Plausible is a simple, cookieless Google Analytics alternative, and it's a good one. Datasense shares the idea of one clean page. It uses cookies by default to spot returning visitors, and one setting makes it cookieless like Plausible. It also adds a free plan, JavaScript error tracking, AI crawler stats and visitor journeys.
Free up to 10k pageviews a month. No card.
Plausible is mature, open source and can be self-hosted. Datasense gives you more for the money: a free plan, 100k pageviews for $9, and errors, bots and revenue in the same dashboard.
Side by side, on the things people ask about most. Checked against Plausible's own site in October 2026.
| Feature | Datasense | Plausible |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 10k pageviews a month, 1 site | 30-day free trial |
| Paid plans from | $9/month for 100k pageviews | $9/month for 10k pageviews |
| No cookie banner needed | Cookies by default; switch any site to cookieless | No cookies |
| Realtime visitors | Updates every second | Refreshes about every 30 seconds |
| JavaScript error tracking | Last 100 errors per site, with stack and browser | Not offered |
| Revenue by traffic source | Stripe, Dodo Payments or any provider | Revenue goals on the Business plan |
| Goals and custom events | One line of code or a data attribute | Goals and custom events |
| Proxy to get past ad blockers | Recipes for Next.js, Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare, Nginx | Documented guides |
| AI crawler and bot tracking | See which AI crawlers read your pages | 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 Stats API |
| Script size | Under 3 KB | Under 3 KB |
| Open source / self-host | Self-hostable Community Edition |
Plausible sets no cookies and doesn't need a cookie banner. Datasense uses cookies by default, which usually means a banner in the EU and UK, but you can switch any site to cookieless mode and skip it. Plausible stops at totals by design. Datasense also lets you open one visitor and see the pages they read, visit by visit, without storing raw IP addresses.
Datasense shows the last 100 JavaScript errors on your site, with the page and browser. It can also show which AI crawlers read your pages. Plausible doesn't do either, so you'd need extra tools.
In Plausible, revenue goals are part of the Business plan. In Datasense, revenue tracking works with Stripe, Dodo Payments or any provider, and payments are tied to the visit that brought the buyer.
Plausible has no free cloud plan. It starts at $9 a month for 10k pageviews after a 30-day trial. Datasense is free up to 10k pageviews a month, and $9 a month covers 100k pageviews on up to 10 sites. Plausible's self-hosted Community Edition is free if you run your own server.
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 Plausible 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 Plausible snippet. Export your old data from Plausible 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 sitePlausible is a trademark of its owner. Facts checked October 2026; if something changed, tell us at [email protected].