Alternatives to Google Analytics
GA4 is everywhere but heavy, complex and a privacy concern. Indie analytics tools are simpler, cookie-free and respect users.
Pricing
Free
GA4 is free; GA 360 is enterprise-priced
Free
About Google Analytics
Google Analytics 4 is free, complete, and built around Google's ad-product needs — which is what makes it the wrong default for most startups in 2026. The data model (events with parameters, no pageviews as a first-class concept) frustrates anyone who learned on Universal Analytics; the reporting UI is slow; and the data your visitors generate flows into Google's broader marketing graph whether or not you intend it to. The free tier is still unmatched on price, but the privacy-first indie crop (Plausible, Fathom, Pirsch) has caught up on the metrics that actually matter.
✓Best for
- Teams that run Google Ads and benefit from the conversion-tracking integration
- Anyone who needs the BigQuery export at scale (free up to 1M events/day)
- Sites where the analytics need is checkbox compliance, not active inspection
−Probably skip if
- Privacy-first products and EU-based audiences — the cookie banner cost is real
- Founders who actually look at dashboards weekly — privacy-first tools are faster and clearer
- Anyone storing identifiable visitor data they can't ship to Google
Compare Google Analytics with…
Side-by-side pricing, founders and indie status.
Top indie alternatives
Smaller, founder-led tools that quietly compete with Google Analytics.
Plausible
Lightweight, privacy-friendly analytics.
Independent, open-source web analytics. EU hosted.
Fathom
Simple, privacy-first analytics.
Bootstrapped, no cookies, no consent banners needed.
GoatCounter
Open source counting analytics.
Tiny, ethical analytics maintained by one person.
Pirsch
Privacy-friendly analytics from Germany.
Cookie-free analytics built by a small EU team.
Simple Analytics
Privacy-first web analytics.
Indie team based in the Netherlands, focused on simplicity.
Discussion
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