Plausible vs Fathom Lite: Privacy Analytics Compared
Quick Verdict
Plausible is the better choice for most self-hosters. It has active feature development, a richer dashboard, custom event tracking, and a strong community. Fathom Lite is in maintenance-only mode — stable and functional, but no new features are coming. Choose Fathom Lite only if you want the absolute simplest deployment (single container with SQLite) and don’t need custom events.
Overview
Plausible is a modern, privacy-first web analytics platform built with Elixir/Phoenix and ClickHouse. It launched in 2019, has 21K+ GitHub stars, and is actively developed with commercial backing. The self-hosted version is identical to the cloud product. Cookie-free, GDPR-compliant, and open source (AGPL-3.0).
Fathom Lite is the open-source origin of the commercial Fathom Analytics. Built in Go, it provides simple pageview tracking without cookies. The Lite version is now in maintenance-only mode (last feature release: v1.3.1, January 2025) — bugs get fixed, but no new features are planned. Licensed under MIT.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Plausible | Fathom Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Elixir/Phoenix | Go |
| Database | PostgreSQL + ClickHouse | SQLite, MySQL, or PostgreSQL |
| Tracking script size | ~1 KB | ~3.5 KB |
| Cookies | None | None |
| Real-time dashboard | Yes | Yes |
| Pageviews | Yes | Yes |
| Unique visitors | Yes (daily hash) | Yes |
| Referrers | Yes | Yes |
| UTM parameters | Full support | No |
| Custom events | Yes | No |
| Goals/conversions | Yes | No |
| Geographic data | Yes | Requires GeoIP |
| Browser/OS data | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes (full REST) | No |
| Email reports | Yes | No |
| Multi-site | Yes | Yes |
| Team access | Yes | No |
| Import from GA | Yes | No |
| Docker containers | 3 (app + PostgreSQL + ClickHouse) | 1-2 (app + optional DB) |
| Active development | Yes (frequent releases) | Maintenance only |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
Installation Complexity
Fathom Lite is dramatically simpler. A single Docker container with SQLite handles everything — no external database required. You can literally download a single binary and run it without Docker at all. Configuration is a handful of environment variables.
Plausible requires three services: the application, PostgreSQL, and ClickHouse. The Docker Compose file is more complex, and initial configuration involves setting up SMTP (for email reports), configuring the base URL, and generating secret keys. Still manageable, but 3x the infrastructure of Fathom Lite.
Performance and Resource Usage
| Metric | Plausible | Fathom Lite |
|---|---|---|
| RAM (idle) | ~300-500 MB | ~30 MB |
| RAM (under load) | ~1-2 GB | ~80 MB |
| CPU | Moderate | Very low |
| Disk (application) | ~500 MB | ~50 MB |
| Containers | 3 | 1 |
Fathom Lite’s Go binary is an order of magnitude lighter than Plausible’s Elixir + ClickHouse stack. On a 1 GB RAM VPS, Fathom Lite runs comfortably; Plausible will be tight.
Community and Support
Plausible has a thriving community. 21K+ GitHub stars, active development, extensive documentation, commercial backing. New features ship regularly. The community contributes integrations, and the hosted product funds continued development.
Fathom Lite has a smaller community. 8K+ GitHub stars, but development has slowed to maintenance. The creator moved focus to the commercial Fathom Analytics product. Documentation is adequate but not expanding. The MIT license means anyone can fork it, but nobody has taken over active development.
Use Cases
Choose Plausible If…
- You want active development and new features
- Custom event tracking matters (form submissions, button clicks)
- You need UTM campaign tracking
- You want goal/conversion tracking
- Team access and multi-user accounts are needed
- You want to import historical Google Analytics data
- You need an API for integrations
Choose Fathom Lite If…
- You want the simplest possible self-hosted analytics
- A single Docker container with SQLite is your ideal setup
- You’re running on very limited hardware (512 MB RAM)
- You only need basic pageview metrics
- The MIT license matters to you (vs AGPL-3.0)
- You’re comfortable with a maintenance-only project
Final Verdict
Plausible wins for anyone who wants a complete, actively developed analytics platform. It’s the self-hosted Google Analytics replacement that keeps getting better. The higher resource requirements are a fair trade for significantly richer features.
Fathom Lite is the right choice for minimalists running a single blog or personal site on constrained hardware. It does one thing — count pageviews privately — and does it with almost zero overhead. Just know that what you see today is what you’ll get forever.
If you’re starting fresh and have at least 2 GB of RAM available, go with Plausible. If you’re already running Fathom Lite and it does what you need, there’s no urgency to switch.
FAQ
Is Fathom Lite abandoned?
Not abandoned, but in maintenance-only mode. Security patches and critical bug fixes still ship, but no new features are planned. The creator (Paul Shortridge) focuses on the commercial Fathom Analytics product. If you need a tool that evolves, choose Plausible. If Fathom Lite’s current features meet your needs, it remains stable and reliable.
Can I migrate from Fathom Lite to Plausible?
There is no built-in migration tool. Fathom Lite does not have a data export API — you would need to query the SQLite/PostgreSQL database directly and format data for Plausible’s import. In practice, most users start fresh with Plausible and accept losing historical data. For a personal blog, the historical data is rarely critical.
Does Plausible really need ClickHouse?
Yes. Plausible uses ClickHouse as its analytics database — all event data is stored there. PostgreSQL stores configuration, users, and sites. ClickHouse is what makes Plausible’s dashboard fast on large datasets. There is no SQLite-only option like Fathom Lite. The minimum RAM overhead for ClickHouse is ~200-300 MB.
Which has a smaller tracking script?
Plausible at <1 KB. Fathom Lite’s script is ~3.5 KB. Both are significantly smaller than Google Analytics (~45 KB) or Matomo (~22 KB). For page speed impact, both are negligible — but Plausible is technically lighter.
Can I use Fathom Lite with UTM parameters?
No. Fathom Lite tracks referrers but does not parse UTM parameters from URLs. If you run marketing campaigns and need to track utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign, you need Plausible, Umami, or Matomo.
Is Fathom Lite the same as Fathom Analytics?
No. Fathom Lite is the original open-source project (MIT license, self-hosted). Fathom Analytics is the commercial SaaS product built by the same creator — it is a completely different codebase with more features, active development, and paid hosting. They share a name and origin but are separate products.
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