Plausible Analytics
Privacy-first web analytics without the cookie banners
Price
$9/mo
Used by
19K+ subscribers
Model
open-source
Best for
Privacy-first teams
Quick Verdict — Score: 88/100
The cleanest, most ethical way to get real traffic numbers without cookie banners or a compliance headache. It trades GA4's depth for radical simplicity, and for most indie makers that is the right trade.
Who Is This For
Solo builders, bloggers, and small SaaS teams who want fast, readable traffic data on one page; anyone in the EU or handling regulated audiences who wants cookie-free, GDPR/CCPA-compliant tracking with no consent banner; developers who value an open-source, self-hostable, lightweight script.
Who Is This NOT For
Growth teams who need deep behavioral analytics, session replays, cohort retention, or product funnels at the level of PostHog, Mixpanel, or Amplitude; anyone wanting a permanent free hosted plan; teams that depend on Google Ads/GA4 integrations and demographic breakdowns.
Pros
- +Cookie-free and GDPR/CCPA/PECR compliant by default, so no consent banner is required
- +Extremely lightweight script (roughly 54x smaller than Google Analytics) that barely affects page load
- +Genuinely simple single-page dashboard that is readable at a glance, no training needed
- +Open source (AGPL) and EU-hosted, with a self-hosting option for full data ownership
- +Transparent, values-driven company that refuses ads, VC funding, and affiliate deals
—Cons
- -No permanent free hosted tier, only a 30-day trial
- -Far less depth than product-analytics tools: no session replay, limited cohort/retention analysis
- -Advanced features like funnels, revenue tracking, and the Stats API are locked to the pricier Business plan
- -Pricing scales with total monthly events, so high-traffic sites get expensive quickly
- -Self-hosting the open-source version requires real infrastructure and maintenance effort
Key Features
Pricing Breakdown
- Starter: $9/mo (up to 10k monthly pageviews, 1 site, 3-year data retention; billed monthly, ~2 months free on annual)
- Growth: $14/mo (up to 3 sites, up to 3 team members, dashboard sharing, 3-year data retention)
- Business: $19/mo (up to 10 sites, up to 10 team members, funnels, revenue tracking, custom properties, Stats API, Looker Studio, 5-year retention)
- Enterprise: Custom / contact sales (10+ sites, 10+ team members, 5+ year retention, priority support)
Starting Price
$9/mo
Pricing Model
open-source
Free Tier
No
Quick Setup Guide
- Sign up at plausible.io and start the 30-day free trial (no credit card required)
- Add your website by entering its domain in the dashboard
- Copy the provided lightweight snippet into your site's <head> section, or use a WordPress/GTM/CMS integration
- Verify the installation using Plausible's built-in check to confirm data is coming in
- Set up goals, custom events, or revenue tracking for the conversions you care about
- Optionally invite team members or share a public/read-only dashboard link with clients
- Pick the plan matching your monthly pageview volume before the trial ends
Bottom Line
Plausible is the go-to privacy-first analytics tool for people who found GA4 bloated and invasive. You get accurate, real-time traffic data on one clean dashboard, no cookie banner, a tiny script, and an open-source, EU-hosted stack from a company that refuses ads and affiliate deals. It will not replace a full product-analytics suite, and there is no free hosted plan, but at $9/mo it is one of the best-value, lowest-friction ways for indie makers to measure a site ethically.
What Users Say
Genuine reviews from public platforms. Each linked to its source. How our reviews work →
Plausible is what we switched to after leaving Google Analytics. I set it up for a few client sites and my team likes how clean and privacy-first it feels. Some reporting features are basic, but the core experience is solid.
The best thing we like about it is that we trust the data and don't need to worry about cookie blockers. It is super basic, so if you're looking for deeper dives this is not the software for you.
Simplicity to install the code and easy to use the dashboard. But my dashboard locked for more than 3 months - I paid 1 year in advance and the last 5 months I cannot see the dashboard.
Alternatives to Plausible Analytics
PostHog
Open-source product analytics with session replay, funnels, and feature flags; far deeper than Plausible but more complex, with a generous free tier.
Mixpanel
Event-based product analytics for deep funnel, retention, and cohort analysis; better for behavioral insight, weaker on simple privacy-first traffic reporting.
Ready to try Plausible Analytics?
Starting from $9/mo