Head to head
Google Analytics 4 vs Fathom Analytics
Configure everything, or configure nothing. Scored on ten weighted measures, with every price read on the same day.
Google Analytics 4
4.4/10
No. 30 of 30
Fathom Analytics
7.4/10
No. 5 of 30
Fathom exists because of GA4, more or less explicitly. It is the tool for somebody who opened Google Analytics, could not find the number they wanted, and decided the whole thing was more product than their website justified.
So the comparison is lopsided on features and that is the point. Fathom has one page, one chart and almost no configuration. GA4 has essentially everything and expects you to assemble it.
The verdict
Fathom, for site owners and agencies who want a number they trust without a project attached.
It has fifty websites on every plan from $15, which for anybody looking after client sites is a structural advantage nothing else here matches. It sets no cookies, so there is no banner and no missing visitors. Setup is a script tag, and a non-technical client can read the dashboard unaided, which is usually why an agency chooses it.
Be clear about what you give up, because it is more than the marketing suggests. No funnels. Shallow segmentation. No heatmaps and no session replay. Custom events count against the same pageview allowance. And its published overage policy emails you at 30 per cent over and locks the account on day seven, which is the harshest on this list.
Keep GA4 if you buy Google Ads, or if you genuinely use explorations and BigQuery export. If neither applies, GA4 is a large amount of machinery producing an incomplete number.
Side by side
| Google Analytics 4 | Fathom Analytics | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 4.4 / 10 | 7.4 / 10 |
| Rank on this list | No. 30 of 30 | No. 5 of 30 |
| From | Free with paid GA360 quoted | $15 per month |
| What that buys | Free at ordinary volumes; the GA360 enterprise tier is a six-figure annual contract | 100,000 monthly pageviews; events count against the same allowance |
| Free tier | Yes, the standard product is free | No. A 7-day trial |
| Cookies | Yes, so consent is required in the EU and UK | None, so no consent banner |
| Script size | Tens of kilobytes, more through Tag Manager | Under 2 KB |
| Hosting | Canada, with EU isolation available | |
| Trading since | 2005, as GA4 since 2020 | 2018 |
| Price | Free | $15/mo at 100k pageviews |
| Sites included | Unlimited properties, manually configured | 50 on every plan |
| Cookie banner in the UK and EU | Required | Never required |
| Funnels | Yes, via explorations | Not offered |
| Setup effort | Hours to days | One script tag |
| Over your allowance | No allowance to exceed | Emailed at 30% over, locked on day 7 |
| Google Ads conversion bidding | Supported, effectively exclusive | Not supported |
The ten measures, scored
| Measure | Google Analytics 4 | Fathom Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| Insight quality | 6 | 8 |
| Privacy architecture | 2 | 9 |
| Value for money | 7 | 8 |
| Setup and time to data | 3 | 9 |
| Script weight | 2 | 9 |
| Analytical depth | 8 | 5 |
| Behaviour tooling | 3 | 1 |
| Data ownership | 4 | 7 |
| Accuracy | 4 | 8 |
| Vendor conduct | 3 | 5 |
| Weighted overall | 4.4 | 7.4 |
Higher is better. The overall figure is the weighted mean, relative to the 30 tools on this list. How this works.
Which one should you pick
Choose Fathom Analytics if
You look after several websites, want a dashboard a client can read, and have no use for GA4's depth.
Choose Google Analytics 4 if
You advertise with Google, or you genuinely use explorations, custom dimensions and BigQuery export.
Common questions
Is Fathom better than Google Analytics?
For simply understanding a website, most people find it far more useful, because it is legible and complete. For advertising measurement and deep analysis, GA4 does considerably more. They are aimed at different jobs and Fathom does not pretend otherwise.
How many sites does Fathom include?
Fifty on every plan, with extra packs of fifty for $10 a month. That is the strongest argument for it and the reason agencies and freelancers choose it over cheaper per-site tools.
Does Fathom have funnels?
No, at any price. If you need to measure drop-off through a sequence of steps, Plausible's Business tier, Pirsch's Plus tier or Matomo will do it and Fathom will not.
What happens if I exceed Fathom's pageview limit?
Fathom's published policy emails you at thirty per cent over and locks the account on day seven. That is worth pricing in if your traffic is spiky, because a locked dashboard arrives exactly when you most want to look at it.
Both entries above are desk reviews written from published evidence, and every judgement is my opinion rather than a statement of fact. Read the full reviews for Google Analytics 4 and Fathom Analytics, or tell me where I have got something wrong.