GA4 Plugins for Multi-Author Publishers
Ask your analytics which of your writers performs best and it cannot tell you. It knows about pages, not authors. It knows a URL got four thousand views; it has no idea who wrote it, what section it belongs to, or whether it was a news piece or a long feature.
Custom dimensions fix that, and they are the feature that turns analytics from a traffic counter into something an editorial team will actually use. They are also gated behind the $199.50 tier in the two best-known plugins. This article explains what they are without the platform documentation, which tier each product puts them in, and how to report to a newsroom that will never open the analytics interface.
Verified August 2026. Prices are vendor list prices; introductory and renewal rates commonly differ, so check both.
Custom dimensions, explained plainly
A custom dimension is a label you attach to a pageview so you can group by it later. That is the whole concept, and the documentation makes it sound considerably harder than that.
By default your analytics records a page path. Your site knows a great deal more about that page: who wrote it, which category it sits in, what post type it is, when it was published, how long it is. None of that reaches your analytics unless something sends it.
A custom dimension sends one of those attributes alongside the pageview. Once it arrives, you can ask questions you could not ask before: which author holds attention longest, which section converts subscribers best, whether long features outperform short news pieces, and how quickly traffic decays after publication by section.
Four are worth setting up for almost any publisher: author, category or section, post type and publication date. Everything an editorial team wants to know is some combination of those, and adding more than a handful tends to produce reports nobody reads.
The 6 options compared
1. MonsterInsights Pro
The most polished implementation of exactly this feature, at the tier where it lives. $99.50, $199.50, $299.50 and $399.50, with custom dimensions arriving at $199.50.
Its dimensions add-on sends author, category, post type and publication date without you configuring anything in the analytics platform, and then surfaces reports inside wp-admin organised the way a publisher thinks. That second part is the real value: an editor can see which authors and sections performed this month without learning a reporting interface, which is the difference between analytics that inform editorial decisions and analytics that nobody opens. For a publication with several writers and a budget, it does the job well. The reservation is price and provenance: this is the same tier and same parent company as its sibling product, and a cheaper alternative offers comparable capability.
- Custom dimensions at: Pro tier, $199.50
- Author reporting in wp-admin: Yes
- Best for: Publications with budget wanting zero setup
- Watch out for: Renewal differs from the intro price
2. ExactMetrics Pro
The same feature at the same tier and the same price, from the same parent company. Custom dimensions at $199.50.
Worth listing because a publisher comparing options will find these two presented as competitors and reasonably assume the market is testing the price. It is not: they are sibling products, and the identical gate at the identical figure is a single pricing decision rather than two independent ones. Practically, choose between them on interface preference alone, and understand that the meaningful comparison is against products outside that family. For an editorial team, the capability is equivalent to its sibling, which means the recommendation and the reservation are both the same.
- Custom dimensions at: Pro tier, $199.50
- Author reporting in wp-admin: Yes
- Best for: Teams preferring its interface
- Watch out for: Same owner and price as its sibling
3. Analytify
The value option, with a licence structure that suits publishers better. $99 for two sites, $199 unlimited, $499 lifetime.
Its distinguishing feature for editorial teams is per-post statistics shown directly in the post list and on the post edit screen, which puts the number in front of the writer at the moment they care about it. That does more for a newsroom’s relationship with its analytics than any dashboard, because nobody has to go anywhere to see it. Author-level reporting is available, and the unlimited-site tier at $199 is well suited to a publisher running several titles. Check the current custom dimension implementation against your specific requirements, since this is the area where the more expensive products are most developed.
- Custom dimensions at: Verify against your needs
- Author reporting in wp-admin: Yes, per post
- Best for: Publishers with several titles
- Watch out for: Dimension depth versus the pricier options
4. GTM4WP
Free, and the most capable route if somebody on the team is comfortable in a tag manager.
It exposes author, category, post type, publication date and more in a data layer, ready to be sent as custom dimensions. Everything the $199.50 tier provides in terms of data collection is available here at no cost, and with more control over exactly what is sent. What you do not get is the reporting: no wp-admin dashboard, so your editors are looking at the analytics interface or at something you build. For a publisher with a developer, this is the obvious choice and the saving is real. For one without, the licence fee is buying a translation layer between the data and the people who need it, which is a legitimate thing to pay for.
- Custom dimensions at: Free
- Author reporting in wp-admin: No
- Best for: Publishers with technical staff
- Watch out for: Editors will not use the analytics interface
5. Independent Analytics and self-hosted tools
The category that answers the editorial question natively, because it lives inside WordPress and already knows about authors.
A self-hosted analytics plugin does not need custom dimensions to report by author or category, because the data is already in the same database as your posts. Author reporting is a built-in view rather than a feature you configure and pay for. That is a genuinely elegant fit for a publisher, and it comes with no external script, no tag to slow pages down, and no visitor data leaving your site. What you give up is the depth of the major platform, comparison against industry benchmarks, and advertising integration. For an editorial team whose questions are “which writers and sections perform”, that trade is often worth making, and the whole $199.50 question disappears.
- Custom dimensions at: Not needed, native
- Author reporting in wp-admin: Yes, built in
- Best for: Editorial teams asking editorial questions
- Watch out for: Less depth and no advertising integration
6. Site Kit plus a scheduled report
The free combination that solves the reporting problem without solving the dimensions problem, which is sometimes the right order.
The official plugin gives editors a summary inside WordPress along with search performance data, which for many newsrooms answers more questions than author-level breakdowns do. Knowing which articles are being found, and for which queries, drives commissioning decisions more directly than knowing which writer averaged higher engagement. Pair it with a monthly email summarising the numbers that matter and you have a working editorial reporting habit for nothing. Add custom dimensions later, when somebody has actually asked the author question twice, rather than buying the capability first and discovering that nobody looks.
- Custom dimensions at: Not provided
- Author reporting in wp-admin: No
- Best for: Getting editors reading numbers at all
- Watch out for: No author breakdown without more work
Comparison table
| Option | Price | Custom dimensions | Author reports | Sites |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MonsterInsights Pro | $199.50 | Yes | In wp-admin | Tier based |
| ExactMetrics Pro | $199.50 | Yes | In wp-admin | Tier based |
| Analytify | $99 | Verify | Per post | Two, or unlimited at $199 |
| GTM4WP | Free | Yes | No | Unlimited |
| Self-hosted analytics | Free plus paid | Not needed | Native | Varies |
| Site Kit | Free | No | No | Unlimited |
Reporting to people who will not open analytics
Collecting the data is the easy half. Getting a newsroom to act on it is where these projects usually fail, and the failure is almost always about presentation rather than about the numbers.
- Send one email, not a dashboard link. A monthly summary that arrives without anybody logging in will be read. A link to a reporting interface will not, however good the interface is.
- Report three numbers, not thirty. Top pieces, best-performing section, and one thing that changed. Editors have limited attention for this and spending it on a wall of metrics wastes it.
- Put per-post numbers where writers already are. Statistics in the post list are seen daily; a separate analytics screen is visited never. This is the single highest-value placement decision.
- Compare like with like. A three-year-old evergreen guide outperforming yesterday’s news item is not a fact about the writers. Compare within a time window and within a section.
- Avoid ranking writers publicly. League tables damage the culture of a newsroom faster than the insight improves it. Report by section publicly and by author privately.
- Name what you want people to do. “Our explainers hold attention twice as long as our news pieces, so commission more explainers” is useful. A chart is not.
A useful sequencing principle: get editors reading a simple monthly summary first, and add author dimensions only once somebody asks a question the summary cannot answer. Buying the $199.50 tier before that point frequently produces a capability nobody uses.
Frequently asked questions
Why can analytics not tell me which author performs best?
Because it only receives a page path. Author, category and post type exist in your site and never reach analytics unless a custom dimension sends them.
Which dimensions should a publisher set up?
Author, category, post type and publication date. Nearly every editorial question is a combination of those, and more than a handful produces reports nobody reads.
Can I get custom dimensions for free?
Yes, with a free tag manager plugin that exposes them in a data layer. What you pay for at $199.50 is the reporting inside WordPress, not the data collection.
Is a self-hosted tool enough for a newsroom?
Often, since it already knows about authors and categories and reports on them natively. You lose depth and advertising integration, which many publications do not need.
Should I rank writers by performance?
Not publicly. League tables harm newsroom culture faster than the insight helps. Report by section openly and by author privately, and compare within time windows.
What is the cheapest option for several titles?
Analytify at $199 for unlimited sites, or a free tag manager setup if you have technical staff. Per-site licensing gets expensive across a publishing group quickly.
The verdict
Start with a self-hosted analytics plugin if your questions are editorial. Author and category reporting are native rather than purchased, because the data already lives beside your posts.
If you need the major platform and have technical staff: GTM4WP, free, which sends every dimension the $199.50 tier does with more control and no licence.
If you want it configured and reported without effort: Analytify at $99, with per-post statistics in the post list, or the $199.50 tier products if budget is not the constraint.
Then fix the reporting habit before buying anything. One monthly email, three numbers, one recommendation, and per-post statistics where writers already look. A newsroom that reads a simple summary beats one with dimensions nobody opens.
