Google Analytics vs Plausible

The once awesome Google Analytics is now GA4. In my opinion, it's a regression in usability but power users may like the advanced capabilities. There are fewer built-in reports now so you'll have to use the built-in report builder tool or Looker Studio if you need advanced reports that used to exist by default. This is an issue for most casual users as they are not easy to create. You can still get some general data with the built-in reports like visits, some attribution and e-commerce revenue.

Plausible is a lightweight, privacy analytics tool. This means it uses no cookie to comply with GDPR but the downside is you have a limited 24hr window to track events and associates them with a user. The result is less accurate data. They have an easy-to-use single dashboard page with lots of built-in reports and filters.

• It’s FREE
• Lots of Integrations
• Large Community for Help

• Advanced Filtering
• Very nice and fast User Interface
• Custom Properties, Funnels and Ecommerce Tracking

• Lack of Built-In Reports
• Slow
• Bugy
  
  

• Privacy First means less accurate data
• No ability to create custom reports
• May be too simple depending on your needs

The main thing GA4 has going for it is that it is free. Besides that, it’s kind of a pain. I use it for general analytics and I built and use conversiontracking.com for ecommerce tracking.

I really like Plausible and it’s my favorite out of the Privacy First analytics tools like Fathom and Simple Analytics. The limit of a 24-hour lookback window is the biggest downside especially if you need accuracy of campaigns and how people are finding you.

Pricing: FREE - larger sites will be sampled.

Pricing is based on number of monthly pageviews. The plans are featured gated. Free trial, no credit card required. Get 2 months free with annual plans.

Growth: Starts at $9 per month for 10k pageviews
Business: Starts at $19 per month for 10l pageviews, includes more features.