Analytics for a SaaS comes in three flavors that do different jobs: web analytics (marketing traffic), product analytics (in-app behavior), and business intelligence (cross-source reporting). Most "best analytics tools" articles mix them together and confuse readers.
This guide splits them cleanly, ranks 20 tools by stage-appropriate fit, and names what we use at BetterLaunch.co, a DR 47 SaaS running a lean analytics stack.
#TL;DR
- Web analytics (who visits your marketing site): Plausible, GA4, Fathom.
- Product analytics (what users do in-app): PostHog, Amplitude, Mixpanel.
- Business intelligence (cross-source reporting): Metabase, Looker Studio, Hex.
- Indie SaaS default stack: Plausible + PostHog + Google Sheets. Total cost: $0 to $40/month.
- Enterprise adds: Amplitude, Looker, Snowflake, dbt, Segment.
- [BetterLaunch](https://betterlaunch.co/submit) is where to list your SaaS as you build the analytics muscle.
#The 3 types of SaaS analytics (and why it matters)
Web analytics answer: How do people find my site? Which pages convert? Tools: Plausible, GA4, Fathom, Matomo.
Product analytics answer: What do users do inside my product? Where do they drop off? Tools: PostHog, Amplitude, Mixpanel, Heap.
Business intelligence answer: What's our revenue by cohort? How does churn trend? What's CAC by channel? Tools: Metabase, Looker, Hex, Tableau, Mode.
Most indie SaaS need all three, but at different stages.
#Web analytics (start here, day 1)
Purpose: measure marketing site traffic, sources, landing page conversion.
#1. Plausible ($9-$19/month)
Best for: Most indie SaaS. Privacy-first, GDPR-compliant. Verdict: Yes. The 2026 indie default.
#2. Google Analytics 4 (free)
Best for: Broad data + GA ecosystem integration. Verdict: Conditional. Powerful but complex; many indie founders outgrow it backwards to Plausible.
#3. Fathom Analytics ($15/month)
Best for: Plausible alternative with simple pricing. Verdict: Yes. Functional equivalent.
#4. Matomo ($0 self-hosted, $19+/month cloud)
Best for: EU-first with self-hosting preference. Verdict: Conditional, heavier to run.
#5. Simple Analytics ($19+/month)
Best for: Privacy + simplicity. Verdict: Conditional.
#6. Cloudflare Web Analytics (free)
Best for: Cloudflare users who want basic stats. Verdict: Yes as free supplement.
#Product analytics (add at 100+ signups)
Purpose: measure user behavior in-app (signups, activation, retention, feature usage).
#7. PostHog (free tier + $0.00005/event beyond)
Best for: Indie to mid-market. Generous free tier. Includes session replay + feature flags. Verdict: Yes. 2026 indie default for product analytics.
#8. Amplitude (free + $49+/month Growth)
Best for: Mid-market + enterprise with deep cohort analysis needs. Verdict: Yes for $50K+ MRR scale.
#9. Mixpanel (free + $28+/month Growth)
Best for: Event-based funnels; historic standard. Verdict: Conditional. PostHog typically better for indie scale.
#10. Heap (paid, pricing opaque)
Best for: Auto-capture of events. Verdict: Conditional. Useful if you can't instrument manually.
#11. June (free + paid)
Best for: Mid-market SaaS wanting pre-built reports. Verdict: Conditional. Newer player, worth watching.
#12. FullStory (paid)
Best for: Enterprise session replay + product analytics. Verdict: Skip at indie scale; overkill.
#13. LogRocket (paid)
Best for: Session replay focus. Verdict: Conditional for specific debugging needs.
#Business intelligence (add at $50K+ MRR)
Purpose: cross-source reporting, custom dashboards, cohort analysis, revenue reporting.
#14. Metabase (free self-hosted / $85/month cloud)
Best for: Indie to mid-market BI on Postgres / MySQL. Verdict: Yes. Open-source + commercial hosted.
#15. Looker Studio (free)
Best for: Google ecosystem (GA4, Sheets, BigQuery). Verdict: Yes for free BI dashboards.
#16. Hex (free + $99+/month)
Best for: Mid-market BI with notebook-like flexibility. Verdict: Conditional, strong for data teams.
#17. Looker (Google-owned, enterprise)
Best for: Enterprise BI on Google Cloud / BigQuery. Verdict: Skip at indie; enterprise pricing.
#18. Tableau (~$70/user/mo + server)
Best for: Enterprise BI, high-complexity dashboards. Verdict: Skip at indie.
#19. Mode (~$249+/user/mo)
Best for: SQL-heavy data teams. Verdict: Conditional.
#20. Stripe Sigma / Paddle Data (free for users)
Best for: Revenue-specific reporting. Verdict: Yes. Free if you're a Stripe/Paddle customer.
#Minimum viable analytics stack by stage
Pre-revenue / <$5K MRR:
- Plausible (web) + PostHog free (product) + Google Sheets (manual reporting).
- Total cost: $9-19/month.
$5K-$50K MRR:
- Plausible + PostHog paid + Metabase self-hosted + Stripe Sigma.
- Total cost: $50-150/month.
$50K-$500K MRR:
- Plausible + Amplitude or PostHog paid + Metabase Cloud or Hex + ChartMogul.
- Total cost: $500-1,500/month.
$500K+ MRR:
- Add: Looker, Snowflake, dbt, Segment for unified data pipeline.
- Total cost: $2K-10K+/month.
#Analytics mistakes to avoid
- Over-tooling pre-revenue. Don't pay for Amplitude when PostHog free works.
- Installing 5 tools, using none. One web + one product + one BI is enough.
- Not defining the "aha" event. Without one, product analytics is noise.
- Ignoring session replay. One hour of replays often beats 20 hours of funnel analysis for indie SaaS.
- Dashboards nobody reads. Build dashboards only for recurring decisions.
#What we actually use at BetterLaunch
Full transparency for a DR 47 bootstrapped SaaS (~$30K MRR):
- Web: Plausible ($9/month).
- Product: PostHog (free tier still works).
- Revenue: Stripe Dashboard + a custom Google Sheet.
- BI: Metabase self-hosted (connected to Postgres).
- Journalism / SEO: Ahrefs (separate, $99/month).
Total analytics bill: under $20/month including Plausible.
#FAQ
What's the best free analytics tool for SaaS? PostHog free tier for product analytics; GA4 for web (or Plausible $9 paid). Google Looker Studio for BI dashboards.
Plausible vs GA4, which is better? Plausible for simplicity, privacy, and cleanliness. GA4 for depth and ecosystem integration. Most indie SaaS prefer Plausible.
Is PostHog really free? Free tier generous up to 1M events/month. Beyond that, pay-per-event or paid plans.
Do I need all three (web, product, BI)? Most SaaS eventually yes. Start with web analytics on day 1, add product analytics at 100+ signups, add BI at $50K+ MRR.
What about Segment? Data pipeline, not analytics itself. Useful at $100K+ MRR for unifying events across tools.
How often should I check analytics? Weekly for operational metrics. Monthly for trends. Quarterly for strategic review. Daily checking is usually procrastination.
#Summary
Analytics for SaaS isn't one tool; it's three categories layered over time. Plausible + PostHog for indie stage; add Amplitude, Metabase, Segment as you scale.
While you set up analytics, list your SaaS on BetterLaunch for a DR 47 dofollow editorial listing.
List your SaaS on BetterLaunch →
