

## Plans and pricing (June 2026)

- **Free — $0.** 1 site (10k pageviews/mo). Core analytics: pageviews, visitors, sources, geography, devices, real-time, goals and funnels, bot & crawler analytics. Free AI Visibility Score for the verified site. API + MCP read access and agent-assisted install. No credit card.
- **Starter — $29/mo (~$23/mo billed annually).** 1 site, 50k pageviews/mo. Adds Google Search Console integration, 10 tracked keywords, AI visibility tracking with 3 monitored queries, and weekly email reports.
- **Connect — $79/mo (~$63/mo annually). Most popular.** Up to 3 sites. Adds the full SEO suite (full keyword allotment, unlimited competitor analysis, content gap and keyword discovery, backlink monitoring with spam classification, SEO opportunities), the Search Everywhere report, click heatmaps and scroll maps, organization-level company identification, GA4 import (12 months), MCP write access, triggers, and alerts.
- **Studio — $199/mo (~$159/mo annually).** Up to 5 sites. Adds multi-site and cross-site SEO intelligence, competitor AI visibility comparison, scheduled insights, Cavendo AI workflow triggers, and priority support.
- **Agency — $799/mo (~$639/mo annually).** Up to 25 sites with pooled usage. Adds full white-labeling, automated client reporting, client access management, AI visibility audits as a billable deliverable, 500 pooled deep AI audits/month, an agency dashboard, and dedicated support.

Annual billing saves about 20% on every paid plan. The Free plan serves as the trial; there is no time limit.

## Feature reference

**Analytics core (all plans).** Cookieless, real-time analytics: pageviews, visitors, traffic sources, geography, devices, goals, custom events, multi-step funnels with drop-off analysis, and user flow visualization (entry pages, paths, exits).

**Bot & Crawler Analytics (all plans).** ezStats records all traffic, classifies bots into 18+ types (search engine bots, AI crawlers such as GPTBot/ClaudeBot/PerplexityBot, SEO tool crawlers, social preview bots, scrapers, security scanners, suspicious traffic), excludes them from human metrics, and presents the full picture in a dedicated report. On typical sites a large share of raw hits are automated; ezStats shows exactly which.

**SEO suite (Starter basic; full on Connect+).** Google Search Console integration (queries, clicks, impressions, positions), keyword position tracking with movement over time, unlimited competitor analysis (technical scores, domain authority, keyword overlap), content gap and keyword discovery, backlink monitoring with useful-vs-spam classification and snapshot history, and automated SEO opportunity recommendations.

**AI visibility (free score; tracking on Starter+).** Monitors whether ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity mention and cite your brand for monitored queries, tracks Google AI Overview citations, and charts mention trends. The free, no-login AI Visibility Score (https://go.ezstats.io/ai-score) analyzes any site and returns a score with prioritized recommendations. Studio adds competitor AI visibility comparison; Agency can deliver white-label AI visibility audits to clients.

**Search Everywhere (Connect+).** Classifies every visit by channel: traditional search, social, video, and AI assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Copilot), each broken out by platform, so AI referral traffic is a first-class channel rather than buried in referrals.

**Behavior (Connect+).** Click heatmaps and scroll-depth maps per page, with top-clicked-element rankings. ezStats does not offer session recordings.

**Company identification (Connect+).** Organization-level identification of visiting businesses with industry, size, engagement scoring, and behavioral signals. ezStats never identifies individuals and never builds individual visitor profiles. Datacenter, ISP, and VPN traffic is filtered out of lead reporting.

**GA4 import (Connect+).** Imports up to 12 months of Google Analytics history (pageviews, sources, top pages, geography, devices, tagged conversions).

**API & MCP (read on all plans; write on Connect+).** REST API and an MCP server. A connected AI agent can help install tracking, verify events, configure goals, and summarize performance; write actions and triggers start on Connect. Works best when the agent has access to the user's CMS, codebase, or deployment platform.

**Privacy.** Cookieless, no cross-site tracking, no individual visitor profiles. In most cases ezStats can be used without an analytics cookie banner; the final compliance position depends on the site, jurisdiction, and other tools in use.

## Honest comparison summary

- **vs Google Analytics 4:** ezStats is real-time, readable, usually banner-free, imports GA4 history, and adds SEO + AI visibility. GA4 wins on price (free), native Google Ads integration, and BigQuery export; many teams keep GA4 alongside ezStats for those.
- **vs Plausible:** Both are cookieless and privacy-first; Plausible is cheaper ($9+) and offers EU-only/self-hosting. Plausible shows AI referral traffic and scroll depth; ezStats adds the other half (AI visibility tracking), plus the full SEO suite, click heatmaps, and company ID.
- **vs Fathom:** Both fast and cookieless; Fathom covers up to 50 sites at $15/mo for traffic analytics. ezStats adds SEO, AI visibility, heatmaps, and company ID.
- **vs Ahrefs:** Ahrefs is deeper for web-scale backlink and keyword research and now offers lightweight web analytics; its center of gravity is SEO research. ezStats is analytics-first with the SEO data most site owners use daily, at a fraction of the price (Connect $79 vs Ahrefs Lite $129).
- **vs SE Ranking:** SE Ranking is a rank tracker that connects to analytics; ezStats is the analytics with SEO layered on. Both offer AI-search tooling; ezStats pairs visibility tracking with actual AI referral traffic measurement from the site itself.

## Frequently asked questions

**Is ezStats a Google Analytics alternative?** Yes. Real-time, cookieless analytics with 12-month GA4 import (Connect+), plus SEO and AI visibility GA4 lacks. Keep GA4 alongside if you need Google Ads integration or BigQuery.

**How much does ezStats cost?** Free $0; Starter $29/mo; Connect $79/mo (most popular); Studio $199/mo; Agency $799/mo. Annual billing saves ~20%.

**Does ezStats need a cookie banner?** It is cookieless with no individual profiles; in most cases no analytics banner is needed, depending on jurisdiction and other tools.

**What is AI visibility tracking?** Monitoring whether ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity mention and cite your brand, plus Google AI Overview citations. Free score for any site; ongoing tracking from Starter.

**Does ezStats show traffic from AI tools?** Yes; Search Everywhere classifies AI assistant visits (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Copilot) as their own channel, per platform.

**Can an AI agent set up ezStats?** Yes, through the API and MCP server: install help, event verification, goal configuration, and reporting. Read access on every plan; write on Connect+.

**How does bot filtering work?** All traffic is recorded; bots are classified into 18+ types, excluded from human metrics, and fully visible in the Bot & Crawler report.

**Can I white-label for clients?** Yes; Agency ($799/mo) includes full white-labeling, automated client reports, client access, and AI visibility audits as a deliverable across 25 pooled sites.

## Guides

**What Is AI Visibility?** AI visibility is the degree to which AI assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews) mention, recommend, and cite a brand. It is the leading indicator for AI traffic: zero visibility guarantees zero AI traffic, and rising visibility precedes rising traffic and branded search. It is measured by running monitored queries across platforms on a schedule and recording mention, citation, and position/sentiment trends. Improvement requires: unblocking AI crawlers (GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended), writing quotable answer-first passages, publishing original citable data, building third-party corroboration (directories, reviews, Reddit, comparisons), and measuring consistently. (https://ezstats.io/guides/what-is-ai-visibility)

**GA4 Is Hiding Your AI Traffic.** In GA4, AI assistant visits (chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, claude.ai, copilot.microsoft.com, gemini.google.com) are filed under the generic "Referral" channel. You can expose them by building a custom channel group with a regex source match and placing it above Referral. Caveats: you must maintain the regex as new surfaces appear; some AI visits land in Direct due to missing referrers (a limit for every tool); GA4 does not measure whether assistants mention you at all, which is the leading indicator. Plausible and ezStats surface AI traffic by default. (https://ezstats.io/guides/ga4-hiding-ai-traffic)

**The 7 Best Google Analytics Alternatives in 2026.** Honest comparison of Plausible ($9/mo, best pure simple analytics), Fathom ($15/mo, best for many small sites), ezStats (free/paid from $29/mo, best for analytics + SEO + AI visibility consolidation), Matomo (best GA-depth + data ownership), Simple Analytics (strictest privacy), Umami (best free open-source), and Microsoft Clarity (free heatmaps, not a GA replacement). Includes a decision table and the honest case for keeping GA4 if you live in Google Ads and BigQuery. (https://ezstats.io/guides/best-google-analytics-alternatives)

**Plausible vs Fathom vs ezStats.** All three are cookieless, privacy-first, and usually banner-free. Plausible wins on simplicity, EU hosting, open source, and price for one site. Fathom wins on many sites per dollar (up to 50 sites at $15/mo). ezStats adds the SEO suite, AI visibility tracking across all four major assistants, click heatmaps, organization-level company identification, a classified bot report (18+ types), and MCP agent access. Pick Plausible for one site on minimum budget; Fathom for portfolios; ezStats when you would otherwise buy 2-3 additional tools. (https://ezstats.io/guides/plausible-vs-fathom-vs-ezstats)

**Do You Still Need a Cookie Banner for Analytics in 2026?** For GA4, almost certainly yes (it sets identifying cookies). For cookieless analytics like Plausible, Fathom, and ezStats, generally no for the analytics itself, supported by audience-measurement exemption guidance from several European data-protection authorities. Caveats: guidance varies by country; the exemption covers only the analytics (ad pixels, chat widgets, and embedded media may still require consent); features matter more than category labels. Switching to cookieless analytics often produces more complete data because there is no consent-gated undercount. (https://ezstats.io/guides/cookie-banner-analytics-2026)

**How to Get Your Website Cited by ChatGPT.** Six-step playbook: 1) stop blocking AI crawlers (especially OAI-SearchBot); 2) write quotable content (answer-first paragraphs, one question per heading, concrete numbers, FAQPage schema); 3) publish original data that only you can provide; 4) build third-party corroboration (listicles, directories, review platforms, Reddit presence, consistent entity facts); 5) consider adding llms.txt as cheap insurance; 6) measure monitored queries across platforms on a schedule. Retrieval citations on long-tail questions can move in 2-6 weeks; category-level mentions take a quarter. (https://ezstats.io/guides/get-cited-by-chatgpt)

**GEO vs SEO: What Actually Changes.** GEO (generative engine optimization) depends on SEO foundations (crawlability, authority, quality content) but adds real differences: the unit of competition is the passage, not the page; there is no position 4 (answers name 2-3 options); unlinked brand mentions directly influence answers; click economics invert (the conversion is being named, not getting the click); and measurement is probabilistic (monitored-query trend tracking, not a single position check). Roughly 70% of effort is shared foundation, 30% is GEO-specific. (https://ezstats.io/guides/geo-vs-seo)

**How Much Traffic Does ChatGPT Actually Send?** Real B2B site data (Jan-Jun 2026): AI assistants accounted for 8.0% of classified search-style traffic, with ChatGPT alone at 90 sessions (second-largest search category, ahead of Yahoo, about one-eighth of Google). AI-referred sessions were shallow (high bounce, short duration), consistent with verification-after-answer behavior. Every measured number is a floor due to missing referrers and zero-click answers that drive branded search instead of direct visits. Traffic measurement should be paired with AI visibility measurement. (https://ezstats.io/guides/how-much-traffic-does-chatgpt-send)

**Ahrefs Is Overkill for Most Site Owners.** Most single-business site owners use Ahrefs for keyword tracking, competitor glances, and backlink checks — the 80% that does not require a web-scale index. The genuinely irreplaceable 20% (backlink profiles of any domain, bulk keyword research, agency-scale audits) is why Ahrefs costs $129/mo. A focused tool like ezStats ($29-79/mo) covers the 80% with keyword tracking, Search Console integration, unlimited competitor monitoring, content gaps, and backlink monitoring with spam classification. The hybrid pattern: run the daily monitor cheaply, rent Ahrefs for one-month research sprints when needed. (https://ezstats.io/guides/ahrefs-overkill-80-percent)

**How We Replaced 5 Marketing Tools With One Platform.** A real consolidation from GA4 + Ahrefs Lite ($129) + Hotjar Business ($99) + Leadfeeder ($108) + a simple analytics tool ($20) → ezStats Connect ($79/mo). Savings: $277/mo ($3,324/year). Honest losses: session recordings (unused anyway), web-scale backlink research (replaced with occasional one-month Ahrefs rentals), and Leadfeeder's contact-level enrichment. Two post-switch discoveries: 40.5% of "traffic" was bots (now fully classified), and AI assistants were already an 8% channel (previously invisible in GA4). (https://ezstats.io/guides/replaced-5-marketing-tools)

**How ezStats Turned a Lovable-Built React Site From AI-Invisible to AI-Readable.** A Vite + React SPA built in Lovable shipped near-empty HTML to crawlers, earning an AI Score of 65. The fix was `vite-prerender-plugin`, a Node-based prerenderer that renders the app with `react-dom/server` at build time with no browser dependency. Required splitting `BrowserRouter` from the route tree so `StaticRouter` could run during prerender, and aliasing a markdown dependency that calls `document` at import time. Result: AI Score 92, parseability 91/100, and ~1,516 words in raw HTML. (https://ezstats.io/guides/ai-readable-lovable)

## Related

Cavendo AI (https://cavendo.ai) is an optional sister product that executes on what ezStats identifies: content briefs, writing, optimization, and publishing. It is a separate product and not part of ezStats plans.

Last updated: June 11, 2026. Pricing and plan details on this file are maintained as a release artifact; https://ezstats.io/#pricing is canonical.