jekyll-stats
A Jekyll plugin that adds a jekyll stats command to display site statistics.
rubygems.org/gems/jekyll-stats
Installation
Add to your Jekyll site's Gemfile:
gem "jekyll-stats"Then run bundle install.
Usage
Run from your Jekyll site directory:
# Print stats to terminal
jekyll stats
# Save stats to _data/stats.json
jekyll stats --save
# Output raw JSON to stdout
jekyll stats --json
# Include drafts in calculations
jekyll stats --draftsTerminal Output
Site Statistics
-----------------------------------
Posts: 127 (43,521 words, ~3h 38m read time)
Avg: 343 words | Longest: "My Best Post" (2,847 words)
First: 2019-03-14 | Last: 2025-12-18 (6.8 years)
Frequency: 1.6 posts/month
Posts by Year:
2025: ████████████ 24
2024: ███████████████████ 38
2023: ██████████████ 28
Top 10 Tags:
ruby (34) | opensource (28) | packages (19)
Categories:
code (45) | cars (32)
-----------------------------------
JSON Output
The --save flag writes _data/stats.json with this structure:
{
"generated_at": "2025-12-21T09:30:00Z",
"total_posts": 127,
"total_words": 43521,
"reading_minutes": 218,
"average_words": 343,
"longest_post": { "title": "My Best Post", "url": "/2024/01/my-best-post", "words": 2847 },
"shortest_post": { "title": "Quick Note", "url": "/2024/03/quick-note", "words": 89 },
"first_post": { "title": "Hello World", "url": "/2019/03/hello-world", "date": "2019-03-14" },
"last_post": { "title": "Recent Post", "url": "/2025/12/recent-post", "date": "2025-12-18" },
"years_active": 6.8,
"posts_per_month": 1.6,
"posts_by_year": [{ "year": 2025, "count": 24 }, { "year": 2024, "count": 38 }],
"posts_by_month": [{ "month": "2025-12", "count": 3 }],
"posts_by_day_of_week": { "monday": 23, "tuesday": 18, "wednesday": 15, "thursday": 20, "friday": 22, "saturday": 14, "sunday": 15 },
"tags": [{ "name": "ruby", "count": 34 }, { "name": "opensource", "count": 28 }],
"categories": [{ "name": "code", "count": 45 }, { "name": "cars", "count": 32 }],
"drafts_count": 3
}Building a Stats Page
After running jekyll stats --save, create a stats page using Liquid:
---
layout: page
title: Site Statistics
---
<p>{{ site.data.stats.total_posts }} posts, {{ site.data.stats.total_words }} words, ~{{ site.data.stats.reading_minutes }} minutes reading time.</p>
<p>Average {{ site.data.stats.average_words }} words per post. Longest: <a href="{{ site.data.stats.longest_post.url }}">{{ site.data.stats.longest_post.title }}</a> ({{ site.data.stats.longest_post.words }} words).</p>
<p>First post: {{ site.data.stats.first_post.date }} | Last post: {{ site.data.stats.last_post.date }} | {{ site.data.stats.years_active }} years active.</p>
<h2>Posts by Year</h2>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th style="text-align: left">Year</th>
<th style="text-align: right">Posts</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
{% for year in site.data.stats.posts_by_year %}
<tr>
<td>{{ year.year }}</td>
<td style="text-align: right">{{ year.count }}</td>
</tr>
{% endfor %}
</tbody>
</table>
<h2>Top Tags</h2>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th style="text-align: left">Tag</th>
<th style="text-align: right">Posts</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
{% for tag in site.data.stats.tags limit:10 %}
<tr>
<td>{{ tag.name }}</td>
<td style="text-align: right">{{ tag.count }}</td>
</tr>
{% endfor %}
</tbody>
</table>
<p><small>Generated {{ site.data.stats.generated_at | date: "%b %d, %Y" }}</small></p>Automating Stats Updates
You can regenerate stats automatically before each build.
Rake Task
# Rakefile
task :build do
sh "jekyll stats --save"
sh "jekyll build"
endGitHub Actions
# .github/workflows/deploy.yml
jobs:
build:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: ruby/setup-ruby@v1
with:
ruby-version: '3.3'
bundler-cache: true
- name: Generate stats
run: bundle exec jekyll stats --save
- name: Commit stats
run: |
git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
git add _data/stats.json
git diff --staged --quiet || git commit -m "Update site stats"
git push
- name: Build site
run: bundle exec jekyll buildGit Pre-commit Hook
#!/bin/sh
# .git/hooks/pre-commit
bundle exec jekyll stats --save
git add _data/stats.jsonDevelopment
bin/setup
rake testLicense
MIT License. See LICENSE for details.