Plausible Analytics
Open-source, privacy-first web analytics — grown to $1M+ ARR against Google, fully bootstrapped, in public view.
Will it work? · our read
Durable niche. A regulation-backed privacy position with open-source trust — but the field is crowded and GA is free, so the moat is the position, not the tech.
01How the money moves
Site owner adds Plausible script
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Privacy-friendly analytics · EU-hosted
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Monthly subscription $9+
02The numbers
$1M+StatedARR · public
2022-06
the sentence on the page
How we built a $1M ARR open source SaaS | Plausible Analytics Why Plausible Simple analytics dashboard Get all the important stats on one single pag
Hit $500k in 10 months, $1M 8 months later — no funding, no ads, team of 4. Recent revenue estimated about $3M (not first-party confirmed). plausible.io/blog
Hit $500k ARR in 10 months, $1M about 8 months later (public dashboard), fully bootstrapped — about 15,000 paying subscribers today. We use their public $1M milestone; the $3M figure around the web is a third-party estimate, not first-party.
🔒
You have the verdict. Members get the work behind it.
- The CENTS scorecard — where it's strong, where it's soft
- The founder's key move, and the counter-move
- How it could die — the evidence, and how sure we are
- The case against our own call
- A 🚀 launchpad prompt — the case, as a plan for your business
We rate our own confidence — and argue against ourselves. Nobody else in this category does.
Sources always public on all 560 cases · cancel anytime · 14-day refund
See a full teardown, free → ImportYetiSourcesSources last checked 25 August 2026
plausible.io — How we built a $1M ARR open source SaaS (first-party)plausible.io — Bootstrapping to $500k ARR (first-party)Interview — Subscription Heroes #24, Marko Saric
Revenue: the $1M ARR is first-party (their own blog). The about $3M current figure is a third-party estimate — we flag it, not assert it. We never score you.