Counter vs Plausible Analytics
Counter and Plausible Analytics are both analytics tools. Counter is aimed at freelancers and developers, while Plausible Analytics is aimed at small businesses and freelancers. Both have a free plan.
Free, minimal, privacy-respecting analytics
Privacy-friendly, lightweight web analytics
| Pricing | Free | Paid · $9 |
| Starting price | Not published | $9/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | 30 days |
| Built for | Freelancers, Developers | Small businesses, Freelancers, Developers |
| Platforms | web | web |
| Country | DE · 2020 | EE · 2019 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Counter if
Hobby sites.
- Free
- Private
- Lightweight
Look elsewhere if: Business analytics.
Choose Plausible Analytics if
Content sites, agencies and SaaS marketing teams that want clear traffic numbers and compliance by default.
- Dramatically simpler than GA4 and faster to read
- Privacy compliance without banners; EU-hosted
- Open source with a real self-host option
Look elsewhere if: Product teams that need event-level user journeys, session replay or retention cohorts; look at PostHog or Mixpanel for that.
Counter vs Plausible Analytics pricing
Counter
- Free$0Donation-funded; pay when ready, AGPL-3.0 source
Plausible Analytics
- Starter$9/mo10k pageviews, 1 site; 2 months free if billed yearly
- Growth$14/mo10k pageviews, 3 sites, 3 team members
- Business$19/mo10k pageviews, 10 sites, 10 team members
- EnterpriseCustom10+ sites, 10+ team members
- Community Edition$0Self-hosted, AGPLv3 (plausible.io/self-hosted-web-analytics)
Counter · Key features
- Minimal script
- No cookies
- Referrers and devices
- Open source
- Free
- Simple dashboard
Cons
- Very basic
- No events
- Limited support
Plausible Analytics · Key features
- Sub-1 KB script with no cookies; no consent banner needed in most jurisdictions
- Single-page dashboard with realtime, sources, pages, locations and devices
- Goals, custom events, funnels and ecommerce revenue tracking
- Google Search Console import for search queries
- Public or shared-link dashboards and scheduled email/Slack reports
- Stats API, Events API and open-source Community Edition for self-hosting
Cons
- Pricing scales with pageviews; high-traffic sites pay more than GA4's free
- No session replay, heatmaps or user-level funnels
- Limited segmentation compared with product analytics tools
Counter vs Plausible Analytics: FAQ
Do Counter and Plausible Analytics have a free plan?
Yes, both Counter and Plausible Analytics have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.
Which is better for small businesses, Counter or Plausible Analytics?
Plausible Analytics lists small businesses as a core audience, while Counter is aimed more at freelancers and developers.