Outgrowing Plausible?
Plausible is lovely: private, light, trustworthy. It's also web analytics only: funnels and user journeys sit on the Business plan, there's no retention, and no first-party way to ask from your editor. smolanalytics keeps the privacy values and adds the product analytics: one binary, from $19, unlimited sites on every plan.
the same week, counted both ways
These are our own numbers for this site, not a benchmark we designed to win. Over 7 days a JavaScript pixel — which is what Plausible uses — recorded 34 visitors. Reporting from the server over the same week recorded 483 fetches by 8 AI crawlers across 163 pages.
Those reads happen whether or not anyone clicks through. When an assistant answers in place there is no visit for Plausible to record, and nothing in its reports says so.
Not a knock on Plausible: no pixel can see this, because these crawlers execute no JavaScript. It is a different data source, and ours reports both halves on one log. Measured 2026-08-18 · recomputed hourly, never hand-typed.
smolanalytics vs Plausible in one paragraph
smolanalytics and Plausible are both privacy-first, open-source, cookieless alternatives to Google Analytics; the difference is scope. Plausible is web analytics only (pageviews, sources, goals) with funnels, custom properties, and the Stats API reserved for higher tiers; as of mid-2026 its cloud starts at $9/month (the Starter plan) for 10,000 pageviews on a single site, with the $14 Growth plan adding up to 3 sites; it has no retention cohorts, and user-path analysis (User Journeys) is reserved for the Business plan. smolanalytics is web and product analytics in one MIT-licensed Go binary: funnels, retention, paths, and cohorts on every plan, a daily verdict that says what to fix, Google Search Console built in, and ask-in-editor via MCP answered by your own model. Self-hosting is free with no database to run; cloud is free for 14 days, then $19/month (Pro, 2M) or $49/month (Scale, 5M), unlimited sites on every plan, after a 14-day full trial. Pick Plausible for the most battle-tested privacy brand; pick smolanalytics when you also need product analytics.
where Plausible stops (as of mid-2026)
Funnels, custom properties, and the Stats API are reserved for higher tiers: the ~$9 Starter plan is web analytics for a single site, capped at 10k pageviews (the $14 Growth plan adds up to 3 sites).
plausible.io pricing, as of mid-2026
No retention cohorts, and user-path analysis (User Journeys) is reserved for the Business plan: Plausible stays web-focused, so deeper product questions need a second tool.
Plausible feature set, as of mid-2026
Plausible ships no first-party editor/MCP integration: reading the dashboard is the interface (only community-built MCP wrappers exist).
Plausible feature set, as of mid-2026
Plausible vs smolanalytics
| Plausible | smolanalytics | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | web analytics only | web + product analytics |
| Funnels / retention / paths | funnels & user journeys on Business plan; no retention | all included, every plan |
| Entry cloud price | ~$9 · 10k pageviews · 1 site (Starter); $14 for 3 sites | free to 1M events, then $19 · 2M events · unlimited sites |
| Self-host | Community Edition (multi-service) | one Go binary, no database |
| Ask in your editor | no first-party option (only community MCP servers) | MCP, CI-tested to match the dashboard |
| Tells you what to fix | dashboards you read | a verdict, every morning |
| Privacy | cookieless, no banner | cookieless mode, no banner |
when to pick Plausible instead
- You want the most battle-tested privacy-analytics brand. Plausible has carried the cookieless flag for years, and it's a genuinely lovely product with a long public track record.
- You only need web analytics (pageviews, sources, goals) and will never need retention analysis or deeper product questions. If that's the whole job, Plausible does it beautifully.
Swap in two minutes
<!-- remove the Plausible <script> tag, drop this in -->
<script src="https://YOUR-INSTANCE/sdk.js"></script>
<script>smolanalytics.init("YOUR_WRITE_KEY", { host: "https://YOUR-INSTANCE" });</script>
<!-- cookieless mode stays on. same privacy, plus funnels/retention/paths. -->Same privacy values, one snippet. You keep the no-banner setup and gain the product analytics Plausible doesn't do.
questions
Is smolanalytics a good Plausible alternative?
Yes, if you like Plausible's privacy values but need more than web analytics. smolanalytics is open source (MIT), cookieless, and self-hostable as a single Go binary, and it adds funnels, retention, paths, cohorts, a daily verdict, and ask-in-editor via MCP. Cloud is $19/month (Pro) with unlimited sites and 2M events after a 14-day full trial.
What does smolanalytics include that Plausible doesn't?
Product analytics depth on every plan: funnels, retention cohorts, and user paths (as of mid-2026, Plausible reserves funnels and user journeys for the Business plan and offers no retention analysis). Plus a daily verdict that tells you what to fix, and editor-native answers over MCP.
When is Plausible the better choice?
When you want the most battle-tested privacy-analytics brand and only need web analytics. Plausible has been the reference cookieless tool for years; if pageviews, sources, and goals are the whole job, it's an excellent pick.
Get the verdict, not another dashboard.
Drop one snippet, ask in your editor, own your data. 14-day full trial, no credit card.