Blog
Guides, comparisons and plain answers on privacy-first web analytics. Written from the one thing an analytics company has that a content farm does not: the numbers.
Alternatives & best-of
6 posts
The best Google Analytics alternatives in 2026
Seven Google Analytics alternatives compared on price, privacy and what they actually measure: Open Analytics, Plausible, Fathom, Umami, Simple Analytics, DataFast and Matomo. Which one fits depends on whether you count pageviews or events, and whether you need a cookie banner.
The best Plausible alternatives in 2026
Five Plausible alternatives compared: Open Analytics, Fathom, Umami, Simple Analytics and Matomo. Plausible is excellent at the simple, cookieless dashboard; the alternatives below win on revenue attribution, price, self-hosting or depth.
The best Fathom Analytics alternatives in 2026
Five Fathom alternatives compared: Open Analytics, Plausible, Umami, Simple Analytics and Matomo. Fathom is strong on flat, multi-site pricing; the alternatives below win on the entry price, free self-hosting, or a per-visitor journey Fathom does not keep.
The best Matomo alternatives in 2026
Five lighter Matomo alternatives compared: Open Analytics, Plausible, Umami, Fathom and Simple Analytics. Matomo is the deepest open-source analytics, but most teams want less weight — here is what to run instead.
The best cookieless analytics tools in 2026
Cookieless analytics tools measure traffic without a cookie or a consent banner. Here are the five best — Open Analytics, Plausible, Fathom, Umami and Simple Analytics — compared on price, metering and depth.
The best open-source analytics tools in 2026
Open-source web analytics you can read, audit and self-host: Open Analytics, Umami, Matomo, Plausible and Fathom Lite, compared on licence, hosting and features.
Head-to-head comparisons
5 postsPlausible vs Fathom vs Simple Analytics (2026)
A side-by-side of the three best-known privacy-first analytics tools — Plausible, Fathom and Simple Analytics — on price, metering, self-hosting and depth, with Open Analytics as the option that adds revenue attribution the other three lack.
Plausible vs Fathom (2026)
Plausible versus Fathom on price, metering, sites and self-hosting — the two best-known privacy-first analytics tools compared, with Open Analytics as the option that adds revenue attribution neither one has.
Google Analytics vs Plausible (2026)
Google Analytics 4 versus Plausible on price, privacy, cookie banners and depth — and where Open Analytics fits for teams that want privacy without giving up revenue attribution.
Google Analytics vs Fathom (2026)
Google Analytics 4 versus Fathom on price, privacy, cookie banners and sites — and where Open Analytics fits for teams that want privacy plus revenue attribution.
Umami vs Plausible (2026)
Umami versus Plausible on price, metering, self-hosting and licence — two open-source, cookieless analytics tools compared, with Open Analytics as the option that adds revenue attribution.
Analytics by use case
10 postsThe best analytics for SaaS in 2026
SaaS analytics has to follow a visitor from first touch to paying customer. Here are the best privacy-first tools for SaaS — Open Analytics, Plausible, Fathom and Umami — ranked on funnels, revenue attribution and journeys.
The best analytics for ecommerce in 2026
Ecommerce analytics has to connect a sale to the campaign that drove it. Here are the best privacy-first tools for online stores — Open Analytics, Plausible, Fathom and Matomo — ranked on revenue attribution and conversion tracking.
The best analytics for startups in 2026
Startups need analytics that is cheap, cookieless and shows what earns. Here are the best options — Open Analytics, Plausible, Umami and Fathom — ranked on price, revenue insight and time-to-value.
The best analytics for bloggers in 2026
Bloggers need simple, cookieless analytics that shows what people read and where they came from. Here are the best options — Open Analytics, Plausible, Umami and Simple Analytics — ranked on simplicity and price.
The best analytics for agencies in 2026
Agencies manage analytics across many client sites and need shareable dashboards. Here are the best options — Open Analytics, Fathom, Plausible and Umami — ranked on multi-site pricing, sharing and client reporting.
The best analytics for WordPress in 2026
The best privacy-first analytics for WordPress — Open Analytics, Plausible, Matomo and Fathom — compared on setup, cookie banners and depth. All install with a snippet or plugin and need no consent banner.
The best analytics for Next.js in 2026
The best privacy-first analytics for Next.js — Open Analytics, Plausible, Umami and Fathom — compared on setup, App Router support, cookie banners and developer features like an MCP server.
The best analytics for small business in 2026
Small businesses need analytics that is cheap, simple and needs no legal review. Here are the best options — Open Analytics, Plausible, Umami and Simple Analytics — ranked on price, simplicity and no cookie banner.
The best analytics for marketers in 2026
Marketers need campaign attribution and revenue by channel, not just pageviews. Here are the best privacy-first tools — Open Analytics, Plausible, Fathom and Matomo — ranked on UTM reporting, revenue attribution and funnels.
The best analytics for React apps in 2026
React single-page apps need analytics that tracks client-side route changes without cookies. Here are the best options — Open Analytics, Plausible, Umami and Fathom — for React, with SPA pageview tracking and Core Web Vitals.
How-to guides
4 postsHow to switch from Google Analytics to a privacy-first tool
A step-by-step guide to moving off Google Analytics without losing continuity: run both in parallel, tag your conversions, connect revenue, then cut over and drop the cookie banner.
How to track custom events in web analytics
A step-by-step guide to tracking custom events — signups, purchases, clicks — in privacy-first analytics, using data attributes, no-code rules, or a one-line JavaScript call.
How to set up a conversion funnel
A step-by-step guide to building a conversion funnel in analytics: choose the goal, define the ordered steps as pages and events, then read the drop-off to find what to fix.
How to track revenue with Stripe in your analytics
A step-by-step guide to connecting Stripe to your analytics so each payment is attributed back to the visit, page and campaign that produced it — without cookies.
Privacy & compliance
3 postsIs Google Analytics GDPR compliant?
Whether Google Analytics is GDPR compliant depends on configuration and consent, and several EU regulators have raised concerns about data transfers. Here is what the issue is, what Google changed, and how cookieless analytics sidesteps it entirely.
GDPR-compliant analytics: the tools that need no consent banner
GDPR-compliant analytics tools store no personal data and set no cookies, so they need no consent banner. Here are the best — Open Analytics, Plausible, Fathom, Umami and Simple Analytics — and what makes them compliant.
Do I need a cookie consent banner?
Whether you need a cookie consent banner depends on whether your site stores or reads non-essential cookies. Here is a simple way to decide, and why cookieless analytics lets many sites drop the banner entirely.
Analytics glossary
13 postsWhat is revenue attribution?
Revenue attribution ties each payment back to the visit, page and traffic source that produced it, so you can see which channels and pages actually earn — not just which get traffic. Here is how it works and why most analytics tools do not do it.
What is bounce rate?
Bounce rate is the share of visits where someone views one page and leaves without any further interaction. Here is how it is calculated, what counts as a bounce, what a good bounce rate looks like, and why GA4 reports it differently.
What is session duration?
Session duration is how long a visit to your site lasts, from the first pageview to the last recorded interaction. Here is how it is measured, why the last page is tricky, and what GA4's 'average engagement time' changed.
What is an engaged session?
An engaged session is GA4's replacement for the bounce: a visit that lasted longer than 10 seconds, had a conversion, or included two or more pageviews. Here is what it means, how engagement rate works, and why bounce rate is now its inverse.
What is UTM tracking?
UTM tracking uses tags added to a link's URL to tell analytics where a visitor came from — the source, medium and campaign. Here is what each UTM parameter means, how to build them, and how they power campaign reporting.
What is a conversion funnel?
A conversion funnel is the sequence of steps a visitor takes toward a goal — like landing, signup, and purchase — with drop-off measured at each step. Here is how funnels work, how to read them, and what they reveal.
What is event tracking?
Event tracking records specific actions visitors take — clicks, signups, purchases — beyond just pageviews. Here is what an event is, how it differs from a pageview, and how event-based analytics works.
First-party vs third-party analytics
First-party analytics runs from your own domain and keeps data in your control; third-party analytics loads from an external service and shares it. Here is the difference, why it matters for privacy and accuracy, and how it affects ad blockers.
What is web analytics?
Web analytics is the measurement and analysis of website traffic and behaviour — who visits, where they come from, what they do, and whether they convert. Here is what it measures, the core metrics, and how privacy-first analytics differs.
What are unique visitors?
Unique visitors is the count of distinct people who visited your site in a period, each counted once no matter how often they returned. Here is how it differs from pageviews and sessions, and how cookieless tools count it.
Pageviews vs sessions: what's the difference?
Pageviews count every page load; sessions count visits. Here is the difference between pageviews and sessions, how a session starts and ends, and which metric to use for what.
What is referral traffic?
Referral traffic is visitors who arrive by clicking a link on another website, rather than from search, ads or typing your URL. Here is how it works, how it differs from direct and organic traffic, and how to read it.
What is cookieless analytics?
Cookieless analytics measures website traffic without storing a cookie or any personal data in the visitor's browser. Because nothing identifying is stored, sites using it need no consent banner under GDPR and ePrivacy. Here is how it works and what it can and cannot see.