TL;DR:
Google Analytics 4 is free and deep but sets cookies, generally needs a consent banner, and sends data into Google's ad ecosystem. Plausible is a cookieless, open-source, one-page alternative with no banner, from $9/mo. For teams that want Plausible's privacy but also revenue attribution and an AI-queryable dataset, Open Analytics does both at the same $9 entry.
This is the most common switch in analytics: off Google Analytics 4 and onto something private and readable. Plausible is the tool most people compare GA4 against. GA4 wins on price (free) and raw depth; Plausible wins on privacy, simplicity and no consent banner. Here is the honest split, and where Open Analytics leads for teams that refuse to trade privacy for revenue insight.
At a glance
| Open Analytics | Plausible | Google Analytics 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $9/mo | $9/mo | Free |
| Cookies / banner | None | None | Cookies, banner usually needed |
| Meters | Events | Pageviews | Events |
| Revenue attribution | Yes, to source | No | Ecommerce events you build |
| Data ownership | Yours (AGPL) | Yours (AGPL) | Google's ecosystem |
| Ease of reading | Simple | Simplest | Steep |
Where each one wins
- 01
Open Analytics
That's usPlausible's privacy and no banner, plus the revenue attribution GA4 makes you build and Plausible lacks.
Price: From $9/mo for 50,000 events (a pageview or anything you tag), 3-day free trial.
Strengths
- Revenue attributed back to the visit and source that earned it
- Built-in MCP server: ask your analytics in plain English
- Realtime journeys, funnels and Core Web Vitals in one script
- Open source (AGPL) and self-hostable
Trade-offs
- Newer than Plausible or Fathom
- Meters events, so tagged conversions count
- No free plan, only the trial
The simplest way off GA4 if all you need is clean, cookieless traffic numbers.
Price: From $9/mo for 10,000 pageviews.
Strengths
- No cookie banner
- Open source, EU-hosted
- Dead simple to read
Trade-offs
- No revenue attribution
- Meters pageviews
- Less depth than GA4
Free and deep, if you can live with cookies, a banner, and Google's data ecosystem.
Price: Free (GA4 360 is sales-negotiated).
Strengths
- Free at almost any scale
- The deepest free feature set
- Ecommerce and attribution modelling
Trade-offs
- Sets cookies and generally needs a consent banner
- Loses EEA visitors who decline the banner
- Data lives in Google's ad ecosystem; 14-month retention; sampled explorations
Prices were checked against each product's own pricing page on 2026-08-07 and change often. Read the current plan, and the meter it counts, before you commit.
Open Analytics is the events-metered, revenue-aware option with an AI-queryable dataset. Try it free for three days.
Start free trialFrequently asked questions
- Is Plausible better than Google Analytics?
- For privacy, simplicity and avoiding a consent banner, yes, Plausible is cookieless, open source and readable in a glance. Google Analytics 4 wins on price (free) and raw depth. If you want Plausible's privacy without losing revenue attribution, Open Analytics offers both at the same $9 entry.
- Does Plausible need a cookie banner and Google Analytics does not?
- It is the other way round. Plausible is cookieless and needs no banner. Google Analytics 4 sets cookies and generally does require a consent banner, and visitors who decline it drop out of your numbers, one of the main reasons teams leave GA4 for a cookieless tool.
- Is Google Analytics 4 free and Plausible paid?
- Yes. GA4's standard tier is free at almost any scale; Plausible starts at $9 a month. The trade is that GA4's price is paid in cookies, a consent banner, and data flowing into Google's ecosystem, while Plausible's subscription is the whole business model, so your traffic is never the product.