Skip to main content
All comparisons

tinyanalytics vs Plausible

Plausible vs tinyanalytics: Best Web Analytics Comparison 2026

Both products start with cookieless analytics. Compare daily anonymous counting, multi-day product analysis, script size, open source, EU infrastructure, AI discovery, pricing, and the path for bringing useful Plausible history with you.

tinyanalytics

vs
PL

Plausible

The short answer

Pick by priority

Choose tinyanalytics

One managed product stack

Web and product analytics, AI discovery, flags, experiments, surveys, revenue, alerts, and uptime.

Choose Plausible

Focused, auditable web analytics

A 2.5 KB script, daily anonymous counts, open source, self-hosting, and published EU infrastructure.

2.5 KB

Plausible script, gzipped

1 day

Plausible anonymous identity horizon

Portrait of Ben Kaiser

Written and reviewed by

Ben Kaiser

Co-founder, tinyanalytics

View author profile

Editorial review

Product claims were checked against current Plausible documentation. The G2 section is an editorial synthesis of a small review sample, not a G2-generated buying insight.

Last reviewed

Decision guide

Which analytics model fits your priorities?

Neither product wins every category. Start with the identity, ownership, and workflow model your team actually needs.

Choose tinyanalytics

Managed depth beyond daily traffic

  • You need multi-day journeys, retention, cohorts, or signed-in product analysis.
  • AI traffic, AI crawlers, flags, experiments, surveys, B2B accounts, and uptime should live beside web analytics.
  • You want natural-language analysis backed by reviewable, site-scoped SQL.
  • You want an ongoing free plan or need to bring available Plausible history into a new reporting workflow.

Choose Plausible

Focused analytics with source access

  • Open source, self-hosting, or an auditable AGPL codebase is a firm requirement.
  • Daily aggregate web analytics is enough and cross-day anonymous identity is something you explicitly do not want.
  • A 2.5 KB script and a focused, single-page dashboard matter more than product analytics breadth.
  • You want a managed cloud provider with public, specific evidence about its EU infrastructure.

tinyanalytics strengths

  • Multi-day cookieless estimates for journeys, retention, and behavioral cohorts
  • Feature flags, experiment assignment, surveys, revenue, B2B accounts, alerts, and uptime in one hosted product
  • Dedicated AI-assistant referral and AI crawler reports
  • An ongoing free plan and historical import from Plausible, with source-dependent limits

Plausible strengths

  • AGPL-licensed source code with a free, self-hosted Community Edition
  • A 2.5 KB gzipped tracking script and a deliberately focused dashboard
  • Published EU infrastructure details for its managed cloud service
  • No cross-day anonymous visitor tracking; identifiers are isolated to one site, device, and day

Quick comparison

Features and differences at a glance

A simple view of first-class features. Plan tiers and Community Edition differ, so the detailed comparison below explains the important limits.

tinyanalytics and Plausible feature availability comparison.
FeaturetinyPlausible
Analytics
Cookieless web analytics by defaultIncludedIncluded
Traffic, acquisition, and campaignsIncludedIncluded
Custom events and conversionsIncludedIncluded
Funnels and user journeysIncludedIncluded
Revenue attributionIncludedIncluded
Multi-day retention and cohortsIncludedNot included
Product and operations
Feature flagsIncludedNot included
Built-in experiment assignmentIncludedNot included
Built-in surveysIncludedNot included
B2B account analyticsIncludedNot included
Dedicated AI traffic and crawler reportsIncludedNot included
Built-in uptime monitoringIncludedNot included
Control and commercial model
Hosted cloud serviceIncludedIncluded
Open source and self-hostedNot includedIncluded
Published EU infrastructure evidenceNot includedIncluded
Stats or reporting APIIncludedIncluded
AI-drafted, site-scoped SQLIncludedNot included
Historical Plausible importIncludedN/A — not applicable
Ongoing hosted free planIncludedNot included

A check means included as a first-class feature in at least one hosted plan. A dash means it is not part of the product itself; plan access, integrations, or Community Edition can still change the practical setup.

The details

tinyanalytics vs Plausible, criterion by criterion

This compares product defaults and first-class workflows, including the differences between Plausible Cloud and Community Edition.

tinyanalytics and Plausible compared across privacy, identity, deployment, reporting, product workflows, AI discovery, data access, pricing, and migration.
CriteriontinyanalyticsPlausible
Privacy defaultCookieless. No analytics identifier is written to the visitor’s device, and raw IP addresses are not stored in analytics data.Cookieless and aggregate by design. Plausible says it collects no personal data, creates no cross-site profile, and uses no persistent identifier.
Anonymous identity horizonUses a one-way, server-derived identifier for useful multi-day estimates. Signed-in products can deliberately attach their own stable ID.Isolates anonymous counts to one device, one site, and one day. Its daily salt resets, so a return on another day is counted as a new visitor.
Deployment and ownershipA closed-source, hosted service. tinyanalytics operates the application and database; platform self-hosting is not offered.Plausible Cloud is managed. Plausible Community Edition is AGPL-licensed, free to run, and makes infrastructure, security, backups, and upgrades your responsibility.
EU infrastructure evidenceThe intended EU infrastructure story is not yet supported by enough published provider, region, and subprocessor evidence to use as a public claim.Plausible publishes specific EU evidence for its cloud service, including processing in Germany on Hetzner infrastructure and a European CDN provider.
Core analyticsTraffic, sources, campaigns, sessions, users, events, goals, journeys, funnels, retention, cohorts, revenue, shared filters, and comparisons.Traffic, sources, campaigns, pages, events, goals, filters, segments, funnels, user journeys, revenue, Search Console, and consolidated multi-site reporting.
Tracking scriptUnder 6.5 KB gzipped, with automatic pageviews, SPA navigation, common interactions, errors, and optional product capabilities.Documented at 2.5 KB gzipped, with pageviews and optional measurements for events, outbound links, downloads, forms, properties, and revenue.
Product workflowsRetention, cohorts, flags, experiments, surveys, revenue, and B2B account analytics use the same hosted event model.Strong conversion-focused web analytics, but no first-class feature delivery, experiment assignment, survey, cohort-retention, or B2B account workflow is documented.
AI discoveryDedicated reports separate AI-assistant referrals, revenue, landing pages, and AI crawler activity from human traffic.AI referrals can be isolated through source filters. The official documentation reviewed does not describe a dedicated AI channel or AI crawler report.
Monitoring and automationCore Web Vitals, JavaScript errors, analytics alerts, scheduled reports, HTTP or TCP uptime checks, and incident context.Email and Slack reports plus traffic-spike notifications are available. Built-in website uptime checks are not described in the reviewed documentation.
Data accessCSV and PDF exports, HTTP API access, read-only site-scoped SQL, and natural-language SQL drafting.CSV exports plus Stats, Events, and Sites APIs. Enterprise can schedule raw event exports; Community Edition gives operators direct infrastructure control.
Hosted pricing pathAn ongoing free hosted plan is available, with paid plans for higher usage and advanced team needs. Exact public limits should be checked before purchase.A 30-day hosted trial requires no card, then a paid subscription. Plausible states that it does not offer an ongoing hosted free plan.
Historical migrationImports available Plausible export data so teams can keep useful baselines. Some source dimensions can be approximate or unavailable.Exports filtered views as ZIP files containing CSV reports, and offers a full native-data CSV export for portability.

Product behavior and plan access change over time. The official Plausible sources used for this guide are linked below.

Author’s perspective

Three points I would not hide in the feature table

A fair comparison should make the losing trade-offs as visible as the winning ones.

Ben Kaiser

Co-founder, tinyanalytics

  1. 01

    Plausible publishes proof tinyanalytics still needs

    Plausible names its open-source license, cloud location, infrastructure provider, and CDN. Until tinyanalytics publishes equivalent evidence, Plausible has the stronger auditable EU hosting story.

  2. 02

    Daily identity is a product decision

    Plausible intentionally stops anonymous identity at the end of each day. That is a privacy advantage if you only need daily traffic trends, and a reporting limit if you need retention or multi-day journeys.

  3. 03

    Switch for workflow depth, not a privacy badge

    Both products start cookieless. tinyanalytics makes the stronger case when your next questions involve cohorts, experiments, feedback, AI discovery, B2B accounts, revenue context, or uptime.

Third-party review signal

Quick review summary from G2

Editorially synthesized from a small verified review sample

4.8/53 reviews

What reviewers appreciate

  • Reviewers repeatedly point to easy setup and a clear interface as practical reasons to use Plausible. Review source

  • The small review sample values its lightweight, privacy-focused approach and the absence of a consent popup for analytics. Review source

  • Reviewers use Plausible for traffic, SEO, Search Console, and conversion tracking without connecting their site to a large advertising platform. Review source

Where reviewers wanted more

  • One reviewer notes that paid privacy analytics costs more than free big-tech tools, even when the subscription is relatively low. Review source

  • An older review asked for a unified view across multiple sites; current Plausible documentation now describes a consolidated multi-site view. Review source

  • Another reviewer wanted more detailed best-practice documentation for setups such as pageview goals. Review source

G2 says there are not enough Plausible reviews to provide its own buying insight. With only three listed reviews—and some requests since addressed by the product—treat these themes as individual signals, not broad consensus.

See Plausible reviews on G2

Privacy model

Cookieless does not mean identical

Both products avoid analytics cookies by default. The larger decision is how long anonymous activity can be connected and who operates the system.

Plausible’s daily reset favors aggregate traffic trends. tinyanalytics favors multi-day product questions while keeping cookieless identity probabilistic rather than claiming exact people counts.

Two cookieless defaults

Neither default tracker writes an analytics cookie or creates a cross-site advertising profile.

One day versus multiple days

Plausible resets anonymous identity daily. tinyanalytics keeps a server-derived, multi-day estimate for retention and longer journeys.

Plausible publishes stronger EU proof

Plausible names its cloud region and European providers. tinyanalytics should not claim an equivalent EU story until it publishes the same evidence.

Privacy-friendly, not a legal shortcut

Consent obligations still depend on jurisdiction, configuration, optional features, and any personal data you deliberately send.

Beyond focused web analytics

What tinyanalytics keeps in one managed platform

Start with pages and sources, then keep product, revenue, AI discovery, and reliability work in the same organization.

Traffic to conversion

Connect channels, campaigns, pages, journeys, funnels, goals, and revenue without changing reporting products.

Product change

Study retention and cohorts, then deliver flags, run experiments, and collect surveys against the same event model.

AI discovery

See visits from AI assistants and separate model crawler activity from human analytics.

Deeper questions

Use read-only, site-scoped SQL or describe the question and review an AI-drafted query before it runs.

Account and revenue context

Connect acquisition and behavior to client-event revenue, Stripe activity, signed-in users, and B2B accounts.

Reliability

Put analytics alerts, scheduled reports, uptime checks, and incident context beside the metrics they affect.

Migration

Change platforms without resetting the baseline

Bring the Plausible data that can be mapped, establish the new baseline, and document why anonymous visitor totals differ.

Read the docs
  1. 01

    Export the Plausible site

    Use Plausible’s full native-data CSV export for the site you want to preserve, rather than a limited chart export.

  2. 02

    Import useful history

    Bring the available Plausible files into tinyanalytics. Expect visitor and session totals to differ because the identity models are not the same.

  3. 03

    Verify the new baseline

    Run both trackers briefly, check key pages and events, then record the expected reporting differences before retiring Plausible.

Questions

What teams ask before switching

The answers describe product defaults and practical trade-offs. They are not legal advice or a universal accuracy claim.

Is tinyanalytics better than Plausible?

There is no universal winner. tinyanalytics is the stronger fit for multi-day product analysis, AI discovery, feature flags, experiments, surveys, B2B accounts, alerts, and uptime. Plausible is the stronger fit for a smaller script, daily aggregate analytics, open source, self-hosting, and an already documented EU infrastructure story.

Are tinyanalytics and Plausible both cookieless?

Yes. Neither default web analytics model writes an analytics cookie. Plausible isolates anonymous visitors to one site, device, and day; tinyanalytics uses a server-derived identifier for multi-day estimates. Consent and compliance still depend on jurisdiction, configuration, and any data you deliberately send.

Can I self-host tinyanalytics or Plausible?

Plausible Community Edition can be self-hosted under the AGPL license. tinyanalytics is a closed-source hosted service and does not offer platform self-hosting.

Does Plausible track returning visitors across days?

Not anonymously. Plausible says its identifier resets daily, so the same person returning on another day is counted as a new visitor. That supports aggregate privacy but prevents first-class multi-day retention and anonymous journey analysis.

Does Plausible have a free hosted plan?

No. Plausible offers a 30-day hosted trial with no credit card, then requires a paid subscription. Its Community Edition is free to self-host, but you operate the infrastructure. tinyanalytics offers an ongoing hosted free plan.

What does Plausible include that tinyanalytics does not?

Plausible provides AGPL-licensed source code, a self-hosted Community Edition, a 2.5 KB gzipped tracker, and specific public evidence for its managed EU infrastructure. Those are meaningful advantages for teams prioritizing auditability and infrastructure control.

Can I import my Plausible history?

Yes. tinyanalytics can import available Plausible export data so you can keep useful baselines. The products count anonymous visitors differently, so plan a short parallel verification period and expect some source fields to map imperfectly.

Plausible sources

Primary documentation used to verify Plausible privacy, identity, deployment, infrastructure, analytics, plan, and data-portability behavior.

Related comparisons

Plausible Alternatives

Compare other privacy-friendly and product analytics options. Published guides link directly; upcoming comparisons are marked as in research.

Browse all comparisons
Published

Comparison guide

tinyanalytics vs Umami

Cookieless analytics, self-hosting, source access, product workflows, session replay, AI discovery, and migration—compared honestly.

Read the comparison
In research

Comparison guide

tinyanalytics vs Cloudflare Web Analytics

A planned guide to edge-native traffic reporting, product workflows, and day-to-day analysis.

In research

Comparison guide

tinyanalytics vs Fathom Analytics

A planned guide to focused web analytics, privacy choices, and deeper product workflows.

In research

Comparison guide

tinyanalytics vs Simple Analytics

A planned guide to clear traffic reporting, privacy models, and analytics breadth.

In research

Comparison guide

tinyanalytics vs Matomo

A planned guide to infrastructure control, self-hosting, implementation, and ongoing operations.

In research

Comparison guide

tinyanalytics vs PostHog

A planned guide to product analytics depth, web reporting, experimentation, and operating complexity.

Privacy-friendly analytics

Keep the insight. Lose the tracking baggage.

Understand your traffic and your product with one small script, a clear dashboard, and no analytics cookies.

Generous free plan · No credit card required