What is Plausible?
Plausible is a lightweight, privacy-focused web analytics tool. It shows simple stats like page views and traffic sources without collecting personal data about visitors.
Let's break it down
- Plausible: the name of the analytics service.
- Lightweight: the code is small and loads quickly, so it doesn’t slow down your site.
- Privacy-focused: it avoids cookies, IP tracking, and other personal identifiers.
- Web analytics: a way to measure how many people visit your site and what they do.
- Simple stats: easy-to-read numbers such as total visits, where visitors came from (referrers), and what devices they used.
- No personal data: the tool does not store names, email addresses, or detailed user profiles.
Why does it matter?
Website owners need to understand visitor behavior to improve content and marketing, but many analytics platforms compromise user privacy or are hard to use. Plausible gives clear insights while respecting privacy laws and keeping the setup simple.
Where is it used?
- Small business websites that want basic traffic data without legal headaches.
- Personal blogs looking for a clean, unobtrusive stats panel.
- Non-profit or community sites that must comply with strict privacy regulations.
- SaaS landing pages that need quick performance metrics without adding heavy scripts.
Good things about it
- Fully privacy-compliant, no cookies or personal tracking.
- Minimal script size keeps page load times fast.
- Dashboard is clean and easy for beginners to read.
- Open-source code can be inspected or self-hosted for extra control.
- Simple pricing (free self-hosted or low-cost hosted plans).
Not-so-good things
- Lacks some advanced features found in larger platforms (e.g., funnel analysis, custom dimensions).
- No real-time reporting; data updates every few minutes.
- Fewer third-party integrations and plugins.
- Self-hosting requires technical setup and maintenance.