About 17; min
Website analytics tells you what’s happening on your site. The question is how much detail you need and how much you’re willing to pay — or how much visitor privacy you’re willing to trade. Google Analytics 4 and Plausible represent opposite ends of this spectrum. GA4 is the free, feature-heavy standard that powers most of the web. Plausible is the privacy-first alternative that gives you essential metrics without tracking cookies or personal data.
Both tools tell you how many people visit your site, where they come from, and what pages they view. The philosophical and practical differences determine which is right for your situation.
Quick Pricing Overview
| Plan | Google Analytics 4 | Plausible |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free (full features) | No free tier (30-day trial) |
| Starter | Free | $9/mo (10K pageviews) |
| Growth | Free | $19/mo (100K pageviews) |
| Business | Free | $39/mo (500K pageviews) |
| Enterprise | Analytics 360 ($50K+/yr) | $89/mo (1M pageviews) |
Google Analytics 4 Pricing Breakdown
GA4 is completely free for the vast majority of websites. You get event-based tracking, conversion measurement, audience segmentation, path analysis, funnel reports, and integration with Google Ads, Search Console, and BigQuery. Data retention is 14 months on the free plan. The paid version, Analytics 360, starts at roughly $50,000 per year and adds higher data limits, guaranteed SLAs, BigQuery export without sampling, and dedicated support. Unless you’re processing billions of events monthly, the free version covers everything. The real cost of GA4 is complexity — setting up custom events, understanding the new data model, and configuring reports takes significant time and expertise.
Plausible Pricing Breakdown
Plausible prices by monthly pageviews. The $9 per month plan covers up to 10,000 monthly pageviews with unlimited websites and all features included. The $19 plan covers 100K pageviews, $39 covers 500K, $69 covers 1M, and $89 covers 2M. Higher volumes are available at custom pricing. Every plan includes the same features — there are no feature tiers or paywalls. Plausible also offers self-hosting through its Community Edition (free, AGPLv3) for teams that want complete data control. The hosted version includes automatic updates, managed infrastructure, and EU-based data storage (GDPR-friendly by default).
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Google Analytics 4 | Plausible |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $9-89/mo (by pageviews) |
| Tracking Method | Cookies + client ID | Cookieless (no personal data) |
| Cookie Banner Required | Yes (in EU/UK) | No |
| GDPR Compliance | Requires consent mechanism | Compliant by default |
| Script Size | ~45KB | ~1KB |
| Real-Time Data | Yes (DebugView + Realtime report) | Yes (live dashboard) |
| Custom Events | Yes (event-based model) | Yes (goals and custom properties) |
| Funnel Analysis | Yes (exploration reports) | Yes (funnel reports) |
| Audience Segments | Yes (advanced segmentation) | Basic filtering |
| E-Commerce Tracking | Yes (purchase events, revenue) | Revenue tracking (basic) |
| Google Ads Integration | Native | Not available |
| Search Console Integration | Native | Google Search Console import |
| Data Export | BigQuery, Looker Studio, API | CSV, API |
| Self-Hosting | Not available | Yes (Community Edition, free) |
| Open Source | No | Yes (AGPLv3) |
Cost Scenarios
Blog or personal site (5,000 pageviews/month)
GA4 is free and gives you far more data than most bloggers will ever use. Plausible at $9 per month gives you a clean dashboard that takes 30 seconds to understand. The cost here is about time: GA4 requires setup and learning; Plausible works immediately. GA4: $0. Plausible: $9/mo.
Growing SaaS (200,000 pageviews/month)
GA4 remains free and handles this volume without issue. Plausible costs $19 per month for up to 200K pageviews. If you run Google Ads, GA4 is practically required for conversion tracking and audience building. If you don’t run Google Ads, Plausible saves your team hours of report building time. GA4: $0. Plausible: $19/mo.
Enterprise media site (10M+ pageviews/month)
GA4 free still works at this scale, though you’ll hit sampling in reports and may need BigQuery exports for accurate analysis. Analytics 360 starts at $50,000+ per year for unsampled data and premium support. Plausible handles high-traffic sites at custom pricing — typically $200-500 per month for 10M+ pageviews. GA4: $0 (sampled) or $50K+/yr (360). Plausible: $200-500/mo.
Privacy and Compliance
Plausible was built around privacy as a core principle. It collects no personal data, sets no cookies, and stores no IP addresses. This means you don’t need a cookie consent banner — Plausible is compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and PECR out of the box. For websites that serve EU visitors, removing the cookie banner improves user experience and can increase measured traffic by 10-20% since you’re no longer losing visitors who reject cookies.
GA4 uses cookies and collects personal data identifiers by default. In the EU, this requires a cookie consent mechanism. Google offers a Consent Mode that adjusts data collection based on user consent status, but the implementation adds complexity. GA4 also processes data on US-based servers (though EU data residency options exist via Google Cloud). For companies in regulated industries or those with privacy-conscious audiences, GA4’s data practices require careful configuration to meet compliance requirements.
Who Should Pick What
Pick Google Analytics 4 if:
- You run Google Ads and need native conversion tracking and audience building
- Advanced segmentation, path analysis, and custom exploration reports are requirements
- Your team has the expertise to configure and interpret GA4’s event-based model
- Budget is the primary factor — GA4 is genuinely free for most websites
Pick Plausible if:
- Privacy compliance matters and you want to skip the cookie consent banner entirely
- You prefer a simple dashboard that anyone on your team can understand in seconds
- Page speed matters — Plausible’s 1KB script is 45x lighter than GA4
- You value open-source transparency and the option to self-host your analytics data
GA4 wins on features and price — it’s free, deeply integrated with the Google advertising and search tools, and capable of analysis that Plausible doesn’t attempt. Plausible wins on simplicity, privacy, and speed. For marketing teams running paid campaigns, GA4 is irreplaceable. For content sites, SaaS products, and privacy-conscious businesses that want clear metrics without the complexity, Plausible gives you exactly what you need at a modest cost. Many teams run both — GA4 for marketing attribution and Plausible as the daily dashboard everyone actually checks.
FAQ
Can I use Plausible and GA4 together?
Yes. Many sites run both scripts. Plausible serves as the quick daily dashboard while GA4 handles deeper marketing analysis. The two scripts together still weigh less than GA4 alone.
Does Plausible track individual users?
No. Plausible uses a hash of the visitor’s IP address and User-Agent that rotates daily. It counts unique visitors without identifying or tracking individuals across sessions.
Is GA4 really free forever?
Google has not announced any plans to charge for the standard version of GA4. The paid Analytics 360 tier exists for enterprise needs, but the free version has been available since Universal Analytics was retired in 2023.
Does Plausible work without JavaScript?
No. Plausible requires a small JavaScript snippet (under 1KB) on your pages. However, it works without cookies and doesn’t require a consent banner, which is different from not requiring JavaScript.
