Data & Analytics
Web Analytics · Vendor profile
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Plausible Analytics

Open-source, privacy-first web analytics — a lightweight, cookieless Google Analytics alternative.

Founded 2018· EU (remote-first)· ~10 employees· plausible.io ↗
Last verified 2 days ago · 21 sources · Updated automatically
Founded
2018
Headquarters
EU (remote-first)
Employees
10
From
$9
Free tier
Yes
Script size
1.2 KB

Overview

Plausible Analytics is open-source, privacy-first web analytics, positioned as a lightweight, cookieless alternative to Google Analytics. Founded in 2018, it sets no cookies and uses no persistent identifiers by default, relying only on a daily-rotating anonymous hash. Because it collects no personal data, it is GDPR compliant and needs no cookie consent banner. The tracking script is 1.2 KB compressed, and EU data residency is covered by storage in Falkenstein, Germany.

The product is open source under AGPLv3, and its Community Edition is free to self-host. Paid cloud plans start at $9/month for the Starter tier (10k pageviews, 1 site), with a 30-day free trial and no credit card required. It covers core analytics: a real-time dashboard, custom event and goal/conversion tracking, official GA4 import, email reports, public dashboard sharing, an official WordPress plugin, and CSV exports plus an Events API on all plans.

Best for
  • Teams that want to drop the cookie consent banner: Plausible sets no cookies and collects no personal data by default, is GDPR compliant, and stores data in the EU.
  • Performance-conscious sites: the tracking script is just 1.2 KB compressed, far lighter than typical analytics tags.
  • Open-source and self-hosting advocates: the Community Edition is AGPLv3, officially supported for self-hosting, and free to run.
  • Single-site owners moving off Google Analytics on a budget: cloud plans start at $9/mo for 10k pageviews, with official GA4 import and a 30-day no-card trial.
  • WordPress site owners who want simple, embeddable reporting: there is an official WordPress plugin plus weekly and monthly email reports.
Less ideal for
  • Teams needing on-page behavior analysis: Plausible does not offer heatmaps.
  • Buyers wanting funnel analysis or revenue tracking on a low tier: both are gated to the Business plan at $19/mo and up.
  • Anyone tracking several sites cheaply: the $9/mo Starter plan covers only 1 site, with Growth up to 3 and Business up to 10.
  • Teams that need indefinite history: data retention is capped, with Starter and Growth keeping 3 years and no unlimited-retention option.
  • Migrations off Universal Analytics or needs for programmatic stats and raw event export at entry tiers: only GA4 import is supported, and the Stats API and raw event-level export require Business or Enterprise.

Pricing

Starting Monthly Price (USD)
$9 · Starter plan at $9/mo (monthly billing); 10k pageviews, 1 site
Offers Free Tier
Plausible Community Edition (CE) is a free self-hostable open-source version
Free Trial Length (Days)
30 days · 30-day free trial on all paid plans, no credit card required
Entry Plan Pageview Limit (Monthly)
10k · Starter plan includes up to 10k monthly pageviews
Entry Plan Website Limit
1 sites · Starter plan covers 1 site; Growth allows up to 3, Business up to 10

Analytics capabilities

Real-Time Dashboard
Real-time dashboard updates every 30 seconds
Custom Event Tracking
Custom event tracking available via JS snippet, CSS class, or Events API
Goal / Conversion Tracking
Supports pageview goals and custom event goals with conversion rate reporting
Funnels
Funnel analysis is a Business plan feature ($19/mo+)
Ecommerce / Revenue Tracking
Revenue tracking (monetary values on events) is a Business plan feature ($19/mo+)
Heatmaps
No

Privacy & compliance

Cookieless Tracking
No cookies or persistent identifiers used by default; daily-rotating anonymous hash only
Consent Banner Required
No cookie banner needed — Plausible collects no personal data and sets no cookies
GDPR Compliant
Yes
EU Data Residency
Data stored in Falkenstein, Germany on Hetzner servers; CDN via Bunny (Slovenia)

Data ownership & deployment

Open Source
Community Edition (CE) is AGPLv3; cloud product is built on same open-source codebase
License
AGPLv3
Self-Hostable
Plausible Community Edition (CE) is officially supported for self-hosting
Data Retention (Months)
36 mo · Starter and Growth plans retain 3 years (36 months) of data; Business/Enterprise retain 5+ years
Unlimited Data Retention
Starter/Growth: 3-year retention; Business: 5-year retention
Google Analytics Import
Official GA4 import supported (up to 5 GA4 properties); Universal Analytics (UA) not supported
Raw Data Export
CSV/ZIP exports available on all plans; Stats API on Business plan; raw event-level export requires Enterprise

Platform & integrations

Has API
Stats API is a Business plan feature; Events API (for sending data) available on all plans
Tracking Script Size (KB)
1.2 KB · Measured compressed transfer size.
Official WordPress Plugin
Official WordPress plugin maintained by Plausible
Email Reports
Weekly (every Monday) and/or monthly (1st of month) email reports; analytics embedded in email
Public Dashboard Sharing
Shared links (optionally password-protected) and fully public dashboards supported

Alternatives to Plausible Analytics

Clicky logo Clicky

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Cloudflare Web Analytics logo Cloudflare Web Analytics

Free, privacy-first web analytics that tracks page views without cookies or fingerprinting.

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Fathom Analytics logo Fathom Analytics

Privacy-first, cookieless web analytics with a simple dashboard and forever data retention.

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Sources · 21 verified references

plausible.io github.com en.wikipedia.org

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