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comparison / 09 — updated may 2026

Plausible vs Fathom vs PostHog vs Umami vs Pirsch

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.

cheapstack editorialMethodologyPrices verified May 2026
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.
features / deep dives

Feature by feature

One row per feature, both tools described in plain language, the honest tradeoff at the bottom. Most rows have legitimate uses for both — the goal is to surface the differences that matter, not to declare a winner on every line.

01

Core web analytics

pageviews, sources, goals
Plausible

Pageviews, sources, automatic UTM channel grouping, codeless goals and revenue.

Fathom

Pageviews, sources, devices, countries, UTM campaigns and custom events.

PostHog

A dedicated Web Analytics product — pageviews, referrers, UTM and location, with goals via events.

Umami

Pageviews, referrers, auto-collected UTM params and custom events.

Pirsch

Pageviews, referrers, UTM, events and conversion goals on every tier.

Honest tradeoff

All five cover the basics; Fathom, Plausible and Pirsch are the most set-and-forget, while PostHog needs more setup since web analytics is one product among many.

02

Privacy & cookieless

no banner, data residency
Plausible

Cookieless with no persistent identifiers — no cookie banner or GDPR consent; EU-owned infrastructure.

Fathom

No cookies, so no consent banner; GDPR-first, with EU visitor data processed in the EU.

PostHog

GDPR-capable with a choice of US or EU region, but not cookieless by default for full product analytics.

Umami

No cookies and no consent banner; GDPR/CCPA compliant, with US and EU cloud regions.

Pirsch

Cookieless server-side tracking, GDPR/PECR compliant with no banner; hosted in Germany.

Honest tradeoff

Plausible, Fathom and Pirsch are the cleanest for no-banner-ever; PostHog is weakest on cookieless because its product-analytics features lean on identifying users.

03

Open source & self-host

license + own-your-data
Plausible

Open-source (AGPL-3.0); the Community Edition self-hosts and matches Cloud.

Fathom

Closed-source proprietary cloud product (the old Fathom Lite is the only OSS remnant).

PostHog

Open-source (MIT) and self-hostable, though the vendor steers you to Cloud.

Umami

Open-source (MIT) and fully self-hostable from source or Docker.

Pirsch

Partially open — the core, SDKs and Go library are AGPL, but the hosted dashboard is proprietary (only a self-host proxy).

Honest tradeoff

Plausible and Umami are the only own-the-whole-stack self-host options; Fathom is fully closed; Pirsch's open source is real but partial.

04

Free tier & price

what $0 gives
Plausible

No free tier (30-day trial); from $9/mo for 10k pageviews.

Fathom

No free tier (7-day trial); from $15/mo for 100k pageviews.

PostHog

A generous free tier — 1M events, 5k session replays and 1M flag requests a month — then usage-based.

Umami

A free Hobby plan (3 sites, 100k events/mo); Pro from $20/mo.

Pirsch

No permanent free tier (30-day trial); from $6/mo — the cheapest paid entry.

Honest tradeoff

PostHog and Umami are the only ones with a real free tier; Pirsch is the cheapest paid entry, Fathom the priciest but with far more included volume.

05

Product analytics depth

funnels, replay, flags, A/B
Plausible

Funnels and user journeys, but no session replay, feature flags or A/B testing.

Fathom

Simple web analytics only — no funnels, replay, flags or experiments.

PostHog

A full product-analytics suite — funnels, session replay, feature flags and A/B experiments.

Umami

Funnels, retention and session replay (added in v3), but no flags or A/B.

Pirsch

Funnels plus A/B testing and segmentation (Plus), but no session replay or flags.

Honest tradeoff

PostHog is a different category — a full product-analytics and experimentation platform; the others are lightweight web analytics, with Umami and Pirsch reaching a little deeper.

06

Script weight

tracker footprint
Plausible

Under 1 KB — about 54× smaller than Google Analytics.

Fathom

A single small, lightweight script.

PostHog

The heaviest — the full SDK ships analytics plus replay and flags.

Umami

A sub-2 KB tracker.

Pirsch

Around 4 KB — roughly 12× lighter than GA plus Tag Manager.

Honest tradeoff

Plausible and Umami have the lightest footprint; PostHog's bundle is by far the heaviest because it ships replay, flags and experiments — a real cost if you only want web stats.

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.

faq / common questions

Frequently asked

What's the best free Google Analytics alternative?
PostHog gives you 1M events/mo on its free tier forever and covers pageviews plus product analytics, session replay, and feature flags. If you only need pageview analytics, Plausible and Umami can both be self-hosted for free on a $5 VPS. For zero-ops free, Umami's Cloud Hobby tier covers 100k events/mo.
Is Plausible cheaper than Fathom?
At the entry tier yes — Plausible Starter is $9/mo, Fathom Starter is $15/mo, so Plausible saves $6/mo. At larger volumes the math depends on your pageview count. Plausible scales via a slider; Fathom uses fixed pageview brackets. For most indie sites under 100k pageviews/mo, Plausible is the cheaper hosted option.
Can I self-host a GA4 alternative?
Yes. Plausible Community Edition runs on Docker Compose under AGPL. Umami runs on Postgres + a small Node server under MIT. PostHog self-hosts via Helm chart (more operational complexity). Fathom and Pirsch are hosted-only. Most teams self-host on a $5-10/mo VPS like Hetzner or DigitalOcean.
Are these alternatives GDPR-compliant out of the box?
Plausible, Fathom, Umami, and Pirsch are cookieless by default and GDPR/CCPA/PECR compliant without configuration. PostHog defaults to cookies for user tracking but can be switched to cookieless mode (server-generated hash with daily-rotating salt). All five let you remove the cookie banner from your site.
How long does it take to migrate from GA4?
Most teams can complete the migration in a weekend. Install the new tracking script alongside GA4, run both for 2-4 weeks to validate pageview counts (privacy-first analytics typically show 10-30% lower numbers because they don't count bots), then remove GA4. Historical GA4 data stays read-only in your Google account.
What about Cloudflare Web Analytics or Vercel Analytics?
Cloudflare Web Analytics is free and runs without a tracking script (uses CDN insights). It works if you only need basic pageview counts and you're already on Cloudflare. Vercel Analytics is included on Vercel Pro (\$20/mo). Both are limited compared to Plausible/Fathom/PostHog — they don't support custom events, funnels, or detailed filtering. Mentioned as honest alternatives, not main picks.
Why does my new analytics tool show fewer pageviews than GA4?
GA4 inflates pageview counts with bot traffic, prefetch requests, and double-counts that privacy-first analytics correctly exclude. Most teams see 10-30% lower numbers after switching — these are the correct numbers, not low ones. Pre-warn anyone who's used to GA4 metrics before the cutover.
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