The real cost of using Google Analytics by default isn’t setup, it’s what comes after. A client can’t read their dashboard. Sessions went up but pageviews went down and they want to know why. You spend an hour on a call that has nothing to do with their actual results.
GA4 is built for analysts, not business owners. For agencies, that gap creates a support overhead that grows with every site you manage. And the data you’re spending time explaining is already incomplete: a large share of visitors block GA, so the numbers are partial before the first question is asked.
Plausible replaces that with a dashboard any client can read in 30 seconds. No training calls, no filter confusion and no cookie consent banner on the client’s site.
"My 100% favorite GA4 alternative so far is Plausible. Not free and not a ton of bells and whistles, but SOOOO easy to use (for clients too) and the data is near real-time. A good solution for ~70% of websites struggling with GA4."
"We've made a decision that Google Analytics will no longer be our default analytics tool. Instead, our default analytics tool will be Plausible."
- Why agencies move client sites off Google Analytics
- Put every client site in one account
- Share stats without teaching anyone GA
- Show clients what your work is doing
- Install it across client sites in minutes
- Pricing for agencies
- Do you have a reseller or partner program?
- Other teams use Plausible for
- Try it on a few client sites first
Why agencies move client sites off Google Analytics
Every GA4 install comes with work you can’t bill for. Configuring it so it’s usable, then explaining why the numbers look the way they do. Multiply that by every client.
Then there’s the banner. GA uses cookies, so in the EU every client site needs a consent banner, and every visitor who declines it disappears from the stats. You end up presenting partial data and defending it.
Plausible is cookieless and doesn’t collect personal data, so client sites don’t need a banner for analytics. The dashboard fits on one page. And the script is very light, which helps the Core Web Vitals scores you’re probably also being judged on.
Here’s the longer comparison with GA4.
Put every client site in one account
You manage all your client sites, your own site and any side projects from one Plausible login, and switch between them in a click.
Agencies split ownership in different ways, and you can mix them:
- The agency owns it. All client sites sit in your team on your subscription. You pay and you control access.
- The client owns it. Each client gets its own team with its own members and subscription. You stay on as a member.
- Hand it over at the end. Set the site up yourself, then transfer ownership when the project is done. The client takes over billing and you can keep access.
On the Business plan, the consolidated view combines all your sites into one dashboard. That gives you a quick read on the whole portfolio without opening each site, and you can still drill into any of them.
Share stats without teaching anyone GA
Most clients never need to log in.
Email reports go out weekly or monthly with the key stats in the body of the email. No PDF and no attachment. You can add several recipients per site, and set up traffic spike notifications so you hear about a sudden surge before the client does.
Shared links give a client the live dashboard without an account. You can protect a link with a password, or share a filtered view.
Guest access works for clients who want more. You can invite them with view-only access or let them manage settings too.
Show clients what your work is doing
Clients pay you for results, so the dashboard should make those easy to point at.
- SEO: organic search has its own channel, and the Search Console integration shows which queries bring people in. Traffic from ChatGPT, Perplexity and other AI assistants shows up as its own channel too.
- Campaigns: tag your links with UTM parameters using our UTM builder and every campaign shows up with its visitors and conversions.
- Conversions: signups, purchases, downloads and outbound clicks can all be goals, most of them without touching code. Business plan sites also get revenue tracking, funnels and user journeys.
If you build monthly reports in Looker Studio, the Looker Studio connector lets you reuse one template across all client sites.
Install it across client sites in minutes
The script is one line. There’s a WordPress plugin, a Google Tag Manager template and guides for most site builders and frameworks.
Moving a client off GA? Import their history so year-over-year comparisons keep working.
If clients manage their own sites, send them our setup instructions and they can do it themselves.
Pricing for agencies
Our standard plans include one site on Starter, up to 3 on Growth and up to 10 on Business. See the pricing for the full list.
Above 10 sites, an Enterprise plan gives you a site allowance from one of our preset tiers. It’s combined with a monthly usage tier based on the pageviews and custom events across your whole portfolio. Once you’re on a tier you can add sites through the Sites API without contacting us, right up to that tier’s limit. Some customers run thousands of sites on one account.
Email us at hello@plausible.io with your number of sites and combined monthly usage and we’ll send you a quote.
Do you have a reseller or partner program?
We get asked this a lot. There’s no separate program to sign up for, because the ways agencies work with us are already built into the product:
- Include analytics in your retainer. Put client sites on your own plan and present the dashboards under your brand with our white-label options. If you want to resell access to Plausible itself, contact us first so we can confirm the arrangement.
- Set clients up on their own subscription. They pay us directly and you stay on as a team member.
- Recommend us. Send clients the instructions and they’re up and running in minutes.
Working with a larger organization that needs Single Sign-On or a managed proxy? See enterprise web analytics.
Other teams use Plausible for
- SaaS products: tracking trial signups, activation funnels and campaign attribution
- Ecommerce: revenue attribution and checkout funnels without cookies or consent banners
- Content and publishing: tracking what drives traffic, engagement and subscriptions
- Public sector: EU-owned hosting, no consent banners and a clear procurement path for public institutions
Try it on a few client sites first
Most agencies run Plausible next to Google Analytics on a couple of client sites before switching. That’s a good way to do it. You’ll see the numbers side by side and how clients react to the dashboard.
Try Plausible free for 30 days. No credit card required. You can also look at our own live dashboard first.
