Free Analytics Tools: What You Actually Get

"Free" analytics comes in several forms: permanently free tiers, time-limited trials, free tiers with meaningful limitations, and open-source tools you self-host. Here is what each means in practice.

Free tier comparison

Google Analytics — Free. In exchange, your visitor data is processed by Google and used to improve their advertising products. The "free" is subsidised by data.

Antlytics — Create a free account with no credit card. Free includes real analytics for one site: Overview, Pages, and Referrers, with honest hard monthly pageview caps and 30-day dashboard history. Starter (US$9) unlocks unlimited sites, the full dashboard, API and MCP, with soft fair-use and no dashboard lockout. Paid plans include a 14-day trial (Checkout may ask for a card).

Umami (self-hosted) — Free software, but you pay for hosting. A small server costs a few dollars a month. You manage updates and maintenance.

Plausible (self-hosted) — Free software, hosting costs apply. More complex to set up than Umami.

Simple Analytics — Free trial, then paid. Check their current offering.

What you trade for free

With most free analytics tiers, the trade-off is one of:

Data — your visitor data improves a commercial product (GA)
Features — limited sites, shorter history, or no API/MCP
Your time — self-hosting requires maintenance
Infrastructure cost — self-hosting has a real dollar cost even if the software is free

Antlytics keeps the privacy promise (no cookies, no selling visitor data) and ships a durable Free plan with clear hard caps — not a locked empty account.

Antlytics Free: what's included

One tracked site (create without a card)
Privacy-first, cookieless tracking snippet
Overview, Pages, and Referrers
25,000 pageviews/month hard limit
25,000 custom events + engagement/month hard limit
30-day dashboard history
6 months data retention
Exclude-me cookie and IP block

What requires Starter / Pro (or trial)

Unlimited sites
Realtime, UTMs/campaigns, goals, funnels, events UI, Report mode
REST API and MCP server
CSV export and weekly email summary
Longer retention (2–3 years) and soft fair-use pageview thresholds

When to upgrade

Upgrade to Starter (or start the 14-day trial) when:

You need more than one site
You want realtime, goals, funnels, or Report markdown
You need API/MCP access or CSV export
You are approaching the Free hard pageview cap

Starter is US$9/month (or US$90/year). See pricing for current details.

FAQ

Do I need a credit card to create an account? No. You can create an account, add one site, and use Free analytics without a card. Starting a trial or paid plan may ask for billing details depending on Checkout.

What's the catch? Free is intentionally limited: one site, hard monthly caps, 30-day history, and core views only. Paid plans add unlimited sites and soft fair-use without locking your dashboard when you spike.

Can I upgrade later without losing data? Yes. Events collected while your tracking snippet is installed carry forward when you upgrade (within each plan's retention window).