Plausible is the closest thing to a direct peer we have, and most of what you would want us to attack them for is simply true of them. Their own comparison page says:
Plausible collects no personal data and requires no consent banner.
and
Plausible processes all visitor data on servers owned and operated by European providers. Your data never leaves the EU.
They are also open source, which we are not. Their code is on GitHub and anyone can audit how the data is handled. If that matters to you, it is a real advantage and no amount of copywriting from us changes it.
So this page is about one difference.
Plausible tells you to go and buy a recorder
Not a paraphrase. From their own page, in the paragraph about who should not choose them:
If you need session replay, user-level product analytics, retargeting or free hosted analytics, read this before you decide.
That is an honest product decision on their part. Replay is heavy, it carries privacy risk, and keeping it out keeps their script tiny and their story simple. The cost lands on you: if you ever need to see what a visitor actually did, you add a second vendor, a second script, and usually a cookie banner along with it, having chosen Plausible specifically to avoid one.
Galytics carries session replay in the same cookieless script as the analytics, on every plan. That is the whole reason to prefer us over them.
What that costs, honestly
Replay is not free. Analytics alone is under 2 KB gzipped. With replay the script is about 25 KB, because it carries rrweb. Plausible's is smaller, and if a couple of KB in your head budget matters more than ever seeing a session, they win that trade.
We also mask every form field in the browser before anything is sent, which is the part that makes carrying a recorder defensible at all.
Side by side
| Galytics | Plausible | |
|---|---|---|
| Cookies | None | None |
| Consent banner in the EU | Not needed | Not needed |
| Data location | EU | EU |
| Session replay | Included | Not offered, by choice |
| Heatmaps | No | No |
| Open source | No | Yes |
| Self-hostable | No | Yes |
| Script size | Under 2 KB, about 25 KB with replay | Smaller |
When Plausible is the better call
If open source or self-hosting is a requirement, choose Plausible. If you want the smallest possible script and you are certain you will never want to watch a session, choose Plausible. They are good at what they do and they are honest about what they do not do.
Galytics is the better call when you want the numbers and the sessions from one script, one vendor and one bill. See what that includes.
Sources
- Plausible vs Google Analytics, for the cookie, EU hosting, open source and session replay statements
Checked August 2026. If any of this has changed, tell us and we will correct the page.
Website analytics and session replay in one cookieless script.
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