Plausible vs Umami vs PostHog: Best Privacy-Friendly Analytics (2026)

Q: Do I still need Google Analytics

No. For most websites, Plausible or Umami provides all the data you need. If you need Google Ads integration, you can run GA4 alongside a privacy-friendly tool.

Q: Will switching affect my SEO

No. Analytics tools don't affect SEO. Google Search Console (which is separate from Google Analytics) is the tool that matters for SEO.

Q: Can I migrate from Google Analytics

You can import historical GA data into Plausible. For Umami and PostHog, you start fresh — but historical trends aren't usually needed day-to-day.

Q: Which is most accurate

Privacy-friendly tools are often MORE accurate than GA because they're less likely to be blocked by ad blockers and privacy tools.

Google Analytics is bloated, privacy-invasive, and increasingly blocked by browsers and ad blockers. These three alternatives give you the data you need without tracking users. Here's how they compare.

Quick Verdict

	Plausible	Umami	PostHog
Best for	Simple website analytics	Self-hosted analytics	Product analytics + web
Privacy	⚡ No cookies, GDPR compliant	⚡ No cookies, GDPR compliant	✅ Configurable
Script size	<1 KB	2 KB	~30 KB
Self-hosting	✅	✅ (easiest)	✅
Cloud pricing	$9/mo (10K views)	$9/mo (100K events)	Free (1M events)
Features	Simple dashboards	Simple dashboards	Full product analytics
Funnels	❌	❌	✅
Session replay	❌	❌	✅
A/B testing	❌	❌	✅

The Google Analytics Problem

Google Analytics 4:
  ❌ 45 KB script (slows your site)
  ❌ Cookie consent banner required (GDPR)
  ❌ Complex interface (100+ reports you don't need)
  ❌ Data used for Google's ad business
  ❌ Blocked by 40%+ of privacy tools
  ❌ Sampled data at scale (inaccurate)

Privacy-friendly alternatives:
  ✅ <5 KB script (fast)
  ✅ No cookies needed (no consent banner)
  ✅ Simple dashboard (metrics that matter)
  ✅ Your data stays yours
  ✅ Not blocked by most privacy tools
  ✅ Accurate, unsampled data

Plausible: Simple and Beautiful

Plausible gives you everything you need on one dashboard:

What You See

Unique visitors: Daily, weekly, monthly trends
Page views: Which pages are popular
Sources: Where traffic comes from (referrers, search, social, campaigns)
Locations: Country and city breakdown
Devices: Browser, OS, screen size
Goals: Custom events and conversions
UTM tracking: Campaign attribution

What Makes Plausible Special

One dashboard: Everything on one screen, no clicking through reports
<1 KB script: The smallest analytics script available
No cookies: GDPR/CCPA compliant without consent banners
Open source: Community edition available for self-hosting
EU-hosted: Data stored in EU (German-owned servers)
Revenue tracking: Track e-commerce revenue with custom events

Plausible Setup (30 seconds)

<script defer data-domain="yourdomain.com"
  src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script>

That's it. No configuration, no account setup in the script, no cookie consent.

Plausible Pricing

Cloud:
  10K monthly pageviews:   $9/mo
  100K monthly pageviews:  $19/mo
  1M monthly pageviews:    $69/mo
  10M monthly pageviews:   $169/mo

Self-hosted:
  Free (Community Edition)

Plausible Limitations

No funnels: Can't track multi-step conversion paths
No session replay: Can't watch user sessions
No heatmaps: Can't see where users click
Limited segmentation: Basic filtering, not advanced cohorts
No user-level analytics: Aggregate only (by design, for privacy)

Umami: Best Self-Hosted Option

Umami is the easiest analytics tool to self-host:

Self-Hosting in 5 Minutes

# Docker Compose
git clone https://github.com/umami-software/umami
cd umami
docker compose up -d

Or deploy to Vercel/Railway/Render with one click.

What Makes Umami Special

Easiest self-hosting: One Docker command or one-click deploy
Free forever: No per-pageview pricing when self-hosted
Multi-site: Track unlimited websites from one instance
Team accounts: Share dashboards with team members
Custom events: Track any interaction
API access: Query your analytics data programmatically
Realtime: Live visitor view

Umami vs Plausible

Price (self-hosted):
  Umami:     Free
  Plausible: Free (Community Edition)

Price (cloud, 100K pageviews):
  Umami:     $9/mo
  Plausible: $19/mo

Self-hosting ease:
  Umami:     ⚡ Easier (simpler stack)
  Plausible: Good (requires ClickHouse)

Dashboard polish:
  Umami:     Good
  Plausible: ⚡ Better (more polished)

Umami Limitations

Less polished UI: Dashboard is functional but not as beautiful as Plausible
Fewer integrations: Less third-party support
No revenue tracking: Can't track e-commerce revenue natively
Smaller community: Fewer plugins and extensions

PostHog: Product Analytics (Not Just Web)

PostHog is a full product analytics suite — web analytics is just one feature:

What PostHog Includes

Web Analytics:     ✅ (similar to Plausible/Umami)
Product Analytics: ✅ Funnels, retention, user paths
Session Replay:    ✅ Watch real user sessions
Feature Flags:     ✅ Roll out features gradually
A/B Testing:       ✅ Experiment with variants
Surveys:           ✅ In-app user surveys
Data Warehouse:    ✅ Query all your data with SQL

When PostHog Makes Sense

Blog/marketing site → Plausible or Umami (simpler, lighter)
SaaS product        → PostHog (need funnels, retention, feature flags)
E-commerce          → PostHog (need conversion funnels, user paths)
Content site + app  → Plausible (website) + PostHog (product)

PostHog Pricing

Free:      1M events/mo, 5K session recordings
Growth:    From $0 — pay per event over free tier
  Events:     $0.00031 per event after 1M
  Recordings: $0.005 per recording after 5K
  Surveys:    $0.20 per response after 250

PostHog's free tier is extremely generous — 1M events covers most small-to-medium products.

PostHog Limitations

Heavier script: ~30 KB (vs <1 KB for Plausible)
Complexity: Product analytics has a steeper learning curve
Overkill for simple sites: A blog doesn't need funnels and feature flags
Privacy trade-off: Session replay and user tracking aren't privacy-first
Self-hosting complexity: PostHog is a big application to run yourself

Decision Framework

Choose Plausible When

Running a blog, marketing site, or content site
Want the simplest possible analytics
GDPR compliance is critical (no cookies, EU hosting)
Want the smallest possible script (<1 KB)
Don't need funnels or session replay

Choose Umami When

Want to self-host for free
Track multiple websites
Budget is the primary concern
Need API access to analytics data
Comfortable with basic self-hosting

Choose PostHog When

Building a SaaS product or web application
Need funnels, retention, and user journey analysis
Want session replay to understand user behavior
Need feature flags and A/B testing
Want everything in one platform

FAQ

Do I still need Google Analytics?