Plausible vs Fathom Lite: Privacy Analytics

Fathom Lite started as an open-source alternative to Google Analytics back in 2018, built by the team behind Fathom Analytics (the commercial product). Development shifted to the paid version years ago, and Lite is now in maintenance-only mode — bugs get fixed, but no new features are coming. Plausible launched in 2019 with similar privacy goals but is actively developed and self-hostable under AGPL-3.0.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Plausible CE	Fathom Lite
Latest version	v3.2.0	v1.2.1 (2018, abandoned)
Docker image	ghcr.io/plausible/community-edition:v3.2.0	usefathom/fathom:version-1.2.1
Language	Elixir	Go
Database	ClickHouse + PostgreSQL	SQLite or PostgreSQL
Script size	~1 KB	~1 KB
Pageviews	Yes	Yes
Unique visitors	Yes (hash-based)	Yes (hash-based)
Referrer tracking	Yes	Yes
UTM parameters	Yes	No
Custom events/goals	Yes	No
API	Yes (Stats API)	Limited
Funnel tracking	Yes	No
Revenue tracking	Yes	No
Custom properties	Yes	No
Entry/exit pages	Yes	No
Time on page	Yes	No
Real-time dashboard	Yes	Yes
Multiple sites	Yes	Yes
Email reports	Yes	No
Cookie-free	Yes	Yes
GDPR-compliant without consent banner	Yes	Yes
License	AGPL-3.0	MIT

Architecture

Plausible CE runs three containers: the Elixir web application, ClickHouse (columnar analytics database), and PostgreSQL (user data and settings). ClickHouse is purpose-built for analytical queries — it’s fast on large datasets but adds operational complexity and RAM overhead.

Plausible stack:
├── plausible (Elixir web app + API)
├── clickhouse (analytics data store)
└── postgres (user accounts + site config)

Fathom Lite runs as a single Go binary backed by SQLite (default) or PostgreSQL. No additional services needed. The binary handles HTTP serving, data storage, and the dashboard.

Fathom Lite:
└── fathom (Go binary + SQLite)

This architectural difference is the biggest practical distinction between the two. Plausible is more capable but requires a 3-container stack. Fathom Lite is a single binary you can run anywhere.

Installation Complexity

Step	Plausible CE	Fathom Lite
Containers	3 (app + ClickHouse + PostgreSQL)	1
Docker Compose lines	~50-70	~15
Required env vars	~15+ (secret key, database URLs, SMTP)	~5 (database DSN, secret)
First-run setup	Register admin via web UI	Register admin via web UI
Time to first data	~20 minutes	~5 minutes
Script installation	Add <script> tag to site	Add <script> tag to site

Fathom Lite is dramatically simpler to deploy. One container, one volume, one environment variable for the secret key — done. Plausible requires configuring ClickHouse, PostgreSQL connection strings, a secret key base, and optionally SMTP for email reports.

Performance and Resources

Metric	Plausible CE	Fathom Lite
RAM (idle)	~500-800 MB total	~30-50 MB
RAM (ClickHouse)	~300-500 MB	N/A
CPU (idle)	Low	Very low
Disk (per 1M pageviews)	~500 MB (ClickHouse)	~100 MB (SQLite)
Query speed (large datasets)	Fast (ClickHouse optimized)	Slows at scale

Fathom Lite uses a fraction of the resources. It runs comfortably on a 512 MB VPS alongside other services. Plausible needs at least 1 GB for ClickHouse alone — plan for 2 GB minimum for the full stack.

The trade-off shows at scale: ClickHouse handles millions of rows efficiently, while SQLite-backed Fathom Lite slows down noticeably with large datasets (1M+ pageviews). For a personal blog or small business site, this doesn’t matter. For high-traffic sites, Plausible scales better.

Dashboard and Reporting

Plausible’s dashboard is polished and information-dense. You see visitors, pageviews, bounce rate, visit duration, referral sources, geographic data, device breakdowns, UTM campaign tracking, and custom event goals — all on one screen.

Fathom Lite’s dashboard shows pageviews, unique visitors, average time on page, bounce rate, and referral sources. It’s clean and fast, but there’s no drill-down capability. No UTM tracking means you can’t attribute traffic to specific campaigns. No custom events means no conversion tracking.

Dashboard capability	Plausible CE	Fathom Lite
Traffic overview	Detailed	Basic
Geographic data	Country + region	No
Device breakdown	Browser, OS, screen size	Browser only
Campaign tracking	UTM parameters	No
Goal conversions	Custom events + funnels	No
Time filtering	Any range + comparison	Basic date range
Shareable links	Yes (public dashboards)	No

Development Status

This is the critical differentiator. Plausible is actively developed with regular releases, new features, and a growing team. Fathom Lite is in maintenance mode:

Aspect	Plausible CE	Fathom Lite
Status	Actively developed	Maintenance only
Last feature release	2026 (ongoing)	~2021
Bug fixes	Yes	Yes (when reported)
New features planned	Custom properties, funnels, imports	None
Team	Full-time company	Spare-time patches
Commercial version	Plausible Cloud	Fathom Analytics (separate codebase)

The Fathom team explicitly states that Lite is maintained but not actively developed. If you need a feature Lite doesn’t have, it won’t be added. What exists today is what you’ll have in two years.

Use Cases

Choose Plausible If…

• You need UTM campaign tracking to measure marketing efforts
• You want custom event tracking (signups, downloads, button clicks)
• You need geographic and device breakdowns
• You plan to grow beyond a hobby site and need scalable analytics
• You want email reports sent automatically
• Long-term active development matters to you

Choose Fathom Lite If…

• You want the absolute simplest deployment (single container, SQLite)
• You only need basic pageview and visitor counts
• You’re running on very constrained hardware (256-512 MB RAM)
• You value MIT licensing over AGPL-3.0
• You have a low-traffic site (<100K monthly pageviews) and don’t need campaign tracking

Final Verdict

For anyone building a site where analytics inform decisions, choose Plausible. UTM tracking, custom events, funnels, and geographic data make it a real Google Analytics replacement — not just a pageview counter. The 3-container stack is more complex but delivers meaningfully better data.

Fathom Lite is the right choice if you genuinely only need “how many people visited today?” on a small site and want the simplest possible deployment. It works, it’s stable, and it will continue working — but it won’t gain new capabilities. Consider Umami as a middle ground: single-container deployment with more features than Fathom Lite.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Fathom Lite the same as Fathom Analytics?

No. Fathom Lite is the open-source, self-hosted version (MIT license, maintenance-only). Fathom Analytics is the commercial SaaS product with a completely different codebase, more features, and active development.

Can I migrate from Fathom Lite to Plausible?

There’s no direct import tool. You’d start fresh with Plausible and lose historical data from Fathom Lite. Plausible does support CSV imports from some analytics tools, but not Fathom Lite specifically.

Does Plausible really not use cookies?

Correct. Plausible uses a hash-based method to count unique visitors without cookies. This means no GDPR consent banner is required for analytics — in both Plausible and Fathom Lite.

Related

• How to Self-Host Fathom Lite
• How to Self-Host Plausible
• Plausible vs Umami
• Plausible vs Matomo
• Umami vs Matomo
• Self-Hosted Alternatives to Google Analytics
• Best Self-Hosted Analytics