5 tools compared
Best analytics tools
What people actually do on your site and in your product — and how much of it you are allowed to record.
The field
Every analytics tool worth considering
Cheapest first. Ranked properly once you tell us about your team.
Google Analytics 4
The free default, now event-based, with BigQuery export and a steep relearning curve.
Free · free tier
Plausible
Lightweight, cookieless web analytics on a single page you can read in ten seconds.
$9 · free tier
Fathom Analytics
Privacy-first web analytics with unlimited retention and a fixed, predictable bill.
$15 · free tier
Matomo
The full-featured open-source alternative to Google Analytics, self-hostable end to end.
$26 · free tier
PostHog
Product analytics, session replay, feature flags and experiments in one open-source platform.
Usage · free tier
Prices are unverified estimates — useful for comparing orders of magnitude, not for budgeting. Confirm the current figure with the vendor before you commit to anything.
Feature matrix
What each analytics tool can do
Generated from the dimensions this category is compared on, so it stays true as the catalogue changes. Blank means we have not established it either way.
| Capability | Fathom Analytics | Google Analytics 4 | Matomo | Plausible | PostHog |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data modelPageview tools answer "how much traffic"; event tools answer "what did they do". | Pageviews | Events | Both | Pageviews | Events |
| Works without cookie consentNo cookie banner needed, which materially changes how much data you actually collect. | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Session replay | No | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Funnels and retention | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Real-time reporting | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Default retention | 84 months | 14 months | 24 months | 60 months | 12 months |
| Raw data export | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SAML single sign-onAvailable on some tier — check which, it is usually the expensive one. | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| SOC 2 | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| EU data residency | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Public API | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Native mobile apps | No | Yes | No | No | No |
How to choose
The questions that actually decide a analytics tool
Everyone asks about price and seat count. These are the ones specific to this category — and the ones our questionnaire asks you.
- 01
What question are you actually trying to answer?
How much traffic are we getting, and from where · What people do inside the product · Why people get stuck
- 02
How much does the cookie banner matter to you?
We want to avoid needing one · We have one, but data must stay in the EU · Not a concern
- 03
Who reads the numbers?
Anyone in the company, unaided · Product and engineering · Someone who will query the raw data
- 04
Do you need the raw events in your own warehouse?
Yes, we model data ourselves · Eventually · No
The trade-offs
What each one asks you to accept
No tool here is strictly better than the others. These are the prices of admission.
Free and powerful, in exchange for a cookie banner, a hard interface and Google holding your data.
Deliberately simple: you trade every advanced feature for privacy compliance and a page anyone can read.
The simplest privacy-safe option, with a feature ceiling you will hit if you need behavioural analysis.
Total data ownership, paid for with the operational work of running it yourself.
Consolidates a whole toolchain, at the cost of a bill with several independently growing lines.
10 comparisons
Head to head
If you have narrowed it to two.
Questions
Choosing a analytics tool
What is the best analytics tool?
There is no single best one, and any page that names one without asking about your team is guessing. The credible options are Fathom Analytics, Google Analytics 4, Matomo, Plausible, PostHog. Which fits depends on the answers to the 4 questions this category turns on, plus your team size and budget — our questionnaire scores all 5 against them in about three minutes.
Is there a free analytics tool?
Fathom Analytics, Google Analytics 4, Matomo, Plausible, PostHog all have a free tier. The limits differ sharply though — usually on history, seat count, or exactly the features that pass a security review. Check what the free tier withholds before you plan around it.
How much should we expect to pay for a analytics tool?
This category is not priced per seat, so headcount is the wrong unit. Costs track volume or a flat account fee instead. Model both against your own numbers before comparing vendors, because the headline prices are not like for like.
When is it worth switching analytics tool?
When the problem is a capability the current tool does not have — a price that scales the wrong way, a compliance control it cannot enforce, an integration that does not exist. When the problem is how your team uses the tool, a new one reproduces the same mess in a fresh interface within six months, and you will have paid for the privilege.
What should we compare analytics tools on?
The dimensions that actually separate them: data model, works without cookie consent, session replay, funnels and retention, real-time reporting, default retention. Price matters, but it is rarely the thing that decides whether a tool survives contact with your team.