A Plausible Analytics alternative that shows which traffic pays

Last checked: 22 October 2026. Competitor facts come from Plausible's own pages on that date and can change; the sources are listed at the end. See all comparisons.

Both tools are simple, lightweight and cookieless by default. The difference is how revenue gets into your dashboard, which plan you need for it, and how subscription payments are handled.

What's the same#

Simple dashboard, lightweight script#

Both are built for people who want a clear dashboard, not a reporting project. You add one script tag to your site and see sources, pages, campaigns, countries and devices. Both support goals, funnels and realtime visitors.

If you picked Plausible because it was easy to read, you'll find the same idea here. As one Hacker News user put it after switching away from Google Analytics: "I suddenly understand every single metric in my analytics tool" (phlsa, HN).

Cookieless by default (both). Consent depends on your setup#

Neither tool sets a visitor cookie by default. This is parity, not an advantage.

traffic.cx's default tracker uses a daily visitor identifier. The secret behind it changes every day and is deleted after 48 hours (privacy notice). An optional cookie mode exists for longer visitor journeys.

Whether you need consent depends on your setup and the rules that apply to you. Revenue attribution links payments to visits, which goes further than counting pageviews, so check with your adviser. traffic.cx offers a Data Processing Agreement with Standard Contractual Clauses and a public sub-processor list.

Where traffic.cx is different#

Revenue from your payment provider, not from code you write#

In Plausible, revenue is a custom event with an amount. Your site sends it, usually from a thank-you page, using a CSS class, a JavaScript call or the Events API (Plausible docs). That works well when the amount is on the page.

In traffic.cx, you connect Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, Polar or Dodo Payments in Settings → Revenue. Payments arrive from the provider through webhooks and a regular sync. Your checkout code passes one extra value, the pageview ID, so each payment can be matched to its visit (how it works).

Because the payment comes from the provider, the amount is what was actually paid. A failed card or abandoned checkout doesn't show up as revenue.

Renewals keep their original source; refunds are netted#

Subscriptions earn money long after the first visit. In traffic.cx, a renewal for a known customer inherits the attribution of that customer's first payment. A customer who first came from a newsletter keeps crediting the newsletter each month.

Refunds are subtracted on the day they happen and credited to the payment they refund. Revenue in traffic.cx is always payments minus refunds (definitions).

Plausible's revenue docs don't describe renewal or refund handling as of 22 October 2026.

Payments that can't be matched show as Unattributed#

Some payments will never link to a visit: an ad blocker stopped the tracker, the checkout ran before the tracker loaded, or the buyer came back on another device. traffic.cx keeps those payments in your totals and labels them "Unattributed". It doesn't hand them to a guessed source.

That means your revenue total matches what your provider received, and you can see how big the gap is. The UTM guide has a checklist for shrinking it.

Two attribution models and a 7–365 day lookback#

The Revenue page has a toggle:

• Last non-direct (default): the latest visit before the payment that didn't come straight in. A visitor who returns by typing your address doesn't erase the campaign that found them.
• First touch: the earliest visit in the lookback window.

The lookback window is 90 days by default and can be set from 7 to 365 days. For how the two models differ, see Revenue attribution for SaaS.

One honest caveat. In the default cookieless mode, a pageview ID links a payment to the visit where checkout started. Visitor IDs rotate daily, so traffic.cx can't connect a purchase to a campaign visit on an earlier day. Longer windows only come into play when there's a way to link those visits: the optional cookie mode (same browser only), or an earlier payment from the same customer. Nothing links a different device. See cookieless mode versus cookie mode.

Unlimited sites and team members on every paid plan#

Every paid traffic.cx plan includes unlimited sites and team members, with roles. Price depends only on monthly events, shared across your sites (pricing). The trial excludes team invitations and API keys. Plausible limits sites and team members by tier: 1 site on Starter, up to 3 sites and 3 members on Growth, up to 10 of each on Business, as of 22 October 2026 (plausible.io).

Where Plausible is the better choice#

Plausible is a mature, well-built product. Pick it over traffic.cx if any of these matter more to you than revenue sync:

• Open source and self-hosting. Plausible's code is public, and the Community Edition is free to run on your own server under AGPL. traffic.cx isn't open source and can't be self-hosted. Note that Plausible CE doesn't include ecommerce revenue goals or funnels (Plausible).
• EU hosting. Plausible Cloud keeps site data on EU-owned infrastructure in Germany. traffic.cx stores data on a server in Mumbai, India, with backups in Western Europe. If EU-only hosting is a requirement, Plausible fits and traffic.cx doesn't.
• A longer free trial. Plausible gives you 30 days with no card. traffic.cx gives you 7 days or 10,000 events, whichever comes first. If your first sale usually takes weeks, 30 days shows you more.
• Google Analytics import. Plausible can import your GA history. traffic.cx has no import from Google Analytics or Plausible, so your history starts when you install it.
• Store platforms. Plausible has a WooCommerce plugin and a Shopify guide. traffic.cx has no Shopify or WooCommerce connector.
• Track record. Plausible has been running since 2018 (plausible.io). traffic.cx is newer.

Pricing compared (as of 22 Oct 2026)#

Monthly billing, USD per month.

Sources: traffic.cx pricing; Plausible prices from the plan data on plausible.io (pricing section), as of 22 October 2026.

Notes on units:

• Both tools count pageviews plus custom events toward the volume (Plausible docs).
• A payment received through a traffic.cx provider integration doesn't count as an event. A custom purchase event you also record does count (traffic.cx pricing). In Plausible, each revenue goal is a custom event, so it counts.
• traffic.cx prices include tax. Both tools give two months free on yearly billing.

If you want revenue by source in Plausible, the like-for-like comparison is Business. At 1M events that's $139 against $55, as of 22 October 2026.

How to switch from Plausible#

Run both scripts side by side for a week#

Both are a single script tag, so you can run them together while you compare. The traffic.cx tracker keeps to its own window.trafficcx object and storage keys, so it doesn't clash with Plausible's script. Add the traffic.cx snippet to the same layout that holds your Plausible snippet, then verify the first visit. Compare visitor counts and top sources for a week before deciding.

Connect Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, Polar or Dodo#

In Settings → Revenue, connect your provider. For Stripe, you create a restricted key with read access to Checkout Sessions, Invoices, PaymentIntents and Refunds, plus write access to Webhook Endpoints. traffic.cx creates the webhook and imports the last 90 days of payments (Stripe setup). Those older payments will mostly show as Unattributed, because they have no visit IDs.

Pass the pageview ID into checkout#

When a visitor starts checkout, read the pageview ID in the browser and add it to the checkout's metadata. For Stripe subscriptions, add it to the subscription's metadata too, so renewals carry it. For Payment Links, pass it as client_reference_id with the tcx_ prefix, as the Stripe guide shows. The revenue docs and each provider guide show the code.

Then run a test payment in your provider's test mode and check that it appears with the right source.

What you can't bring over#

traffic.cx has no import from Plausible or Google Analytics. Your traffic history starts on the day you install the script. Keep your Plausible account until you no longer need the old reports, or export them first.

Sources#

traffic.cx facts come from pricing, the home page, how revenue attribution works (updated 14 Oct 2026), the Stripe guide (updated 14 Oct 2026) and the sub-processor list (updated 19 Oct 2026), checked 22 Oct 2026.

Plausible facts come from these pages, as of 22 Oct 2026:

• plausible.io: pricing section, feature lists and "running since 2018"
• Ecommerce revenue tracking (last updated 25 Sep 2026)
• Subscription plans (last updated 29 Sep 2026)
• Billing
• Self-hosted web analytics
• Stripe revenue feature request