Mirage Analytics vs Plausible
Two cookieless, privacy-respecting, banner-free tools. The difference is not philosophy — it is scope.
Contents
The 30-second verdict
Plausible
Minimalist, elegant audience measurement: a script under 1 KB, zero cookies, a dashboard readable in 30 seconds, exemplary transparency (AGPL, self-hostable). Hosted at Hetzner in Germany. From €9/month. No replay, no heatmaps, no monitoring — deliberate choices.
Mirage Analytics
The same respect for privacy — cookieless, banner-free — with a complete scope: replay, heatmaps, A/B testing, funnels, SEO. Hosted in France at Scaleway. From €19/month (excl. VAT), all included.
Detailed comparison
| Mirage Analytics | Plausible | |
|---|---|---|
| Cookieless, banner-free | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hosting | France (Scaleway) | Germany (Hetzner) |
| Ultra-light script | Light | Under 1 KB — unbeatable |
| Session replay | ✓ | ✕ |
| Heatmaps | ✓ | ✕ |
| A/B testing & personas | ✓ | ✕ |
| Multi-step funnels | ✓ | Basic (goals + simple funnels) |
| SEO & Search Console built in | ✓ | ✕ |
| Open source / self-hostable | ✕ | Yes (AGPL, Community Edition) |
| Entry price | From €19/month (excl. VAT) | From €9/month (10,000 page views) |
Minimalist vs complete: a question of needs
Let's be clear: Plausible does what it promises very well. If your need stops at "how many visitors, where from, which pages", its simplicity is an asset — nothing to learn, nothing to configure.
The limit shows with the next questions: why does this page make people leave? Where does my form lose people? Which variant converts best? Which keywords am I visible on? Plausible doesn't answer them, by design. You will then stack Hotjar, an A/B testing tool and an SEO tool — three invoices, three scripts, three privacy policies to review.
Mirage answers these questions natively:session replay, heatmaps, A/B testingandSEOin one tool, under one compliance model.
Germany vs France: a detail that sometimes matters
Plausible hosts at Hetzner in Germany: European, compliant, perfectly fine for most sites. But if your organisation (public sector, healthcare, tenders) values French hosting and a French vendor, Mirage is hosted at Scaleway in France and built by DPLIANCE, a French company — an easier vendor file to defend. Our analysis: cookieless analytics, the guide.
Which one for you?
Pick Plausible if…
- You only want audience measurement, as light as possible
- Entry price (€9/month) is the deciding factor
- Self-hostable open source matters to you
Pick Mirage if…
- You want to understand behaviour, not just count visits
- You optimise conversions (funnels, A/B tests)
- SEO is part of how you steer your site
- French hosting is a plus for your clients or your DPO
FAQ
Is Plausible GDPR-compliant without a banner?
Yes. Like Mirage, Plausible works without cookies or personal data, which makes a consent banner unnecessary for audience measurement. On that criterion, the two tools are equivalent.
What is the real difference between Plausible and Mirage?
Scope. Plausible is deliberately minimalist: traffic, sources, simple goals — and it does that very well. Mirage additionally covers behaviour understanding (session replay, heatmaps), optimisation (A/B testing, funnels) and SEO (Search Console, rankings). If you need those answers, Plausible sends you to other tools.
Is Plausible cheaper than Mirage?
At entry level, yes: €9/month for 10,000 page views versus €19/month (excl. VAT) for Mirage. But at equivalent scope you must add a replay/heatmap tool (Hotjar starts at €39/month) and an SEO tool — the total quickly exceeds Mirage all-in.
Is migrating from Plausible to Mirage easy?
Yes: one script replaces the other. Your goals are reconfigured in minutes in Mirage. As always, 2–4 weeks running both in parallel makes the transition safe.