Plausible
Privacy-friendly Google Analytics replacement.
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Book free discovery call →Quick summary of Plausible
Plausible is a privacy-focused, open-source web analytics platform founded in 2018 by Uku Täht and Marko Saric, headquartered in Estonia. It's positioned as the modern, GDPR-compliant alternative to Google Analytics, focused on simplicity rather than feature-completeness. Core features: pageviews, unique visitors, top sources, top pages, countries, devices, configurable goals/conversions, public dashboards, and a sub-1KB script that loads instantly. No cookies, no personal data collection, no cookie banner needed. Best for indie founders, marketing sites, blogs, and any project where simple traffic analytics + privacy compliance are the priority. Pricing is volume-based: 30-day free trial, then $9/month (10K pageviews), $19/month (100K), $69/month (1M). Self-hostable for free under MIT license. Direct competitors: Fathom (nearly identical pitch, hosted-only), Umami (open-source, free self-hosted), Simple Analytics (simpler still), Pirsch (German-based privacy alternative), Google Analytics 4 (free but cluttered), PostHog (broader product analytics). Plausible wins on simplicity, privacy, and public dashboards; PostHog wins on product analytics depth.
⏱ 30-second verdict
- Simple, fast, no cookies, GDPR-compliant out of the box
- Public dashboards: share your stats with investors or community
- Intentionally limited; no funnels or session replay
About
Lightweight (1KB script), cookieless, GDPR-friendly web analytics. One simple dashboard with the metrics that matter, no setup beyond pasting the script.
🎯 Why it's useful
Faster page loads than GA. No cookie banner needed. Self-hostable.
💜 Our take
The single-page dashboard. No "configure 8 widgets to see traffic" — it's right there.
Key Features
Integrations
✓ Best for
Solo founders, indie hackers, and small business owners who need straightforward web analytics without privacy trade-offs. Best for those prioritizing user privacy and GDPR compliance over advanced audience segmentation.
✗ Not ideal for
Teams needing advanced funnel analysis, cohort tracking, or detailed user segmentation. Not suitable for large enterprises requiring extensive integrations or on-premise deployment.
How indie founders use Plausible
Marketing site analytics
Pageviews, sources, top pages, conversion goals. Everything you need to know about your landing page traffic in a single clean dashboard.
Privacy-first tracking
No cookies, no personal data, GDPR/PECR compliant by default. No cookie banner required if Plausible is your only tracker.
Public dashboards
Share your traffic stats with investors, customers, or the public via a single link. Building-in-public crowd loves this.
Self-hosted indie analytics
If you want zero ongoing costs and have the DevOps skills, self-host Plausible on a $5 VPS. Same features as the hosted version.
Plausible is the privacy-focused Google Analytics alternative that actually feels good to use. Open source. No cookies. GDPR compliant out of the box. Less than 1KB script. Hosted in the EU. If you've ever stared at Google Analytics 4 and wondered why a simple 'how many people visited my site' question requires 14 dashboards and a UI Marie Kondo would burn, Plausible is the answer. The pitch is anti-feature-creep. Plausible shows you: pageviews, unique visitors, sources, top pages, top countries, devices, and a few configurable goals/conversions. That's it. No funnels, no cohorts, no session replay. The thinking is that most marketing/founder analytics questions are simpler than the tools we use, and the simplicity makes the data actually useful instead of overwhelming. For founders the value is concrete. Drop the script tag on your site. Get a single dashboard you can share publicly with a link (your stats can be visible to investors, partners, or just for public-transparency cred). No cookie banner required. The whole thing loads instantly. Compare that to GA4, which takes 3 minutes to load and shows you metrics that don't quite match what you'd expect. Pricing is event-based and reasonable. Free trial. Then $9/month for 10K monthly pageviews, $19 for 100K, $69 for 1M. No per-seat fees. Most indie SaaS sit on the $9-19 tier comfortably. You can also self-host if you want to (it's open source) but at the price point most people just pay. The alternatives: Fathom is the closest peer, basically identical pitch with slightly different pricing. Umami is open-source and free if you self-host. Simple Analytics is similar but more bare-bones. PostHog can do this too but with a much larger feature surface (and bill). Google Analytics 4 is free but feels like punishment. My take: install Plausible (or Fathom — pick one) on day one. The free trial covers the early-stage period and the paid tier is so reasonable you barely think about it. Pair it with PostHog if you also want product analytics; Plausible handles 'how many people visited my marketing site' cleanly while PostHog handles 'what do they do once they sign up.'
Pricing
Trial
- ✓Full access during trial
- ✓All features included
- ✓Up to 10K pageviews
- ✓No credit card required
Growth
- ✓10K pageviews/month
- ✓Unlimited users
- ✓3 years data history
- ✓5 sites
Business
- ✓1M pageviews/month
- ✓50 sites
- ✓5 years data history
- ✓Priority support
Self-hosted
- ✓Run on your own infrastructure
- ✓Same features as hosted
- ✓MIT-licensed
- ✓Community support
Free tier (10k monthly pageviews) · Starter $9/mo · Growth $20/mo · Business $200+/mo
Frequently asked questions
Is Plausible free?
Plausible offers a 30-day free trial. After that it's $9/month for 10K pageviews, $19/month for 100K. You can also self-host it for free if you have the DevOps skills (it's MIT-licensed open source).
Plausible vs Google Analytics, which should I use?
Plausible for a clean, fast, privacy-focused single-page dashboard that answers 'who visited and where from.' GA4 if you need free analytics and don't mind the painful UI and cookie consent overhead. For most indie marketing sites, Plausible is the better experience and worth the $9-19/month.
Plausible vs Fathom, which is better?
They're nearly identical: same pitch (privacy-focused, cookie-free, simple). Pricing is comparable. Plausible is open-source and self-hostable; Fathom is closed-source and hosted only. Pick Plausible if you care about open-source; pick Fathom if you specifically like their UI. Both are great.
Does Plausible require a cookie banner?
No. Plausible uses no cookies and stores no personal data, so it's exempt from GDPR/PECR cookie consent requirements in most jurisdictions. One of the strongest selling points if you operate in the EU.
Can Plausible replace PostHog?
For marketing analytics, yes. For product analytics (funnels, retention, cohorts, A/B testing, feature flags), no. Plausible is intentionally limited to 'who visited what.' Use both: Plausible for the marketing site, PostHog for the product.
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