Plausible vs Fathom for a small business website
Both are simple, cookie-less website analytics an owner can read in a minute. Here is where they differ on price and features, and what neither tells you.
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The short version
The short version- Both are simple, cookie-less website analytics you can read in a minute. For most small businesses either one is a sound choice
- Plausible is cheaper for a single small site, is open source, and has a basic funnel report on its Business plan
- Fathom includes far more traffic and at least 50 sites at its entry price, and has no funnel report
- Both show where visitors came from, including your own UTM tags, which is most of what "did that marketing work" needs
- Neither one tells you which piece of marketing to try next. That decision is still yours, so set the tool up around it
Plausible and Fathom are both simple, cookie-less website analytics, and either is a good fit for a small business that wants an honest visitor count without learning Google Analytics. The real differences are price at your traffic level, how many sites you run, and whether you want a basic funnel report.
This guide follows one example business through the choice: a two-person garden design studio with a portfolio site and an enquiry form. This spring they sent a monthly newsletter, posted on Instagram, joined a local trade directory and gave a talk at a garden show. What they want from analytics is one plain answer: which of those brought enquiries?
What both tools do well
Most of the decision is the ground they share, so start there.
One page, no report builder.
Both put the numbers you actually check on one screen: visitors, top pages, where people came from, and the goals you set up. Nobody on the team needs training to read it.
Cookie-less by design.
Both count visits without setting cookies. That is a description of how they work, not a legal promise, so if you have questions about consent where you trade, ask whoever advises you on that.
They show your campaigns.
Both read UTM tags, the small labels you add to a link (such as utm_source=newsletter) so a visit can be traced to the thing that sent it. For the garden studio, tagging the newsletter link, the directory listing and the link in the talk's slides is what turns "traffic went up in May" into "the directory sent 11 visits and two enquiries". Those numbers are illustrative; yours will be your own.
Goals for the moments that matter.
Both let you count a goal, such as the enquiry form being sent. Someone comfortable editing the website can set it up in an afternoon. If that is not you, ask whoever looks after the site to "add a goal for the enquiry form's thank-you page".
Where Plausible is the better fit
A single small site costs less.
Plausible's Starter plan is $9 a month for up to 10,000 monthly pageviews and one site. Most small business sites sit comfortably inside that.
It has a basic funnel report.
On the Business plan, Plausible can show a funnel of two to eight steps built from pageviews and goals, with the drop-off at each step. For the garden studio that could be the portfolio page, then the services page, then the enquiry form, then the thank-you page. It shows totals, not individual visitors' paths.
It is open source.
Plausible publishes its code, and a free Community Edition can be run on your own server. That is worth knowing, but self-hosting means someone maintains the server, the updates and the backups. For a small team without a technical person, the hosted plan is the realistic choice.
Where Fathom is the better fit
More traffic included at the entry price.
Fathom starts at $15 a month for up to 100,000 monthly pageviews. If a blog post or a press mention sometimes sends you a busy month, that headroom matters.
Many sites on one account.
Every Fathom plan includes at least 50 sites. If you run separate sites for different locations, a sister business or a few clients, that is a real saving.
History kept while you subscribe.
Fathom keeps your full history for as long as you are a customer, so this spring's campaigns can be compared with next spring's.
No funnel report.
Fathom counts goals, but its features page describes no funnel or sequence of steps. If seeing where people stop on the way to the enquiry form matters to you, that is a gap.
Prices, checked on 17 October 2026
Both charge by monthly pageviews, not per person, so adding a colleague does not change the bill.
| Plausible | Fathom | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $9 a month (Starter, 10,000 pageviews, one site) | $15 a month (100,000 pageviews) |
| Sites | 1 on Starter, up to 3 on Growth, up to 10 on Business | At least 50 on every plan |
| Funnel report | Business plan ($19 a month at the entry traffic level) | Not offered |
| Trial | 30 days, no card | 7 days, card required |
| Free plan | No | No |
Prices change, so treat this table as a snapshot and check Plausible's pricing and Fathom's pricing before you buy.
How to choose
- Plausible
- You run one small site and want the lowest price, or a basic funnel from page to enquiry would be useful
- Fathom
- You run several sites, or your traffic regularly goes well past 10,000 pageviews a month
- Either
- You just want an honest, simple count of visitors and where they came from
What neither tool answers
Both tools tell you what happened. Neither tells you what to do about it, and that is the part where small teams usually get stuck.
The garden studio can read that the directory listing sent enquiries and Instagram mostly sent browsers. The next question is a marketing one: do they put more into directories, try a second one, or try something new altogether, like a talk at another show? Analytics cannot make that call. It can only make it a better-informed one.
So set up whichever tool you choose around the decision, not around the dashboard:
- Tag every link you control with UTM tags, so each piece of marketing has its own name in the report
- Count one goal that means a real lead: the enquiry, the booking, the sign-up
- Look once a month, write down what each piece of marketing brought in, and pick one thing to do more of and one new thing to try
If you want to go further than "how many came from where", reading where visitors drop off shows how to find the step people stop at, and working out a conversion rate covers the arithmetic.
Frequently asked questions
Is Plausible or Fathom better for a small business?
For one small website, Plausible is cheaper at $9 a month and adds a basic funnel report on its Business plan. For several sites or busier traffic, Fathom's $15 entry plan includes 100,000 pageviews and at least 50 sites. Both are simple enough for a non-technical owner to read.
Does Plausible have funnels?
Yes, on the Business plan. A funnel has two to eight steps built from pageviews and goals, and shows how many people drop off between steps. It reports totals rather than individual visitors' paths, which is enough to find the step where most people stop.
Does Fathom have funnels?
No. Fathom counts goals, such as a form being sent, but its features page describes no funnel or sequence of steps. If you need to see where people stop on the way to an enquiry, you would need another tool alongside it.
Do Plausible and Fathom track UTM campaigns?
Yes. Both read UTM tags on your links and show them in the dashboard, so a newsletter, a directory listing or a social post can each be counted separately. Tag the links you control and both tools will keep them apart for you.
Do I need a consent banner with Plausible or Fathom?
Both are cookie-less, which is a description of how they count visits. Whether you need a banner depends on where you trade and what else your site runs, so take advice on your own situation rather than relying on a vendor's or a blog's general claim.
The honest answer
Pick Plausible for one small site and a lower bill, Fathom for several sites or a busier one. Either will tell the garden studio which marketing sent enquiries, as long as the links are tagged and the enquiry is counted. What it will not do is decide what to try next, and a monthly habit of reading the numbers and picking one next step is worth more than the choice between two good tools.
That decision is where Mole Marketer's weekly initiative pitches come in: each one explains why a channel fits your business, and the included analytics feeds what happened back into the next pitch.
Written by Oli
Founder of Mole Marketer. Writes about running marketing as a steady weekly process with a small team, and checks every third-party price against its own page before publishing.
