Plausible counts visits. GrainQL finds the leak.
Plausible is the right tool when you need to know who came and from where. GrainQL is for signup and checkout flows, where a drop costs money.
14 days free, no card. Runs next to Plausible.
Which one fits you.
Pick Plausible if
You need clean traffic numbers for a content site and nothing more.
- You run a blog, a docs site or a marketing site
- You want open source code or a free self-hosted setup
- You want the smallest script and the lowest bill
Pick GrainQL if
You sell through your site and need to know why visitors leave before they pay.
- A drop in signups or orders costs you real money
- You pay for ads and need to see what the clicks do next
- You have no analyst and no time to dig through charts
What actually differs.
Three situations where the choice shows.
The number is down. Now what.
Signups fell this week. Traffic looks normal. Your co-founder asks what happened and you have a chart, not an answer.
Plausible
Plausible shows the drop clearly, by source, page and device. It reports totals, so the cause is yours to work out.
GrainQL
Neo answers in plain words in about 3 seconds. It names the likely cause and attaches the session recordings that show it.
A funnel step is losing people.
Half your visitors leave at the payment step. You know which step. You do not know what they saw there.
Plausible
Plausible funnels, on the Business plan, show the drop-off at each step. Plausible records no sessions and has no heatmaps, by design.
GrainQL
GrainQL maps every path between start and goal, then opens the recordings and heatmaps for the step that leaks.
You want to track one more button.
Marketing wants to know how many people click the new pricing toggle. The developer is busy until next sprint.
Plausible
Plausible tracks pageviews, forms, outbound links and downloads without code. A custom click needs a code change on your site.
GrainQL
GrainQL has a visual picker. You point at the button on your live site and click to track it, with no deploy.
Row by row.
Checked against Plausible's own site in October 2026.
Finding the cause
Seeing the evidence
Setup and upkeep
Data and ownership
What it costs.
If you only need traffic counts, Plausible costs less, and its self-hosted Community Edition is free.
Plausible
Plausible bills by monthly pageviews, from $9 a month for 10,000 pageviews. Funnels and revenue tracking need the Business plan, from $19 a month.
GrainQL
From $29 a month for 50,000 monthly visitors. Billed by visitors, with unlimited events per visitor. Every feature is on every plan.
See every planWhen Plausible is the better pick.
Fair is fair.
Content sites that only need counts.
For a blog, docs or marketing site, visits and sources are the whole job. Plausible does that job well for less money.
Open source and self-hosting.
Plausible Community Edition is AGPLv3 and free to run on your own server. GrainQL is not open source and self-hosts only for Enterprise.
The lightest footprint.
Plausible's script is about 2.5 KB and it records no sessions at all. If you want to collect as little as possible, that is the better pick.
Try both for two weeks.
The two scripts run on the same page without conflict. Keep Plausible for traffic and add GrainQL where money moves.
- 1
Add the GrainQL tag next to Plausible
Paste one script tag in the head, or add it through GTM. Leave Plausible as it is. Your traffic reports and history stay where they are.
- 2
Ask Neo about your next drop
When a Plausible goal dips, ask Neo why. Check whether the answer and the recordings tell you something the chart did not.
- 3
Decide at the end of the trial
After 14 days, count the fixes Neo led you to. If there are none, stay on Plausible alone. It is the cheaper tool.
Get the side-by-side test plan.
One page on running GrainQL next to Plausible: what to install, what to compare, how to decide.
Questions.
Yes. Both install with one script tag and they do not conflict. You can keep Plausible for traffic reports and use GrainQL on signup and checkout flows.
Keep the counter. Add the analyst.
Add the GrainQL tag next to Plausible and ask Neo about your next drop. The trial is 14 days and needs no credit card.