Adds a VG Wort tracking pixel field to TYPO3 pages and renders the pixel in the frontend.
This is the basic extension providing pixel tracking only. For pixel pool management, METIS API integration, text registration, and author management, see VG Wort Pro.
New to VG Wort? VG Wort and TYPO3 — what you need to know as a publisher explains what the pixel counts, why it matters, and how the free extension and VG Wort Pro fit together.
This extension supports TYPO3 v13 LTS and v14 LTS, on PHP 8.2 and above. Both majors are covered by the test suite on every change.
Release notes live in CHANGELOG.md.
composer require b13/vgwortInclude the VG Wort site set in your site package's config.yaml:
dependencies:
- b13/vgwortThis adds the VG Wort tracking pixel automatically after the opening <body> tag on every page that has a pixel assigned.
The tracking pixel URL uses a VG Wort server subdomain (vg01-vg09). The default is vg08.
To change this, configure it in your site's settings.yaml:
settings:
vgwort:
domain: 'vg05'Check your VG Wort pixel order confirmation for the correct subdomain.
If you prefer to control where the pixel is rendered, add the extension's partial path to your template configuration:
lib.contentElement.partialRootPaths.5 = EXT:vgwort/Resources/Private/Partials
Then render the partial in your page template:
<f:render
partial="VgwortTracking"
arguments="{vgwort_pixel: record.tx_vgwort_pixel, vgwort_domain: site.settings.vgwort.domain}"/>The extension adds the following fields to page records in a VG Wort tab:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
tx_vgwort_pixel |
VG Wort tracking pixel code (public code) |
tx_vgwort_ignore |
Exclude this page from VG Wort tracking |
Fields are only shown for standard pages (doktype 1) by default.
If your site uses custom page types with trackable content, add them in your site package's ext_localconf.php:
$GLOBALS['TYPO3_CONF_VARS']['EXTENSIONS']['vgwort']['contentDoktypes'][] = 116;Your site package must declare b13/vgwort as a Composer dependency so the default doktypes array is initialized first.
The extension adds a VG Wort Tracking Overview to the Info module (Web > Info), listing all pages with their pixel codes.
This extension gives you the field and puts the pixel on the page. Everything around it stays manual: where the pixels come from, which ones are still free, which text a pixel belongs to, who wrote it, and the report to VG Wort itself. For a handful of texts that is fine. It stops being fine at a few hundred pages and more than one author.
VG Wort Pro is a separate extension that does that part.
- Pixel pool. Import pixels from CSV or order them through the API, then assign one to a page by picking it from the pool. Pro keeps track of which are free and which are taken, and says so before you run out—instead of a spreadsheet next to the backend.
- Authors with their VG Wort card numbers, checked against VG Wort before a text goes out.
- Text extraction from the page as it is actually delivered, not assembled from database fields, so the reported text is the published one.
- Reporting. Pro builds the METIS report and sends it, and reads existing registrations back from VG Wort, so the backend shows what has been reported and what has not.
- Checks before sending, because a report cannot be corrected afterwards: the same pixel on two pages, a page that does not actually deliver its pixel, a text that changed since it was prepared, a language missing a part, a METIS limit exceeded.
- Texts spread over several pages as one report: one pixel across all parts, one extract, one webrange with every URL in reading order. You can do that by hand here as well, by putting the same pixel in several pixel fields—what Pro adds is that reading order, extract, and URL list stay in step with the pages.
The full VG Wort Pro documentation walks through setup, the pixel pool, authors, extraction, reporting, and every check.
Do not put the pixel behind a consent banner without checking whether you have to. A pixel that only renders after someone clicks "accept" counts a fraction of the accesses, and the counts are what the whole thing is for.
VG Wort states its own position in the Teilnahmebedingungen für das Online Meldesystem T.O.M., section 5—July 2026 edition, checked 17 September 2026:
Klarstellend möchten wir Sie darauf hinweisen, dass im Rahmen der METIS-Zugriffszählung keine personenbezogenen Daten verarbeitet werden. Vor diesem Hintergrund finden die Regelungen der Datenschutzgrundverordnung (DSGVO) und des Bundesdatenschutzgesetzes (BDSG) keine Anwendung auf die METIS-Zugriffszählung.
Zudem unterliegt die METIS-Zugriffszählung – einschließlich des dort verwendete Session-Cookies – nach unserer Rechtsauffassung auch nicht dem Einwilligungsbedürfnis nach § 25 Abs. 1 Telekommunikation-Digitale-Dienste- Datenschutz-Gesetz (TDDDG).
That is VG Wort's reading, not ours and not legal advice—the decision belongs to whoever answers for privacy on your site. What it does mean is that treating the pixel as ordinary consent-gated tracking is a choice with a price, not the obvious default.
The same document offers a ready-made passage for your privacy policy, headed Cookies und Meldungen zu Zugriffszahlen, which explains the pixel, the client ID, and the session cookie. Take it from the current Teilnahmebedingungen rather than from here, so you quote the version that is in force—and check the edition date while you are there, because this section was written against the one named above.
Two facts you need for a processor list either way: the counting is carried out for VG Wort by Fifty5Blue Deutschland GmbH, Saarbrücken, and the session cookie exists to stop the same reader being counted twice within one browser session.
Like TYPO3 Core, EXT:vgwort is licensed under GPL-2.0-or-later.
VG Wort was created by David Steeb and is maintained by b13 GmbH, Stuttgart, Germany.
Find more TYPO3 extensions we have developed that help us deliver value in client projects. As part of our work, we focus on testing and best practices to ensure long-term performance, reliability, and results in all our code.