---
{"title": "Simple Analytics alternatives in 2026", "description": "Compare Simple Analytics alternatives by what they actually do: Fathom, Google Analytics 4, Matomo, Plausible, and Connections Analytics.", "url": "https://uncommoncomforts.com/simple-analytics-alternatives/", "date": "2026-11-02"}
---
Compare Simple Analytics alternatives by what they actually do: Fathom, Google Analytics 4, Matomo, Plausible, and Connections Analytics.

Simple Analytics is a website analytics service that says its data is EU-hosted and stays in Europe. [^1] It says it needs no analytics consent because it uses no cookies and shows no banners. [^1]

Alternatives worth comparing are Fathom Analytics, Google Analytics 4, Matomo, Plausible Analytics, and Connections Analytics, a website analytics tool made by the team that publishes this site. [^2] Each differs in plan price, how visits are recorded, and what happens over a limit, so the right one matches the sites you run.

| Option | Own plan fee | Free trial |
|---|---|---|
| Plausible Analytics | Starter, $9 a month [^3]; Growth, $14 a month [^3]; Business, $19 a month [^3] | 30-day free trial, no credit card [^3] |
| Fathom Analytics | $15 a month for up to 100,000 monthly pageviews [^4]; $25 a month for up to 200,000 monthly pageviews [^4] | 7-day free trial [^5] |
| Matomo | self-hosted forever for free [^6]; paid cloud plan not published | 21-day free Cloud trial, no credit card [^6] [^6] |
| Google Analytics 4 | free of charge [^7] | not published |
| Connections Analytics | Free, $0 [^2]; Pro, $39.99 a month [^2]; Business, $99.99 a month [^2] | not published |

## What Simple Analytics offers and charges

Simple Analytics is a website analytics tool whose data is EU-hosted and stays in Europe. [^1] It says it needs no analytics consent because it uses no cookies and shows no banners. [^1] There is a free plan with unlimited pageviews. [^8] The self-serve plan costs $20 a month for a 100k pageview base up to 2.5M pageviews. [^8] That price includes one user, with extra users at $20 a month each. [^8] A 14-day self-serve trial lets an account explore the service on its own. [^8] Subscriptions can be cancelled any time, with access kept until the end of the paid period. [^8] Enterprise pricing is custom and quoted on a call based on requirements. [^8] Paid plans are paid by card, debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Bitcoin, and Bitcoin carries an extra 10% fee. [^8] Bills from $500 can be paid by bank transfer with an additional 10% in banking and service fees. [^8] A free 30-day proof of concept runs Simple Analytics alongside Google Analytics 4. [^1]

When that price and feature shape does not fit, the search for another tool usually turns on the same few facts covered below.

## Plausible Analytics: plans priced by sites and team size

Plausible Analytics sets its price by how many sites and team members an account covers. [^3] The Starter plan costs $9 a month. [^3] The Growth plan is $14 a month for up to 3 sites and up to 3 team members. [^3] The Business plan costs $19 a month for up to 10 sites, up to 10 team members, and 5 years of data retention. [^3] A person who runs several sites can weigh these tiers by how many sites and accounts need access.

## Fathom Analytics: pageview-based plans

Fathom Analytics prices its plans by monthly pageviews. [^4] The first plan costs $15 a month for up to 100,000 monthly pageviews. [^4] The next tier is $25 a month for up to 200,000 monthly pageviews. [^4] Fathom's plans start with a 7-day free trial. [^5] Because the facts here cover only Fathom's pricing and trial, check its own pages for the rest of its features.

## Matomo: a cloud trial or a self-hosted free option

Matomo can be tried in the cloud for 21 days or self-hosted forever for free. [^6] The cloud trial requires no credit card. [^6] Self-hosting means the account runs on the owner's own server with no recurring fee. [^6] For what cloud hosting costs and which features each host includes, check Matomo's own pages, since the facts here state only the trial and the free self-hosted option.

## Google Analytics 4: free measurement for the customer journey

Google Analytics 4 is offered free of charge. [^7] Google describes it as the tools, free of charge, to understand the customer journey. [^7] For data limits and how long reports are kept, check the service's own pages, because the facts here state only its price.

## Connections Analytics: a script that records visits and clicks

Connections Analytics is made by the team that publishes this site. [^2] It is a web app. [^2] To start, add a site in the settings area and copy the short script it gives you. [^2] A person who runs things adds one script to the site, and it records page views and clicks without tagging anything by hand. [^2] The same script also records JavaScript errors and page speed, so they appear next to the traffic. [^2]

The Overview has a live tile that refreshes every 30 seconds and shows which pages people are on right now. [^2] Traffic reports include a city-level geography view. [^2] The Pages report shows how far down each page people read. [^2] Funnels of 2 to 8 steps can be created and edited from pages or clicks. [^2] The searches that show the site on Google, and which are close to page one, can be seen. [^2] A check tells whether AI assistants can find, read, and name the site. [^2] On Pro and above, buyers' questions are asked weekly and who gets cited is shown. [^2]

Reports can be emailed as a weekly or monthly summary to chosen addresses. [^2] A read-only dashboard link for a site can be made and turned off with one click. [^2] An owner can block the office's own internet connection from the reports and leave out certain pages. [^2] If no data arrives, the tool looks at the homepage once and says why. [^2] The data can be downloaded month by month in a file format for a developer or spreadsheet. [^2]

Analytics has no separate price; it is part of Connections Pass. [^2] Adding sites costs nothing extra. [^2] Connections Free costs $0, and going over a limit stops the feature rather than billing. [^2] Connections Pro, the first paid plan, is $39.99 a month and adds premium features across every Connections product. [^2] Connections Business is $99.99 a month, with higher limits across every Connections product. [^2] An account can start on the free plan without a card. [^2] If a plan is used up, tracking keeps going, but busy sessions are sampled. [^2]

## How to pick the right Simple Analytics alternative

Start by deciding whether the budget has room for a monthly fee or needs to stay at zero. Google Analytics 4 is offered free of charge. [^7] Matomo can be self-hosted forever for free, [^6] and Connections Free costs $0. [^2]

Match the number of sites and team members to the plan. Plausible's Growth plan covers up to 3 sites and up to 3 team members, [^3] and its Business plan covers up to 10 sites, up to 10 team members, and 5 years of data retention. [^3] Simple Analytics includes one user, with extra users at $20 a month each. [^8]

Compare trials before paying. Matomo offers a 21-day free Cloud trial with no credit card, [^6] [^6] and Fathom's plans start with a 7-day free trial. [^5] For a pageview-based price, Fathom runs from $15 a month for up to 100,000 monthly pageviews. [^4]

Think about the report a site needs. If the site takes card payments, Connections Analytics shows revenue from Stripe, the card payment service, linked to the traffic. [^2] For a site that wants a side-by-side comparison, Simple Analytics runs alongside Google Analytics 4 in a free 30-day proof of concept. [^1]

## Frequently asked questions

### Is Simple Analytics free?

Simple Analytics offers a free plan with unlimited pageviews. [^8] Paid service starts with the self-serve plan at $20 a month for a 100k pageview base up to 2.5M pageviews. [^8] A 14-day self-serve trial lets an account explore the service on its own. [^8] Among alternatives, Connections Free costs $0 and stops a feature when a limit is reached. [^2]

### Which Simple Analytics alternative costs nothing to start?

Google Analytics 4 is offered free of charge. [^7] Matomo can be self-hosted forever for free, and its cloud trial runs 21 days with no credit card. [^6] [^6] Connections Free costs $0, and going over a limit stops the feature rather than billing. [^2] Compare pageview allowances before choosing, since the facts here do not state every plan's limits.

### What does Plausible Analytics cost?

Plausible's Starter plan costs $9 a month. [^3] The Growth plan is $14 a month for up to 3 sites and up to 3 team members. [^3] The Business plan costs $19 a month for up to 10 sites, up to 10 team members, and 5 years of data retention. [^3] Compare that with the $20 self-serve price at Simple Analytics. [^8]

### Does Connections Analytics cost anything extra?

Analytics has no separate price; it is part of Connections Pass. [^2] Adding sites costs nothing extra. [^2] Connections Free costs $0. [^2] Connections Pro, the first paid plan, is $39.99 a month and adds premium features across every Connections product. [^2] Connections Business is $99.99 a month with higher limits. [^2]

### Which analytics tool offers a free trial without a credit card?

Simple Analytics offers a 14-day self-serve trial. [^8] Matomo runs a 21-day free Cloud trial with no credit card required. [^6] [^6] Fathom's plans start with a 7-day free trial. [^5] Connections Analytics lets an account start on the free plan without a card. [^2]

You can start on the free plan without a card. [^2] Analytics has no separate price; it is part of Connections Pass. [^2] - [Visit Connections Analytics](/go/start-connections-analytics)

## Sources

[^1]: Simple Analytics, simpleanalytics.com, read 2026-10-23 (https://www.simpleanalytics.com)
[^2]: Connections Analytics' own description of itself (the product of this site's publisher) (/go/start-connections-analytics)
[^3]: Plausible Analytics, plausible.io, read 2026-10-08 (https://plausible.io)
[^4]: Fathom Analytics, usefathom.com/pricing, read 2026-10-08 (https://usefathom.com/pricing)
[^5]: Fathom Analytics, usefathom.com, read 2026-10-08 (https://usefathom.com)
[^6]: Matomo, matomo.org, read 2026-10-08 (https://matomo.org)
[^7]: Google Analytics 4, marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics, read 2026-10-08 (https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/)
[^8]: Simple Analytics, simpleanalytics.com/pricing, read 2026-10-23 (https://www.simpleanalytics.com/pricing)