Overview
Plausible Analytics is a lightweight and privacy-friendly alternative to traditional web analytics tools like Google Analytics. It was developed with the goal of providing a simple, transparent, and GDPR-compliant way to track website visits without compromising user privacy or extending website load times.
Key Features
Privacy-Oriented
Plausible was built from the ground up with privacy in mind. It doesn’t collect any personally identifiable information, doesn’t use cookies, and doesn’t track users across different websites. This means that in most cases, no cookie banners are required, and the platform is fully compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and PECR.
Open and Transparent Approach
As an open-source project, all of Plausible’s source code is available on GitHub. This ensures transparency regarding what data is collected and how it’s processed. Users have the option to self-host Plausible or use the official cloud service.
Lightweight Implementation
Plausible’s tracking script is less than 1 KB in size, compared to more than 45 KB for Google Analytics. This helps improve website performance and reduce load times, which can positively impact SEO and user experience.
Easy-to-Understand Metrics
Plausible offers a clear and easy-to-understand dashboard that displays the most important web analytics metrics such as page views, referrers, top pages, and visitor sources. It deliberately avoids excessively complex data and focuses on the essentials.
Shared Dashboards
With Plausible, dashboards can be easily shared with team members or clients without having to share passwords. Each dashboard has a unique, but not guessable URL that can be shared with relevant persons. Optionally, dashboards can also be password-protected.
Custom Events and Goals
The platform supports custom events for tracking conversions and goals, such as newsletter sign-ups, downloads, or completed purchases. This allows for a more detailed understanding of user behavior on the website.
How We Use Plausible at BaunTown
At BaunTown, we use Plausible Analytics for various purposes:
- Website Performance Measurement: Tracking visitor numbers, time spent, and bounce rates to evaluate the effectiveness of our website.
- Content Strategy Optimization: Identifying popular content and pages to improve our content strategy.
- Marketing Campaign Analysis: Measuring the success of marketing campaigns through custom events and UTM parameters.
- Referrer Tracking: Understanding where our visitors come from and which external sources are most effective.
- Device and Browser Analysis: Insight into the technical aspects of our visitors to improve compatibility.
- Public Transparency: Sharing our analytics with the community to promote openness and transparency.
Pricing Model
Plausible offers a usage-based pricing model:
- Starter ($9/month): For up to 10,000 page views per month, including unlimited websites and team members.
- Growth ($19/month): For up to 100,000 page views per month.
- Business ($69/month): For up to 1 million page views per month.
- Enterprise: Custom plans for websites with higher traffic.
All plans offer a 30-day free trial without credit card details. For self-hosted installations, there are no fees, but the infrastructure must be managed independently.
Why We Recommend It
We recommend Plausible for several reasons:
- Privacy Compliance: In an era where privacy is increasingly important, Plausible offers a legally secure solution that doesn’t require cookie banners.
- Performance Benefits: The lightweight approach improves website performance, which is beneficial for both users and SEO.
- User-Friendliness: The dashboard is intuitive and provides the most important information at a glance without being overwhelming.
- Transparency: As an open-source platform, Plausible offers insight into how it works, which builds trust.
- Ethical Alternative: Plausible represents a more ethical alternative to the data-driven, advertising-centric models of big tech companies.
For website operators looking for a privacy-friendly, simple, and effective analytics platform, Plausible is an excellent choice that combines technical efficiency with ethical principles.