Fathom is a simple, privacy-first analytics tool with a clean dashboard. Datasense is just as simple, but it has a free plan, costs less for the same traffic, and shows JavaScript errors and revenue too.
Free up to 10k pageviews a month. No card.
Both are easy to use. Fathom is cookieless out of the box, while Datasense uses cookies by default and can switch to cookieless with one setting. Fathom lets you track 50 sites on its base plan, which is great for agencies. Datasense is cheaper for 100k pageviews and covers errors, revenue and AI crawlers in one place.
Side by side, on the things people ask about most. Checked against Fathom's own site in October 2026.
| Feature | Datasense | Fathom |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 10k pageviews a month, 1 site | 7-day trial, card required |
| Paid plans from | $9/month for 100k pageviews | $15/month for 100k pageviews |
| No cookie banner needed | Cookies by default; switch any site to cookieless | No cookies |
| Realtime visitors | Updates every second | Current visitors |
| JavaScript error tracking | Last 100 errors per site, with stack and browser | Not offered |
| Revenue by traffic source | Stripe, Dodo Payments or any provider | Event values for conversions |
| Goals and custom events | One line of code or a data attribute | Events and conversions |
| Proxy to get past ad blockers | Recipes for Next.js, Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare, Nginx | Not clearly documented |
| AI crawler and bot tracking | See which AI crawlers read your pages | Filtered, not reported |
| Visitor profiles and journeys | Each visitor's pages, visit by visit | Doesn't track individual visitors |
| Raw data export | CSV and JSON, any date range | CSV and API |
| Script size | Under 3 KB | About 2 KB |
| Open source / self-host |
Fathom starts at $15 a month for 100k pageviews, and there's no free plan. Datasense is free up to 10k pageviews, and $9 a month for 100k. If you have a small site, you may never need to pay for Datasense at all.
Fathom focuses on traffic and conversions. Datasense also shows JavaScript errors from real browsers, revenue by traffic source, AI crawler visits and the path each visitor took through your site.
Datasense has step-by-step proxy recipes for Next.js, Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare and Nginx, so the script loads from your own domain. Blockers like uBlock Origin and Brave then let it through.
Fathom has a 7-day trial that needs a card, then $15 a month for 100k pageviews and 50 sites. Datasense has a free plan with 10k pageviews, then $9 a month for 100k pageviews and 10 sites, or $29 a month for 1M pageviews and unlimited sites.
It takes about five minutes, and you don't have to turn anything off on day one.
Create a free account and paste one script tag into your site's <head>. Leave Fathom where it is for now.
Compare visitors, top pages and sources. Datasense often shows more visitors once the proxy is on, because ad blockers stop blocking it.
When you're happy, delete the Fathom snippet. Export your old data from Fathom first if you want to keep it.
Or see all web analytics tools on one page.
Add one script tag, compare the numbers, then keep the one you like. The free plan is enough to test it.
Add your siteFathom is a trademark of its owner. Facts checked October 2026; if something changed, tell us at [email protected].