How Tidemark and Plausible differ on hosting, self-hosting, features and price, and who each one suits. Written by the Tidemark team, with the gaps stated plainly.
Plausible is the tool that made simple, privacy-friendly analytics popular, and it is a big reason Tidemark exists: our dashboard, tracking script and Events API follow its conventions on purpose. So the honest answer to “Tidemark or Plausible?” is that they are close cousins that make different trade-offs. This page lays them out. We make Tidemark, so check anything that matters to you against Plausible’s own site, since plans and features change.
| Tidemark | Plausible | |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosting needs | A PHP host (shared hosting works) or one Docker container; SQLite, MySQL, MariaDB or PostgreSQL | A server with Docker and a ClickHouse database alongside Postgres (Community Edition) |
| License | MIT | AGPL |
| Hosted plan | Free to start, Pro at $7 a month | Paid plans from a monthly fee, with a trial |
| Funnels, revenue goals, saved segments and journeys | Yes (Pro on Cloud, included when self-hosting) | Yes |
| Plausible-compatible script | Yes, by design | Native |
| Import from Plausible | Yes, from its CSV export | Not applicable |
| Public dashboards with your branding | Yes, on Pro and free when self-hosting | Shared links are available |
Check Plausible’s current pricing and feature list before deciding, because the table is a snapshot.
Plausible’s self-hosted edition is designed for a server you control, and it relies on ClickHouse, which is excellent for large volumes but heavier to run. Tidemark makes the opposite trade-off. It stores events in a regular database, runs on the PHP hosting many sites already pay for, and ships as a Docker image if you prefer containers. The cost of that simplicity is scale: Tidemark is built for the traffic of typical sites and small businesses, not for tens of millions of events a month on one box.
We would rather say it plainly. Tidemark has goal funnels, revenue reporting, segments and journeys, but Plausible goes further in places we do not match yet. From what its public demo shows, that includes browser and operating-system version breakdowns. Neither tool does session replay. If those extras matter to how you work, Plausible (or a product analytics tool such as PostHog) is the better fit right now, and it is worth checking Plausible’s own feature list for the current picture.
If you already use Plausible, you do not have to start from zero. Tidemark can import Plausible’s CSV export, and because the script is compatible you can usually switch by changing the script address and keeping your goals. Here is how the import works.
Choose by who you want to look after the server. If you want someone else to run it and need the extra reporting, a hosted Plausible plan is a safe choice. If you would rather own your data on hosting you already have, or you want the cheapest hosted option, try Tidemark. You can run both side by side for a couple of weeks and compare, which is the best test either way.