Free web analytics has never been more generous: Google Analytics 4 has no event cap and 14 months of retention, Microsoft Clarity records up to 100,000 sessions a project a day with heatmaps forever free, Amplitude gives 2 million events a month, PostHog and Mixpanel 1 million, Contentsquare (which absorbed Hotjar) 200,000 sessions, Ahrefs Web Analytics 1 million events for verified sites, and Matomo, Plausible, Umami, GoatCounter and Counter.dev are open source to self-host without limits. The privacy-first hosted tools are the ones that charge: Fathom is a 7-day trial with a card, Pirsch a 30-day trial, Plausible Cloud 30 days, and Simple Analytics’ free tier keeps one month of history behind a badge. Prices are USD and were checked on 27 October 2026. How we score · All Kurums Free lists
TL;DR — the free analytics tool that fits
- The default, with Ads and Search Console: Google Analytics 4 — no event cap, 14-month retention, consent required in Europe.
- Heatmaps and session replay free: Microsoft Clarity — no traffic limits, 100,000 sessions a project a day, 30-day recordings.
- Product analytics for a SaaS: Amplitude Starter (2M events) or PostHog (1M events plus replay, flags and surveys).
- Cookieless, own your data, no limits: Matomo On-Premise (GPLv3) or Plausible Community Edition (AGPLv3), self-hosted.
- Cookieless and hosted, one small site: Umami Cloud Hobby — 100,000 events, one site, six months; or Cloudflare Web Analytics.
Which website analytics tools tools have a free plan in 2026?
Every tool below is free with no end date within its row’s caps. Three kinds: web analytics (GA4, Matomo, Plausible, Umami, Simple Analytics, Cloudflare, Ahrefs, GoatCounter, Counter.dev), behaviour analytics with replay and heatmaps (Clarity, Contentsquare), and product analytics with user-level events (PostHog, Mixpanel, Amplitude). The caps are events a month (Umami 100K, PostHog and Mixpanel 1M, Ahrefs 1M, Amplitude 2M), sessions (Contentsquare 200K a month, Clarity 100K a day) and retention (GA4 14 months, Umami 6, Contentsquare and Simple Analytics 1, PostHog a year).
What changed: Hotjar’s pricing page redirects to Contentsquare, whose free plan is 200,000 sessions a month rather than Hotjar’s old 35 a day; Amplitude’s free tier is event-based (2M) rather than the old 50,000 MTU; Fathom now requires a card for a 7-day trial; Plausible’s cloud free is a 30-day trial while its Community Edition is AGPL. Matomo Cloud’s price shows a bare ’29’ with no currency and its trial length is not stated. Mixpanel’s page contradicts itself on retention.
The table shows the cap, the cookie answer and the Free Score; Core job weights acquisition, behaviour and conversion reporting with history. Open a row for retention, sites, licence and the page we checked.
| Company | Free as | Key limit | Card | Free Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G |
Free forever | No event cap · 14-month retention · 25 params/event | No | 90 | Scorecard ↓ |
| M |
Free forever | Free forever · no traffic limits · replay & heatmaps | No | 88 | Scorecard ↓ |
| A |
Free forever | 2M events/month forever · unlimited seats · 1-year data | No | 84 | Scorecard ↓ |
| P |
Free forever | 1M events/month · 5K replays · flags, surveys · no card | No | 84 | Scorecard ↓ |
| M |
Open source | GPLv3 · unlimited users & hits · self-hosted | No | 82 | Scorecard ↓ |
| C |
Free forever | 200K sessions/month · 1 month data · 1 project | No | 76 | Scorecard ↓ |
| M |
Free forever | 1M events/month · unlimited seats · 30-day replay | No | 74 | Scorecard ↓ |
| A |
Free forever | 1M events/project/month · verified sites · cookieless · unlimited history | No | 72 | Scorecard ↓ |
| U |
Open source | Cloud Hobby: 100K events · 1 site · 6 months · MIT self-host | No | 72 | Scorecard ↓ |
| P |
Open source | AGPLv3 self-host · Cloud 30-day trial · Starter $9 | No | 70 | Scorecard ↓ |
| C |
Free forever | Free · no cookies or localStorage · basic metrics | No | 66 | Scorecard ↓ |
| G |
Free forever | Queries, clicks, position · index coverage · free | No | 64 | Scorecard ↓ |
| G |
Open source | Hosted free for reasonable use · open source self-host | No | 62 | Scorecard ↓ |
| S |
Free forever | 5 sites · 1 user · 1-month history · badge required | No | 56 | Scorecard ↓ |
| C |
Open source | AGPLv3 · pay what you want · no cookies | No | 54 | Scorecard ↓ |
Free tiers verified 27 October 2026 on each vendor’s pricing page (third-party sources named in the Scorecard where the vendor page was silent). Order is by Free Score only; sponsorship never changes it.
What do the free analytics tool plans actually include?
Open any row for the eight-field Scorecard. The “Why it ranks here” note under each row explains the score in plain terms.
1G
Google Analytics 4US · a standard property with no limit on distinctly named events, 25 parameters an event and 25 custom user attributes; retention 2 or 14 months, with 26 to 50 months only in GA 360Free foreverNo event cap · 14-month retention · 25 params/eventNo card90⌄
- What’s free
- Standard property: unlimited distinctly named events; 25 parameters an event; 25 custom user attributes
- Hard limits
- Retention 2 or 14 months · 2,000 sessions a user a day · 100,000 events a user a day · cookie consent required in the EEA and UK
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- Longer retention or higher limits (GA 360)
- Cheapest paid step
- GA 360 — price not stated
- Best free for
- Any business that runs Google Ads or wants Search Console in the same place
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · support.google.com/analytics (limits and retention articles)
2M
Microsoft ClarityUS · free forever with no traffic limits and no limit on sites; records up to 100,000 sessions a project a day, keeps recordings 30 days (favourites up to 9 months) and heatmaps 9 months; consent required in the EEA, UK and SwitzerlandFree foreverFree forever · no traffic limits · replay & heatmapsNo card88⌄
- What’s free
- Free forever; no traffic limits; unlimited sites; heatmaps; session recordings
- Hard limits
- 100,000 sessions a project a day recorded · recordings 30 days · heatmaps to 100,000 page views each · first-party cookies, consent required in Europe
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- None
- Cheapest paid step
- None
- Best free for
- Seeing what visitors actually do, next to GA4
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · learn.microsoft.com/clarity/faq
Why it ranks here. Session replay and heatmaps that competitors charge $39 and up for, free with no plan to pay; Microsoft’s price is your behaviour data.
3A
Amplitude StarterUS · 2 million events a month forever with unlimited team members, one year of data access and 10,000 session replays a month; Plus starts at $0 and scales with volume but needs a cardFree forever2M events/month forever · unlimited seats · 1-year dataNo card84⌄
- What’s free
- 2M events a month forever; unlimited team members; 1 year of data; 10,000 session replays a month
- Hard limits
- 2M events · 1-year data access · replay retention 1 month
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No for Starter; Plus requires a card.
- Upgrade trigger
- More than 2M events
- Cheapest paid step
- Plus — usage-based from $0, rates not shown
- Best free for
- A product team that outgrew pageviews
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · amplitude.com/pricing
Why it ranks here. The largest event allowance in product analytics, free forever, with seats uncapped.
4P
PostHogUS · the first 1 million events free every month with 5,000 session recordings, 1,500 survey responses and 1 million feature-flag requests; no card and not a trial; above the cap events are droppedFree forever1M events/month · 5K replays · flags, surveys · no cardNo card84⌄
- What’s free
- 1M events a month; 5K recordings; 1,500 survey responses; 1M flag requests; no card
- Hard limits
- Additional events permanently dropped on free · events kept 1 year · recordings 1 month
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No. ‘No credit card, not a trial’ is stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- More than 1M events, usage-based
- Cheapest paid step
- Usage-based per-unit rates
- Best free for
- A SaaS that wants analytics, replay, flags and surveys in one free tool
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · posthog.com/pricing
Why it ranks here. Five products in one free tier; the drop-on-cap behaviour is explicit, which is honest and worth knowing.
5M
Matomo On-PremiseNew Zealand · the Community plan is free forever with unlimited users and hits under GPLv3, self-hosted with forum support; Matomo Cloud starts at ’29’ a month for 50,000 hits with a trial of unstated lengthOpen sourceGPLv3 · unlimited users & hits · self-hostedNo card82⌄
- What’s free
- Free forever; unlimited users and hits; GPLv3
- Hard limits
- Self-hosted · forum support · premium plugins paid
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- Hosting or premium plugins
- Cheapest paid step
- Cloud Business from 29 a month (currency not shown) for 50,000 hits
- Best free for
- A business that wants GA-level depth and its data on its own server
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · matomo.org/pricing and /free-software
Why it ranks here. The open-source GA, no caps, no vendor; you host it, and the good plugins cost money.
6C
Contentsquare Free (Hotjar)France · the free plan covers 200,000 monthly sessions with replays, heatmaps, funnels, error and performance monitoring and basic surveys, for one project with one month of data access; Hotjar’s pricing page now redirects hereFree forever200K sessions/month · 1 month data · 1 projectNo card76⌄
- What’s free
- 200K monthly sessions; replays; heatmaps; funnels; error and performance monitoring; basic surveys; 1 project
- Hard limits
- 1 month of data access · 1 project
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- Not stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- History or a second project
- Cheapest paid step
- Growth $39/month from 7,000 sessions (20% off yearly)
- Best free for
- Behaviour analytics on one site, from the Hotjar lineage
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · contentsquare.com/pricing (hotjar.com/pricing redirects)
Why it ranks here. Far more generous than Hotjar’s old free plan on volume, and much stingier on history: one month.
7M
Mixpanel FreeUS · up to 1 million monthly events with unlimited seats and 30-day replay retention; the page’s retention wording conflicts with itself; Growth is $100 a month annual for 1.5M eventsFree forever1M events/month · unlimited seats · 30-day replayNo card74⌄
- What’s free
- Up to 1M monthly events; unlimited seats; replay 30 days
- Hard limits
- 1M events · customisable retention not available
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- Not stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- More than 1M events
- Cheapest paid step
- Growth $100/month annual (1.5M events); $140 monthly
- Best free for
- A product team that prefers Mixpanel’s reports
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · mixpanel.com/pricing (retention wording inconsistent on the page)
Why it ranks here. Half Amplitude’s events and the same seats; the paid step is clear and cheap.
8A
Ahrefs Web AnalyticsSingapore · free for websites with verified ownership up to 1 million events a project a month, with no cookies, no stored IP addresses and unlimited historical data; higher limits by paid add-onFree forever1M events/project/month · verified sites · cookieless · unlimited historyNo card72⌄
- What’s free
- Free for verified sites; up to 1M events a project a month; no cookies; unlimited history
- Hard limits
- Ownership verification · 1M events
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- Not stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- Higher limits
- Cheapest paid step
- Paid add-on — price not stated
- Best free for
- A site already in Ahrefs Webmaster Tools that wants SEO and analytics together
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · ahrefs.com/web-analytics
Why it ranks here. Cookieless, with history kept, from an SEO vendor; new enough that depth is still catching up.
9U
UmamiUS · Cloud Hobby at $0 with 100,000 events a month, one website and six months of retention; self-hosting is ‘always free’ under MITOpen sourceCloud Hobby: 100K events · 1 site · 6 months · MIT self-hostNo card72⌄
- What’s free
- Hobby $0: 100K events a month, 1 website, 6-month retention; MIT self-hosting
- Hard limits
- 100K events · 1 site · 6 months · no team members on Hobby
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- Not stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- More sites or events, or a team
- Cheapest paid step
- Pro $20/month
- Best free for
- One small site hosted, or any number self-hosted
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · umami.is/pricing and github.com/umami-software/umami
Why it ranks here. The lightest open-source option with a usable hosted free tier.
10P
Plausible Community EditionEstonia · the Community Edition is AGPLv3 (tracker MIT) to self-host free; the cloud is a 30-day trial with no card and Starter is $9 a month for 10,000 pageviewsOpen sourceAGPLv3 self-host · Cloud 30-day trial · Starter $9No card70⌄
- What’s free
- Self-host under AGPLv3; cloud 30-day trial, no card
- Hard limits
- Cloud free is a trial only · CE lags cloud features
- Time limit
- None self-hosted; 30 days cloud
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- Hosting
- Cheapest paid step
- Starter $9/month (10K pageviews); yearly gives two months free
- Best free for
- A cookieless, one-page dashboard for a business that will host it or pay $9
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · plausible.io and github.com/plausible/analytics
Why it ranks here. The best simple analytics UI, free only if you run it.
11C
Cloudflare Web AnalyticsUS · privacy-first analytics free with no client-side state, cookies or fingerprinting; site count and retention are not statedFree foreverFree · no cookies or localStorage · basic metricsNo card66⌄
- What’s free
- Free; no cookies, localStorage or fingerprinting
- Hard limits
- Basic metrics · site count and retention not stated
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- Not stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- None
- Cheapest paid step
- None
- Best free for
- Pageview counts without a consent banner
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · cloudflare.com/web-analytics
Why it ranks here. The least data for the least consent; enough for many small sites.
12GGoogle Search ConsoleUS · search queries, impressions, clicks and position, index coverage and URL inspection free; retention is not stated on the fetched pagesFree foreverQueries, clicks, position · index coverage · freeNo card64⌄
- What’s free
- Search performance; index coverage; URL Inspection
- Hard limits
- Search data only · retention not stated
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- None
- Cheapest paid step
- None
- Best free for
- Every site, alongside whichever analytics tool you pick
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · search.google.com/search-console/about
Why it ranks here. Not analytics, and the only source of the search queries analytics tools cannot see.
13G
GoatCounterNot stated · hosted free for ‘reasonable public usage’, explicitly including small-to-medium businesses, and open source to self-host without restriction; funded by donationsOpen sourceHosted free for reasonable use · open source self-hostNo card62⌄
- What’s free
- Hosted free for reasonable usage; fully open source
- Hard limits
- Not for millions of pageviews a day · single maintainer
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- None
- Cheapest paid step
- None
- Best free for
- A minimal no-cookie counter for a small business site
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · goatcounter.com and github.com/arp242/goatcounter (the licence file fetch failed)
Why it ranks here. Free, honest and one person’s project.
14S
Simple Analytics FreeNetherlands · free forever for hobby sites: five websites, one user, one month of history and a required badge; a 14-day trial of paid plans needs no cardFree forever5 sites · 1 user · 1-month history · badge requiredNo card56⌄
- What’s free
- 5 websites; 1 user; 1 month of history; badge; free forever
- Hard limits
- 1-month history · badge · 1 user · pageview cap not stated
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- History or users
- Cheapest paid step
- Basic $20/month from 100K pageviews
- Best free for
- A hobby site; the one-month history rules out business reporting
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · simpleanalytics.com/pricing
Why it ranks here. A good product with a free tier designed to be outgrown in a month.
15C
Counter.devNot stated · a free, privacy-friendly service for everyone with no cookies, logging or fingerprinting, under AGPLv3, on a pay-what-and-when-you-want basisOpen sourceAGPLv3 · pay what you want · no cookiesNo card54⌄
- What’s free
- Free analytics; no cookies, logging or IP fingerprinting; AGPLv3
- Hard limits
- None stated · a small project
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- Voluntary
- Cheapest paid step
- Pay what you want
- Best free for
- Zero-budget stats for a brochure site
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · counter.dev
Why it ranks here. Free in the fullest sense and minimal in every other.
Which free analytics tool has no credit-card requirement?
GA4, Clarity, Amplitude Starter, PostHog, Matomo, Plausible CE, Simple Analytics, GoatCounter, Counter.dev and Search Console state or imply no card. Umami, Mixpanel, Contentsquare, Ahrefs and Cloudflare Web Analytics do not state it. Amplitude Plus and Fathom’s trial require one. PostHog drops events over the cap rather than billing; nothing auto-converts.
The condition that matters in Europe is consent: GA4 and Clarity set cookies and require it; Plausible, Umami, Simple Analytics, Cloudflare, Ahrefs, GoatCounter and Counter.dev are cookieless by design, and Matomo can be configured either way.
When does the free plan stop being enough?
Kurums Match: which free analytics tool fits your situation?
Runs Google Ads
GA4 plus Search Console.
Wants to watch visitors
Clarity, free, with anything else.
SaaS product team
Amplitude Starter or PostHog.
Owns its data, has a server
Matomo On-Premise.
No cookie banner
Plausible CE self-hosted or Umami.
Already in Ahrefs
Ahrefs Web Analytics.
Brochure site, zero budget
Cloudflare Web Analytics or GoatCounter.
How we score free tiers
Duration (30): free forever scores 30, a 30-day-plus trial 15, a trial of 14 days or less 8, credit-based tiers 12. Capacity (30): whether the limits carry a team of three for twelve months. Core job (25): whether the free tier does the category’s main work — here, knowing where visitors come from, what they do and which pages convert, with history you can keep. Friction (15): no card 15; card but no auto-charge 8; auto-charge 0; self-hosting deducts for setup and maintenance.
Each free tier was checked on the vendor’s pricing page on 27 October 2026; where the vendor page was silent, the Scorecard names the third-party source used. Free tiers change, so this list is re-verified every quarter and a discontinued free plan stays listed for one month with a notice. Order is by Free Score only. Kurums Free sells no placement; sponsorship, affiliate links and vendor requests never change a score, a rank or a label. Vendors can submit corrections through the Update your free tier form.
How did we verify these free tiers?
We opened each vendor’s pricing or documentation page and, for open-source projects, the repository, and recorded event and session caps, retention, site limits, cookie behaviour, licence and the paid step. Hotjar’s pricing page redirects to Contentsquare and the Hotjar row is scored on Contentsquare’s current free plan; Matomo Cloud’s price shows no currency and its trial length is not stated; Mixpanel’s retention wording is inconsistent on the page; GoatCounter’s licence file could not be fetched; Search Console’s retention is not stated on the pages fetched. Fathom (7-day trial, card required) and Pirsch (30-day trial) were verified as trial-only.
Prices are USD.
Frequently asked questions
Is Google Analytics still free?
Yes — a GA4 standard property has no limit on distinctly named events and keeps data 2 or 14 months. Only GA 360 offers 26 to 50 months of retention.
What is the best free alternative to Hotjar?
Microsoft Clarity — free forever with no traffic limits, session recordings and heatmaps. Hotjar itself is now Contentsquare, whose free plan covers 200,000 sessions a month with one month of data access.
Which analytics tool is free and cookieless?
Plausible Community Edition and Umami (self-hosted), Umami Cloud Hobby (100,000 events), Cloudflare Web Analytics, Ahrefs Web Analytics (1 million events for verified sites), GoatCounter and Counter.dev.
Is Plausible free?
The Community Edition is AGPLv3 and free to self-host. Plausible Cloud is a 30-day trial with no card; Starter is $9 a month for 10,000 pageviews.
How many free events does PostHog give?
The first 1 million events every month, plus 5,000 session recordings, 1,500 survey responses and 1 million feature-flag requests, with no card. Events above the cap are dropped on the free plan.
Does Fathom have a free plan?
No — Fathom offers a 7-day trial that requires a card; the cheapest plan is $15 a month for 100,000 pageviews.
Discover more from Kurums | Business Intelligence
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.