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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchTo find out who—or what—is hitting your WordPress site overnight, inspect request-level records from your host or any CDN/reverse proxy in front of it. Those logs can show when requests arrived, which paths they targeted, and available client details. A standard analytics dashboard alone usually cannot identify every request, especially automated traffic.
Why your analytics and server logs may disagree
Each tool counts traffic at a different point. JavaScript-based analytics generally records visits only when a page runs its tracking code, so it may miss bots and other automated requests that never execute JavaScript. Edge analytics can count HTTP requests that do not load a complete page. Neither total is necessarily wrong; the tools are measuring different things. Cloudflare explains the distinction in its analytics FAQ, while its analytics overview describes the types of data available across its products.
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Cloudflare says that, for most websites, threats and crawlers make up 20% to 50% of traffic. That is Cloudflare’s general statement, not a measured rate for your site; the cited page does not specify a publication year. Cloudflare’s “Total threats stopped” documentation provides the context.
Where to look for overnight requests
Host or server access logs
Start with the access logs provided by your hosting company or web server. Depending on the setup, they can show timestamps, requested paths, response status codes, and client information such as IP addresses and user-agent strings. WordPress’s security handbook identifies log information such as IP addresses, times, and actions as useful for investigation. The available fields and how long they are retained depend on your host and configuration.
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CDN or reverse-proxy analytics
If your domain’s web traffic passes through a CDN or reverse proxy, check its analytics as well as the origin’s logs. The edge service sees requests before they reach your server, so it may count activity that never appears in origin logs. Conversely, origin logs do not represent every request seen at the edge. Cloudflare’s analytics overview describes HTTP, security, performance, and log analytics.
WordPress plugins and page analytics
A logging plugin can provide a convenient view inside WordPress, but its results depend on what it records and how it classifies requests. The WordPress.org listing for Track-A-Bot says it matches front-end requests against a known-bot list, displays an admin log, and stores data in a custom database table. That is a way to collect evidence—not proof that it identifies every bot or has been independently security-reviewed. Check that the plugin is maintained and compatible with your WordPress setup before relying on it.
Page analytics are useful for understanding visits that load tracking scripts, but they are not a complete request ledger. WordPress.com’s traffic-stats guide describes its own traffic reporting; what it shows should not be treated as a record of every request reaching your site.
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How to investigate an overnight spike
- Map the request path. Check whether traffic goes directly to your host or through a CDN or reverse proxy. If there is an edge service, consult its analytics alongside origin logs.
- Choose a useful time window. Include the overnight period when the spike occurred, plus nearby time before and after it for comparison.
- Filter the records. Review timestamps, requested paths, response codes, user-agent strings, and available IP or bot classifications. Look for repeated requests, request rates, and whether they reached WordPress or were handled upstream.
- Assess behavior, not just labels. Compare what the requests did and how they behaved. A user-agent can be misleading, and an unfamiliar location or a late-night timestamp by itself does not establish that a request is malicious.
- Choose a response only after review. If activity appears unwanted, examine the security controls available at your host, WordPress installation, or edge service and consider how a rule could affect legitimate visitors and crawlers.
Logs can help identify request patterns, but dashboard totals alone may not reveal the exact visitor. If all you have is an aggregate count, add host or edge request logging before drawing a site-specific conclusion. Handle logs containing IP addresses or other request data in line with your privacy obligations.
How to tell legitimate crawlers from suspicious automation
Bot detection methods are not interchangeable. A WordPress plugin may label a request by matching its user-agent against a known-bot list. Cloudflare describes a separate category of verified bots; its examples include Googlebot and Bingbot. Treat either kind of label as a clue to investigate, not conclusive proof of identity.
Review the requested paths, frequency, and available bot classifications before blocking. Cloudflare recommends examining bot analytics and distinguishing legitimate crawlers from unwanted traffic before changing controls. Its guidance covers analytics as well as separate security rules and bot-management controls: “Stop malicious bots while allowing legitimate traffic.” Do not block a crawler simply because it operates overnight, and avoid broad rules based solely on geography or one identifier.
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What Cloudflare Bot Analytics can show
Cloudflare’s documentation, last updated August 3, 2026, describes different views by plan. These are product-specific details, not a promise of access on every Cloudflare plan:
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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →| Documented access | What the documentation says is available | Time window and data limits |
|---|---|---|
| Business and Enterprise customers without Bot Management | Traffic type, detection source, and top request attributes | Up to 72 hours shown at a time; data up to 30 days old |
| Enterprise with Bot Management | Bot-score distribution and additional score and source data | Up to one week shown at a time; data up to 30 days old |
Cloudflare says the data is real time in most cases and adaptively sampled. Most customers see a 1–10% sample, depending on the information requested. Sampling means the view should not automatically be treated as a complete request-by-request ledger. Check Cloudflare’s Bot Analytics documentation for current access, labels, and limits.
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What an overnight spike does—and does not—mean
A spike tells you that activity increased in the system reporting it; it does not, by itself, show who initiated the requests or whether your site was compromised. Use request-level evidence to determine what paths were requested, what responses were returned, and whether the pattern warrants mitigation. The available records may identify an IP address or a bot classification, but they cannot necessarily establish the person or organization behind a request.
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