Plausible Analytics: An Honest Review
About this review
I am on a mission to review all major analytics solutions and today I’ll talk about Plausible. This review is based on my personal experience and I’m hoping to provide a transparent and detailed review of the platform. You can find my other product reviews here.
Who is it for
Plausible is a lightweight and privacy-friendly alternative to Google Analytics. It is a particularly good fit in these scenarios:
- You want something simpler than Google Analytics 4.
- You want the privacy-focused analytics solution out there.
- You want a modern product with a sleek UI.
Product Overview
What Makes Plausible Stand Out?
1. User-Friendly Interface: Plausible boasts an exceptionally user-friendly interface. It provides all the main metrics you would typically consider, such as visitors, page views, engagement metrics (like time on site, bounce rate), sources, insights on top pages, devices, traffic location, and goal conversion.
2. Easy Setup: Setting up Plausible is a breeze. Whether you add the script to your website or install a WordPress plugin, the process is straightforward. For WordPress users, it’s as simple as installing the plugin – no activation setup or button pressing required. The system automatically detects your domain name and starts collecting data, making it feel almost magical.
3. Privacy and Compliance: Plausible is possibly the most privacy-focused tool available, not collecting any device data beyond IP addresses, which are anonymized and deleted after 24 hours. This approach makes it highly compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy laws.
4. Pricing: When it comes to pricing, Plausible is competitive, especially for larger-scale websites. For instance, a site with 10 million monthly page views would only cost $169 on the starter plan, which is significantly cheaper than most competitors.
Ideal Use Cases for Plausible
Plausible is an excellent tool for those with simpler tracking needs. It’s ideal for agencies, personal websites, institutional sites, or projects where there isn’t a complex conversion event. Its simplicity and privacy-focused approach make it a better choice than Google Analytics for these scenarios.
Limitations
However, it’s important to note that Plausible might not be suitable for everyone. Due to its strict privacy settings, it cannot track returning visitors, as all the anonymized IP data is deleted after 24 hours. Also, for more advanced reporting features, integrations, and in-depth data analysis, Google Analytics still holds the upper hand.
Unique Features
One of the unique aspects of Plausible is the ability to make your stats public. You can share your dashboard internally or publicly, offering transparency in your traffic levels or types of audiences you attract.
“Accurate numbers, easy to set up and use. Uses a different approach comparing to Google Analytics, so your and your customer’s data is safe.”
Olex T. – Small Business CTO (from a G2 Review)
Pricing
What I like about their pricing model is that the tiers are quite generous, and it’s overall in line with competitors and often actually cheaper.
Pricing compared to other cookieless analytics solutions
| Page Views / Month | 10k | 50k | 100k | 1M |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Analytics | $21 | $21 | $21 | $65 |
| Matomo | $21 | $21 | $39 | $175 |
| Fathom | $14 | $14 | $14 | $54 |
| Seal Metrics | $10 | $10 | $21 | $76 |
| Twipla | $10 | $32 | $63 | custom |
| Plausible | $9 | $19 | $19 | $69 |
| Pirsch | $6 | $12 | $12 | $54 |
| Data Centurion | $6 | $10 | $13 | $18 |
| Swetrix | $5 | $16 | $16 | $59 |
Alternatives
Analytics
We covered the cookieless analytics landscape here and below as some of the solutions that are most likely to be considered good alternatives to Plausible.
- Fathom
- Pirsch
- Simple Analytics
- Twipla
- Adobe Analytics*
- Google Analytics 4*
* not cookieless by default
Out of the solutions listed here, Simple Analytics might be the one that offers the most similar value.
