Q03: Plausible vs Fathom vs Simple Analytics - which one should I choose for a small blog?

For a small blog, choosing between Plausible, Fathom, and Simple Analytics largely depends on your specific priorities regarding cost, features, and data control. All three are excellent privacy-focused alternatives to traditional analytics platforms like Google Analytics, offering simplified dashboards and compliance with privacy regulations without the need for cookie banners. Here's a breakdown to help you decide: ### Plausible Analytics **Key Strengths:** * **Privacy-Focused & Lightweight:** Plausible is open-source, does not use cookies, and collects no personally identifiable information, making it GDPR, CCPA, and PECR compliant by default. Its script is very small, ensuring fast page loads. * **Ease of Use:** It offers a clean, straightforward dashboard that presents essential insights like visitors, page views, traffic sources, and top pages on a single page, without complex menus. * **Pricing for Small Blogs:** Plausible offers a Starter plan at $9/month for up to 10,000 monthly pageviews, which includes one site and core analytics features. * **Open Source & Self-hosting:** As an open-source tool, you can inspect its code and even self-host it for a $0 license cost, which is appealing for developers or those with strict data residency requirements. * **EU Hosted:** Plausible's data is exclusively processed and hosted on servers owned and operated by European companies, meaning data never leaves the EU. **Considerations:** * While it offers custom events and goal tracking, it might lack the deeper funnel analysis and multi-touch attribution of more complex platforms. * Pricing scales with pageviews, so higher traffic sites will pay more. ### Fathom Analytics **Key Strengths:** * **Utmost Simplicity & Privacy:** Fathom is highly praised for its extremely simple, intuitive, and user-friendly interface, making it easy to understand traffic data at a glance. It's also fully cookie-free and GDPR compliant, not requiring consent banners. * **Performance:** Fathom is a lightweight analytics tool that contributes to faster website loading speeds. * **Bypasses Ad Blockers:** Fathom can bypass ad blockers, providing more accurate data. * **Pricing for Small Blogs:** The entry-level plan is $15/month for up to 100,000 monthly pageviews across up to 50 sites. * **Google Analytics Import:** Fathom offers a tool to import historical data from Google Analytics. **Considerations:** * Its simplicity means it offers only aggregate data and basic metrics, which might be limiting for those needing more detailed or granular insights. * The free trial is shorter (7 days) compared to Plausible (30 days) and requires credit card details upfront. * Fathom's servers are in the US, though it offers EU isolation where IP addresses are removed before data travels to the US. ### Simple Analytics **Key Strengths:** * **Extreme Privacy & EU Hosted:** Simple Analytics emphasizes data minimization and does not collect personal data, store cookies, or generate device identifiers. It is entirely EU-hosted (Netherlands) with EU-based providers, easing compliance burdens for EU businesses. * **Simplicity:** True to its name, Simple Analytics focuses on providing straightforward and actionable insights with a clean, intuitive, one-page dashboard. * **Free Hobby Plan:** Simple Analytics offers a genuine free hobby plan with unlimited pageviews, though it's limited to one user, 5 websites, and one month of data history, and requires a badge. * **Google Search Console Integration:** It offers a genuinely useful and underrated Search Console integration. **Considerations:** * The paid plans start at €19/month (approx. $20/month) for 100,000 pageviews, which is slightly higher than Plausible's entry price for comparable traffic. Additional users on paid plans cost extra (€20/month per user). * While it covers essential metrics, it may not be sufficient for users who require advanced features like cross-domain user journeys, multi-touch attribution, or raw event exports. * It's not open source. ### Recommendation for a Small Blog: For a small blog, all three are excellent choices over Google Analytics due to their privacy-first approach and ease of use. The "best" one depends on your priorities: * **Plausible Analytics** is likely the **best all-around choice** for most small blogs. It offers a great balance of privacy, simplicity, and features. Its lower entry-level pricing at $9/month for 10,000 pageviews makes it very accessible for new or smaller blogs. The open-source nature and EU hosting are also significant advantages for transparency and data control. * **Fathom Analytics** is a strong contender if your absolute top priority is the **simplest possible dashboard** and you appreciate its ability to bypass ad blockers for more accurate data. Its pricing at $15/month for up to 100,000 pageviews might be a bit higher for very small blogs compared to Plausible's entry tier, but it covers a higher volume of traffic. * **Simple Analytics** is an excellent option if you are extremely focused on **EU data residency** by default and desire a **free hobby plan** to start with. The free plan's limitations (1-month history, badge required) mean you'd likely upgrade as your blog grows, and its paid plans are slightly more expensive per user than Plausible's for similar traffic. **In summary, for most small blogs, Plausible Analytics offers the most compelling package due to its affordable entry price, open-source nature, EU hosting, and balanced feature set, all while maintaining a strong commitment to privacy and ease of use.**