Plausible
Analytics Verified May 2026
Plausible deal: Verified founder pricing
Privacy-first web analytics that are GDPR compliant out of the box
- No cookies required — fully GDPR, CCPA, and PECR compliant without consent banners
- Lightweight script (~1KB) vs Google Analytics (~45KB) for better page speed
- Open-source with a self-hosted option for total data ownership
- Simple, fast dashboard that shows actionable data without complexity
How Plausible scored 61/100
6 weighted criteria, each scored out of 10 and published with its reasoning. Featured placements never move a score.
Deal Strength
3.0 /10There's no exclusive coupon; the value is a 30-day free trial with no credit card, plus paying yearly gets two months free. It's a straightforward try-then-subscribe offer that lets you run real analytics before committing.
Value for Money
8.0 /10Pricing is transparent and fair: plans scale by monthly pageviews rather than per seat, starting at $9/month for the Starter tier (up to 10k pageviews, one site) with Growth ($14) and Business ($19) adding more sites and team members. Compared with enterprise analytics suites it's inexpensive, and the no-cookie model saves the cost and friction of consent tooling.
Capability
5.0 /10Plausible deliberately trades GA's sprawl for clarity: a single, readable dashboard covering traffic sources, pages, countries, devices, goals and campaign UTMs, with no cookies or personal-data processing. That simplicity is its strength; teams needing deep funnels, user-level tracking or advanced cohort analysis will find it lighter than Google Analytics or product-analytics tools.
Time to Value
8.0 /10Setup is fast: add one lightweight snippet — 50-plus times smaller than GA's script — and data flows immediately into a dashboard you can read without training. Because there's no cookie banner to configure and no complex event setup required, most sites are seeing clean numbers within minutes of installing the trial.
Trust & Reliability
8.0 /10Plausible is an independent, bootstrapped and profitable company (founded 2018) serving around 19,000 paying subscribers, with an open-source, publicly auditable codebase and all data processed on EU-owned infrastructure. That transparency, privacy stance and self-funded stability make it a genuinely trustworthy, low-risk choice.
Flexibility & Exit
8.0 /10Freedom is a core design goal: open-source code means you can self-host, data exports cleanly, and there's no proprietary lock-in on the analytics itself. Switching away or moving to a self-hosted instance is well-supported, so you keep full control of both your data and your options.
Verified founder pricing
Annual billing saves roughly 33 percent versus monthly. No public partner discount required.
Affiliate link — same price for you, and it never moves the score.
- No cookies required — fully GDPR, CCPA, and PECR compliant without consent banners
- Lightweight script (~1KB) vs Google Analytics (~45KB) for better page speed
- Open-source with a self-hosted option for total data ownership
- Simple, fast dashboard that shows actionable data without complexity
About Plausible
Quick answer
Privacy-first web analytics that are GDPR compliant out of the box
Plausible Analytics review 2026: the report card
TL;DR. Plausible Analytics is the cleanest privacy-first GA alternative on the market in 2026. Cookie-less, GDPR/CCPA/PECR compliant by default, EU-hosted, and a script under 1KB. It does dashboards beautifully and product analytics barely.
This is a stern-but-fair report card. We graded ten subjects across privacy, pricing, setup, dashboards, funnels, custom events, API, mobile, integrations and support. The averages are honest.
Report card #1 — executive summary
Five-subject snapshot before we dig into the syllabus.
Plausible — 2026 Report Card
Privacy & compliance
Cookie-less, no personal data, EU-hosted in Germany. The clearest GDPR/CCPA/PECR story in the category. Banner-free by default.
Pricing transparency
Tiered by pageviews. No surprise overages — they email you to upgrade. From $9/mo for 10k. Honest billing.
Setup & onboarding
One script tag under 1KB. Live data in under five minutes. Zero configuration to be GDPR-clean.
Reporting depth
Beautiful single-page dashboard, but segmentation and cohort logic are shallow next to Mixpanel or PostHog. Not a product-analytics tool.
Mobile & API
No native mobile app. Stats API is solid, REST-based, and free on every plan. Send-events API powers custom events.
What Plausible Analytics actually is in 2026
Plausible launched in 2019 as an open-source alternative to Google Analytics. Six years on, the product has grown up without losing its discipline. The core promise has not moved: simple, privacy-friendly stats, no cookies, no personal data, no tracking across sites.
The script is still the smallest in the category. Plausible publishes the gzipped size at under 1KB — about 75x lighter than the GA4 tag and small enough that Lighthouse audits stop nagging you.
Feature breakdown
- Cookie-less tracking. No cookies set, no localStorage written, no fingerprinting. The script generates a daily-rotated hash from IP plus user agent plus a salt.
- Goals & conversion tracking. Track pageview goals or custom event goals. Conversion rates show in the main dashboard.
- Custom events. Send arbitrary events with custom properties. Supported on all paid tiers, with revenue attribution on Business.
- Funnels. Multi-step funnel reports. Locked behind the Business tier — see grading below.
- Stats API. A clean REST API for pulling aggregates, time-series, breakdowns and realtime visitor counts. Free on every plan.
- Search Console integration. Native Google Search Console hookup surfaces queries inside the Plausible dashboard.
- Shared dashboards. Public links or password-protected views for clients and stakeholders.
- Email & Slack reports. Weekly and monthly digests, plus traffic-spike alerts.
- Plausible CE (Community Edition). The self-host fork is fully open-source under AGPLv3. You bring the server, they ship the Docker image.
2025 to 2026 changes
The Business plan was rebranded to make room for an enlarged Growth tier, and Funnels plus Ecommerce revenue tracking are now Business-only. The team also shipped a Search Console integration, Slack alerts, and several Stats API improvements through 2025.
Watch a quick walkthrough
Video walkthrough omitted — we only embed videos with verified IDs. Plausible publishes tutorials on its official YouTube channel; search "Plausible Analytics tutorial" to find the latest.
Plausible pricing in 2026
Plausible bills by monthly pageviews, billed yearly with a discount or month-to-month. The headline number for Growth starts at $9/mo for 10,000 pageviews. There are no overages — if you exceed your plan, Plausible emails you to upgrade rather than slapping on a fee.
| Tier | Monthly pageviews | Yearly price (per month) | Sites | Funnels & Ecom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Growth | 10,000 | $9 | 50 | No |
| Growth | 100,000 | $19 | 50 | No |
| Growth | 200,000 | $29 | 50 | No |
| Growth | 500,000 | $49 | 50 | No |
| Business | 10,000 | $19 | 50 | Yes |
| Business | 100,000 | $39 | 50 | Yes |
| Business | 1,000,000 | $69 | 50 | Yes |
| Business | 10,000,000 | $169 | 50 | Yes |
| Plausible CE (self-host) | Unlimited | Free (AGPLv3) | Unlimited | Yes |
What the Business tier unlocks
- Funnel analysis with up to eight steps.
- Ecommerce revenue tracking via custom events.
- Hourly stats granularity and longer 5-year data retention.
- SSO and team management for larger orgs.
Founder rate: Lock in the exclusive founder rate via SaaSTweaks before the 2026 list-price uplift — it stays with your account.
Claim the SaaSTweaks rateHow the bill compares
At 100k pageviews, Plausible Growth is $19/mo. Fathom is $24/mo at 100k. Simple Analytics is $19/mo at 100k. GA4 is free, but the GDPR consent stack you need around it usually is not.
Report card #2 — the detailed grades
Ten subjects. Each grade reflects Plausible against the privacy-analytics category, not against a product-analytics tool like Mixpanel or PostHog — that is a different exam.
Plausible — full transcript
Privacy & compliance
No cookies, no personal data stored, no cross-site tracking. EU-hosted in Germany under Hetzner. GDPR, CCPA and PECR compliant out of the box, with public DPAs and sub-processor lists. The cleanest legal posture in the category.
Pricing
Transparent tiered pricing from $9/mo. No overages, no per-seat surcharges, no upsell roulette. The Business tier feels gated for funnels, but the Growth ladder is fair through to 500k pageviews.
Setup & onboarding
Paste one script tag, verify, ship. The proxy guide is well-documented if you need to bypass blockers. New users hit live data inside five minutes — no tag manager, no consent banner gymnastics.
Dashboards & reporting
Single-page, fast, beautiful. Top sources, top pages, country, device, UTM, entry/exit pages and goal funnel previews all on one screen. Realtime visitor count is genuinely realtime.
Funnels & segmentation
Funnels exist but require Business. Segmentation is shallow against Mixpanel or PostHog — you can filter, but you cannot build cohorts or behavioural audiences. This is by design.
Custom events & goals
Custom events are first-class with custom properties. Revenue attribution is Business-only. The send-events API is well-documented and works server-side too.
Stats API & integrations
Stats API is REST, free, well-documented, and rate-limited reasonably. Native integrations include Google Search Console, Slack alerts, WordPress, Webflow, Ghost and Zapier.
Mobile experience
No native iOS or Android app. The dashboard is responsive and works fine on a phone, but a native app would close the loop for founders checking traffic from bed.
Self-host (Plausible CE)
AGPLv3, Docker image, Postgres plus ClickHouse. Community Edition is genuinely production-grade. Many EU teams self-host to keep data on their own kit.
Support & docs
Email support is responsive and human, written by the team that builds the product. Docs are concise and accurate. No live chat, no phone — intentional, given the tiny headcount.
Ready to ditch the GA4 consent banner? Lock in the exclusive founder rate via SaaSTweaks today.
See the SaaSTweaks dealPlausible vs Fathom vs Simple Analytics vs Umami vs GA4
Same category, different trade-offs. Here is the 2026 lineup at the 100k-pageviews price point.
| Tool | Price at 100k pv | Cookies | Self-host | Funnels | API | Hosting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plausible | $19/mo | None | Yes (CE, AGPLv3) | Business tier | Free Stats API | EU (Germany) |
| Fathom | $24/mo | None | No | Yes (all plans) | Paid add-on | Multiple regions |
| Simple Analytics | $19/mo | None | No | No | Yes | EU (Netherlands) |
| Umami | Free self-host / $20 cloud | None | Yes (MIT) | Yes | Yes | Self or US/EU cloud |
| Pirsch | $24/mo (1M) | None | No | Yes | Yes | EU (Germany) |
| GA4 | Free | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Google global |
| PostHog | Free up to 1M, then usage | Optional | Yes | Yes (deep) | Yes | US/EU cloud or self |
Verdict. If you want the cleanest GDPR story plus a calm dashboard, Plausible wins. If you need deeper funnels at lower tiers, Fathom or Pirsch edge ahead. If you want product analytics, you are taking the wrong exam — go to PostHog.
Plausible pros and cons
Pros
- Cookie-less and GDPR/CCPA/PECR compliant by default — no banner needed.
- Tiny script under 1KB; near-zero performance overhead.
- Transparent pricing with no overage fees.
- Genuinely fast, beautiful single-page dashboard.
- Open-source self-host via Plausible CE under AGPLv3.
Cons
- Funnels and ecommerce revenue gated to Business tier.
- No native mobile app and no live chat support.
- Segmentation and cohorts are shallow vs product-analytics tools.
- No session replay, heatmaps or A/B testing.
"We replaced GA4 with Plausible last quarter. Page weight dropped, the cookie banner went away, and the marketing team finally reads the dashboard. It does less, on purpose, and that is the point."
— G2 reviewer, head of growth at an EU SaaS, 2025
Real-world use cases
- Privacy-conscious solo founder. A bootstrapper running an indie SaaS with 30k monthly pageviews drops the GA4 tag, removes the cookie banner, and ships Plausible Growth at $9–$19/mo. Page-load score climbs, bounce rate looks honest for the first time, and the GDPR posture stops being a quarterly worry.
- EU SaaS with a compliance team. A 50-person EU SaaS needs analytics that survives a DPIA. Plausible Business at $39–$69/mo covers funnels and ecommerce revenue, the data stays in Frankfurt, and the legal team signs the DPA without revisions. They self-host the staging copy on Plausible CE for extra control.
- Content blogger ditching GA4. A 200k-pageview blog cannot stomach the GA4 UI any more. Plausible at $29/mo gives a clean weekly email digest, Search Console integration inside the dashboard, and shareable public links for guest authors. The migration takes an afternoon.
What's included
- Lightweight script under 1KB
- No cookies and no personal data collected
- GDPR, CCPA and PECR compliant out of the box
- Open-source codebase you can self-host
- Goal and funnel conversion tracking
- UTM campaign attribution and custom events
- Shared dashboards and public stats links
- Email and Slack reports plus Search Console integration
Plausible pricing
Verified May 2026. Vendor's published rates at the time we checked — always confirm at checkout.
| Plan | Price | Term | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Growth | From $9/mo | monthly | Starts at 10K pageviews/mo; scales by traffic; ~33% off annual; unlimited sites, email reports, goals |
| Business | From $19/mo | monthly | Starts at 10K pageviews/mo; adds custom properties, funnels, ecommerce revenue, shared dashboard links |
| Enterprise | Custom | annual | SLA, invoice billing, custom volume pricing above standard tiers |
| Self-hosted | Free | forever | Open-source (AGPL-3.0), run on your own infrastructure |
How to claim it
4 steps. The last one is the part most people skip.
- 1
Open Plausible through the link on this page
It carries our referral tag. The price you pay is identical either way, and it never changes the score on this page.
- 2
Pick the plan that matches your usage
This offer applies automatically through the link — there is no code to enter.
- 3
Confirm the discount before you pay
The order summary should show the reduced amount. If it does not, stop and tell us — we re-test listings that stop working.
- 4
Check what happens at renewal
Annual billing saves roughly 33 percent versus monthly. No public partner discount required.
Where Plausible wins and loses
What works
- No cookies required — fully GDPR, CCPA, and PECR compliant without consent banners
- Lightweight script (~1KB) vs Google Analytics (~45KB) for better page speed
- Open-source with a self-hosted option for total data ownership
- Simple, fast dashboard that shows actionable data without complexity
What doesn't
- Less granular user-level data than Google Analytics by design
- No free cloud tier — requires payment or self-hosting
- Fewer integrations than established analytics platforms
- Advanced behavioral analytics (sessions, funnels) only on Business plan
The bottom line
Plausible is privacy-first web analytics done right: GDPR-compliant with no cookies or consent banner, an open-source EU-hosted stack, and a script 50x lighter than Google Analytics. It's simpler than GA by design, which is the point — for teams that want clean, compliant traffic insight, it's an easy buy.
Plausible prices by monthly pageviews, not per user: Starter is $9/month (up to 10k pageviews, one site), Growth $14/month (three sites, three team members) and Business $19/month (ten sites, ten members), with custom Enterprise above 10k pageviews. Paying annually gives two months free, and there's a 30-day free trial with no card.
Yes — it's built to be privacy-compliant by default. Plausible uses no cookies and processes no personal data or individual-user identifiers, so it doesn't require a GDPR cookie-consent banner, and all data is handled on EU-owned infrastructure. That removes both the legal exposure and the consent-tooling overhead that come with cookie-based analytics.
Plausible is simpler, privacy-first and paid, while Google Analytics is free, cookie-based and far more complex. Plausible gives a single clean dashboard with no consent banner and a script 50x lighter, but lacks GA's deep funnels and user-level analysis. Teams wanting compliant, readable metrics choose Plausible; those needing exhaustive tracking stay on GA.
No — the opposite is a selling point. Plausible's tracking script is over 50 times smaller than Google Analytics', so it adds negligible weight to page loads. Combined with no cookies and no consent banner, that makes it a lighter, faster analytics option that's easier on both performance and Core Web Vitals.
Yes. Plausible's code is open-source and publicly auditable, and you can self-host it if you prefer full control over your infrastructure. That openness prevents vendor lock-in and lets teams verify exactly how their analytics work — a meaningful trust advantage over closed, proprietary analytics platforms.
Depth. By design it favors simplicity over GA's exhaustive feature set, so it lacks user-level tracking, advanced multi-step funnels and deep cohort analysis. Teams that need granular product analytics or individual-user journeys will find it too minimal — but for straightforward, privacy-friendly traffic insight that limitation is a feature, not a flaw.
