Google Analytics alternatives
There are four kinds of Google Analytics alternative: simple privacy-first tools, open-source tools you host yourself, product analytics for apps, and the basic stats built into your web host. The right one depends on what you need to know, not on which has the most features.
1. Simple, privacy-first analytics
One page with the numbers that matter: visitors, sources, top pages, goals. Most use no cookies, so they don't need a consent banner for analytics in most places. Examples include Seebly, Plausible, Fathom and Simple Analytics. Paid plans typically start at a few dollars to around $15 a month.
Good for: founders, creators, small businesses and marketing sites. Gives up: Google Ads audiences, demographics and very detailed custom reports.
2. Open-source, self-hosted
Tools such as Matomo and Umami that you can run on your own server, so the data never leaves it. Free to use, but you maintain the server, updates and backups yourself (most also sell a hosted version).
Good for: teams with strict data rules and someone technical to run it. Gives up: your time.
3. Product analytics
Tools such as PostHog and Mixpanel follow what signed-in users do inside an app: features used, retention, detailed funnels. Powerful, but they usually identify users, which means more setup and consent questions.
Good for: software products with logged-in users. Overkill for: a marketing site or blog.
4. Your host's built-in stats
Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare and others show basic visitor counts for sites they host. Free and zero setup, but usually thin: limited history, few sources, no goals or search data.
How to choose
- Do you need a cookie banner today only because of Google Analytics? A cookie-free tool can let you remove it (see Do you need a cookie banner for analytics?).
- Do your visitors come from AI assistants? Check that ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity appear as sources of their own, not lumped into "referrals".
- Do you want search data? Some tools show Google Search Console; few show Bing as well.
- Will you actually read the reports? If not, pick a tool that tells you what changed in plain English.
Where Seebly fits
Seebly is in the first group, built for people who'd rather be told than dig: real people only (with the bots it removed shown, not hidden), AI assistants as a source, Google and Bing searches, funnels, and a plain-English summary of what changed and what to do next. No cookies, free for one site, then $5 a month. Moving from Google Analytics? See the step-by-step guide.
Last updated 1 November 2026. More guides: Do you need a cookie banner for analytics? · What is a good bounce rate? · Google Search Console in your analytics · Moving off Google Analytics · All guides