Best Privacy-Friendly Analytics for SaaS in 2026

Google Analytics is free but costs you in other ways. Privacy regulations, cookie banners, and user trust all suffer. These alternatives give you the insights you need without the baggage.

TL;DR

• •Best overall: Plausible
• •Best for product analytics: PostHog
• •Best simple dashboard: Fathom
• •Best EU hosting: Pirsch

Why switch from Google Analytics

1. No cookie banners needed - Privacy-friendly tools don't require consent
2. GDPR compliance - Simpler legal situation
3. Faster pages - Lighter scripts
4. User trust - Privacy as a feature
5. Cleaner data - No bot traffic or spam

Provider breakdown

Plausible

Plausible is lightweight, open source, and focused on simplicity.

Strengths:

• •Under 1KB script size
• •No cookies, no consent needed
• •Clean, simple dashboard
• •Self-hosted option
• •Open source

Tradeoffs:

• •No user-level tracking
• •Limited custom events on lower plans

Best for: Teams that want simple, privacy-friendly web analytics.

Fathom

Fathom offers similar privacy benefits with a polished experience.

Strengths:

• •Beautiful dashboard
• •EU isolation option
• •Uptime monitoring included
• •Good customer support

Tradeoffs:

• •Higher starting price
• •No self-hosted option

Best for: Teams willing to pay more for polish and support.

PostHog

PostHog is a full product analytics suite with privacy options.

Strengths:

• •Session replay
• •Feature flags
• •A/B testing
• •Self-hosted option
• •Generous free tier

Tradeoffs:

• •More complex than simple analytics
• •Heavier script

Best for: Teams that need product analytics beyond pageviews.

Pirsch

Pirsch is a German-made analytics tool with strong EU data residency.

Strengths:

• •EU-hosted by default
• •Simple integration
• •Conversion funnels
• •Affordable pricing

Tradeoffs:

• •Smaller community
• •Fewer integrations

Best for: EU-based teams prioritizing data residency.

Pricing comparison

Decision matrix

What you lose vs Google Analytics

Be honest about tradeoffs:

• •No demographic data
• •No user-level tracking
• •Less integration with ad platforms
• •Simpler attribution models

For most SaaS products, you don't need these features. You need to know what pages people visit, where they come from, and what they click.

Implementation checklist

1. Remove Google Analytics script
2. Add new analytics script
3. Set up goal tracking for key conversions
4. Configure any custom events
5. Remove cookie consent banner (if only used for analytics)

Final recommendation

Use Plausible for web analytics. It is simple, fast, and respects user privacy. Add PostHog if you need product analytics like session replay or feature flags. The combination covers most SaaS needs.

Last updated: January 2026