After the Italian rulings on Google Analytics, more and more clients ask for "something other than GA, ideally ours". Three serious options: Plausible, Umami, Pirsch.
Plausible
Open source, written in Elixir. Cookieless, GDPR-compliant by default. Docker Compose self-hosting is well documented. Missing some advanced features (deep funnels, deep custom dimensions) but covers 90% of cases. Hosted: $9/mo for 10k pageviews.
Umami
Node.js + Postgres. Dashboard similar to Plausible, more "tech" feel. Great for those already running Postgres and a small VPS. Hosted: $9/mo for 100k events. Self-hosted: runs on 256 MB RAM.
Pirsch
German, written in Go. Clean dashboard, privacy- and GDPR-focused. Hosted-only with an official "EU data residency" option. Cost: $9/mo for 10k pageviews.
Real self-hosting
For a client with 80k pageviews/month we run Umami on a Hetzner CX21 (€4/mo) with shared Postgres. Setup: 30 minutes via Docker Compose. Maintenance: 1 hour every 6 months (image update + backup check).
Which we pick
| Case | Pick |
|---|---|
| Client wants zero ops | Plausible Cloud |
| Client with Postgres already, self-host | Umami |
| Client with strict EU compliance, hosted | Pirsch |
| Enterprise with complex event tracking | Matomo (more powerful, more complex) |
What they DON'T give
Complex multi-step conversion funnels, fine-grained segments, deep ad platform integrations: those need GA4 (with consent mode). Most of our clients don't need them — we overrate GA's value for actual SME marketing.