The privacy analytics space has grown significantly since GDPR created demand for GA4 alternatives. Four tools dominate the conversation: Plausible Analytics, Fathom Analytics, Simple Analytics, and Active Analytics.
All four are GDPR-compliant. All four avoid cookies. All four aim at simplicity rather than the data-warehouse complexity of GA4. But they are built on fundamentally different models, and the differences matter depending on your situation.
This comparison covers all four tools honestly, with specific attention to what makes each one the right choice for a particular type of site owner.
The Core Difference: SaaS vs Self-Contained
Before the feature-by-feature breakdown, one distinction separates Active Analytics from the other three:
Plausible, Fathom, and Simple Analytics are SaaS products. Your data lives on their servers. You pay a monthly subscription. You access your analytics through their web interface. The analytics script on your site sends data to their infrastructure.
Active Analytics is a self-contained WordPress plugin. Your data lives in your own WordPress database, on your own server. You access analytics through your WordPress admin. The tracking script makes no external requests. There is no ongoing subscription from a third party (you pay getbutterfly.com directly for the plugin, but that’s a licence fee, not data hosting).
This is not just a pricing model distinction — it affects privacy, performance, data ownership, and what happens if the vendor closes down or changes their terms.
Quick Comparison Overview
| Active Analytics | Plausible | Fathom | Simple Analytics | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | WordPress plugin | SaaS | SaaS | SaaS |
| Data location | Your own server/DB | Plausible’s servers | Fathom’s servers | Simple Analytics’ servers |
| WordPress integration | Native (inside WP admin) | Via plugin, external UI | Via plugin, external UI | Via plugin, external UI |
| Cookieless | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| GDPR compliant | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cookie banner needed | No | No | No | No |
| Real-time tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Event tracking | Yes (custom JS) | Yes | Yes | Yes (limited) |
| Email reports | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Content/page reports | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Referrer tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Device breakdown | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Heatmaps | No | No | No | No |
| WooCommerce compatibility | Yes | Partial | Partial | Partial |
| Works offline/air-gapped | Yes | No | No | No |
| Entry price | €29/year | ~€9/month (~€108/yr) | ~€14/month (~€168/yr) | ~€9/month (~€108/yr) |
| Lifetime purchase | €116 (Regular) | No | Yes (~$165) | No |
| Data portability | Full (your own DB) | CSV export | CSV export | CSV export |
Active Analytics
Who It’s Built For
Active Analytics is built specifically for WordPress site owners who want their analytics inside WordPress — not as a separate service they have to log into. If your workflow revolves around the WordPress admin dashboard, having analytics there too is a genuine ergonomic advantage.
Strengths
True data ownership. Your analytics data sits in your own wp_wpaa_visits database table. Nobody else has access to it. There is no SaaS vendor who could change their privacy policy, be acquired, or cease operations in a way that affects your data. If you cancel your licence, your historical data stays on your server.
Zero external requests. The tracking script sends data to your own server, not to a third-party endpoint. This means ad-blockers that target known analytics domains cannot block it, and there is no latency from a cross-origin request.
Inside WordPress. Real-time dashboard, traffic overview, content report, referrers, device breakdown — all accessible without leaving WordPress admin. For teams that spend their days in WordPress, this removes a friction point.
One-time purchase option. A lifetime Regular licence is €116 — a genuine one-time cost, not a subscription. For a plugin used daily, this represents strong long-term value.
Event tracking via wpaa(). Custom events (button clicks, form submissions, downloads) can be tracked using a lightweight JavaScript function, with data stored locally alongside page view data.
Trade-offs
No standalone interface. If you need to share analytics access with someone who doesn’t have a WordPress account, that requires creating a WordPress user. There is no shareable dashboard link or read-only external view.
WordPress-only. If you run multiple sites on different platforms, you’d need a separate installation per WordPress site. The other three tools can cover any website, regardless of CMS.
Smaller ecosystem. Plausible and Fathom have larger communities, more third-party integrations, and more documentation from independent users.
Plausible Analytics
Who It’s Built For
Plausible is aimed at a broad audience of privacy-conscious site owners across any CMS. It is the most polished SaaS option in this comparison, with a strong reputation for design and developer experience.
Strengths
Clean, purpose-built UI. Plausible’s dashboard is widely regarded as one of the best-designed analytics interfaces available — minimal, fast, and easy to read. The shareable public dashboard is a standout feature for agencies or publishers who want to display traffic publicly.
Multi-site from one account. One Plausible subscription covers multiple sites, with a combined pageview limit. For developers or agencies managing several sites, this is more economical than per-site licensing.
Goals and funnels. Plausible’s goals and funnel feature allows you to track conversion paths without cookies, which is a meaningful capability Active Analytics does not have.
Active open-source community. Plausible is open source (AGPL licence), which means it can also be self-hosted for free if you have the infrastructure. This is a niche but real option.
Trade-offs
Monthly subscription. At ~€9/month (pricing varies), Plausible costs roughly €108/year. For a single personal site, that is about 3.7× the cost of Active Analytics per year (or roughly the same as the Active Analytics lifetime purchase within 13 months).
Data on their servers. Your analytics data lives in Plausible’s infrastructure in the EU (hosted on Hetzner, Germany). While Plausible has a strong privacy reputation, it is still a third-party data processor that requires a Data Processing Agreement.
External interface. No WordPress admin integration by default. The plugin adds a widget, but the full dashboard is external.
Fathom Analytics
Who It’s Built For
Fathom positions itself at the premium end of the privacy analytics market, with strong compliance credentials — particularly around US state privacy laws (CCPA, VCDPA, etc.) and an emphasis on legal defensibility.
Strengths
EU isolation. Fathom routes EU visitor data through EU infrastructure, which simplifies GDPR compliance for organisations with strict data residency requirements.
Strongest privacy positioning. Fathom has published detailed documentation on their compliance approach, conducted third-party audits, and has a reputation for being the tool that legal and compliance teams are most comfortable recommending.
Excellent uptime and performance. Fathom has a strong track record for reliability and fast script loading.
Lifetime purchase. Fathom offers a lifetime plan option (~$165 at time of writing), which makes its long-term cost more competitive.
Trade-offs
Most expensive entry point. At ~€14/month (~€168/year), Fathom is the priciest option in this comparison.
Fewer features relative to price. Compared to Plausible at a lower price point, Fathom offers a narrower feature set. The premium is largely for compliance positioning and infrastructure, not analytics capability.
Same SaaS model caveats apply as with Plausible: data on third-party servers, external interface, DPA required.
Simple Analytics
Who It’s Built For
Simple Analytics targets non-technical users who want the absolute minimum analytics setup: install script, see traffic. It is deliberately more limited than the other options.
Strengths
Easiest setup of any tool in this comparison. One script tag, done.
Importable GA data. Simple Analytics can import historical GA Universal Analytics data, which was useful during the GA4 migration.
Tweet and AI-powered data querying. Simple Analytics has some novel features around querying your data using natural language, which is genuinely different from the other tools.
Trade-offs
No real-time tracking. Data appears with a delay, not live.
Fewest features. Fewer built-in reports, less configurability, and a more limited event system compared to the other three.
Monthly subscription only. No lifetime option.
Which Should You Choose?
Choose Active Analytics if:
- You run one or more WordPress sites
- You want analytics inside WordPress admin, not in a separate tab
- True data ownership (your own server) is a priority
- You prefer a one-time purchase to a recurring subscription
- Your analytics needs are: traffic, referrers, content performance, real-time, events
Choose Plausible if:
- You run sites on multiple platforms (not just WordPress)
- You want a polished shared dashboard to show clients or make public
- You need conversion funnels or goal tracking
- You manage multiple sites under one subscription
Choose Fathom if:
- Legal and compliance positioning is the top priority
- You need to satisfy a legal or compliance team’s requirements
- EU data residency documentation matters for your organisation
Choose Simple Analytics if:
- You want the absolute minimum setup with zero configuration
- You are comfortable with less data and fewer reports
- Natural-language data querying appeals to you
The Bottom Line
All four tools are legitimate, privacy-respecting GA4 alternatives. The choice is less about which is “best” and more about what model fits your situation.
For WordPress site owners who want their data on their own server, their analytics in their WordPress admin, and no recurring third-party subscription fee, Active Analytics is the only tool in this comparison that delivers all three.
See Active Analytics in action: Full plugin overview and pricing →
For a detailed comparison with Matomo specifically, see: Active Analytics vs Matomo →
