Google Analytics alternatives.
Google Analytics 4 is free, but a lot of small site owners open it, cannot find their answer, and close it. These are the tools people switch to. They run from free and instant to paid and detailed, and each one says who should skip it. Moxel is on the list, and it is not the right pick for everyone.
10 tools, each checked against its own site in October 2026.
SHORT ANSWER
Pick by what you need.
- Simplest
- Plausible, Fathom, Simple Analytics and Cloudflare Web Analytics each show their numbers on one page.
- Lightweight, no cookies
- Cloudflare Web Analytics, Plausible, Fathom Analytics, Simple Analytics, Umami and Moxel set no cookies at all.
- Self-hosted
- Plausible, Umami, Matomo and PostHog are open source and free to run on your own server.
- Free
- Cloudflare Web Analytics, Simple Analytics, Umami, Matomo, Microsoft Clarity and PostHog have a free way in, as a plan, an allowance or a self-hosted copy.
- Forms and checkout
- Moxel shows which field people stop on and what to change. Matomo does field-level forms as a paid add-on.
Looking for an alternative to the product called Simple Analytics, or one tool against another? Moxel vs Simple Analytics · Google Analytics vs Plausible · Plausible vs Fathom
HOW WE CHOSE
What counted.
- Each tool has to work on a small site or a single store, with no analytics team.
- We read each tool's own site and docs in October 2026. Where a page did not say something, we left it out.
- We do not quote prices. They change. Each entry says free, paid or free to self-host, and links to the tool's own page.
- We list the tools by who they suit, simplest first. The order is not a ranking.
- Moxel's maker wrote this page. We say so, and we say where Moxel is the wrong choice.
THE LIST
Who each one suits.
01Shopify's built-in analytics
BEST FORA Shopify store owner who wants sales and traffic numbers with nothing to install.
It is already in your admin. Shopify says its main analytics features are available on any Shopify plan. It shows traffic, a conversion rate report and a Live View of visitors. It only covers your own store.
- Price
- Included with your Shopify plan
- Cookies
- Yes
- Open source
- No
- Host it yourself
- No
- Forms
- Not its job. It reports traffic and orders, not forms.
Skip it if you run a site that is not on Shopify, or you want to know which form field people stop on.
02Cloudflare Web Analytics
BEST FORAnyone who wants free, cookieless page counts and does not need more.
Cloudflare says it is free and that it uses no cookies or localStorage to collect metrics. You can add one line of JavaScript, and you do not have to move your DNS or use Cloudflare's proxy. It shows top pages, view counts and referrers.
- Price
- Free
- Cookies
- None
- Open source
- No
- Host it yourself
- No
- Forms
- None. It counts page views, not forms.
Skip it if you want goals, funnels or form tracking. Its docs describe none of them.
03Plausible
BEST FORA site owner who wants one clean traffic page, hosted in the EU.
Plausible sets no cookies, is open source, and says it is built and hosted in the EU. A 30-day free trial needs no card. It can detect form submissions and count them as one goal. The self-hosted Community Edition is free.
- Price
- Paid, free to self-host
- Cookies
- None
- Open source
- Yes
- Host it yourself
- Yes
- Forms
- Counted as a goal when a form is sent
Skip it if you want funnels on the cheapest plan. Plausible keeps funnel analysis for its Business plan.
04Fathom Analytics
BEST FORA site owner with several sites who wants simple, cookieless traffic numbers.
Fathom sets no cookies and routes EU visitors through EU infrastructure by default. Every plan comes with a 7-day free trial and covers at least 50 sites. It shows countries, regions and cities, and it counts events you add.
- Price
- Paid
- Cookies
- None
- Open source
- No
- Host it yourself
- No
- Forms
- Counted as an event when a form is sent, after you add a line of code
Skip it if you want a free plan, to host it yourself, or open source code. Fathom has no free plan, and its hosted product is closed source.
05Simple Analytics
BEST FORA hobby site that wants a free plan, or a small business that wants an EU-hosted tool.
Simple Analytics works without analytics cookies, and it has a free plan for hobby sites with a badge and one month of history. It describes itself as EU-owned and EU-hosted. It can turn events into goals with funnel steps.
- Price
- Free plan, paid plans
- Cookies
- None
- Open source
- No
- Host it yourself
- No
- Forms
- Through events you add yourself
Skip it if you need long history on the free plan, or open source code for the product itself.
06Umami
BEST FORSomeone comfortable running a server who wants open source and no bill.
Umami is open source, works without cookies, and you can self-host it for free. Its hosted Cloud has a free Hobby plan. Funnels are in the feature table on the free Hobby plan too, and it tracks form submissions as events.
- Price
- Free to self-host, free and paid hosted plans
- Cookies
- None
- Open source
- Yes
- Host it yourself
- Yes
- Forms
- Through events you send yourself
Skip it if you do not want to look after a server and the free hosted plan is too small.
07Matomo
BEST FORA team that wants a full toolkit with heatmaps and recordings, on its own server.
Matomo is open source and free to self-host, with a paid Cloud that has a 21-day trial. It has heatmaps, session recordings, funnels and form analytics. Form analytics, heatmaps and recordings are premium features, not part of the free self-hosted Community plan.
- Price
- Free to self-host, paid Cloud and premium features
- Cookies
- Optional
- Open source
- Yes
- Host it yourself
- Yes
- Forms
- Field-level form analytics, as a paid feature
Skip it if you want a short setup. Matomo uses first-party cookies by default, and you have to configure it for consent-free use.
08Moxel
BEST FOROne person running a site or store who wants to know which form field or checkout step loses people, and what to change.
Moxel shows which field people stop on, how long each field takes and which ones show an error. It never records what anyone types. It sets no cookies. Each finding names the element on your page and the fix, ranked by effort against likely return.
- Price
- Paid, after a 30-day free trial with no card
- Cookies
- None
- Open source
- No
- Host it yourself
- No
- Forms
- Every field: where people stop, how long each takes, which ones show an error
Skip it if you want a free plan after the trial, visitor locations, session recordings or heatmaps. Moxel has none of them.
09Microsoft Clarity
BEST FORAnyone with the time to watch recordings and a budget of zero.
Microsoft says Clarity is free forever. It gives you session recordings, heatmaps and funnels. You can watch a single visitor struggle with a form, which no count can replace.
- Price
- Free
- Cookies
- Yes
- Open source
- No
- Host it yourself
- No
- Forms
- Seen in recordings, one visitor at a time
Skip it if you do not want cookies, or you do not want to watch hours of recordings. Clarity uses a first-party cookie, and in regions that require consent, without it sessions are fragmented.
10PostHog
BEST FORA product team that wants analytics, replay and feature flags in one place.
PostHog is open source apart from its ee directory, and it has a monthly free tier for each product. It does far more than traffic: replay, flags, errors and funnels. It stores a first-party cookie by default and has a cookieless mode you turn on.
- Price
- Free allowance, then paid by use. Free to self-host
- Cookies
- Optional
- Open source
- Yes
- Host it yourself
- Yes
- Forms
- Clicks and submits are captured. The form report is yours to build.
Skip it if you are one person who wants an answer, not a workspace to set up.
SIDE BY SIDE
All of them at once.
| Tool | Price | Cookies | Open source | Host it yourself | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify's built-in analytics | Price: Included with your Shopify plan | Cookies: Yes | Open source: No | Host it yourself: No | A Shopify store owner who wants sales and traffic numbers with nothing to install. |
| Cloudflare Web Analytics | Price: Free | Cookies: None | Open source: No | Host it yourself: No | Anyone who wants free, cookieless page counts and does not need more. |
| Plausible | Price: Paid, free to self-host | Cookies: None | Open source: Yes | Host it yourself: Yes | A site owner who wants one clean traffic page, hosted in the EU. |
| Fathom Analytics | Price: Paid | Cookies: None | Open source: No | Host it yourself: No | A site owner with several sites who wants simple, cookieless traffic numbers. |
| Simple Analytics | Price: Free plan, paid plans | Cookies: None | Open source: No | Host it yourself: No | A hobby site that wants a free plan, or a small business that wants an EU-hosted tool. |
| Umami | Price: Free to self-host, free and paid hosted plans | Cookies: None | Open source: Yes | Host it yourself: Yes | Someone comfortable running a server who wants open source and no bill. |
| Matomo | Price: Free to self-host, paid Cloud and premium features | Cookies: Optional | Open source: Yes | Host it yourself: Yes | A team that wants a full toolkit with heatmaps and recordings, on its own server. |
| Moxel | Price: Paid, after a 30-day free trial with no card | Cookies: None | Open source: No | Host it yourself: No | One person running a site or store who wants to know which form field or checkout step loses people, and what to change. |
| Microsoft Clarity | Price: Free | Cookies: Yes | Open source: No | Host it yourself: No | Anyone with the time to watch recordings and a budget of zero. |
| PostHog | Price: Free allowance, then paid by use. Free to self-host | Cookies: Optional | Open source: Yes | Host it yourself: Yes | A product team that wants analytics, replay and feature flags in one place. |
No prices for other tools on purpose. They change, and a stale number is a wrong one. Each tool's own site has today's.
Work at one of these companies and see something wrong or out of date here? Email moxelmail@gmail.com and we will fix it. Every page that mentions you updates at once.
QUESTIONS
Asked a lot.
- Which Google Analytics alternatives can I self-host?
- Umami, Plausible (its Community Edition), Matomo and PostHog are open source and free to run on your own server. You pay for the server and you look after updates. Cloudflare Web Analytics, Fathom, Simple Analytics, Clarity and Moxel are hosted only.
- What is the best Google Analytics alternative for a small business?
- It depends on what you need to know. If you want visitor counts and sources on one page, Plausible, Fathom or Simple Analytics do that. If you want free, Cloudflare Web Analytics, Umami or Clarity cost nothing to start. If your question is why people leave a form or a checkout, that is the job Moxel is built for. There is no single best one.
- What is a simpler, more user friendly analytics tool than Google Analytics?
- Plausible, Fathom, Simple Analytics and Cloudflare Web Analytics all show their numbers on one page. Plausible says Google Analytics is overkill for most site owners, and Simple Analytics sells a one-page dashboard with no configuration. You give up custom reports and the link to Google Ads. Moxel goes a step further and writes a plain sentence next to every number, then lists what to change.
- What is the cheapest privacy friendly website analytics?
- Free: Cloudflare Web Analytics sets no cookies, and Simple Analytics has a free plan for hobby sites. Umami has a free hosted Hobby plan, and you can self-host Umami, Plausible or Matomo for the cost of a server. Among paid tools, check each one's own pricing page, because the numbers change.
- Which analytics tools are cookieless?
- Cloudflare Web Analytics, Plausible, Fathom, Simple Analytics, Umami and Moxel all say they set no cookies. Matomo and PostHog can run without cookies if you configure them. Clarity and Shopify's analytics set cookies.
- What are the free analytics tools for a Shopify store?
- Shopify's own analytics is included with your plan. Microsoft Clarity is free and has an e-commerce view. Cloudflare Web Analytics is free and adds privacy-friendly page counts. Moxel has a 30-day free trial with a Shopify install, and it is paid after that.
KEEP READING
One tool at a time.
Each comparison page says where the other tool is the better pick. They are all on the compare page. The other lists: Hotjar alternatives, Form analytics tools. Why people leave forms and checkouts, with sources, is in the field guide.