The Plausible Insider’s Guide
Everything we know about Plausible in one document: what it costs, its grades, getting a refund, getting help and what else to look at. Read it here, or keep a copy.
Plausible
The Insider’s Guide
Cookie-free, privacy-first website analytics made and hosted in the EU
Every plan, grade, refund rule and rival among website and product analytics tools, read from Plausible’s own pages.
Made by Plausible Analytics · checked Oct 18, 2026 · toolgpa.com
Contents
- 01WelcomeWhat it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
- 02What it costsEvery plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
- 03What it doesIts main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
- 04Where it standsIts grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
- 05The alternativesThe tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
- 06Quick answersThe questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
- 07About ToolGPAWho made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
ToolGPA put this guide together from Plausible’s own pages, its app-store listings and our grades. Every fact in it is on Plausible’s page too, where it is kept up to date. Checked Oct 18, 2026.
Part 01 · Overview
Welcome
What it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
2.4
GPA, above 2 of the 13 other website and product analytics tools we grade
Plausible is a privacy-first page counter for websites that shows visitors, sources, pages, goals and campaigns on one dashboard without cookies or tracking individual people, so it needs no cookie banner. Its script is far smaller than Google Analytics', and data is processed on EU-owned servers in Germany. The code is open source: a free Community Edition can be run on your own server, while the hosted plans are priced by monthly pageviews.
To get you started, here are 9 things to know about Plausible, taken from its own pages and our grades.
It's made and hosted in the EU, and the code is open source.
- 1
Best for simple visitor counts without a cookie banner
Plausible gives you visitors, sources, pages and goals on one page, without cookies, so the vendor says you don't need a consent banner.
- 2
Paid plans start at $7.50 a month
As its pricing page puts it: $7.50 per month for up to 10k pageviews, billed yearly ($9 billed monthly).
- 3
There is a free plan
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.
- 4
It runs on Web
Web.
- 5
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.
- 6
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.
- 7
Goals, revenue and funnels
Codeless goals for pages, file downloads, form completions and outbound links; revenue tracking, funnels and user journeys come with Business.
- 8
A 2.4 GPA, above 2 of 13
That is against the other website and product analytics tools we grade, on value, the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
- 9
Keep it
Nothing Plausible does is plain enough to make in a weekend. The 2 things listed below take a company.
Plausible at a glance
- Pricing
- Free plan, from $7.50 per month for up to 10k pageviews, billed yearly ($9 billed monthly)
- Free plan
- Yes
- Free trial
- 30-day free trial of the cloud plans, no credit card required
- Runs on
- Web
- Made by
- Plausible Analytics, since 2018
- Category
- Website & Product Analytics
- Our grade
- 2.4 GPA, fair
The report card
Best for simple visitor counts without a cookie banner
Plausible gives you visitors, sources, pages and goals on one page, without cookies, so the vendor says you don't need a consent banner. It's made and hosted in the EU, and the code is open source. The catch is there's no free hosted plan: you get a 30-day trial, or you run the free edition on your own server.
| Subject | Grade | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C | 100,000 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 | C | There'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 | C | Visitors, 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 | B | No 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 | B | Web 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. |
An A is worth 4 points, a B 3, a C 2, a D 1 and an F nothing. The GPA is the average of the five.
Who Plausible is for
- Great if you want traffic numbers without putting a cookie banner on your site
- Handy when you're leaving Google Analytics and want your old numbers brought across
- Good for EU organisations that want visitor data kept in the EU
Who it is not for
- 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
Good to know
Good for
- Site owners who want traffic numbers without a cookie banner
- Bloggers, publishers and small businesses moving off Google Analytics
- EU organizations that want visitor data kept in the EU
Worth knowing
- 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.
Part 02 · Pricing
What it costs
Every plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
$7.50
A month to start. There is a free plan too
Plausible has a free plan. Paid plans start at $7.50 per month for up to 10k pageviews, billed yearly ($9 billed monthly).
The free Community Edition only counts if you run your own server.
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.
Enterprise
Custom
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.
The free plan
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.
Trying it first
30-day free trial of the cloud plans, no credit card required
Read from plausible.io on Oct 18, 2026.
Ways to pay less
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.
Stated on plausible.io
Part 03 · Features
What it does
Its main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
1
Place it runs: Web
Cookie-free, privacy-first website analytics made and hosted in the EU. Here is what it does, as its own site describes it, and what it covers: open source, self-hostable, public API, web analytics.
Visitors, sources, pages, goals, campaigns, Search Console queries and visits from AI tools, all on one page.
- 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.
Where it runs
- Web
What it works with
- Google Search Console
- WordPress
- Google Tag Manager
- Google Data Studio
- Google Analytics
- Slack
Plausible is made by Plausible Analytics, and has been around since 2018.
Part 04 · Standing
Where it stands
Its grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
2/13
Other website and product analytics tools it is graded above
Plausible's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 2 of the 13 other website and product analytics tools we grade, and level with 4.
It stands best on ease of use (B, above 10 of 13) and worst on features (C, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $7.50 a month, against a middle price of $39 for the category: 0 of the 6 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. Nothing scores higher for less, though at least one tool matches that score at a lower price.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 14 website and product analytics tools we grade, cut by the letter each got. Plausible’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 1 of 13
- CFree plan and trialAbove 1 of 13
- CFeaturesAbove 0 of 13
- BEase of useAbove 10 of 13
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 0 of 13
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 8 website and product analytics tools. Further left costs less; higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Plausible is the marked dot.
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
Keep it, or make your own?
Whether this is something you could build for yourself with an AI app builder, and what you would give up.
Keep it
Nothing Plausible does is plain enough to make in a weekend. The 2 things listed below take a company.
That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 7 of the 13 other website and product analytics tools grade higher. It costs $90 a year. Plausible is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself.
What you could not
- A tracking script and a database that counts every visit.
- It plugs into other products, Google Search Console, WordPress and Google Tag Manager among them, and has an API.
What this rests on. Plausible’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
Part 05 · Alternatives
The alternatives
The tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
Fathom Analytics, Matomo, Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity and PostHog
The 5 tools Plausible is most often weighed against, with where each one differs from it.
- 2.4GPA
Fathom Analytics
Free trial · from $12.50/mo
Cookie-free, privacy-first website analytics priced by pageviews.
- Plausible has a free plan. Fathom Analytics does not, though it has a free trial.
- Plausible is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Fathom Analytics also covers reports.
- 2.4GPA
Matomo
Free plan · from $26/mo
Open-source web analytics you can host yourself or in Matomo's cloud.
- Matomo also covers session replay and a/B testing.
- 3.4GPA
Google Analytics
Free plan
Google's free website and app analytics, with a paid 360 tier.
- Only Google Analytics lists iOS and Android apps.
- Plausible is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Google Analytics also covers reports.
- 3.2GPA
Microsoft Clarity
Free
Free session recordings and heatmaps from Microsoft, no traffic cap.
- Plausible is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Microsoft Clarity also covers session replay.
- 3.2GPA
PostHog
Free plan · from $0.00005
Open-source product analytics with replays, flags and surveys.
- PostHog also covers surveys, session replay and a/B testing.
Part 06 · Questions
Quick answers
The questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
15
Questions, each answered in a line or two
The short version of everything above, for when you only need the answer. Each one is told in full in its part of the guide.
Is Plausible free?
Plausible has a free plan. Plausible Community Edition: the free, AGPL-licensed release you host yourself.
How much does Plausible cost?
Plausible lists 5 plans. Starter: $7.50 per month for up to 10k pageviews, billed yearly ($9 billed monthly).
What platforms does Plausible work on?
Plausible is available on Web.
Does Plausible offer any discounts?
Plausible publicly lists the following: 2 months free with yearly billing.
Does Plausible have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 18, 2026. Plausible is listed for Web.
Does Plausible have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 18, 2026. Plausible is listed for Web.
Is Plausible open source?
Yes. Plausible is open source, according to its own site.
Does Plausible have an API?
Yes. Plausible offers a public API, according to its own site.
What does Plausible integrate with?
Plausible's listing names Google Search Console, WordPress, Google Tag Manager, Google Data Studio, Google Analytics and Slack.
Does Plausible have a free trial?
Yes. 30-day free trial of the cloud plans, no credit card required.
Who makes Plausible?
Plausible is made by Plausible Analytics. It dates from 2018.
What are the alternatives to Plausible?
The closest alternatives to Plausible in our directory are Fathom Analytics, Matomo, Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity and PostHog.
How does Plausible compare with other website and product analytics tools?
Plausible's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 2 of the 13 other website and product analytics tools we grade, and level with 4.
Is Plausible good value for money?
ToolGPA grades Plausible C for value for money. Its paid plans start at $7.50 a month, against a middle price of $39 for the category: 0 of the 6 others that charge start lower.
Could I make my own version of Plausible?
Nothing Plausible does is plain enough to make in a weekend. The 2 things listed below take a company.
Where this guide comes from
The prices, plans, platforms and features were read from Plausible’s own pages on Oct 18, 2026, and the grades were given on Oct 18, 2026. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Plausible's own pages on 18 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.
Every tool we list gets five grades, A to F, each with its reason, and a GPA that averages them. How each is decided is at toolgpa.com/grades. This guide is ToolGPA’s own work; it is not made, paid for or approved by Plausible Analytics. Prices change, so check plausible.io before you buy.
Part 07 · About
About ToolGPA
Who made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
2,281
Tools graded, in 73 categories
ToolGPA grades software the way a school report grades a pupil: five subjects, a letter for each with the reason written beside it, and a GPA that averages them. Prices, plans and platforms are read from each maker’s own pages and dated, so you always know how fresh a figure is.
ToolGPA is free to read. It may earn a commission from affiliate links and it works with sponsors, but anything paid for is labelled and no one can pay for a grade. Every tool on the site has a guide like this one, free to download and pass on. It all lives at toolgpa.com.
2,281
tools graded
73
categories
426
price changes on record
579
apps priced in 12 countries
What else is on toolgpa.com
- Plausible, kept up to dateEverything in this guide, with prices and grades as they are todaytoolgpa.com/tools/plausible
- How grades are givenThe rules behind every letter and every GPAtoolgpa.com/grades
- Value chartsWhat each tool costs against what it scores, for every categorytoolgpa.com/charts
- CompareAny two tools side by side, plan by plantoolgpa.com/compare
- Price changesEvery price rise and cut on record, each with its sourcetoolgpa.com/price-changes
- Prices by countryWhat apps cost on the App Store in 12 countriestoolgpa.com/prices-by-country
- Pay lessEvery public discount: yearly billing, students, nonprofitstoolgpa.com/save
- Keep or makeWhich tools are worth paying for, and which you could build yourselftoolgpa.com/keep-or-make
Scan for the live page
Prices and grades as they are today
Quoting this guide?
Please name ToolGPA and link to the live page, so readers can check the figures for themselves:
ToolGPA, "Plausible: The Insider's Guide", checked Oct 18, 2026. https://toolgpa.com/tools/plausible
Know someone choosing between website and product analytics tools?
Send them this guide: toolgpa.com/tools/plausible/guide
ToolGPA elsewhere: youtube.com/@toolgpa
See our other guides
The best-graded website and product analytics tools after Plausible, each with an Insider's Guide of its own.
- Website & Product Analytics Insider's GuideEvery one of the 14 website and product analytics tools we grade, compared
- Google Analytics Insider's GuideGoogle's free website and app analytics, with a paid 360 tier3.4 GPA
- Microsoft Clarity Insider's GuideFree session recordings and heatmaps from Microsoft, no traffic cap3.2 GPA
- PostHog Insider's GuideOpen-source product analytics with replays, flags and surveys3.2 GPA
Choosing software? Every tool graded, every price dated.
Compare tools at toolgpa.com ›Everything in this guide is ToolGPA’s own summary of what Plausible’s pages, its app-store listings and public reviews said on the dates shown. Grades are our judgement under the rules at toolgpa.com/grades. ToolGPA uses affiliate links and may earn a commission from them, and it works with sponsors; anything paid for is labelled, and no one can pay for a grade. Plausible is a trademark of its owner, and this guide is not made, paid for or approved by Plausible Analytics. Prices and plans change: check plausible.io before you buy.