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Plausible vs Fathom: Which Premium Analytics Is Worth Your Money?

Read time: 6 min | Updated: January 2026

TL;DR: Plausible is cheaper, open source, and EU-based. Fathom has 6 years of track record and marginal feature advantages. For most: Plausible. For “I want the safe choice”: Fathom.

This is the premium comparison. No free tiers, no self-hosting discussion (not possible with Fathom anyway). Just: Which tool is worth your money?

I’ve tested both. Spoiler: The differences are smaller than you’d think.

Quick Overview

PlausibleFathom
Founded20192018
HQEstonia 🇪🇪Canada 🇨🇦
EU ServersFrankfurtFrankfurt
Open SourceYes (AGPL)No
Self-HostingPossibleNot possible
Script~1 KB~1 KB
Starting at€9/month$15/month

Pricing: Plausible Wins Across the Board

PageviewsPlausibleFathom
10K€9~€14
100K€19~€23
500K€39~€51
1M€69~€74

(Fathom in USD, roughly converted)

Same features, Plausible is 20-40% cheaper. That adds up over time.

The EU Factor

This gets interesting for European businesses.

Plausible:

  • Company based in Estonia (EU)
  • Servers in Germany
  • EU law applies completely

Fathom:

  • Company based in Canada
  • Frankfurt servers available
  • But: Canadian company

For many, this doesn’t matter. But if your procurement team or data protection officer demands “EU vendor”, the answer is clear.

And yes, I’ve had clients where exactly this was a blocker.

Open Source: More Than a Label

Plausible is open source (AGPL). Concretely, that means:

  • You can inspect the code
  • You can find bugs yourself (or trust community audits)
  • You can self-host if you want
  • You’re never locked in

Fathom is closed source. You have to trust the company does what they say.

For privacy software, I find open source important. But that’s personal preference.

Features: Practically Identical

Both have:

  • Pageviews, Visitors, Bounce Rate
  • Referrer + UTM Tracking
  • Geo data
  • Device/Browser Stats
  • Custom Events
  • Real-time Dashboard
  • Email Reports
  • API

Plausible extras:

  • Revenue Tracking
  • Funnel Tracking (beta)
  • Google Search Console Integration
  • Self-Hosting Option

Fathom extras:

  • Uptime Monitoring (nice, but do you need that from your analytics tool?)
  • Longer experience = more mature API

Honestly? For 90% of use cases, the feature set is identical.

Reliability

Fathom has been around since 2018. Over 6 years of uptime history. That’s a real argument.

Plausible is younger (2019), but I haven’t had any issues. Smaller team (~5 people), but focused.

If “battle-tested” matters to you: Fathom. If you don’t care: Plausible.

Dashboard & UX

Both are excellent. Single-page dashboards, fast, clean.

If I had to name a difference: Plausible feels minimally fresher. Fathom minimally more established. But that’s splitting hairs.

Try both. You’ll see which one fits better.

My Recommendation

For EU businesses: Plausible.

EU company, cheaper, open source. Easy decision.

For maximum safety: Fathom.

6 years track record, bigger team, more established. If “nobody ever got fired for…” is your mindset: Fathom.

For developers: Plausible.

Open source, self-hosting possible, cheaper. No-brainer.

For budget-conscious: Plausible.

20-40% cheaper with the same feature set.

What I Use

Plausible. The price, the open source aspect, and the EU headquarters convinced me.

Fathom isn’t bad. I just couldn’t find a reason to pay more for less transparency.

FAQ

Is Fathom GDPR-compliant?

Yes. No cookies, no personal data, EU servers available. The company just isn’t based in the EU.

Can I switch between them?

Not with historical data. You start at zero. The data structures aren’t compatible.

Which do ad blockers block?

Both can be blocked. Both offer custom domain solutions.

Which has better support?

Both respond quickly via email. Fathom has the bigger team.

Try Them

See also:

Last updated: January 2026

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