Minimal Analytics vs Plausible (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Minimal Analytics if

• Fits if you already use Google Analytics and want a very small script
• Works for developers comfortable pasting a snippet

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you want a dashboard, as it has none
• Watch out: the ID placeholder and /collect endpoint follow the older format, and GA4 is not mentioned
• Skip it if you need advanced features such as AdWords tracking, as the page says not to use it for those
• Watch out: the code is a GitHub gist, and the page names no company or support channel

Pick Plausible if

• Fits if you want traffic numbers without putting a cookie banner on your site
• Works for EU organizations leaving Google Analytics that want data kept in the EU

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want to watch visits or follow one visitor's path
• Tight if you're on Starter, which covers one site
• Pricey if you need funnels or ecommerce revenue, which start on Business at $15.83 a month for 10k pageviews
• Watch out: there's no free hosted plan, and the free Community Edition is self-hosted, updated twice a year, with no funnels or SSO
• Pricey if traffic grows: Starter is $19 a month at 100k pageviews and $69 at 1M, and SSO is Enterprise only

Minimal Analytics

• It only sends data to Google Analytics; there is no dashboard of its own.
• The page says not to use it for advanced features such as AdWords tracking.
• Its ID placeholder (XX-XXXXXXXXX-X) and /collect endpoint follow the older Google Analytics format; GA4 is not mentioned, so check it records to your property.
• The code is published as a GitHub gist; the page names no company or support channel.

Plausible

• There is no free hosted plan, only a 30-day trial; the free option is the Community Edition you run yourself.
• Stats are aggregate only: there are no session recordings or per-visitor profiles.
• Funnels, ecommerce revenue attribution, custom properties and the Stats API start on Business; SSO is Enterprise only.
• Prices rise with monthly pageviews, and sites above 10M pageviews a month need a custom Enterprise quote.

Minimal Analytics

Small footprint

The site compares its 1.5 kB snippet with 73 kB for Google Tag Manager plus Analytics.

Page view tracking

Sends page views directly to Google Analytics without external libraries, and works with single page apps built with React or Vue.js.

Custom events

ma.trackEvent takes a category, action, label and value.

Exception tracking

ma.trackException records an error description and whether it was fatal.

Configurable data

Options switch IP anonymization, color depth, character set, screen size and language on or off.

Plausible

No cookies or personal data

Counts visits without cookies, persistent identifiers or cross-site tracking, so the vendor says no cookie banner or GDPR consent is needed.

One-page dashboard

Visitors, sources, pages, locations and devices on a single page, with a real-time view that updates every 30 seconds and a consolidated view of all sites.

Goals, revenue and funnels

Codeless goals for pages, file downloads, form completions and outbound links; revenue tracking, funnels and user journeys come with Business.

Search and campaign data

Connects to Google Search Console for search queries, groups UTM campaigns into channels, and shows traffic arriving from AI tools such as ChatGPT.

Lightweight script

The tracking script is much smaller than Google Analytics', with automatic scroll depth tracking and built-in bot and referrer spam filtering.

Google Analytics import

Brings in historical Google Analytics stats so older data sits beside new Plausible numbers.

Minimal Analytics

• Free snippet$0

  Copy the snippet from the page and add your Google Analytics tracking ID.

Plausible

• Starter$7.50

  per month for up to 10k pageviews, billed yearly ($9 billed monthly)

  One site, 3 years of data, email and Slack reports, goals and custom events. Rises with traffic: $19 a month at 100k pageviews and $69 at 1M, billed monthly.

• Growth$11.67

  per month for up to 10k pageviews, billed yearly ($14 billed monthly)

  Up to 3 sites and 3 team members, shared links, embedded dashboards and shared segments. $104 a month at 1M pageviews, billed monthly.

• Business$15.83

  per month for up to 10k pageviews, billed yearly ($19 billed monthly)

  Up to 10 sites and members, 5 years of data, funnels, ecommerce revenue, custom properties, Stats API. $139 a month at 1M pageviews, monthly.

• EnterpriseCustom

  More than 10 sites or 10M pageviews: SSO, sites API, managed proxy, scheduled raw data exports and priority support.

• Community Edition$0

  Free AGPL release you host yourself, updated twice a year. No funnels, ecommerce revenue, SSO or sites API; community support only.

Minimal Analytics

No public discounts listed.

Plausible

• Annual discount

  2 months free with yearly billing

  Yearly billing costs 10 times the monthly price: Starter is $90 a year instead of $108, or $7.50 a month instead of $9.