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comparison / 09 — updated may 2026

PlausiblevsFathomvsPostHogvsUmamivsPirsch

Switching off GA4? Here's how Plausible, Fathom, PostHog, Umami, and Pirsch stack up for indie sites — cookieless by default, prices that won't punish growth, and self-hosted options if you'd rather own the data outright.

entry tier
Plausible$9 Starter · 10k pv
Fathom$15 Starter · 100k pv
PostHogfree · 1M events
Umamifree self-host · or $20 cloud
Pirsch$6 Standard · 10k pv
free / trial
Plausible30-day cloud · self-host free
Fathom30-day trial
PostHog1M events/mo forever
Umamiself-host free · 100k cloud
Pirsch30-day trial
open source
Plausibleyes · AGPL
Fathomno · proprietary
PostHogyes · MIT
Umamiyes · MIT
Pirschno · proprietary
updated
May 2026
Skip to verdictSee pricing →
verdict.txt — comparisons/google-analytics-alternatives.mdhonest
$cat verdict.txt

Plausible is the dev-friendly default ($9 Starter, AGPL, self-hostable). Fathom is the polished-hosted pick ($15 Starter, indie-business values). PostHog if you need session replay + feature flags. Umami if free self-host beats every other concern. Pirsch if EU-resident hosting is the deciding factor.

Updated May 2026read the full reasoning →
scoreboard / at a glance

At a glance

One row per dimension, the values side-by-side. The olive dot marks the clear winner for that dimension when there is one — most rows are a wash, and that’s the point.

Plausible Insights OÜ

Plausible

Open-source, cookieless web analytics. EU-hosted by default or self-host on your own infra. The dev-friendly GA4 alternative.

Conva Ventures

Fathom

Polished, hosted-only analytics. Cookieless and GDPR-native. Designer-grade dashboard for sharing with clients and stakeholders.

PostHog Inc.

PostHog

Open-source product analytics — pageviews plus session replay, feature flags, A/B tests, surveys. The 'one platform' choice.

Umami Software

Umami

MIT-licensed self-hosted analytics. Runs on Postgres plus a small server. The cheapest possible production analytics.

Pirsch Analytics

Pirsch

EU-based cookieless analytics. German-hosted, GDPR-native. Server-side SPA tracking and clean dashboard ergonomics.

Cookieless by defaultFour of five are cookieless out of the box. PostHog defaults to cookies and you switch on the salt-hash cookieless mode if needed.
yes · no banner needed
yes · no banner needed
opt-in cookieless mode
yes · no banner needed
yes · no banner needed
Free tierPostHog's 1M events/mo free forever is the most generous indie-scale free tier. Plausible and Umami are free via self-hosting. Fathom and Pirsch are trial-only.
self-host · forever
30-day trial
1M events/mo · forever
self-host + 100k cloud
30-day trial
Cheapest paid tierPirsch Standard at $6/mo is the cheapest hosted entry tier across the field, with surprisingly generous site limits.
$9/mo · 1 site · 10k pv
$15/mo · 100k pv
metered · $0.00005/event
$20/mo · 1M events
$6/mo · 50 sites · 10k pv
Open sourcePlausible (AGPL), PostHog (MIT), and Umami (MIT) are all genuinely open-source with code on GitHub. Fathom and Pirsch are proprietary.
yes · AGPL
no
yes · MIT
yes · MIT
no
Self-hostablePlausible's Docker Compose is the most beginner-friendly self-host. PostHog's Helm chart is more involved (Kubernetes). Umami runs on anything that runs Node.
yes · Docker Compose
no · cloud only
yes · Helm chart
yes · Docker
no · cloud only
Beyond pageviewsPostHog has by far the deepest feature set — session replay, feature flags, A/B tests, and surveys come bundled. The others stay close to pageview analytics.
events + goals + funnels (paid)
events + goals · monetary values
replay + flags + experiments + surveys
events + goals
events + funnels + filters
Data residencyUmami self-host puts data anywhere you want. Pirsch's German hosting is the most opinionated EU pick. Fathom (Canada) is non-US but fixed.
EU (hosted) · anywhere (self-host)
Canada · always
US (hosted) · anywhere (self-host)
anywhere · self-host
Germany · always
pricing / three scenarios

Pricing at three scales

Three receipts, three scales. The line items are the same; the prices move. Every number is from the public May 2026 pricing page — we round to the nearest dollar but don’t invent.

hobby.txt — 5k pageviews/mo · personal sitemonthly
LINE ITEMPlausibleFathomPostHogUmamiPirsch
AnalyticsStarter · 1 site · 10k pv$9Starter · 100k pv$15Free · 1M eventsfreeCloud Hobby · 100k eventsfreeStandard · 10k pv$6
TOTAL · monthly$9/mo$15/mofreefree$6/mo
>Free tiers win at 5k pv: PostHog's 1M event/mo cap and Umami's Cloud Hobby (100k events) both cover this size easily. Among paid options, Pirsch at $6 is the cheapest, Plausible $9 next. Self-hosted Plausible or Umami brings the bill to zero plus a $5 VPS.
side project.txt — 50k pageviews/mo · paying customers · multiple sitesmonthly
LINE ITEMPlausibleFathomPostHogUmamiPirsch
AnalyticsStarter · scales to 100k pv (slider)$19Starter · 100k pv$15Free · 1M eventsfreeCloud Hobby · 100k eventsfreePlus · scales w/ pv$12
TOTAL · monthly$19/mo$15/mofreefree$12/mo
>PostHog and Umami stay free if your event count stays under their caps (PostHog 1M events/mo, Umami 100k events/mo). For pure-pageview tools the order shifts: Pirsch Plus at $12 base, Fathom Starter $15, Plausible Starter scaled to 100k pv $19. Pirsch's slider may push higher at 50k pv — confirm at pirsch.io/pricing.
scale.txt — 1M pageviews/mo · production · marketing site + productmonthly
LINE ITEMPlausibleFathomPostHogUmamiPirsch
AnalyticsStarter · 1M pv (slider)$69Pro · 1M pv$60Paid · $0.00005/event after 1M free$50Cloud Pro · 1M events$20Enterprise · customcustom
TOTAL · monthly$69/mo$60/mo$50/mo$20/mocustom
>At 1M pageviews the field reshuffles. Umami Cloud Pro ($20/mo) and PostHog metered (~$50/mo for 1M extra events) are the cheapest hosted options. Fathom Pro ($60) edges out Plausible Starter scaled to 1M pv ($69). Pirsch transitions to enterprise pricing — contact for a quote. Self-hosted Plausible or Umami stays free plus a ~$15/mo VPS.
verdict / pick one

When to pick which

pick / plausible

Pick Plausible if…

  • You're a developer and want the GA4 alternative that 'just works' without thinking about it — dense dashboard, sensible defaults.
  • Self-host is a real option you want available — AGPL source, Docker Compose, runs on a $5 VPS.
  • Open-source values matter and the code being auditable is part of the pitch.
  • Cost matters at entry tier — $9 Starter beats every paid hosted option except Pirsch.
  • You're switching off GA4 and want the closest functional replacement with the least conceptual relearning.
Try Plausible →
pick / fathom

Pick Fathom if…

  • You share analytics with non-technical stakeholders (clients, marketing, execs) and dashboard polish matters.
  • Monetary-value goals are useful — track revenue per source directly in the dashboard.
  • You want the 'indie business supporting indie business' values pitch and Conva Ventures' transparent ops story.
  • 100k pv at $15 is the right shape for your traffic and you'd rather not think about the slider.
  • Hosted-only is a feature, not a limitation — you don't want to operate analytics infra.
Try Fathom →
pick / posthog

Pick PostHog if…

  • You need product analytics, not just pageviews — funnels, retention, cohorts, session recordings, feature flags.
  • Free tier (1M events/mo) covers genuine production usage at indie scale, including events beyond pageviews.
  • You want one platform for analytics + experimentation + surveys + error tracking — replacing 3–4 tools.
  • Self-host is a real option (Helm chart) and the MIT license makes it forkable.
  • Cookieless mode (server-generated hash, salt rotates daily) lets you skip the cookie banner while still doing rich product analytics.
Try PostHog →
pick / umami

Pick Umami if…

  • Cost is the deciding factor and you can self-host on a Postgres you already pay for plus a small server.
  • Open-source MIT license + intentionally small codebase — auditable, forkable, no surprises.
  • Multi-site dashboard is your shape — Cloud Hobby covers 100k events/mo across multiple sites for free.
  • You want analytics for free AND you can run Docker — Vercel deploy works, Coolify works, any Postgres host works.
  • Real-time dashboards with sub-second latency aren't a requirement — Umami's update cadence is slightly slower than alternatives.
Try Umami →
pick / pirsch

Pick Pirsch if…

  • EU-resident data is the deciding factor — Pirsch is German-hosted, GDPR-by-default, and your DPO will thank you.
  • First-class server-side SPA tracking — for React/Next.js/Vue apps where client-side scripts get aggressively blocked.
  • $6 Standard is the cheapest hosted paid tier across the field, covers 10k pv and up to 50 sites.
  • You want a vendor outside the US tech ecosystem for risk-spreading reasons.
  • Dashboard ergonomics matter and you prefer Pirsch's cleaner layout over Plausible's denser default.
Try Pirsch →
gotchas / observed

Gotchas, both directions

Common pitfalls visible in public docs and community discussion. None of these will stop you shipping; all of them will cost you an afternoon if you don’t know about them.

  • GA4 migration / pageview drop

    Expect 10–30% lower numbers after the cutover

    GA4 inflates pageview counts with bot traffic and double-counts that privacy-first analytics correctly exclude. Pre-warn anyone who's used to the GA4 numbers — the new numbers are correct, not low. Run both side-by-side for 2–4 weeks before switching to validate.

  • Plausible / pageview boundary

    Starter caps at 10k pv before the slider kicks in

    Plausible's $9 Starter covers 10k pv on a single site. At 11k pv on the slider, you're paying more — usually $14–19 depending on volume. Most teams hit this boundary the month after publishing a successful piece of content.

  • Fathom / no self-host

    Hosted-only, by design

    Fathom has never offered self-hosting and the team is explicit that this is part of the business model, not a roadmap item. If your business depends on having an exit ramp from hosted analytics, Fathom isn't in the running.

  • PostHog / event count

    Custom events count toward the free tier event cap

    PostHog's 1M event/mo free tier covers pageviews plus every custom event you fire (button clicks, form submits, etc.). A heavy-event product app can blow through 1M events at 100k pv. Watch the event budget, not just the pageview budget.

  • Umami / cloud cap

    Cloud Hobby is 100k events/mo, not pageviews

    Umami counts every tracked interaction as an event. Pageviews are events, custom events are events. A site at 100k pv with even modest custom event tracking will exceed the Hobby cap and need to upgrade to Pro ($20/mo for 1M events) or move to self-host.

  • Pirsch / enterprise gate at scale

    Above ~100k pv you may need Enterprise (custom pricing)

    Pirsch's published tiers are Standard ($6, 10k pv, 50 sites) and Plus ($12, scales with pv, unlimited sites). Beyond what Plus covers, pricing is Enterprise / contact for quote. For very high-traffic sites, get a quote before committing.

migration / observed patterns

Migrating between them

Editorial framing only — we have not migrated either way ourselves. What follows is the pattern visible in public post-mortems, GitHub issue threads, and conference talks. Take it as observed-pattern, not lived experience.

Google Analytics 4 ━▶ Plausible / Fathom / Pirsch

The most common path. Install the new script alongside GA4, run both for 2–4 weeks to validate that the new counts are within 30% of GA4 (the gap is bots + duplicates GA4 was counting), then remove GA4. Historical GA4 data stays read-only in your Google account.

The hard part isn't technical — it's explaining lower numbers. The honest answer: 'we now have correct numbers; GA4 was inflated by bots.' Some stakeholders take a beat to accept this. Pre-warn before the cutover.

Google Analytics 4 ━▶ PostHog

More involved because PostHog does more than GA4. Start by mapping GA4 events to PostHog events (PostHog's autocapture mode covers pageviews + clicks + form submits automatically). Then enable PostHog's cookieless mode if cookie-free is the goal.

Don't try to one-shot replace GA4's reports with PostHog dashboards — they're shaped differently. PostHog rewards taking 1–2 weeks to learn the product analytics primitives (funnels, cohorts, retention) before declaring the migration done.

Google Analytics 4 ━▶ Umami (self-host)

Most ops-heavy of the migrations. Deploy Umami via Docker or Vercel, point a Postgres at it, install the tracking script on your site. Pageviews start flowing immediately; no GA4-equivalent reports — Umami is intentionally smaller.

If you've never operated a small web app on a VPS, this is also a self-hosting tutorial. Budget a weekend, not a migration sprint. Most teams that pick Umami enjoy the operational simplicity once it's running.