Plausible and Fathom are website analytics tools designed to count visits without setting cookies or building profiles of individual visitors. Both are paid subscriptions, both show a single-page dashboard of visitors, pages, sources and goals, and both are often chosen by UK sites as a simpler, more private alternative to Google Analytics 4.
How Plausible and Fathom work
Each tool loads a small script on your pages. When someone visits, the script sends the page address, referrer, screen size and campaign tags to the tool’s servers. Instead of storing a cookie to recognise the visitor, the tools generate a short-lived identifier from details that arrive with the request, such as the IP address and browser, combined with a secret that changes regularly. That lets them count unique visitors for a day without tracking anyone over time. This is the general approach known as cookieless tracking.
Neither stores the IP address itself, and neither shares data with advertising networks. Plausible’s code is open source and can be self-hosted; Fathom is a hosted service only. Both support custom events and goals, campaign reporting from UTM tags and simple revenue tracking, with pricing based on monthly page views.
Why it matters
Under PECR, storing or reading information on a visitor’s device for analytics has traditionally needed consent, which is why GA4 should only load after someone accepts your cookie banner. Because Plausible and Fathom store nothing on the device, many UK site owners conclude that no consent is needed for them, and the dashboard then counts everyone rather than only those who clicked accept. That conclusion is not automatic: PECR also covers reading information from a device, and the ICO treats techniques such as fingerprinting as within its scope.
There are practical gains as well. The script is a small fraction of the size of the Google tag, which helps pages load on slow mobile connections, and the dashboard is simple enough for anyone in a small business to read without training. Figures also include visitors who ignored or declined the banner, so trends are less distorted by changing consent rates.
The legal position deserves care rather than assumption. The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 introduced exemptions allowing some analytics storage without consent, provided visitors are given clear information and a simple way to object. At the time of writing (October 2026), check the ICO’s current guidance on storage and access technologies and how those exemptions apply before relying on them. UK GDPR still applies too, because IP addresses are processed briefly, so the tools belong in your privacy notice with a lawful basis, usually legitimate interests.
Common mistakes
- Expecting GA4 features. There are no user-level journeys, cross-device reports, demographic data or advertising audiences.
- Comparing totals directly with GA4. Cookieless tools usually show more visitors, because they are not limited to consenting users. The difference is not an error.
- Running them alongside untouched GA4. Adding Plausible does not make GA4 compliant; GA4 still needs consent if it stays.
- Skipping the privacy notice. Cookieless is not data-free.
How to act on it
Decide what you need from analytics. If you run ads that rely on conversion imports, remarketing audiences or attribution across channels, GA4 or a fuller tool such as Matomo will still be needed, with proper consent. If you mainly want to know which pages and sources bring visitors and enquiries, Plausible or Fathom may be all you need.
If you adopt one, tag your campaign links consistently with UTM parameters, set up goals for form submissions and call clicks, and record your reasoning on consent. Choosing the right measurement set-up for the channels you actually use is part of my performance marketing work, and I am happy to say when a simpler tool is the better fit.