This is the simplest hit counter I could imagine (well, almost). Every time a 
page is requested, it adds one to the count. The display is not an image, just 
text. There is no javascript to hit some third-party server, no tracking, no 
distinction among pages: just an old-fashioned site counter CGI, implemented in 
WordPress. The plugin stores its count in its own MySQL table.
Once the plugin is installed (described below), you can display the count by 
putting code like this somewhere on your page:
<pre><code><?= simplehitcounter_hit(); ?>
</code></pre>
That will both increment the counter and display its value. There is no method 
for getting the value without incrementing it. I suppose I could write such a 
thing if anyone likes.
There is a minor race condition. First the plugin updates the database by one 
(atomically), then it queries for the current count. Therefore in heavy traffic 
it is possible for two updates to happen before either select. In that case, 
the counter will correctly increment, but the number displayed may be the same 
for each user, representing the total page hits. As far as I can tell, this 
race condition is inevitable without locking the table. It seems trivial 
enough, though I guess you should be warned if you run a contest to give away a 
free car to the 1,000,000th user.
By default the plugin keeps its data in a table called <code>wp_simplehitcounter_hits</code>. 
You can change this by editing the <code>simplehitcounter.php</code> file.

Simple Hit Counter

Prints a count of the number of hits your blog has received, tracked in the 
database.

SandyRig

SRS Simple Hits Counter is a simple, very lightweight visitor counter plugin for WordPress that tracks Unique Visitors and Page-views — without causing render blocking or straining your site.
You can display your visitor counter anywhere on your site using widgets or shortcodes. Show Unique Visitors, Page-views, or both — just use two copies of the widget or shortcode to display both counters together.
Note: The counter keeps running in the background even when no widget or shortcode is active. To completely stop counting, you need to disable the plugin.
<h4>Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>AJAX based counter ignores most bots or crawlers</li>
<li>Monthly and weekly graph in admin</li>
<li>Show the Unique Visitors, Page-views count or both</li>
<li>Ability to reset the counter to any number any time</li>
<li>Can be shown anywhere on the site using Widgets and Shortcode</li>
<li>Counter works and shows data in admin even when no widget or short-code is active</li>
</ul>
<h4>SHORTCODES</h4>
[srs_total_visitors] for Unique Visitors 
[srs_total_pageViews] for Page-views
<a href="https://atif.rocks/srs-simple-hits-counter/" rel="nofollow ugc">DEMO</a>

SRS Simple Hits Counter

Display unique visitor or page-view counts anywhere on your site using widgets or shortcodes — Simple, very lightweight and no third-party code.

Simple Hit Counter vs SRS Simple Hits Counter