Free Feedjit alternative comparison 2026: 7 tools ranked
Feedjit shut down. Whos.amung.us hasn't updated since 2014. Here are seven free, modern alternatives compared on features, privacy, pricing and developer experience.
Why Feedjit alternatives matter in 2026
Feedjit was the original real-time visitor feed widget — every Blogspot and WordPress site in 2009 had that little box showing "Visitor from Texas just landed on this page." It was charming, social-proof gold, and powered millions of blogs.
Then Feedjit shut down. Its closest peer Whos.amung.us is still online but hasn't shipped an update since 2014. StatCounter pivoted to paid analytics and dropped the live-feed feature. GoStats still works but looks like a 2008 phpBB plugin.
We surveyed every active player and ranked them on five criteria: features, privacy, free-tier limits, customization, and developer experience. Here's the result.
#1 — FeedPulse (feed-pulse.com)
Verdict: The closest spiritual successor to original Feedjit. Modern stack, real-time SSE updates, three widget types in one place.
- Free tier: unlimited visits, all widgets, all customizations
- Real-time: Server-Sent Events push (no polling — feels instant)
- Privacy: anonymous IP hash, no cookies, GDPR-safe by default
- Customization: width, colors, fonts, shapes, gradients — every pixel is yours
- Bot filtering: automatic burst detection catches Jingling-style traffic exchanges
- 100% free — no upgrade tier, no subscription. Just keep our small badge visible.
Best for: bloggers, indie hackers, content creators, small SaaS founders who want a beautiful widget without paying $20/month for analytics they don't need.
#2 — RealtimeStats (realtimestats.io)
Polished UI, three widget styles. Free tier caps at 10K visits/month, then jumps to $19/mo. Privacy-friendly but no bot filtering — your widget will be flooded if you ever run an ad campaign.
#3 — VisitorTrack (visitortrack.app)
A 2024-era startup, strong focus on B2B reverse-IP (showing which companies visit your site). Free tier is tiny — 1K visits/month — and the live feed is locked behind their $49/mo Starter plan.
#4 — Whos.amung.us
Still works. Still free. Still looks like 2014. One widget only (online counter), no customization beyond a basic theme switcher. Use if you want pure nostalgia.
#5 — Plausible Analytics (live view feature)
Plausible is a privacy-focused analytics tool, not a widget. They have a Live View dashboard but it's owner-only — visitors don't see it. Use if you want server-side stats; skip if you want public social proof.
#6 — GoStats
Old-school. Still functional. UI is unchanged since 2008. Includes a visible counter but no live feed. Free, ad-supported on the public stats page.
#7 — Custom-build with Pusher + Cloudflare Workers
Not a product — a DIY route. Costs $20–50/month at scale, takes a weekend to ship, and you own everything. Recommended only if you're a developer with strong opinions and a tolerance for maintaining your own infrastructure.
Feature comparison table
| Tool | Free visits | Widgets | Real-time | Privacy | Bot filter | Customization |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FeedPulse | ∞ | 3 | SSE push | ✅ no cookies | ✅ auto | Full |
| RealtimeStats | 10K/mo | 3 | Polling | ✅ | ❌ | Medium |
| VisitorTrack | 1K/mo | 1 (paid 3) | Polling | ✅ | ✅ | Low |
| Whos.amung.us | ∞ | 1 | Polling | ⚠️ cookies | ❌ | None |
| Plausible | 10K/mo | 0 (dash only) | Polling | ✅ | N/A | N/A |
| GoStats | ∞ | 1 | None | ⚠️ ads | ❌ | None |
What we'd pick (and why)
If we were starting a blog tomorrow we'd go FeedPulse for the live feed (it's free and beautiful), and pair it with Plausible for owner-side analytics (also privacy-friendly). The combined cost: $0 + $9/month for Plausible at scale.
That stack outperforms what Feedjit + Google Analytics offered in 2010 by every measurable axis.