Open Web Analytics vs Plausible (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Plausible grades higher than Open Web Analytics: 2.4 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Open Web Analytics grades higher on the free plan. Plausible grades higher on ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money and features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Open Web Analytics
Free self-hosted web analytics framework with heatmaps
Plausible
Cookie-free, privacy-first website analytics made and hosted in the EU
Which one is for you
Pick Open Web Analytics if
- Fits if you can host PHP and want analytics you control
- Works for people with several sites on one install
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you don't want to run a server and database
- Not for you if you need paid support, as it's only a wiki and GitHub
- Watch out: WordPress needs a separate plugin and other PHP apps use the SDK
- Tight if you want funnels, since none are listed
- Watch out: the site gives no company details or founding year
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
| 2.0GPAOpen Web AnalyticsFair | 2.4GPAPlausibleFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CFree under GPLv2, but you supply the server and database, which puts it at a C. | 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 | BNo paid edition and no limits listed, but nothing runs until you've hosted it. | 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 | CVisitor and page tracking, heatmaps, session recordings and a REST API. No funnels or goals are listed. | 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 | DYou install the server, database and upgrades yourself. | 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 | CWeb only, with a WordPress plugin and a PHP SDK. | 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 | self-hosted analytics with heatmaps | 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: Open Web Analytics and Plausible. How we grade
Price against what you get
Open Web Analytics has no paid plan and scores 1.7 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 $7.50 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other website and product analytics tools on the chart, none scores higher than Open Web Analytics 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
- Open Web Analytics also covers reports and session replay.
At a glance
| Open Web Analytics | Plausible | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | $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 | Open Web Analytics | Plausible Analytics |
| Price read from | openwebanalytics.com | plausible.io |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Open Web Analytics
- It is self-hosted only; there is no hosted service on the pages read, so you manage the server, database and upgrades.
- WordPress needs a separate OWA integration plugin, and other PHP apps use the PHP SDK.
- Support is through the documentation wiki and the GitHub repository; no paid support is listed.
- The site publishes no founding year or company details; the project is run on GitHub.
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
Open Web Analytics
- Visitor and page tracking
- Tracks visitors, page views, e-commerce transactions and configurable actions using a first-party JavaScript tracker.
- Heatmaps
- Generates click heatmaps for pages, as listed among the server's features on its GitHub page.
- Domstream session recordings
- Records visitor sessions in a feature called Domstream, so a visit can be replayed.
- Many sites, many users
- One OWA server can track an unlimited number of websites and offers a multi-user reporting interface.
- REST API and modules
- A REST API covers administration and data access, and custom modules extend the framework.
- Cookie lifetime options
- Tracker options shorten cookie lifetimes or make them session cookies, for sites that need a shorter retention period.
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
Open Web Analytics
Open source$0
Free to download and self-host under GPLv2, with no paid edition listed. You supply the server and database.
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
Open Web 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.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Open Web Analytics or Plausible?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Open Web Analytics is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $7.50 a month for Plausible. Open Web Analytics is free, and Plausible starts at $7.50 per month for up to 10k pageviews, billed yearly ($9 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Open Web Analytics or Plausible?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Open Web Analytics and Plausible have a free plan.
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.