Per-Site Analytics Pricing: Why It Hurts Multi-Project Devs

You have five side projects. On some analytics tools, that means paying five times the entry price. On Antlytics, it is still A$10/month. This post does the arithmetic.

Key idea: Per-site analytics pricing charges more as you add sites. Flat-rate plans like Antlytics Starter (A$10/month, unlimited sites) keep costs predictable even as your portfolio grows.

The multi-site pricing trap

Per-site pricing sounds reasonable when you have one site. You pick the entry tier, you pay the entry price, done.

The problem emerges when your portfolio grows. Every new side project, client site, or experiment becomes a new billing question. Do I add it to my plan? Do I upgrade my tier? Do I just skip analytics for this one?

Most developers — especially indie hackers with a portfolio of side projects — end up skipping analytics on the smaller sites because it is not worth paying per-site for a project that might have 50 visitors a month. That is a loss: even 50 visitors a month is useful signal.

Flat-rate pricing eliminates that calculation. If you have already paid for unlimited sites, adding a new project costs nothing.

How per-site pricing works at each tool

Plausible — Entry tier covers one site. Higher tiers unlock more sites with increasing pageview limits. Adding more sites requires moving up the pricing tier.

Fathom — Entry plan includes up to 50 sites, which is generous. Per-pageview pricing applies regardless. At five to ten sites this is often competitive; at higher site counts it depends on total pageviews.

Antlytics Starter — Unlimited sites. One flat price: A$10/month (or A$60/year). The 500,000 pageviews per month is a fair-use threshold across all sites combined — not a per-site limit.

The maths for 3, 5, and 10 sites:

Sites	Antlytics Starter	Plausible (approx.)	Notes
1	A$10/month	~$9 USD/month	Similar at single site
3	A$10/month	Higher tier	Per-site pricing kicks in
5	A$10/month	Higher again	Meaningful gap
10	A$10/month	Significantly higher	Check their current pricing

The numbers are directional — verify against each tool's current pricing page before making a decision. But the model difference is real: flat rate vs per-site.

Why flat-rate matters for side-project portfolios

The indie hacker portfolio approach — many small projects, each serving a niche — is a growing pattern. You might have:

A productivity tool you built for yourself
A public API you published
A blog
A portfolio site
Two or three abandoned experiments you still leave live

On a per-site plan, analytics for all of these costs multiples of the entry price. On a flat-rate plan, they are all included.

The psychological benefit matters too. When adding analytics to a new project costs nothing, you add it. When it means thinking about billing, you skip it. Flat-rate removes the friction.

When per-site pricing actually makes sense

Per-site pricing is not always the wrong model.

If you have one high-traffic site — The per-pageview cost structure may actually work in your favour if you have a single large site and the per-pageview tier covers your volume at a low price.

If you want the features tied to higher tiers — Some tools bundle features into tiers rather than selling them à la carte. If the feature you need is only in a higher per-site tier, the comparison changes.

If you need EU data residency — Plausible's EU-hosted option is valuable for teams with specific data residency requirements. That may justify the per-site pricing model.

What to look for beyond the price tag

Price is not the only consideration. Also evaluate:

Data retention — Antlytics Starter retains data for 2 years. Check the retention policy of each tool you evaluate.

Data export — Can you export your data via CSV or API? Export capability protects against vendor lock-in.

Support model — What happens if you have a question? Email support, community forum, documentation depth?

FAQ

How many sites can I add on Antlytics Free? One site on the Free plan.

How many sites on Starter? Unlimited sites, included in the A$10/month price.

Is there a per-pageview limit? Antlytics Starter includes 500,000 pageviews per month as a soft fair-use threshold. This applies across all your sites combined.

Can I add client sites to my account? Yes. Each site has its own tracking ID and dashboard view in your account.

What if one site gets a traffic spike? The soft threshold applies in aggregate. A single spike does not trigger an automatic lockout — it is a conversation, not an automated cut-off.

Do other tools offer unlimited sites? Fathom includes 50 sites on entry plans. Most others charge per site or require a higher tier for multiple sites.

Is the yearly plan better value? Yes — A$60/year works out to A$5/month. That is a saving of A$60 compared to monthly billing.