Plausible, Fathom and Simple Analytics are all cookieless and need no consent banner; they differ mainly on price shape and metering. Plausible is $9/mo per site on pageviews, Fathom is $15/mo flat across unlimited sites, and Simple Analytics is $20/mo plus per-user. None attributes revenue back to its source — Open Analytics does, at $9/mo on events, which is why it leads this comparison.
These three are the names most people weigh when they leave Google Analytics for something private and simple. They agree on the important thing — all are cookieless and need no consent banner — so the decision comes down to how they price, what they meter, and how deep you need to go. Here is the honest split, plus where a fourth option leads.
Price and metering at a glance
| Tool | From | Meters | Self-host | Revenue attribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Analytics | $9/mo | Events | Yes | Yes |
| Plausible | $9/mo per site | Pageviews | Yes | No |
| Fathom | $15/mo unlimited sites | Pageviews | Lite only | No |
| Simple Analytics | $20/mo + per user | Pageviews | No | No |
The four, and what each is best at
- 01
Open Analytics
That's usThe pick when you want the same simplicity plus revenue attribution and plain-English querying.
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
Best for a single site and the simplest possible dashboard.
Price: From $9/mo for 10,000 pageviews, per site.
Strengths
- Cheapest single-site entry of the three rivals
- Open source, EU-owned and EU-hosted
- The cleanest single page of numbers
Trade-offs
- Per-site pricing adds up across properties
- Events share the pageview meter
- 03
Fathom
Best if you run several sites and want one flat bill.
Price: From $15/mo for 100,000 pageviews across unlimited sites.
Strengths
- Unlimited sites on every plan
- Large pageview allowance
- Imports from UA and GA4
Trade-offs
- Steep for a single small site
- Aggregate-only, no visitor journey
Best for maximum privacy and a rare free tier.
Price: From $20/mo at the low end, plus $20 per extra user; free 30-day-history plan.
Strengths
- No visitor identifiers at all
- Has a free tier
- Embeddable public charts
Trade-offs
- Most expensive once you add users
- Deliberately the shallowest of the three
How to choose
- You want revenue tied to its source and an AI-queryable dataset: Open Analytics.
- One site, simplest dashboard, lowest price: Plausible.
- Many sites, one flat bill: Fathom.
- Maximum privacy or a free tier: Simple Analytics.
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
- Which is cheapest: Plausible, Fathom or Simple Analytics?
- For a single site, Plausible at $9/mo is cheapest of the three. Fathom at $15/mo covers unlimited sites, so it becomes cheapest once you run several. Simple Analytics starts at $20/mo plus $20 per additional user. Open Analytics also starts at $9/mo, on events rather than pageviews.
- Do any of them require a cookie banner?
- No. Plausible, Fathom and Simple Analytics are all cookieless and collect no personal data, so none requires a consent banner, including in the EU. The same is true of Open Analytics.
- Which one has revenue attribution?
- None of the three named rivals. Plausible, Fathom and Simple Analytics can record revenue values on events you instrument, but none ties a payment back to the visit, page or channel that produced it. Open Analytics does, via a Stripe connection, which is the main reason it leads this comparison.
- Can I self-host any of them?
- Plausible is fully open source and self-hostable. Fathom's Lite version is self-hostable but feature-frozen; its hosted product is closed source. Simple Analytics is hosted-only. Open Analytics is open source under AGPL and self-hostable.