Shield

ALMOST

A weekend of work, and real gaps remain.

Analytics for a personal LinkedIn account: post performance, follower growth and which topics land, gathered without the platform offering an API for it.

Promptfree, for everyone, and the only version there is

Record what you can, from the day you start.

THE HONEST POSITION
- LinkedIn does not offer personal analytics through an API. Automated collection risks your account
- Do not scrape. Export instead

STACK
- SQLite, a small import script, one chart page

WHAT TO IMPORT
- LinkedIn lets you export your own data. Import the archive on a schedule you keep manually
- Store one row per post per import date, so a growth curve exists even from monthly snapshots

WHAT YOU ACTUALLY LEARN
- Impressions per post against post length, day of week and whether it carried a link
- That single table answers more than any dashboard

STARTING NOW
- History cannot be backfilled. The first import is your day zero, and that is the real cost of leaving

Include the import script, the schema and the three charts.

What you lose

Access to personal-account analytics that LinkedIn does not publish through an API
History from before you started measuring, which you cannot backfill
Somebody keeping the collection working when the platform changes

If you would rather not build

The platform's own data export, imported on a schedule
A spreadsheet updated weekly, which is what this replaces
Buffer, for cross-platform basics

The escape hatch

open source · no votes, no paid placement

Metabase

Point it at the imported table and build the charts without code.

metabase/metabasefree · open source

Umami

For the traffic those posts send to your own site, which you do control.

umami-software/umamifree · open source

Why this verdict

our own opinion · changed only by a person

60/100

Verdict kinda at 60. The analysis is easy; the data is not offered, and the history you already have there does not come with you.

History

tracked since 10 Aug 2026 · nothing is ever overwritten

Interest · last 30 days

Nothing recorded yet. This chart fills in once the page has visitors, votes or prompt copies — it will not draw a flat line to look busy.

Questions about Shield

answered from the record above

Is Shield free?

No — the plan we track is $29 a month. Starter at around $29/month billed monthly, cheaper annually.

Can you replace Shield by building your own?

ALMOST. A weekend of work, and real gaps remain. Replacement score 60 out of 100, build time a weekend. Read what you lose before you decide.

How much does Shield cost?

$29 a month on Starter — $348 a year. Recorded 10 Aug 2026.

What do you lose by replacing Shield?

Access to personal-account analytics that LinkedIn does not publish through an API; History from before you started measuring, which you cannot backfill; Somebody keeping the collection working when the platform changes. If any of those carry weight for you, keep paying.

Is there an open-source alternative to Shield?

Yes: Metabase, Umami. The prompt on this page is for when you want it your way instead.

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