README

Count how many times each of your files gets downloaded - without bloating your database.

A lot of the download-tracking tools I found wrote a new database row (or even a whole element) for every single download. On a busy site that table balloons into millions of rows and starts to hurt, I found that sites that had static caching enabled were refreshing the cache constantly. Download Tracker takes the opposite approach: it keeps one running counter per file and increments it atomically. A file downloaded a million times is still a single row.

It's also built for modern, cache-first Craft sites. If you run full-page static caching such as Blitz, you'll know that a cached page never touches PHP - so anything that tries to "count on page load" simply never fires. Download Tracker sidesteps this entirely by counting on a lightweight background request that static caches always let through.

Features

• One counter per file. Atomic count + 1 updates mean no per-download row explosion and no race conditions, even under heavy concurrent traffic.
• Daily breakdown. A compact per-day rollup (one row per file per day) lets you see trends over time, and old rows are pruned automatically.
• Works with static caching. Counting happens on a background request, so it keeps working on pages served straight from a Blitz (or similar) cache.
• Zero-touch setup. Turn it on and it starts counting your existing download links automatically - no template changes required.
• Optional managed download links for gated, private, remote, or force-“Save as…” downloads, using a signed, tamper-proof URL.
• Reporting built in. A searchable, sortable Downloads screen in the control panel, CSV export, saved reports, and a “Top Downloads” dashboard widget.

Requirements

• Craft CMS 5.0 or later
• PHP 8.2 or later

Installation

Install with Composer and then enable the plugin:

composer require coysh-digital/craft-download-tracker
php craft plugin/install download-tracker

Or install it from the Plugin Store in your control panel.

How it works

Downloads are counted through one of two routes, and both update the same counter - so a file is never double-counted.

1. Automatic click tracking (the default)

With Auto-track download links switched on, the plugin adds a tiny script to your front-end pages. When a visitor clicks something that looks like a download

• a link under one of your configured paths, a link to a tracked file type, or any link with a download attribute - the script quietly pings the plugin and then lets the browser download the file exactly as it normally would.

You don't have to change any of your templates or links. To exclude a specific link, add data-dt-ignore to it.

2. Managed download links (optional)

When you want a download counted reliably on the server - for example a members-only PDF, a file on private/off-server storage, or a link that should force a “Save as…” - route it through the plugin:

<a href="{{ craft.downloadTracker.url(entry.brochure.one()) }}">
  Download the brochure
</a>

The link carries a signed token, counts the download when clicked, and then either redirects to the file (for public assets) or streams it through Craft (for private or off-server assets).

A note on private files: a download link is a bearer link - anyone who has the URL can use it. If you place a managed link to a private asset on a publicly cached page, that URL gets baked into the cached HTML and becomes a permanent public link. For genuinely private files, turn on Require login, and/or set a Signed URL lifetime and only render the link on pages that aren't statically cached (such as logged-in account pages).

Reading the numbers in Twig

{{ craft.downloadTracker.total(asset) }}   {# total downloads (a number) #}
{{ craft.downloadTracker.record(asset) }}  {# the counter record, incl. last download #}
{{ craft.downloadTracker.top(10) }}        {# the ten most-downloaded files #}
{{ craft.downloadTracker.url(asset) }}     {# a signed, counting download link #}

total(), record() and url() all accept an Asset, an asset ID, or a URL/path string.

Tip: avoid printing a live download count directly into a statically cached page - the number would freeze until the cache is regenerated. Show counts in the control panel, or load them with a small client-side request.

Settings

Everything is configurable in Settings → Download Tracker, or in a config/download-tracker.php file (which takes precedence, and is handy for per-environment values):

Support

Found a bug or have a request? Please open an issue on GitHub.

License

This plugin is commercial software, released under a commercial license. See LICENSE.md for details.

Made by Coysh Digital.