pigtail.
GitHub Completed with gaps Growth forensic · Oct 05, 2026
Open-source project growth forensic

Plausible

Self-description (plausible.io): “Open source, privacy-first web analytics. Lightweight, cookie-free Google Analytics alternative. Self-hosted or cloud.”

github.com/plausible/analytics ↗ ElixirAGPL-3.0+1.8K stars in the last 90 days
ScopeReconstructed by Pigtail from public evidence available on Oct 05, 2026. Every factual statement links to its source (72 sources, 606 extracted claims). Private strategy, internal experiments and unreported causes are unknown. Things that happened close together in time are shown as observed together, not as cause and effect.
IndependentIndependent analysis based on public sources. Pigtail is not affiliated with or endorsed by Plausible.
29KGitHub stars (now)
1.9Kforks
119contributors
Dec 2018repository created

The 30-second version

Pigtail's synthesis of the evidence below. Evidence level: Strong inference.

Plausible is an open source, cookie-free web analytics tool that a solo developer started in December 2018 and later ran with a marketing co-founder. The company says it has never paid for ads, affiliates or sponsorships. Its growth has come mainly from opinionated blog posts that reached the Hacker News front page, comparison and educational content that ranks in Google, and word of mouth. Revenue comes only from subscriptions to the hosted version, priced by pageviews with a 30-day free trial. It reached $1M ARR in June 2022, and later reported more than 21,000 paying subscribers and over 29,000 GitHub stars.

Growth mechanism

The claims point to a loop in which content and open source feed each other. Marko's posts against Google Analytics, and his posts about open source, repeatedly reached the Hacker News front page. Those posts drove traffic and trials, and spilled over to GitHub, where Plausible appeared on the Trending list. Open source code and aligned values led people to write about and recommend Plausible. Educational and comparison posts built steady Google search traffic, which became the top source of trial signups. Paying customers then spread the word. Several GitHub star spikes happened around the same days as Plausible-related Hacker News posts, for example April 8, 2020, July 27, 2020, October 6–13, 2020 and March 7, 2021. That overlap is timing only.

Moderate inference

GitHub stars and public events

Star history and the launches, posts and releases Pigtail found, on one time axis. Markers show when something happened. Being close to a jump in stars does not mean it caused the jump.
Star data: exact daily counts from GitHub
Line: cumulative stars. Bars: stars gained per week. Shaded bands: growth episodes Pigtail detected. Lettered markers: public events (click for evidence).
Show events as a table
DateTypeEvent
December 2018OtherUku Täht starts building Plausible
Dec 04, 2018Repositoryplausible/analytics repository created
January 2019LaunchPublic beta launched on Indie Hackers
Feb 17, 2019Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: You probably don't need a single-page app
May 2019PricingPaid subscriptions launched
Jul 08, 2019Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: You probably don't need a single page app
September 2019StrategyPlausible open-sourced under MIT license
Mar 16, 2020TeamMarko Saric joins as marketing co-founder
Mar 24, 2020ProductCookie-free tracking by default
April 2020PricingAnnual plans at 33% discount
Apr 08, 2020Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: An alternative to using Google Analytics on your website
May–June 2020ProductMigration from PostgreSQL to ClickHouse
May 02, 2020PressOpensource.com feature drives record trial day
June 2020ReleaseSelf-hosted beta released with Docker
June 2020PricingPublic pricing tiers for larger sites
July 2020CommunityGitHub Sponsors page and community forum
Jul 27, 2020Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: How to pay your rent with your open source project
August 2020Product HuntProduct Hunt launch
October 2020StrategyLicense changed from MIT to AGPL
October 2020PressTop of Runa Capital fastest-growing OSS list
Oct 05, 2020ReleaseFirst release v1.0.0
Oct 06, 2020Show HNShow HN: Plausible – Self-Hosted Google Analytics alternative
Oct 13, 2020Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: Why we’re changing to the AGPL license
Oct 14, 2020ReleaseRelease v1.1.0
Dec 17, 2020Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: Lessons from building and growing an open source SaaS
start of 2021Community5% revenue donation fund launched
Mar 07, 2021Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: Simple and privacy-friendly alternative to Google Analytic
Apr 16, 2021Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: How to fight back against Google FLoC
May 18, 2021Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: AMP pages no longer get preferential treatment in Google search
Aug 31, 2021Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics
Oct 2021Milestone$500k ARR reached
Nov 05, 2021Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: We bootstrapped our open source Google Analytics alternative to $500k ARR
Jan 2022OtherInterest rises after Austrian DPA ruling
Apr 2022ProductGoogle Analytics import tool
Jun 02, 2022Milestone$1M ARR reached
Jun 24, 2022Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: How We built a $1M ARR open source SaaS
Aug 24, 2022Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: How to pay your rent with your open source project (2020)
Mar 12, 2023Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: Lessons from building Plausible Analytics to $1.2M ARR in public
Jul 12, 2023ReleaseRelease v2.0.0
Jan 2024MilestoneFifth anniversary
Jul 08, 2024Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: Plausible Analytics: GDPR Compliance w/o Cookie Consent Banner
Jul 10, 2024Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: Plausible Community Edition
Oct 28, 2024Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: Every number in Google Analytics is wrong
Mar 24, 2025Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: Millions are visiting the European Alternatives site. What trends are we seeing?
Apr 11, 2025ReleaseRelease v3.0.0
May 27, 2025Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: Google Analytics counts bots as real traffic [New Test]
late January 2026ProductHomepage simplification
Apr 2026MilestoneRecord month for new paying subscribers
May 13, 2026Hacker NewsOn Hacker News: Simplifying our homepage helped increase trial signups by 84%
May 15, 2026ReleaseRelease v3.2.1

Growth episodes

Periods where stars grew much faster than the project's usual pace, and what was publicly happening at the time.
Sep 03, 2019 – Sep 09, 2019+61 stars

Sharp star growth, Sep 2019

+61 stars in 7 day(s); peak day Sep 03 with +21. Afterwards (days 31–90) the project averaged 0.4 stars/day, up from almost none before. No high-confidence public event found.

No high-confidence public event found.
Apr 08, 2020 – Apr 20, 2020+315 stars

Sharp star growth, Apr 2020

+315 stars in 13 day(s); peak day Apr 09 with +76. Afterwards (days 31–90) it averaged 11.1 stars/day, which stayed well above the 0.6/day before the episode. 1 public event(s) observed within this window (timing only).

Observed near this period
Observed near this period (timing only)
Jun 18, 2020 – Jun 19, 2020+128 stars

Elevated star growth, Jun 2020

+128 stars in 2 day(s); peak day Jun 18 with +89. Afterwards (days 31–90) it averaged 20.1 stars/day, which stayed well above the 6.2/day before the episode. No high-confidence public event found.

No high-confidence public event found.
Jul 27, 2020 – Jul 29, 2020+133 stars

Elevated star growth, Jul 2020

+133 stars in 3 day(s); peak day Jul 27 with +66. Afterwards (days 31–90) it averaged 23.6 stars/day, which stayed well above the 12.3/day before the episode. 1 public event(s) observed within this window (timing only).

Observed near this period
Observed near this period (timing only)
Aug 04, 2020 – Aug 05, 2020+297 stars

Elevated star growth, Aug 2020

+297 stars in 2 day(s); peak day Aug 04 with +155. Afterwards (days 31–90) it averaged 23.6 stars/day, which returned close to the 18.8/day before the episode. No high-confidence public event found.

No high-confidence public event found.
Oct 06, 2020 – Oct 15, 2020+910 stars

Sharp star growth, Oct 2020

+910 stars in 10 day(s); peak day Oct 07 with +319. Afterwards (days 31–90) it averaged 10.9 stars/day, which returned close to the 8.3/day before the episode. 4 public event(s) observed within this window (timing only).

Observed near this period
Observed near this period (timing only)
Mar 07, 2021 – Mar 10, 2021+947 stars

Sharp star growth, Mar 2021

+947 stars in 4 day(s); peak day Mar 07 with +399. Afterwards (days 31–90) it averaged 10.9 stars/day, which returned close to the 13.6/day before the episode. 1 public event(s) observed within this window (timing only).

Observed near this period
Observed near this period (timing only)
May 16, 2026 – Jun 05, 2026+2K stars

Sharp star growth, May 2026

+1,990 stars in 21 day(s); peak day May 17 with +564. Afterwards (days 31–90) it averaged 22.9 stars/day, which stayed well above the 9.7/day before the episode. 2 public event(s) observed within this window (timing only).

Observed near this period
Observed near this period (timing only)

Launches compared

Related launch events grouped into launch episodes, with stars the day before and the change afterwards. Changes are observed after each launch; they are not proof that the launch caused them.
WhenLaunch episodeStars before+24h+7 days+30 days+90 days
Feb 17, 2019 Hacker News attention, Feb 2019
not public yet ————
Apr 08, 2020 Hacker News attention, Apr 2020
181 +147+261+472+1.1K
Jul 27, 2020 Hacker News attention, Jul 2020
1.5K +104+241+862+2.3K
Oct 05, 2020 – Oct 06, 2020 Hacker News launch, Oct 2020
2.7K +183+795+1.2K+1.8K
Oct 13, 2020 – Oct 14, 2020 Hacker News attention, Oct 2020
3.5K +98+199+453+1.1K
Dec 17, 2020 Hacker News attention, Dec 2020
4.3K +64+137+431+2.1K
Mar 07, 2021 Hacker News attention, Mar 2021
5.3K +522+1K+1.3K+2K
Apr 16, 2021 Hacker News attention, Apr 2021
6.8K +23+96+377+873
May 18, 2021 Hacker News attention, May 2021
7.2K +21+87+248+674
Aug 31, 2021 Hacker News attention, Aug 2021
8K +26+88+316+839
Nov 05, 2021 Hacker News attention, Nov 2021
8.6K +24+80+263+935
Jun 24, 2022 Hacker News attention, Jun 2022
11K +80+164+379+1K
Aug 24, 2022 Hacker News attention, Aug 2022
12K +29+84+324+847
Mar 12, 2023 Hacker News attention, Mar 2023
14K +15+70+285+899
Jul 08, 2024 – Jul 10, 2024 Hacker News attention, Jul 2024
19K +32+119+324+972
Mar 24, 2025 Hacker News attention, Mar 2025
21K +28+86+377+930

Each row's "state before" and outcome details are in the evidence drawer. Comparing rows shows how the project's situation and response differed between launches.

Feb 17, 2019 · Hacker News attention, Feb 2019

1 related public event(s): hacker news post. State before: About 0 stars the day before; repository 75 days old; first launch episode Pigtail found.

Stars went from 0 the day before to 0 (+24h: +0, +48h: +0, +7d: +0, +30d: +0, +90d: +0). Observed after the launch; not proof that the launch caused the change.

Apr 08, 2020 · Hacker News attention, Apr 2020

1 related public event(s): hacker news post. State before: About 181 stars the day before; repository 491 days old; 1 earlier launch episode(s).

The April 2020 anti-Google-Analytics post produced record traffic and signups: 62.8k visitors in April and 272 signups, plus 166 trials in its first week, more than the prior four months combined.

Stars went from 181 the day before to 1,232 (+24h: +147, +48h: +210, +7d: +261, +30d: +472, +90d: +1,051). Observed after the launch; not proof that the launch caused the change.

Jul 27, 2020 · Hacker News attention, Jul 2020

1 related public event(s): hacker news post. State before: About 1,500 stars the day before; repository 601 days old; 2 earlier launch episode(s).

Stars went from 1,500 the day before to 3,826 (+24h: +104, +48h: +133, +7d: +241, +30d: +862, +90d: +2,326). Observed after the launch; not proof that the launch caused the change.

Oct 05, 2020 – Oct 06, 2020 · Hacker News launch, Oct 2020

2 related public event(s): release, show hn. State before: About 2,743 stars the day before; repository 671 days old; 3 earlier launch episode(s).

Stars went from 2,743 the day before to 4,510 (+24h: +183, +48h: +502, +7d: +795, +30d: +1,188, +90d: +1,767). Observed after the launch; not proof that the launch caused the change.

Oct 13, 2020 – Oct 14, 2020 · Hacker News attention, Oct 2020

2 related public event(s): hacker news post, release. State before: About 3,538 stars the day before; repository 679 days old; 4 earlier launch episode(s).

Stars went from 3,538 the day before to 4,628 (+24h: +98, +48h: +123, +7d: +199, +30d: +453, +90d: +1,090). Observed after the launch; not proof that the launch caused the change.

Dec 17, 2020 · Hacker News attention, Dec 2020

1 related public event(s): hacker news post. State before: About 4,260 stars the day before; repository 2.0 years old; 5 earlier launch episode(s).

Stars went from 4,260 the day before to 6,387 (+24h: +64, +48h: +77, +7d: +137, +30d: +431, +90d: +2,127). Observed after the launch; not proof that the launch caused the change.

Mar 07, 2021 · Hacker News attention, Mar 2021

1 related public event(s): hacker news post. State before: About 5,334 stars the day before; repository 2.3 years old; 6 earlier launch episode(s).

Stars went from 5,334 the day before to 7,356 (+24h: +522, +48h: +888, +7d: +1,014, +30d: +1,323, +90d: +2,022). Observed after the launch; not proof that the launch caused the change.

Apr 16, 2021 · Hacker News attention, Apr 2021

1 related public event(s): hacker news post. State before: About 6,794 stars the day before; repository 2.4 years old; 7 earlier launch episode(s).

Stars went from 6,794 the day before to 7,667 (+24h: +23, +48h: +34, +7d: +96, +30d: +377, +90d: +873). Observed after the launch; not proof that the launch caused the change.

May 18, 2021 · Hacker News attention, May 2021

1 related public event(s): hacker news post. State before: About 7,187 stars the day before; repository 2.5 years old; 8 earlier launch episode(s).

Stars went from 7,187 the day before to 7,861 (+24h: +21, +48h: +27, +7d: +87, +30d: +248, +90d: +674). Observed after the launch; not proof that the launch caused the change.

Aug 31, 2021 · Hacker News attention, Aug 2021

1 related public event(s): hacker news post. State before: About 7,981 stars the day before; repository 2.7 years old; 9 earlier launch episode(s).

Stars went from 7,981 the day before to 8,820 (+24h: +26, +48h: +39, +7d: +88, +30d: +316, +90d: +839). Observed after the launch; not proof that the launch caused the change.

Nov 05, 2021 · Hacker News attention, Nov 2021

1 related public event(s): hacker news post. State before: About 8,589 stars the day before; repository 2.9 years old; 10 earlier launch episode(s).

Stars went from 8,589 the day before to 9,524 (+24h: +24, +48h: +36, +7d: +80, +30d: +263, +90d: +935). Observed after the launch; not proof that the launch caused the change.

Jun 24, 2022 · Hacker News attention, Jun 2022

1 related public event(s): hacker news post. State before: About 10,937 stars the day before; repository 3.6 years old; 11 earlier launch episode(s).

Stars went from 10,937 the day before to 11,970 (+24h: +80, +48h: +94, +7d: +164, +30d: +379, +90d: +1,033). Observed after the launch; not proof that the launch caused the change.

Aug 24, 2022 · Hacker News attention, Aug 2022

1 related public event(s): hacker news post. State before: About 11,660 stars the day before; repository 3.7 years old; 12 earlier launch episode(s).

Stars went from 11,660 the day before to 12,507 (+24h: +29, +48h: +41, +7d: +84, +30d: +324, +90d: +847). Observed after the launch; not proof that the launch caused the change.

Mar 12, 2023 · Hacker News attention, Mar 2023

1 related public event(s): hacker news post. State before: About 13,567 stars the day before; repository 4.3 years old; 13 earlier launch episode(s).

Stars went from 13,567 the day before to 14,466 (+24h: +15, +48h: +23, +7d: +70, +30d: +285, +90d: +899). Observed after the launch; not proof that the launch caused the change.

Jul 08, 2024 – Jul 10, 2024 · Hacker News attention, Jul 2024

2 related public event(s): hacker news post. State before: About 18,512 stars the day before; repository 5.6 years old; 14 earlier launch episode(s).

Stars went from 18,512 the day before to 19,484 (+24h: +32, +48h: +52, +7d: +119, +30d: +324, +90d: +972). Observed after the launch; not proof that the launch caused the change.

Mar 24, 2025 · Hacker News attention, Mar 2025

1 related public event(s): hacker news post. State before: About 21,416 stars the day before; repository 6.3 years old; 15 earlier launch episode(s).

Stars went from 21,416 the day before to 22,346 (+24h: +28, +48h: +45, +7d: +86, +30d: +377, +90d: +930). Observed after the launch; not proof that the launch caused the change.

Origin and first users

Why it was built and how the earliest users were found, as far as public sources show.
Origin

Uku Täht began building Plausible around December 2018. While working on a startup, he was asked to install Google Analytics. He did not trust it, and he found existing alternatives such as Simple Analytics and Fathom too barebones. He set out to build a simpler Google Analytics alternative with better privacy, offering '80% of the benefit with 20% of the complexity'. He planned never to store IP addresses or sell data, and considered open-sourcing the code so people could verify those claims.

First users

Before writing much code, Uku published a blog post describing the tool he wanted and recruited beta users through Twitter and email. About 20–30 people showed interest. The beta was announced on Twitter and Indie Hackers, not through a big launch; sources place it in January or February 2019. All early users came from these build-in-public updates, and early users were mostly developers and personal bloggers. Paid plans opened in May 2019 to about 60 beta users, who got a third off. That month ended at $64 MRR.

Growth timeline

Every event Pigtail reconstructed. Click one to see the claims and sources behind it.
Select an event to see what happened, how sure the evidence is, and the original sources.

Historical metrics

Numbers reported in public sources. They give context; they do not prove that any one tactic caused growth. Figures are as reported and not independently audited.
MRR
Paying subscribers
MRR company reported
May 2019$64
May 2019$47.34
Jun 2019$67.91
Jan 2020$355
Feb 2020$403
Mar 2020$415
May 2020$1.1K
Jun 2020$1.9K
Jul 2020$2.8K
Aug 2020$4.1K
Sep 2020$5.3K
Oct 2020$6.2K
Apr 2021$20K
Oct 2021$43K
Jun 02, 2022$84K
ARR company reported
Oct 2021$500K
Jun 02, 2022$1M
Paying subscribers company reported
Jul 2020400 subscribers
Aug 2020600 subscribers
Sep 2020800 subscribers
Oct 20201K subscribers
Apr 20212K subscribers
Jun 02, 20227K subscribers
Monthly website visitors company reported
Apr 202063K visitors
Monthly trial signups company reported
Apr 2020272 signups
Jul 2020617 signups
Jan 20262.4K signups
Apr 20264.5K signups
New paying subscribers company reported
Feb 2026652 subscribers
Apr 20261.2K subscribers
Websites installed on company reported
Nov 20207.7K websites
Websites using Plausible (BuiltWith) third-party reported
As of June 2025503K websites
Total pageviews tracked third-party reported
As of June 2025173000M pageviews

Growth engines

Mechanisms that repeatedly created or compounded growth. These are Pigtail's interpretation of the cited claims.
active · Mar 2020

Content-driven organic search

Blog and product content ranks in Google and drives most trial signups.

How it works: Educational and comparison posts attract searchers already looking for a Google Analytics alternative.

active

Word of mouth from users and open-source visibility

Customers and open-source users recommend Plausible, with no paid acquisition.

How it works: Being open source and value-aligned leads people to write about and recommend the product.

unknown · Apr 2020

Recurring Hacker News front-page spikes

Repeated HN front-page appearances bring traffic, trials and GitHub stars.

How it works: Opinionated posts and open-source announcements hit HN, then spill over to GitHub Trending.

Reusable tactics

Concrete actions another team could understand and adapt, with where and when this project used them.

Opinionated anti-incumbent essay seeded to developer communities

Write a long post arguing against the dominant tool and share it on Hacker News, Reddit, Lobsters, Indie Hackers, Twitter and Mastodon.

Mechanism: It reaches audiences already skeptical of the incumbent, and front-page placement brings concentrated traffic and trials.

April 8, 2020: Published 'Why you should stop using Google Analytics on your website' (~2,500 words) and shared it widely. It reached the top of Hacker News. Reported first-day visitors vary by source: 25,000+, about 30,000, and 50,000+ over a few days.

July 27, 2020: Published an article on paying rent with an open source project, which hit the Hacker News front page.

Needs: A clear position against a widely used incumbent
Documented

Position the homepage as 'the alternative to X'

Rewrite the homepage headline to name the incumbent and compare against it directly.

Mechanism: Visitors immediately understand what the product replaces, which suits searchers already looking for an alternative.

April 2020: Changed the headline from 'Simple analytics for your website' to 'Simple and privacy-friendly alternative to Google Analytics'.

Documented

Homepage simplification for trial conversion

Move the feature grid up, cut prose, sharpen CTA labels and use credible testimonials.

Mechanism: Reduces friction for non-logged-in visitors arriving on the homepage.

late January 2026: Over a few days, moved the feature grid after the hero section and cut prose from six sections to three. Changed CTAs to 'Start free trial' and 'View live demo', and added a testimonial from the Hugging Face CEO.

Needs: Homepage is a major entry page
Documented

Social listening for incumbent complaints

Monitor Twitter, HN and Reddit for people complaining about the incumbent and engage with them.

Mechanism: Reaches pre-qualified people at the moment of frustration.

from May 18, 2020: Used TweetDeck search (first tweet May 18) and F5Bot. Twitter became the second-highest traffic source at 10K.

Documented

No-card free trial with live public demo

Offer a 30-day trial without a credit card and place a live demo dashboard at the top of the homepage.

Mechanism: Lets prospects evaluate without registration or sales calls.

2020: 30-day no-card trial with a live demo on the homepage. April and May 2020 cohorts converted at 33.5%.

Documented

Open-source the code to make privacy claims verifiable

Publish the full codebase so privacy-sensitive buyers can inspect it.

Mechanism: Builds trust in a privacy niche and leads people to write about and recommend the product.

September 2019: Open-sourced all code, including billing, under MIT in September 2019.

Documented

Copyleft relicensing against resellers

Switch from a permissive license to AGPL while keeping the cloud and self-hosted offerings intact.

Mechanism: Stops corporations from building proprietary resale offerings without contributing back. The company says this supports sustainability.

October 2020: Relicensed from MIT to AGPL; the announcement went viral on Hacker News.

Needs: Corporate interest in reselling the code
Documented

Migration tool timed to an incumbent's sunset

Build an importer from the incumbent ahead of a forced migration deadline.

Mechanism: Lowers switching cost exactly when users have to move anyway.

April 2022: Introduced a Google Analytics import tool in April 2022, ahead of the Universal Analytics sunset on 1 July 2023.

Needs: A known deprecation of the incumbent product
Documented

Comparison and educational content for search

Publish 'vs.' pages against competitors and educational guides alongside feature releases.

Mechanism: Captures search traffic from people evaluating alternatives.

Date unknown: Published comparison posts against Google Analytics and Matomo, plus guides on UTM tags, 404 tracking and outbound link tracking.

Documented

Self-hunted Product Hunt launch without prep

Launch on Product Hunt without pre-announcing or soliciting upvotes; promote through your own channels and an in-app badge.

Mechanism: Relies on existing customers and followers for upvotes.

August 2020: Marko ran the August 2020 launch. It finished #2 of the day.

Needs: An existing audience
Documented

How the strategy changed

Growth approach over time (strategy phases), shown separately from the business's situation (company stages).
Strategy phases
  1. later yearsOpen core and conversion refinement

    Plausible kept premium features cloud-only, renamed the self-hosted release to Community Edition and introduced a Business plan. In 2026 it simplified its homepage to improve trial conversion.

  2. 2018 – early 2020Build in public and niche communities

    Uku shared progress on a blog, Twitter and Indie Hackers. All early users came from these build-in-public updates. For about a year, blog posts, outreach and HN posts brought only minor success.

  3. Mar 2020 – 2021Content marketing and positioning against Google Analytics

    After Marko joined, Plausible repositioned itself as an explicit Google Analytics alternative. It published blog posts weekly or more often. Several posts reached the Hacker News front page, and Google search became the top source of trial signups.

  4. Jun – Oct 2020Open-source self-hosting and copyleft relicensing

    Plausible released a Docker self-hosted beta in June 2020 and v1 in October 2020. In October 2020 it moved from MIT to AGPL to stop corporations reselling its code. Both announcements topped Hacker News.

  5. 2022 – 2023Capturing regulatory and incumbent-change demand

    Plausible saw increased interest after the Austrian DPA ruling against Google Analytics. It shipped a Google Analytics import tool, and launched funnels and revenue goals timed to the Universal Analytics sunset.

Company stages
  1. Dec 2018 – May 2019Solo-founder side project, free beta

    Uku Täht started Plausible alone in December 2018 as a simpler, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative. He ran a free beta with no subscriptions for about five months. Sources disagree on the beta date: one says January 2019 on Indie Hackers, another says February.

  2. May 2019 – Mar 2020Solo, paid but low MRR

    Paid subscriptions launched in May 2019 with 60 beta users, ending that month at $64 MRR. It took 324 days to reach $400 MRR. Plausible's monthly recaps report that revenue was flat in January 2020 because of higher-than-normal cancellations, and that about 25% of revenue went to transaction fees. Sources disagree on the customer count when co-founder Marko Saric joined in 2020: about 100, a couple hundred, or a few hundred.

  3. 2021 – mid 2022Profitable small team scaling ARR

    Plausible was a profitable two-person team in 2021 and declined VC approaches. It reached $500k ARR ($42,624 MRR) in October 2021 and $1M ARR on 2 June 2022 with 7,000+ subscribers. The team grew to four.

  4. 2022 – presentEstablished independent, profitable company

    Plausible remains self-funded and profitable, with a team of 8 to 10. Reported subscriber counts rose over time: 12,000+, then more than 15,000, then more than 21,000. It says it multiplied its $1M ARR several times in the following three years. It has turned down investment offers.

What Plausible did differently

Higher-level interpretation, separate from the factual record above.

Several choices stand out. Plausible positioned itself directly as 'the alternative to Google Analytics', which the company says started its growth. It made cookie-free tracking the default, so customers do not need consent banners. It refused paid advertising, affiliate programs and sales calls, even when some publishers declined to list it for having no affiliate program. It published traffic and revenue numbers openly. It relicensed from MIT to AGPL in 2020 after larger companies sought to resell its self-hosted version, and later moved some premium features to the cloud-only offering. Whether these choices drove growth more than broader privacy trends is not settled; Marko Saric also credits the general privacy trend.

Moderate inference

Reversals and constraints

Documented changes of course and limits that shaped growth.
Paid subscriptions launchedMay 2019 · Plausible launched paid subscriptions in May 2019 with 60 beta users; the first paying subscriber arrived on May 14, 2019. Plans were billed by traffic starting at $6/mo.
Plausible open-sourced under MIT licenseSeptember 2019 · Plausible made all code powering plausible.io available on GitHub under the MIT license in September 2019.
Annual plans at 33% discountApril 2020 · Plausible released annual plans 33% cheaper than paying monthly in April 2020.
Public pricing tiers for larger sitesJune 2020 · Plausible introduced public tiers from $6/mo for 10k to $150/mo for 10m pageviews, choosing transparent pricing over custom enterprise quotes.
License changed from MIT to AGPLOctober 2020 · Plausible relicensed from MIT to AGPL in October 2020 to prevent corporations from building proprietary products from its code; the company says this helped make it sustainable.
Business plan with premium featuresDate unknown · Plausible introduced a Business plan with funnels and ecommerce revenue as premium features, keeping existing subscribers on current pricing.
Solo-founder capacityA solo founder ruled out freemium because of support costs and initially deferred self-hosting to protect development speed.
Small transactions and churnPlausible's monthly recaps report that small average transactions meant about 25% of revenue went to transaction fees, and that higher-than-normal cancellations left revenue flat in January 2020; two customers who cancelled said they could no longer justify the price.
Database scaling limitsThe PostgreSQL stats engine became sluggish: demo graphs took 6s and larger prospects could not be served.
No paid acquisition tradeoffsPlausible says some publishers declined to include it in posts because it had no affiliate program, and it accepts slower growth and less hype than VC-backed competitors as a tradeoff.
Switching inertia and self-hosted support burdenGetting people to switch from Google Analytics was the biggest challenge. Self-hosted support was later made community-only to prioritize paying customers.

Key takeaways

Lessons supported by the evidence. Historical association is not a guarantee for another product.
A single positioning change and one essay coincided with a sharp change in traction. After 324 days to reach $400 MRR, Plausible got 272 trial signups in April 2020, more than the previous nine months combined. Uku Täht attributes this to the 'stop using Google Analytics' post and the repositioning that accompanied it.Strong inference
Hacker News traffic came in spikes, while search was steadier and converted better. In August 2020, Google organic search had the highest trial conversion rate, at 3.52%. The company calls Google its top source of trials and treats Product Hunt as unsustainable for long-term acquisition.Strong inference
Open source appears to have served as both a trust signal and a distribution channel in a privacy niche. Self-hosting releases and the license-change announcement drew Hacker News attention and GitHub visitors. However, donations from self-hosted users stayed small, at six $5 donations in about six months.Moderate inference
Plausible built product features around changes at the incumbent, such as a Google Analytics import tool and funnels timed to the Universal Analytics sunset. March 2022, the month Google announced the sunset, was Plausible's best month for net MRR growth up to then. Interest also rose after the Austrian DPA ruling against Google Analytics.Moderate inference
Conversion work still mattered late in the company's life. According to the company, a few days of homepage edits in January 2026 were followed by an 84% rise in trial signups from non-logged-in visitors by April 2026, while traffic rose about 2%. The company reports that April 2026 was its best month for new paying subscribers.Summarized from cited sources
Bootstrapping meant slower early economics: the company says January 2021 was the first month revenue covered its costs, and it acknowledges slower growth than VC-backed rivals as a tradeoff.Summarized from cited sources

Research gaps and uncertainty

What Pigtail could not establish. Unknown is a valid answer.
Conflicting sources
Beta/first version timing differs: January 2019 on Indie Hackers vs February vs summer 2019.
  • Plausible launched its public beta on Indie Hackers in January 2019, and all early users came from build-in-public updates.
  • Plausible's first beta version was released in January 2019.
  • Plausible launched its public beta in February.
  • Uku released the first version of Plausible in summer 2019.
  • The first version of Plausible was released in summer 2019.
May 2019 MRR reported as $64 vs $47.34.
  • Plausible launched paid subscriptions in May 2019 with 60 beta users, ending the month at $64 MRR.
  • Plausible's monthly recurring revenue was $47.34 in May 2019.
Product Hunt results differ: 2,560 visitors/36 trials vs 1,000+ visitors/15 trials vs 2.8k visitors/50 signups; weekly rank #7 vs #5.
  • Almost a week after launch, Product Hunt had sent Plausible 2,560 unique visitors and 36 trial signups, with 850+ upvotes.
  • Plausible finished #7 of the week on Product Hunt and was featured in the daily and weekly newsletters.
  • Plausible's Product Hunt launch in August 2020 brought 1,000+ visitors and 15 trial signups.
  • Product Hunt drove 2.8k unique visitors and 50 accountable signups to Plausible.
  • Plausible ranked #2 of the day and #5 of the week on Product Hunt.
ClickHouse migration dated June 2020 vs starting early May 2020.
  • Plausible moved from PostgreSQL to ClickHouse in June 2020.
  • Plausible migrated from PostgreSQL to Clickhouse starting in early May 2020, cutting dashboard graph load from 5-6s to about 500ms.
Customers when Marko Saric joined in early 2020: a couple hundred or a few hundred vs about 100.
  • When Saric joined in March 2020, Plausible had a couple hundred customers and about $400 MRR.
  • In 2020 Plausible had a few hundred paying customers when Marko Saric joined to handle marketing and communications.
  • About 14 months in, Plausible had about 100 subscribers and $400 MRR, with Uku working alone.
April 2020 viral post traffic: 25,000+ visitors in a day vs roughly 30,000 in a day.
  • Plausible's April 2020 post against Google Analytics hit the top of Hacker News and brought 25,000+ visitors in a day.
  • Plausible's first blog post in the first week of April 2020 drove roughly 30,000 visitors in one day, the biggest traffic spike.
Entry price stated as $6/month vs $4/month.
  • Plausible's smallest plan cost $6 per month for up to 10k pageviews.
  • Plausible uses a subscription business model with a free trial, with plans starting at $4/month.
Sources report different values for MRR around 2019-05: 47.34, 64. Pigtail keeps both and does not average them.
  • Plausible launched paid subscriptions in May 2019 with 60 beta users, ending the month at $64 MRR.
  • Plausible's monthly recurring revenue was $47.34 in May 2019.

Evidence and sources

Every source Pigtail used or tried. Pigtail stores links, metadata and at most a short excerpt — not copies of pages.
[1] How we built a $1M ARR open source SaaS plausible.io · first party · Jun 01, 2022 · 20 claims [2] Building Plausible: June 2019 recap plausible.io · first party · Jul 01, 2019 · 11 claims [3] Building Plausible: January 2020 recap plausible.io · first party · Feb 01, 2020 · 9 claims [4] Building Plausible: February 2020 recap plausible.io · first party · Mar 01, 2020 · 12 claims [5] Building Plausible: March 2020 recap plausible.io · first party · Apr 01, 2020 · 10 claims [6] Plausible Analytics story on the Changelog podcast plausible.io · founder interview · Jun 03, 2020 · 18 claims [7] Building Plausible: May 2020 recap plausible.io · first party · Jun 01, 2020 · 11 claims [8] Building Plausible: June 2020 recap plausible.io · first party · Jul 01, 2020 · 13 claims [9] Building Plausible: July 2020 recap plausible.io · first party · Aug 01, 2020 · 13 claims [10] How we grew our startup from $400 to $2,750 MRR in 135 days without ads plausible.io · first party · Jul 31, 2020 · 18 claims [11] Building Plausible: August 2020 recap plausible.io · first party · Sep 01, 2020 · 11 claims [12] Building Plausible: September 2020 recap plausible.io · first party · Oct 01, 2020 · 10 claims [13] Building Plausible: October 2020 recap plausible.io · first party · Nov 01, 2020 · 9 claims [14] Why Open-Source Matters for Digital Democracy? Interview with Plausible Analytics lifestyledemocracy.com · founder interview · Jul 20, 2023 · 16 claims [15] Plausible Analytics - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org · third party analysis · 12 claims [16] Building Plausible: April 2020 recap plausible.io · first party · May 01, 2020 · 12 claims [17] How simplifying our homepage helped increase trial signups by 84% plausible.io · first party · May 12, 2026 · 15 claims [18] #2 Plausible Interview | The Craft of Open Source - Craft of Open Source Podcast | Flagsmith flagsmith.com · founder interview · Dec 01, 2020 · 20 claims [19] What we learned on our journey to $10,000 MRR plausible.io · first party · Jan 28, 2021 · 16 claims [20] About plausible.io · first party · 13 claims [21] GitHub API: plausible/analytics api.github.com · repository api · 2 claims [22] How Plausible bootstrapped to $500k ARR through community riseofcommunity.substack.com · founder interview · Nov 09, 2021 · 15 claims [23] I’m launching Plausible plausible.io · first party · Apr 29, 2019 · 10 claims [24] Plausible Co-founder Interview saasstarterstack.com · founder interview · 13 claims [25] You probably don't need a single-page app news.ycombinator.com · hn story · Feb 17, 2019 · 1 claim [26] How we bootstrapped our Google Analytics alternative to $500k ARR plausible.io · first party · Oct 25, 2021 · 14 claims [27] You probably don't need a single page app news.ycombinator.com · hn story · Jul 08, 2019 · 1 claim [28] Plausible Analytics Self-Hosted Beta: Looking for beta testers plausible.io · first party · Jun 12, 2020 · 8 claims [29] Plausible is going open source plausible.io · first party · Sep 02, 2019 · 8 claims [30] How we scaled support for 4,000+ subscribers and 1,000+ monthly trials (without dedicated support personnel) plausible.io · first party · Aug 05, 2021 · 14 claims [31] How one blog post changed the traction for my startup plausible.io · first party · Apr 17, 2020 · 15 claims [32] An alternative to using Google Analytics on your website news.ycombinator.com · hn story · Apr 08, 2020 · 1 claim [33] How to pay your rent with your open source project news.ycombinator.com · hn story · Jul 27, 2020 · 1 claim [34] How not to launch on Product Hunt (and lessons from our successful launch) plausible.io · first party · Sep 02, 2020 · 12 claims [35] Introducing Plausible Community Edition plausible.io · first party · Feb 23, 2024 · 13 claims [36] plausible/analytics releases on GitHub github.com · release list · 6 claims [37] Show HN: Plausible – Self-Hosted Google Analytics alternative news.ycombinator.com · hn story · Oct 06, 2020 · 1 claim · Title and metadata only; page not read [38] Why we’re changing to the AGPL license news.ycombinator.com · hn story · Oct 13, 2020 · 1 claim [39] Lessons from building and growing an open source SaaS news.ycombinator.com · hn story · Dec 17, 2020 · 1 claim [40] Going Against Google Analytics With Plausible's Co-Founder [Interview] itsfoss.com · founder interview · Apr 11, 2021 · 12 claims [41] Simple and privacy-friendly alternative to Google Analytic news.ycombinator.com · hn story · Mar 07, 2021 · 1 claim [42] How to fight back against Google FLoC news.ycombinator.com · hn story · Apr 16, 2021 · 1 claim [43] AMP pages no longer get preferential treatment in Google search news.ycombinator.com · hn story · May 18, 2021 · 1 claim [44] Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics news.ycombinator.com · hn story · Aug 31, 2021 · 1 claim [45] We bootstrapped our open source Google Analytics alternative to $500k ARR news.ycombinator.com · hn story · Nov 05, 2021 · 1 claim [46] What’s New plausible.io · first party · 15 claims [47] How We built a $1M ARR open source SaaS news.ycombinator.com · hn story · Jun 24, 2022 · 1 claim [48] How to pay your rent with your open source project (2020) news.ycombinator.com · hn story · Aug 24, 2022 · 1 claim [49] Lessons from building Plausible Analytics to $1.2M ARR in public news.ycombinator.com · hn story · Mar 12, 2023 · 1 claim [50] Plausible Analytics: GDPR Compliance w/o Cookie Consent Banner news.ycombinator.com · hn story · Jul 08, 2024 · 1 claim [51] Plausible Community Edition news.ycombinator.com · hn story · Jul 10, 2024 · 1 claim [52] Every number in Google Analytics is wrong news.ycombinator.com · hn story · Oct 28, 2024 · 1 claim [53] Millions are visiting the European Alternatives site. What trends are we seeing? news.ycombinator.com · hn story · Mar 24, 2025 · 1 claim [54] Google Analytics counts bots as real traffic [New Test] news.ycombinator.com · hn story · May 27, 2025 · 1 claim [55] Simplifying our homepage helped increase trial signups by 84% news.ycombinator.com · hn story · May 13, 2026 · 1 claim [56] GitHub star history: plausible/analytics api.github.com · star history api · 9 claims [57] Why choose Plausible for an open source alternative to Google Analytics opensource.com · third party analysis · Feb 01, 2021 · 15 claims [58] Meet Marko Saric, Co-founder of Privacy-friendly Plausible Analytics docs.opensaas.sh · founder interview · Feb 27, 2025 · 15 claims [59] Why you should stop using Google Analytics on your website plausible.io · first party · Apr 08, 2020 · 9 claims [60] Made in the EU, hosted in Germany and running on 100% renewable energy plausible.io · first party · Jul 22, 2020 · 9 claims [61] 15 best startup marketing practices we say “no” to (while growing our MRR by 1000% in 6 months) plausible.io · first party · Sep 15, 2020 · 11 claims [62] The boring way to build a startup plausible.io · first party · Apr 29, 2026 · 13 claims [63] Lessons from building and growing an open source SaaS plausible.io · first party · Dec 17, 2020 · 10 claims [64] Open source licensing and why we’re changing Plausible to the AGPL license plausible.io · first party · Oct 12, 2020 · 8 claims [65] Plausible - 셀프호스트 가능한 Google Analytics 대체제 | GeekNews news.hada.io · community · Oct 07, 2020 · 5 claims [66] Bootstrapping a privacy-first Google Analytics to $4k/mo failory.com · founder interview · Oct 26, 2020 · 10 claims [67] plausible/analytics README github.com · readme · 11 claims [68] Why we say no to investors and are 100% user-supported? plausible.io · first party · Jan 15, 2026 · 10 claims [69] Technology choices plausible.io · first party · Jan 29, 2019 · 6 claims [70] The analytics tool I want plausible.io · first party · Dec 20, 2018 · 7 claims [71] How to pay your rent with your open source project plausible.io · first party · Jun 18, 2020 · 4 claims [72] What’s a marketing funnel and how to use it to optimize your website conversions plausible.io · first party · May 15, 2024 · 8 claims