# Plausible Analytics — Web Analytics

Plausible Analytics by Plausible Insights OÜ holds a panel rating of 2.5/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 2.5/5), as of 2026-10-30. Provenance: EU-Made; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: Plausible Insights OÜ (https://plausible.io)
- Category: [Web Analytics](https://whats-best.ai/software/web-analytics.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): EU-Made
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/web-analytics/plausible
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/web-analytics/plausible/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/web-analytics/plausible/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-11-04 · evaluated 2026-10-30 · oldest source captured 2026-10-29

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: Plausible Insights OÜ
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026
- Data hosting: Default not stated; pages mention the EU and Germany [S7]
- Free plan: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026

## The panel's verdict

Plausible Analytics, a cookieless open-source web analytics service from Plausible Insights OÜ of Tartu, Estonia, scores highest on consent and privacy (upper cluster 8–9; range 0–9): the pages publish the counting method — a daily salt hash, salt deleted every 24 hours, raw IP and User-Agent never stored — and an independent legal assessment supports consent-free analytics under GDPR, CCPA and PECR. Data ownership and sovereignty follow at 8–9 and implementation at 8, resting on an automatically applicable data processing agreement, visitor data stated to be processed on servers owned by European companies and never to leave the EU, documented APIs and exports, and a 30-day trial with no credit card. Pricing transparency is weakest at 5–6: only the 10k monthly pageview band is priced, Enterprise is 'Contact us', and we found no public information on overage handling, VAT treatment or minimum terms. The clearest split is between judges, not criteria: two judges computed 0.0 on every criterion while the other persona-weighted totals run 7.4–8.0, and their rationales describe the same features and state no reason for the zeros.

**Speaks for it:**
- Counting method published in full — a daily salt hash with the salt deleted every 24 hours, raw IP and User-Agent never stored — with an independent legal assessment backing the no-consent-banner position under GDPR, CCPA and PECR
- Data processing agreement applies automatically to all customers and includes audit rights and the right to object to subprocessor changes
- Exits documented: a read-only stats API, events and sites APIs, CSV exports, GA4 history import, Enterprise daily raw exports to S3-compatible storage, and an AGPL-licensed self-hosted edition
- Outbound links, file downloads, form submissions, 404s and scroll depth tracked automatically without code, with funnels of two to eight steps showing per-step drop-off
- Tiers public with feature allocation per plan, a 30-day trial with no credit card required, and a self-hosted edition charging no fees to the vendor

**Held against it:**
- Pricing transparency scored 5–6: Starter is €9 /month for up to 10k monthly pageviews, Growth €14 /month, Business €19 /month, but only the 10k band is priced, Enterprise is 'Contact us', and we found no public information on overage handling, VAT treatment or minimum term
- Dashboard CSV exports hold the top 300 entries per report (100 for pages), and dashboard exports and the stats API are unavailable without an active subscription — only the site-settings export remains
- The self-hosted Community Edition is published without funnels, user journeys, e-commerce revenue goals, SSO and the sites API, and is community-supported only
- Subprocessor locations are given only for the European infrastructure providers, leaving processors such as Paddle and Postmark unlocated, and we found no public information on ISO 27001 or SOC 2 certification
- We found no public information on cohort and retention reports, compared attribution models, product-level commerce tracking, or conversions sent back to Google Ads or Meta

**Best for:**
- You need analytics your data protection officer can accept without a cookie banner, backed by the published counting method and the independent legal assessment
- Your procurement requires a data processing agreement that applies automatically and visitor data stated to be processed on servers owned by European companies
- You manage client sites and need password-protectable shared links, email reports to unlimited recipients and a consolidated view across sites (the agency perspective scored the highest total at 8.0)
- You want a documented exit path — a reimportable site-settings export, GA4 history import and an AGPL-licensed self-hosted edition

**Avoid if:**
- You must budget an annual cost at traffic above the 10k monthly pageview band — the captured pages publish prices only for that band, and Enterprise is a 'Contact us' plan
- You need event-level raw data outside an Enterprise plan — scheduled raw event exports are documented on Enterprise plans only
- You plan to self-host and expect the same feature set — the Community Edition is published without funnels, user journeys, e-commerce revenue goals, SSO and the sites API
- Your access must outlive a cancelled subscription — dashboard exports and the stats API are documented as unavailable without an active trial or subscription

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price, or the judge found no public information on that criterion.

| Criterion | The E-Commerce Marketing Lead | The Data Protection Officer | The Agency Developer | The Growth Analyst | The Public-Sector Site Owner | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Traffic, sources & campaign reports | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 4/5 | 3.5/5 | 0/5 | 0/5 |
| Goals, events, funnels & e-commerce | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 0/5 | 0/5 |
| Consent-free operation & data minimisation | 4.5/5 | 4/5 | 4.5/5 | 4/5 | 0/5 | 0/5 |
| Data access, export & self-hosting | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4.5/5 | 4/5 | 0/5 | 0/5 |
| Installation, integrations & performance | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 0/5 | 0/5 |
| European sovereignty | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4.5/5 | 4/5 | 0/5 | 0/5 |
| Pricing transparency | 3/5 | 2.5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 0/5 | 0/5 |
| **Weighted verdict** | **4/5** | **4/5** | **4/5** | **3.5/5** | **0/5** | **0/5** |

### The judges

- **The E-Commerce Marketing Lead** (v1.0): Runs marketing for a Shopware shop selling outdoor gear in Germany and Austria, with a monthly ad budget split between Google, Meta and two price comparison sites. Since the consent banner went live, a third of the orders no longer show a source. Wants revenue per campaign that matches the shop backend, a checkout funnel that shows where carts are left, conversions sent back to the ad platforms, and numbers that hold without a click on "accept".
- **The Data Protection Officer** (v1.0): External data protection officer for eleven mid-sized companies, three of which still ran Universal Analytics when the Austrian authority ruled on it. Reads the data policy before the feature page: which fields are stored, how a visitor is counted without a cookie, whether the IP address is cut before it is written, who the subprocessors are and where. Signs off a site without a banner only when the vendor states its reading of §25 TDDDG in writing.
- **The Agency Developer** (v1.0): Lead developer at a twelve-person web agency that runs forty client sites on WordPress and TYPO3 and a few Shopify shops. Installs the analytics once per site and answers for it for years. Wants a small script or server-side collection, a plugin per CMS, an own tracking domain so ad blockers do not cut the numbers in half, client accounts with their own logins, and a price that does not jump when one client goes viral.
- **The Growth Analyst** (v1.0): Product and growth analyst at a B2B SaaS in Munich with a marketing site, a web app and a mobile app. Needs signups traced from the first campaign click to the first paid invoice, funnels and cohorts on custom events, and the raw events in the company's warehouse every night. Has moved tracking twice and knows that a tool without a raw export means starting the history again from zero.
- **The Public-Sector Site Owner** (v1.0): Web editor for a district administration whose site serves 400,000 residents, from vehicle registration to daycare places. The state data protection authority publishes guidance on analytics, and the council will not show a cookie banner on a public service. Needs to know which pages people search for and where forms are abandoned, with data that stays in Germany or on the municipal data centre's own servers, and a contract the procurement office can sign.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has seen "no cookie banner needed" on a tool that fingerprints every visitor, "EU-hosted" on a proxy in front of a US data store, and "unlimited" data history that ends with the subscription. Reads that a product is "GDPR-compliant" and asks which ruling the vendor means, what is stored per visit, whether the history can be exported in a format another tool imports — and what leaving would cost.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: not determined.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting location | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting options | Not determined | — | — |
| Open source | Not determined | — | — |
| Data processing agreement | Not determined | — | — |
| Transfer impact assessment | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Compliance**
- Article28 evidence: Article 28 compliance demonstrated via published documentation and written answers [S10]
- Audit rights: yes · 30 · yes · 1 [S10]
- Breach notification: 48 [S10]
- Confidentiality: yes [S10]
- Data subject requests: yes [S10]
- DPA automatic: yes [S15]
- DPA scope: yes · yes · yes · 48 [S15]
- Encryption: yes · yes · yes · yes [S10]
- EU processing: yes [S1]
- GDPR assessment: yes [S9]
- GDPR CCPA pecr: yes · yes · yes · no [S4]
- GDPR roles: Plausible Analytics · customer [S10]
- Instruction processing: yes [S10]
- Legal assessment: independent legal assessment of GDPR-compliant web analytics without consent [S3]
- Legal basis: contract · legitimate_interest [S8]
- No consent banner: no consent banner required under most privacy regulations including GDPR and CCPA [S3]
- No cookie consent legal review: legitimate interest · no · 24 [S15]
- No cookies: yes · yes [S1]
- Open source: yes [S9]
- Open source: yes [S10]
- Regulations: yes · yes · yes · yes [S9]
- Regulations: GDPR · CCPA · PECR [S8]
- Subprocessors: yes · yes [S10]
- User rights: access · correct · deletion · object [S8]

**Data**
- Dashboard export contents: visitors · pages · entry_pages · exit_pages · channels · sources · referrers · utm_tags · countries · regions · cities · browsers · operating_systems · devices · custom_properties · conversions [S18]
- Dashboard export row limits: 300 · 100 [S18]
- Deletion: yes · yes [S9]
- Deletion: yes [S8]
- Deletion: without undue delay · yes [S10]
- Deletion on lapse: dashboards and stats deleted after trial expiry or subscription lapse, with advance notification and export option [S10]
- Export after subscription ends: yes · yes [S18]
- Export delivery email: email_download_link · yes [S18]
- Never sold: no [S8]
- No selling ads: yes · yes [S9]
- No third party sharing: no [S15]
- Ownership: yes [S9]
- Ownership: yes [S10]
- Ownership hosting: yes · yes [S4]
- Retention: as long as account is active [S8]
- Retention salt: 24 [S10]
- Salt rotation: 24 [S9]
- Site settings export contents: one_row_per_day_per_item · yes [S18]
- Site settings export reimportable: yes [S18]
- URL query discard: Query parameters discarded except supported campaign and referral parameters [S9]

**Hosting**
- Ce any country: CE can be hosted on any server in any country [S5]
- Cloud EU: Germany · yes [S5]
- Cloud infrastructure: Cloud: worldwide CDN, high availability, backups, security and maintenance included; 2 minutes to start [S5]
- Data residency: yes · Germany · European Union [S10]
- EU: yes · yes [S1]
- EU: yes [S11]
- EU: yes [S13]
- EU: EU [S19]
- EU: EU [S20]
- EU hosted: yes · yes · yes [S3]
- EU hosting: EU [S14]
- EU made hosted: EU [S2]
- EU only: EU · no [S15]
- Location: Falkenstein, Germany · yes [S8]
- Made and hosted EU: EU [S15]
- Made and hosted EU: EU [S18]
- No data leaving EU: no [S9]
- Region: EU [S7]
- Region: yes [S9]
- Region: yes · Germany [S10]

**Integrations**
- Cms guides: Buttondown · Carrd · Discourse · Docusaurus · Ghost · HubSpot · Hugo · Odoo · NextJS · Shopify · Squarespace · Webflow · Wix [S20]
- Community support policy: no [S20]
- Cross subdomain tracking: yes [S19]
- CSV export: CSV · yes [S12]
- Data pipelines: yes [S20]
- Data studio: yes [S3]
- Data studio connector: yes [S4]
- Events API: yes [S19]
- Framework support: React · Angular · Vue · yes [S20]
- Google search console: yes [S4]
- Google tag manager: yes [S3]
- Google tag manager: yes [S19]
- Gtm template: yes · yes · yes [S20]
- Mobile sdks: Android SDK · Flutter · PlausibleSwift · AviaryInsights · Qt6 / QML · Localhost for hybrid apps [S20]
- Monitoring automation: Bubble.io · Grafana · n8n · Prometheus [S20]
- Npm package: yes [S3]
- Npm package: @plausible-analytics/tracker [S19]
- Npm package: yes [S20]
- Official list: manual snippet · WordPress plugin · Google Tag Manager template · Data Studio connector · NPM package · first-party connection · events API server-side tracking [S20]
- Script proxy: yes [S19]
- Search console: yes [S3]
- Shared links: yes [S12]
- Special configurations: Google AMP Pages · Google Chrome extensions · DNT and offline · Segment via GTM template [S20]
- Stats API: programmatic access to aggregated stats · yes [S18]
- Stats API accuracy note: <1 · yes [S6]
- Stats API auth: Authorization header (Bearer) [S6]
- Stats API custom props: yes [S6]
- Stats API dimensions: time · time:hour · time:day · time:week · time:month · event:goal · event:page · event:hostname · visit:entry_page · visit:entry_page_hostname · visit:exit_page · visit:exit_page_hostname · visit:source · visit:referrer · visit:channel · v… [S6]
- Stats API endpoint: JSON · POST · /api/v2/query [S6]

**Legal**
- Address: Tartu · Västriku tn 2 · Estonia · 50403 [S7]
- Company profile: 10 · yes · yes · 2018 · no [S1]
- Documents: yes · yes · yes · yes · yes · yes [S1]
- DPA acceptance: no [S10]
- DPA addendum: DPA is an addendum to the Terms of Service [S10]
- DPA effective: 2020-10-21 [S10]
- DPA last updated: 2026-10 [S10]
- Entity: Plausible Insights OÜ · Tartu, Estonia [S8]
- Entity estonia: Estonia [S9]
- Entity name: Plausible Insights OÜ [S7]
- Imprint available: yes [S15]
- Independence: Independent and bootstrapped, no outside investment [S5]
- International transfers scc: Standard Contractual Clauses [S8]
- Jurisdiction: yes [S7]
- Last updated: September 2026 [S8]
- Registration number: 14709274 [S7]
- VAT number: EE102324299 [S7]

**Pricing**
- Business: 19 [S1]
- Ce cost: No fees to Plausible; you pay your own server, CDN and backup costs [S5]
- Cloud trial: Plausible Cloud · 30 · no [S5]
- Data studio plan requirement: Available on the Business plan · yes [S20]
- Enterprise: yes · yes [S1]
- Free trial: 30 · no [S3]
- Free trial: yes [S9]
- Growth: 14 [S1]
- Model: subscription [S4]
- Starter: 9 · 10k monthly pageviews [S1]
- Stats API plan: Business · yes [S6]
- Trial: 30 · no [S1]
- Trial: 30 · no [S4]
- Trial 30 days: 30 · no [S19]
- Yearly discount: 2 months free [S1]

**Product**
- 404 tracking: yes [S13]
- Account email required: yes [S8]
- Aggregated dashboard: dashboard presents aggregated statistics: visitors, pageviews, top pages, top traffic sources [S3]
- AI traffic analytics: yes [S2]
- AI traffic monitoring: yes [S1]
- Anonymization: daily rotating salt hash of IP and User-Agent [S10]
- Audience segmentation: yes [S2]
- Bot filtering: yes · yes [S1]
- Bot filtering: 40800 [S4]
- Business features: Custom properties, Stats API, Data Studio connector, ecommerce revenue attribution, funnels, consolidated view [S1]
- Ce bot filtering: Basic bot filtering based on User-Agent header and referrer spam domains [S5]
- Ce data export: yes · no [S5]
- Ce license: AGPLv3 or later [S5]
- Ce missing features: Marketing funnels · user journeys · ecommerce revenue goals · SSO · sites API [S5]
- Ce ownership: installation · maintenance · upgrades · server capacity · uptime · backup · security · stability · consistency · loading time [S5]
- Ce release schedule: CE is a long term release published twice per year [S5]
- Click filtering: Clicking any metric (referral source, page, location, device, goal) creates a dashboard filter [S12]
- Cloud bot filtering: Cloud advanced bot filtering, excludes ~32K datacenter IP ranges by default [S5]
- Cloud data export: CSV export · stats API · Data Studio Connector [S5]
- Cloud release cadence: Cloud updated multiple times per week [S5]
- Consolidated dashboard: yes [S1]
- Cookieless revenue tracking: yes [S4]
- Cookieless tracking: web analytics without storing cookies or building persistent profiles of individual visitors [S3]
- CSV import exists: yes [S17]
- Custom event goals: Measure button clicks, purchases, subscriptions, clicks on video or audio elements and any other action [S13]
- Custom properties: yes [S2]
- Custom properties: yes · yes [S4]
- Custom properties: yes [S9]

**Subprocessors**
- Algolia: Algolia · Anthropic · documentation search and AI answers · yes [S8]
- Bunny: Bunny · CDN, DNS and DDoS protection [S8]
- Change notification: in-app notifications · email · blog · yes [S10]
- Duckduckgo: DuckDuckGo · site favicon via proxy [S8]
- Friendly captcha: Friendly Captcha · spam protection on registration and login [S8]
- Google: Google · Google Analytics import / integrations · yes [S8]
- Gravatar: Gravatar · account profile picture via proxy [S8]
- Help scout anthropic: Help Scout · Anthropic · support correspondence · yes [S8]
- Hetzner: Hetzner · server infrastructure and hosting [S8]
- List available: yes [S15]
- Mailchimp: Mailchimp · blog subscriptions · yes [S8]
- Nolt: Nolt · product feedback · yes [S8]
- Paddle: Paddle · payment processing [S8]
- Postmark: Postmark · transactional emails and email reports [S8]
- Upcloud: UpCloud · database hosting and storage of data exports [S8]

**Support**
- Ce premium: Self-hosting is community supported only [S5]
- Security questionnaires: yes [S15]
- Stats API key roles: Owner · Admin · Editor · Billing · Viewer [S6]
- Status page: yes · yes [S1]

180 more facts on the canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/web-analytics/plausible

## Questions

### Is Plausible Analytics European?

Yes. whats-best.ai classifies Plausible Analytics as EU-Made.

### Where does Plausible Analytics store data?

The default storage location for customer data is not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026. The vendor’s pages mention the EU and Germany as hosting locations, per [the vendor’s page captured 29 Oct 2026](https://whats-best.ai/evidence/12210).

### Does Plausible Analytics have a free plan?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026.

### What are the best alternatives to Plausible Analytics?

As of 4 Nov 2026, the panel rates [Matomo (4/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/web-analytics/matomo), [Piwik PRO Analytics Suite (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/web-analytics/piwik-pro) and [Pirsch Analytics (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/web-analytics/pirsch) highest among the other 17 Web Analytics products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [Piwik PRO Analytics Suite](https://whats-best.ai/software/web-analytics/piwik-pro) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [Plausible Analytics alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/web-analytics/plausible/alternatives).

## Head-to-head

- [Plausible Analytics vs Google Analytics 4](https://whats-best.ai/compare/google-analytics-vs-plausible.md)
- [Plausible Analytics vs Simple Analytics](https://whats-best.ai/compare/plausible-vs-simple-analytics.md)

## What this page leaves out

- 12 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 5 sovereignty dimensions could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and are shown as unknown.
- 6 of the readings below were written against an earlier fact sheet — a fact has been corrected, added or pulled since. Until the panel next runs on this product you are reading the older judgement.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor homepage (with pricing): https://plausible.io/ (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S2] Features page: https://plausible.io/features (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S3] Features page (cookieless analytics): https://plausible.io/cookieless-web-analytics (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S4] Features page (e-commerce and revenue goals): https://plausible.io/for-ecommerce (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S5] Features page (self-hosted edition): https://plausible.io/self-hosted-web-analytics (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S6] API documentation: https://plausible.io/docs/stats-api (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S7] Legal notice: https://plausible.io/imprint (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S8] Privacy policy: https://plausible.io/privacy (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S9] Data policy (what is collected): https://plausible.io/data-policy (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S10] Data processing agreement (dpa): https://plausible.io/dpa (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S11] Traffic, sources & campaign reports — found from sitemap: https://plausible.io/docs/email-reports (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S12] Traffic, sources & campaign reports — found from sitemap: https://plausible.io/docs/filters-segments (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S13] Goals, events, funnels & e-commerce — found from sitemap: https://plausible.io/docs/goal-conversions (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S14] Goals, events, funnels & e-commerce — found from sitemap: https://plausible.io/docs/funnel-analysis (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S15] Consent-free operation & data minimisation — found from sitemap: https://plausible.io/compliance (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S16] Consent-free operation & data minimisation — found from sitemap: https://plausible.io/docs/compliance (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S17] Data access, export & self-hosting — found from sitemap: https://plausible.io/docs/google-analytics-import (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S18] Data access, export & self-hosting — found from sitemap: https://plausible.io/docs/export-stats (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S19] Installation, integrations & performance — found from sitemap: https://plausible.io/docs/plausible-script (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S20] Installation, integrations & performance — found from sitemap: https://plausible.io/docs/integration-guides (checked 2026-10-29)
- [S21] Security / trust page — found from the homepage: https://plausible.io/security (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S22] Open-source licence page — found from the homepage: https://plausible.io/open-source-website-analytics (checked 2026-11-01)

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "Plausible Analytics — Web Analytics", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-11-04. https://whats-best.ai/software/web-analytics/plausible

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/1135?target=page