What it does
Plausible is a lightweight, privacy-focused web analytics tool built as a direct replacement for Google Analytics. One dashboard shows visitors, pageviews, sources, top pages, conversions. No cookies, no personal data collected, no cookie consent banner needed in most jurisdictions. Script is under 1KB (compared to GA4's ~50KB). Open source, made in the EU, hosted in Germany.
Free tier
No
Starts at
$9/mo
Setup
easy
Key features
Integrates with
WordPress, Ghost, Webflow, Slack
Who this fits
- SaaS founders and indie makers who want honest traffic numbers without the GA4 dashboard headache
- Content sites and blogs prioritizing page-load speed
- EU-based businesses wanting to avoid GDPR paperwork
- Agencies wanting a client-ready dashboard without training
- Anyone burned by GA4's complexity who just wants to know what pages get visited
Who it does NOT fit
- Teams needing multi-touch attribution across a long sales cycle (GA4 or paid product analytics fit better)
- E-commerce stores needing deep funnel and purchase-item breakdown (GA4 with enhanced ecommerce is deeper)
- Marketers running Google Ads at scale who need the Ads-GA4 native integration
- Anyone needing user-level journey analysis (Plausible is aggregate-only by design)
Pricing
Real gotchas
- Uses a rolling 30-day retention for the free trial only; paid retention is unlimited but data is aggregate, so you cannot rehydrate individual sessions after the fact.
- Plausible does NOT block itself from counting your own visits by default. You either add ?plausible_ignore=true to your URL or install the browser extension. Otherwise agencies inflate their own numbers accidentally.
- Ad blockers block Plausible less than they block GA4, but they still block it. Some users deploy Plausible via a proxy (documented, free) to route through their own domain and bypass blockers [source: plausible.io/docs/proxy].
- No cross-domain tracking in the standard setup. Users who move across brand.com and app.brand.com show as two separate visitors.
- Funnels and revenue tracking are on the Business tier, not Growth. If you need those, the price jumps.
Integrations that matter
Otto’s take on this tool
Recommend for solo founders, small teams, content sites, and any client explicitly nervous about privacy or GA4 complexity. Do not recommend when the client already runs Google Ads heavily; GA4's Ads integration is too valuable. Pair with Microsoft Clarity for session replay if the client wants qualitative behavior on top.
Affiliate disclosure: if you sign up through the link above, Ottomately may earn a referral commission at no cost to you. We only feature tools we have actually used or vetted through our recommendation engine.
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