Plausible Analytics

Plausible Analytics hits a sweet spot for most website owners who are fed up with Google Analytics' complexity and privacy baggage. It's dead simple to set up — paste a script, and you're done. The single-page dashboard shows everything you need: pageviews, unique visitors, bounce rate, visit duration, and now AI tool traffic and scroll depth. Recent updates like User Journeys and strict order funnels add depth without bloat. The AI Assistants channel is a nice touch for those curious about AI-driven traffic. Pricing is transparent and reasonable, starting at $9/month for up to 10k pageviews. However, if you need user-level tracking, session recordings, or advanced segmentation, Plausible won't cut it. For those, Matomo or a full-fledged analytics suite is better. The Business plan ($19/month) unlocks funnels, user journeys, and API access, which is worth it for agencies. One caveat: data retention varies by plan (3 years Starter, 5 years Business), so check that if you need long historical data. Overall, Plausible is a no-brainer for privacy-conscious site owners who want simplicity over power.

Plausible Analytics is a lightweight, open-source web analytics tool designed as a privacy-first alternative to Google Analytics. It serves website owners, SaaS companies, ecommerce stores, agencies, creators, and publishers who want essential traffic insights without cookies, cross-site tracking, or a consent banner. The dashboard is single-page and intuitive, showing key metrics like pageviews, unique visitors, bounce rate, and visit duration at a glance. Specific features include automatic scroll depth tracking (1-100%), AI tool traffic monitoring (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude), and built-in bot filtering. Plausible also offers codeless goals and revenue tracking, funnels with strict order enforcement, user journeys visualization, UTM campaign tracking with automatic channel grouping, Search Console integration for SEO performance, and a real-time dashboard that updates every 30 seconds. Recent additions include a new AI Assistants channel in the Channels report and a Last 24 Hours time range. With a script 54 times smaller than Google Analytics, it preserves page speed and reduces carbon emissions. All data is hosted in the EU on European-owned infrastructure. Plausible has over 19,000 paying subscribers and has tracked over 260 billion pageviews. Compared to Matomo, Cloudflare Analytics, or Google Analytics, Plausible is simpler, more privacy-focused, and easier to deploy — it requires no training and no tag managers.