MonsterInsights vs Plausible (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Plausible grades higher than MonsterInsights: 2.4 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
MonsterInsights grades higher on value for money. Plausible grades higher on the free plan, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
MonsterInsights
Google Analytics reports inside the WordPress dashboard
Plausible
Cookie-free, privacy-first website analytics made and hosted in the EU
Which one is for you
Pick MonsterInsights if
- Fits if your site is on WordPress and you already use Google Analytics
- Works for a store on WooCommerce that wants sales numbers in the WordPress admin
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if your site isn't WordPress, as it runs only inside it
- Not for you if you want a free plan or trial, as there isn't one
- Pricey if you renew: the advertised prices are introductory and every renewal is at full price
- Watch out: Plus covers 1 site; you need Pro or Elite for 5
- Watch out: it needs a Google Analytics account, so you're still tied to Google
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
How we grade them
| 1.8GPAMonsterInsightsWeak | 2.4GPAPlausibleFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | B$199 a year for 1 site at renewal, about $16.58 a month, which is where the cheaper quarter of analytics tools ends. The first year is half that, at $99.50. | C100,000 pageviews puts Starter at $19 a month billed monthly; the $7.50 yearly price only covers 10k. That lands mid-category, and it climbs to $69 at 1M. The free Community Edition only counts if you run your own server. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan and no trial. A 14-day money-back guarantee is the only way to try it, and that isn't a trial. | CThere's no free hosted plan, just a 30-day trial with no card. The free Community Edition is yours to keep, but you host it yourself, and it leaves out funnels, ecommerce revenue and SSO. |
| Features | CReports in WordPress, custom dashboards, ecommerce and form tracking, AI question credits. But it reads Google Analytics and collects nothing itself. | CVisitors, sources, pages, goals, campaigns, Search Console queries and visits from AI tools, all on one page. It does the page counting job fully, and it's a smaller job: no recordings or per-visitor profiles, and funnels wait for Business. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You install a plugin and then connect a Google Analytics account. | BNo rating on record, but the hosted version is a small script and one dashboard page, with nothing else to configure. The free Community Edition is a different story: your own server and your own updates. |
| Platforms and integrations | CRuns inside WordPress only. It links to WooCommerce, WPForms, MemberPress, Yoast SEO and similar plugins. | BWeb only, no desktop or phone app. It works with Google Search Console, WordPress, Tag Manager, Google Data Studio and Slack, imports old Google Analytics data, and has an API. |
| Best for | Google Analytics inside WordPress | simple visitor counts without a cookie banner |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: MonsterInsights and Plausible. How we grade
Price against what you get
MonsterInsights starts at $16.58 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Plausible starts at $7.50 a month and scores 2.7.
Plausible scores higher and starts $9.08 a month lower. Of the other website and product analytics tools on the chart, 9 score higher than MonsterInsights for less, and none scores higher than Plausible for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Plausible is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- MonsterInsights also covers surveys, reports and dashboards.
At a glance
| MonsterInsights | Plausible | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free plan |
| Starts at | $199 per year for 1 site at renewal, after a first-year price of $99.50 | $7.50 per month for up to 10k pageviews, billed yearly ($9 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | Plausible Community Edition: the free, AGPL-licensed release you host yourself. It leaves out funnels, ecommerce revenue goals, SSO and the sites API, and has community support only. |
| Free trial | None listed | 30-day free trial of the cloud plans, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| Made by | MonsterInsights | Plausible Analytics |
| Price read from | monsterinsights.com | plausible.io |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Worth knowing
MonsterInsights
- It runs only inside WordPress and reads data from Google Analytics.
- The advertised prices are introductory; all renewals are at full price.
- Plus covers 1 site; Pro and Elite cover 5.
- A 14-day money-back guarantee is stated on the pricing page.
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.
Key features
MonsterInsights
- Reports in WordPress
- Visitors, pageviews, bounce rate, locations, referral sources and page insights are shown in the WordPress admin.
- Custom dashboards
- Dashboards built from more than 20 widgets, with date comparison and PDF export.
- eCommerce and form tracking
- On Pro and Elite: conversion rate, average order value and top products for stores, plus form conversion tracking.
- Plugin integrations
- Tracking for WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, WPForms, MemberPress and other WordPress plugins on the Pro plan.
- Surveys and heatmaps
- The Elite plan includes UserFeedback Elite, with surveys, NPS reporting and heatmaps.
- Credits for AI questions
- Plans include a yearly allowance of credits for asking questions about the data without reading reports.
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.
Plans
MonsterInsights
Plus$199
per year for 1 site, at renewal
Standard reports, realtime dashboard, custom dashboards and an EU compliance addon, with 5,000 credits. First year $99.50 (50% off); renews at full price.
Pro$399
per year for 5 sites, at renewal
Adds eCommerce, form conversion and custom dimension reports, enhanced tracking, WooCommerce and PPC ad tracking, and 10,000 credits. First year $199.50; renews at full price.
Elite$599
per year for 5 sites, at renewal
Adds exception reports, site note automations, multisite support, client license management and UserFeedback Elite, with 15,000 credits. First year $299.50; renews at full price.
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.
Ways to pay less
MonsterInsights
- Other savings
Introductory first-year pricing
The pricing page shows 50% off the first year on each plan, with renewals at full price: Plus $99.50, Pro $199.50, Elite $299.50.
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.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, MonsterInsights or Plausible?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Plausible is cheaper to start with: $7.50 a month, against $16.58 a month when paid by the year for MonsterInsights. MonsterInsights starts at $199 per year for 1 site at renewal, after a first-year price of $99.50, and Plausible starts at $7.50 per month for up to 10k pageviews, billed yearly ($9 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, MonsterInsights or Plausible?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Plausible has a free plan. MonsterInsights does not.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.