Google Analytics alternatives: 8 compared, script size measured

Google Analytics 4 is free, powerful and on most of the web, and for many small sites it is more than they need. It sets cookies, so in the EU it needs consent before it counts anyone, which means the visitors who click "reject" are never counted at all. It sends data to Google. And it adds one of the heaviest scripts a typical page loads. We compared eight alternatives on the questions that decide whether one fits: how much code each adds to every page, which we measured by downloading each vendor’s tracking script on 10 October 2026; whether the vendor says a cookie banner is needed; where the data is stored; and what it costs. The short version: the lightest alternatives are about a hundred times smaller than Google’s script, several are hosted in the EU, and most cost less than a lunch a month.

Google Analytics and 8 alternatives compared (October 2026)

Script sizes are the tracking file each vendor served on 10 October 2026, compressed with brotli at maximum quality for a like-for-like comparison; Google Analytics was measured from gtag.js with a placeholder ID. Microsoft Clarity’s loader needs a real project ID, so its script was not measured. "Cookies" reflects each vendor’s own description; whether you need a banner depends on your setup and is a question for your privacy adviser. Prices exclude VAT and were read from each pricing page the same day.

Why look beyond Google Analytics

There are three common reasons, and they are independent of each other. The first is consent: GA4 uses cookies, so in the EU it may only count visitors who agree to them. Depending on the site and the banner, that can be well under half of real visitors, and the numbers you get are the visitors who said yes, not your traffic. Google’s Consent Mode fills some of the gap with modelling, which is an estimate, not a count.

The second is data protection. GA4 sends visitor data to Google, a US company, and several EU data protection authorities have ruled against specific Google Analytics setups over the years. The third is weight and complexity: GA4 is built for marketers running large campaigns, and a small business often wants three numbers, visitors, where they came from and what they did, without a training course.

How much code each one adds: our measurement

Google’s tracking script was the heaviest we measured, 125 KB compressed, while the lightest alternative, Plausible, was 1.1 KB: more than a hundred times smaller. Fathom, Umami, Pirsch and Simple Analytics all came in between 1.8 and 3.3 KB. Matomo’s script, at 18.7 KB, carries more features, and PostHog’s, at 86 KB, carries a whole product-analytics toolkit including session recording.

Every one of these files is downloaded, parsed and run on every page view, on every visitor’s phone. A 125 KB script is not a disaster on its own, but it competes with your own code for the same bandwidth and processor time, and it is one of the reasons sites with good design still score poorly on Core Web Vitals. If the question you need answered is "how many people visited and from where", a 1 KB script answers it.

Plausible, Fathom and Simple Analytics: simple, paid and cookie-free

These three share an idea: one dashboard page, no cookies, no personal data, and a monthly price. Plausible is built and hosted in the EU, starts at €9 a month for up to 10,000 pageviews on one site, offers a 30-day trial without a card, and is open source, so you can also host it yourself. It now tracks scroll depth automatically and shows traffic from AI tools such as ChatGPT and Perplexity.

Fathom starts at $15 a month for up to 100,000 pageviews across 50 sites, with a 7-day trial that needs a card. Simple Analytics starts at €20 a month for 100,000 pageviews, is hosted in the EU, and has a free plan. All three state that their default setup does not need a cookie banner.

Umami and Pirsch: open source and German-hosted

Umami is open source and can run on your own server for free. Its cloud version has a free Hobby plan for up to 100,000 events a month on one website with six months of data, and a Pro plan at $20 a month for a million events. Its servers are in the US and the EU, and it states that it uses no cookies and collects no personal data.

Pirsch is made and hosted in Germany, starts at $6 a month for 10,000 pageviews, can also be self-hosted, and offers a 30-day trial without a card. For a German business that wants its analytics provider in the same jurisdiction, it is the most direct answer on this list.

Matomo: the full Google Analytics replacement

Matomo is the closest to Google Analytics in scope: goals, e-commerce, funnels, heatmaps, segments and years of history. It is open source, and self-hosting it on your own server costs nothing but the server and the upkeep. Its cloud version starts at €22 a month for 50,000 hits, with data stored in Europe.

It uses cookies by default, but it can be configured to run without them, and its larger script reflects how much it does. Matomo suits an organisation that wants Google Analytics’ depth without Google, and is willing to configure it carefully.

PostHog and Microsoft Clarity: product analytics and session recording

PostHog is a different kind of tool: product analytics for websites and apps, with events, funnels, feature flags, experiments and session recordings. Its free tier covers a million events a month, it offers an EU cloud, and 97% of its customers, it says, never leave the free tier. Its script is the heaviest of the alternatives, which is the price of everything it records.

Microsoft Clarity is free with no traffic limit and specialises in heatmaps and session recordings: watching how visitors move, scroll and click. It sits beside an analytics tool rather than replacing one, and it sets cookies, so it belongs behind your consent banner.

What we use on our own site

We count visits with our own code: an inline script of 1,024 characters, 585 bytes compressed, that sends one small message per page view to our own server, a second after the page becomes visible. It sets no cookies and never stores an IP address: unique visitors are counted with a hash of the address and browser that changes every day. It also skips visits that last less than a second, which removes most of the email scanners and link previews that open pages without a person behind them. It is enough to tell us which pages people visit, where they arrive from and whether they came from an ad.

That is not the right answer for everyone: building your own counter means building the dashboard too. But it shows how little code the basic question needs. If an analytics script is the heaviest thing on your page, you are probably paying in speed for features you never open.

How to choose

Pick the smallest tool that answers the questions you actually ask every month. If you want visitors, sources and a few goals with no banner, choose Plausible, Fathom, Simple Analytics, Umami or Pirsch, depending on price and where you want the data. If you need Google Analytics’ depth without Google, choose Matomo. If you run a product and need funnels and recordings, choose PostHog. If you want to watch how people use a page, add Clarity behind your consent banner.

You can also run two side by side during a trial and compare the numbers; the gap between them is usually the visitors your cookie banner was hiding. If your site needs analytics installed, events defined or a consent setup that does not hide half your visitors, our digital marketing work covers tracking, and a Technical Audit shows what your current scripts cost your page speed.

Sources and method

Tracking scripts were downloaded on 10 October 2026 from each vendor’s public URL and compressed with brotli at quality 11 for comparison; prices and features were read from each vendor’s pricing page the same day, excluding VAT.

• Google — gtag.js ↗

  The Google Analytics 4 tag, requested with a placeholder measurement ID: 435.5 KB raw, 124.8 KB with brotli.

• Plausible — Pricing ↗

  From €9 a month for up to 10,000 monthly pageviews on one site; 30-day free trial without a card; made and hosted in the EU; no cookies. Script 2.8 KB raw, 1.1 KB with brotli.

• Fathom — Pricing ↗

  From $15 a month for up to 100,000 monthly pageviews and 50 sites; 7-day trial, card required; "no cookie banners required". Script 1.8 KB with brotli.

• Fathom — Data isolation ↗

  EU visitors’ personal data is processed on EU infrastructure; anonymised analytics are stored on Fathom’s US infrastructure.

• Umami — Pricing ↗

  Hobby $0 for up to 100,000 events a month and 1 website; Pro $20 a month for 1 million events; servers in the US and EU; no cookies. Script 2.0 KB with brotli.

• Pirsch — Pricing ↗

  From $6 a month for 10,000 monthly page views; 30-day trial without a card; cloud hosted in Germany or self-hosted. Script 3.0 KB with brotli.

• Simple Analytics — Pricing ↗

  From €20 a month for 100,000 pageviews; free plan; EU-hosted; no cookies. Script 3.3 KB with brotli.

• Matomo — Pricing ↗

  Cloud from €22 a month for 50,000 hits, data stored in Europe; on-premise version free. matomo.js 5.4.0: 66.3 KB raw, 18.7 KB with brotli.

• PostHog — Pricing ↗

  First 1 million events free every month; 97% of companies use PostHog for free. array.js 323.9 KB raw, 86.2 KB with brotli.

• Microsoft Clarity ↗

  Free forever, no limits on traffic; heatmaps and session recordings.