Google Analytics 4 is free, and for many sites it's enough. There are three reasons to look at alternatives: privacy, the weight of the script, and that you may only need to know how many people arrive and from where. This guide compares 18 tools by use, with prices, data locations and cookies as each vendor states them on 6 November 2026. There's no ranking: the right fit depends on what you want to measure.
Which tool to look at, depending on what you need
- Just visits and sources, with a simple dashboard: Cloudflare Web Analytics, Fathom, GoatCounter, Pirsch, Plausible, Simple Analytics, Statcounter or Umami.
- Replacing GA4 with full reporting: etracker, Matomo or Piwik PRO. Matomo can also run on your own server.
- Measuring use of a product or app: Amplitude, Heap, Mixpanel or PostHog.
- Seeing what people do on the page (heatmaps, recordings): Contentsquare, which includes Hotjar, or Microsoft Clarity.
- Joining data from several channels in a large company: Adobe Customer Journey Analytics.
Why to switch, and why not
GA4 has limits worth knowing before you decide. In standard properties, Google lets you keep user-level data for 2 or 14 months, and longer periods for event data are for the 360 version only. A standard property's BigQuery export stops at 1 million events a day. GA4 also uses first-party cookies to tell users and sessions apart, which leads to the legal question below.
There are reasons to stay. It's free, your team may already know it, and if your work depends on Google Ads, switching has a real cost. If only the interface bothers you, an alternative won't solve what you want to measure: start by defining which decisions you make with the data. The entries on web analytics and bounce rate explain the metrics, and the one on Google Analytics covers Google's tool.
Comparison of 18 tools
Prices, location and cookies come from each vendor's pages, retrieved on 6 November 2026, and may change. "Not stated" means we didn't find it on the pages we read. The last column is our own measurement, explained below. GA4 sits in the first row for reference.
| Tool | Entry price | Where data is stored | Cookies | On your server | Script (KB) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Analytics 4 | Free | Not stated | Yes, first-party | No | 163 to 200 |
| Cloudflare Web Analytics | Free | Not stated | No | Not stated | 10.3 |
| Fathom | $15/month, 100,000 pageviews | EU visitors' personal data in the EU; anonymous data in the US | No | Not stated | 2.1 |
| GoatCounter | Free, donation-supported | Not stated | No | Yes | 3.4 |
| Pirsch | $6/month, 10,000 pageviews | Germany | No | Enterprise plan | 3.6 |
| Plausible | $9/month, 10,000 pageviews | EU | No | Yes, Community Edition | 1.3 |
| Simple Analytics | Free with 1 month of history; €20/month, 100,000 pageviews | EU, mainly the Netherlands | No | Not stated | 4.9 |
| Statcounter | Basic plan free | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | 18.3 |
| Umami | Free, 100,000 events; $20/month, 1 million | Cloud in the US and EU | No | Yes | 4.1 |
| etracker | €10.80/month, 25,000 hits | Germany | Session tracking without cookies | Not stated | 33.5 |
| Matomo | Free download; cloud from 29 a month excluding tax | Cloud in Frankfurt; self-hosted wherever you choose | Yes, can be disabled | Yes | 67.0 |
| Piwik PRO | From €36/month | Public cloud in Sweden; selected data centre: Germany, Netherlands, US, Hong Kong or UAE | Anonymous tracking if declined, per the vendor | Not stated | Not measured |
| Amplitude | Free, 2 million events | EU data centre option | Not stated | Not stated | 35.7 |
| Heap | Free, 10,000 sessions | Region-specific storage on a higher plan, regions not named | Not stated | Not stated | Not measured |
| Mixpanel | Free, 1 million events | US; EU or India option | Not stated | Not stated | 35.5 |
| PostHog | Free, 1 million events | Frankfurt on PostHog Cloud EU | Depends on setup | Yes | 120.1 |
| Contentsquare (Hotjar) | Free, 200,000 sessions; paid from $49/month, $39 billed yearly | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not measured |
| Microsoft Clarity | Free | Azure; EU contract with Microsoft Ireland | Yes, first-party | Not stated | Not measured |
| Adobe CJA | No public price on the page we read | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not measured |
How we measured the script. On 6 November 2026 we downloaded each tool's main file with gzip compression and noted the bytes. For Matomo we used its demo's file. For GA4 we tested gtag.js from four unrelated sites, because its size varies by property. That server sent it uncompressed when asked for gzip alone (471 to 618 KB), so the table figure is the zstd download. Compressed by us with gzip it comes to almost the same, 164 to 200 KB. For Amplitude we measured browser SDK 2.11.1. It's a single download: some tools load more files later, and a small script tells you its weight, not how good the tool is. Clarity, Contentsquare, Heap and Piwik PRO load a per-account file, and we didn't measure those. We didn't measure Adobe CJA either.
The gap is wide: in this test the GA4 script weighed over 100 times as much as Plausible's. If speed on a small site is your priority, it's worth a look. We haven't measured how much that changes the real experience on your site.
What the law says, in summary
A summary of public sources as of 6 November 2026, not legal advice. It depends on your country, your setup and what you measure.
- Sending data to the US: on 10 July 2023 the European Commission adopted the adequacy decision on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which covers participating companies. Google LLC is listed there as active. The General Court dismissed a challenge to the decision on 3 September 2025, and an appeal to the Court of Justice followed on 31 October 2025 (C-703/25 P). We found no judgment on that appeal.
- Earlier decisions: according to noyb, publishing in January 2022, the Austrian authority found that using Google Analytics breached the Schrems II ruling. That decision predates the 2023 framework and doesn't answer the question today on its own.
- Spain: the AEPD's cookie guide (May 2024) notes that analytics cookies aren't exempt from informed consent, though it cites the Article 29 Working Party as saying they're unlikely to pose a risk if they're first-party, with aggregated data and a way to refuse. The guide also applies to similar technologies and fingerprinting.
- Germany: section 25 of the TDDDG requires consent to store or read information on a user's device, except what's strictly necessary for the requested service. The text refers to information on the device and isn't limited to cookies.
- France: the CNIL allows certain audience measurement without consent if it meets its conditions, such as producing only anonymous statistics for the site's publisher. That's French law and doesn't carry over automatically to Spain or Germany.
No cookies doesn't automatically mean no consent. Plausible, Fathom, Simple Analytics, Umami and etracker say no banner is needed, and those are their own claims. Matomo puts it this way in its help pages: it depends on the applicable law, on whether anything is stored or read on the device, and on the features you use. Before removing a banner, check with your privacy adviser. There's more in the entries on consent and the GDPR.
The tools by group
Simple analytics. Fathom, Pirsch, Plausible and Simple Analytics are paid services focused on visits, sources and goals. Plausible and Umami can run on your server, and so can GoatCounter, which is also free and donation-supported. Cloudflare Web Analytics is free and says it uses no client-side state, neither cookies nor localStorage. Statcounter has a free basic plan and a heavier script than the rest of this group.
Full replacements. Matomo is open source, with a cloud version hosted in Frankfurt and an importer for Google Analytics data. Piwik PRO targets regulated industries and combines analytics, a tag manager and a consent manager. etracker is German, stores data in Germany and says its session tracking uses no cookies.
Product analytics. Amplitude, Heap, Mixpanel and PostHog measure user events inside a product and have free plans. Heap now appears alongside Contentsquare's AI on its pricing page. PostHog can run on your server, and its docs warn that if you use it with cookies for logged-out people, you should show a banner. Mixpanel stores data in the US unless you choose another region, such as the EU, when creating the project.
Behaviour. Microsoft Clarity is free and offers recordings and heatmaps. Since 31 October 2025 it has required a valid consent signal for visits from the EEA, UK and Switzerland if you want all its features. Hotjar has been folded into Contentsquare, and its pricing address now leads there.
Large companies. Adobe Customer Journey Analytics joins data from several channels and shows no price on the page we read.
How to switch without losing data
- List what you use. Events, conversions, audiences and the reports you actually look at. What nobody looks at doesn't need migrating.
- Save what's in GA4. Export the reports you need and, if you need the detail, connect Google Analytics to BigQuery, within its daily limit. Check your property's retention period: the oldest data may already be gone.
- Check for an importer. Plausible imports from Google Analytics or CSV, Matomo has its own importer and Pirsch lists one in its standard plan. For the others, check before you sign up.
- Review consent for the new tool, as above.
- Measure with both for a few weeks. The figures won't match, because each tool counts differently and consent changes the sample. Look for a similar trend and don't expect the same number.
- Remove GA4 only when the new tool covers your decisions. If you'd rather not do it alone, there's our analytics service.
FAQ
What free alternatives to Google Analytics are there?
In our comparison, Cloudflare Web Analytics, GoatCounter, Microsoft Clarity and Statcounter's basic plan are free, with different limits. Amplitude, Heap, Mixpanel, PostHog, Simple Analytics, Umami and Contentsquare have free plans with limits. Matomo, Plausible Community Edition and Umami can be installed for free, but you pay for the server.
Is Google Analytics 4 legal in Europe?
There's no general yes or no. Transfers to the US currently rest on the 2023 adequacy decision, with an appeal lodged at the Court of Justice. In Spain and Germany you also have to settle consent. It depends on your setup, so ask your adviser.
Do cookieless tools need a banner?
Several vendors say no, and those are their claims. The rules look at whether information is stored or read on the device, and authorities don't treat exemptions alike. Check what the tool does in your setup and what your country's law says before removing it.
Which tool is the lightest?
In our 6 November 2026 measurement, Plausible weighed 1.3 KB and Fathom 2.1 KB, against 163 to 200 KB for gtag.js. We only measured the main file, and some tools couldn't be measured.
Can I move my Google Analytics data to another tool?
Partly. Plausible, Matomo and Pirsch offer imports, and it's worth checking which data comes across. Data GA4 has already deleted under its retention period can't be recovered.
Sources
Retrieved on 6 November 2026.
- Plausible, Community Edition, importing from Google Analytics
- Fathom: pricing, EU data
- Simple Analytics: pricing, what it collects
- Umami: pricing
- Pirsch: pricing, privacy
- GoatCounter
- Cloudflare Web Analytics
- Statcounter: pricing
- Matomo: pricing and location, cookieless, consent, importer
- Piwik PRO: pricing, hosting
- etracker: pricing, privacy (in German)
- Amplitude: pricing, Heap: pricing, Mixpanel: pricing, Mixpanel: EU data
- PostHog: pricing, self-hosting, GDPR
- Contentsquare: pricing
- Microsoft Clarity, Consent Mode, FAQ
- FoxMetrics: retirement notice
- Adobe Customer Journey Analytics
- Google: data retention, BigQuery export, GA4 cookies
- European Commission: EU-US data transfers
- Data Privacy Framework: Google LLC
- Official Journal of the EU: Case C-703/25 P, General Court: judgment in T-553/23
- noyb: Austrian decision, 13 January 2022
- AEPD: cookie guide, May 2024 (in Spanish)
- TDDDG, section 25 (in German)
- CNIL: audience measurement tools (in French)
How this article was made
The previous version promised 30 tools, listed 32 and described fewer, one of which had already been retired (FoxMetrics). This one was rewritten from scratch in November 2026 with AI assistance, based on the pages linked above, and reviewed before publication. We didn't test each tool in an account: the data is what each vendor publishes, except for script size, which we measured ourselves. We removed tools we couldn't document or that don't replace a web analytics tool.
