# Plausible or Fathom vs a Live View: Not Either/Or

Plausible and Fathom are cookieless analytics tools that keep your traffic history and include a realtime count of current visitors; their docs describe realtime as counts with pages, sources and referrers, not individual people moving on your page. A live view like whoisbrowsing does that part and stores nothing, so it complements Plausible or Fathom rather than replacing them.

## What Plausible and Fathom do well

Both pitch themselves as lighter, cookieless alternatives to Google Analytics.

**Plausible** says "we don't use cookies or generate persistent visitor identifiers". To count unique visitors it hashes the daily salt, website domain, IP address and user agent, and "the salt is rotated and deleted every 24 hours". It stores country, region and city, and does "not store raw User-Agent strings or IP addresses" ([Plausible data policy](https://plausible.io/data-policy)). Its homepage says the script is "54 times smaller than Google Analytics", offers a 30-day free trial with no credit card, and lists plans at $9, $14 and $19 a month ([Plausible](https://plausible.io/)).

**Fathom** says "Fathom doesn't use cookies", that data "shows up in real time, not 24 to 48 hours later", and that its script loads asynchronously ([Fathom features](https://usefathom.com/features)). Its pricing page answers "Nope" to a free plan, offers a 7-day trial with a card required, starts at $15 a month for up to 100,000 monthly pageviews, and includes at least 50 sites on every plan ([Fathom pricing](https://usefathom.com/pricing)).

## What "realtime" means in each

| | Plausible | Fathom | whoisbrowsing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live unit | Current visitors: "those that visited your site in the last 5 minutes" ([docs](https://plausible.io/docs/realtime-dashboard)) | "How many people are actively viewing your site right now" ([docs](https://usefathom.com/docs/start/dashboard)) | Every current visitor, one line per person |
| Refresh | Every 30 seconds ([docs](https://plausible.io/docs/realtime-dashboard)) | 5-minute intervals ([docs](https://usefathom.com/docs/start/dashboard)) | Live, as visitors move |
| Breakdown | Sources, pages, locations, devices for the last 5 minutes; goals for 30 ([docs](https://plausible.io/docs/realtime-dashboard)) | Pages they are on and referrers ([docs](https://usefathom.com/docs/start/dashboard)) | Page, source, approximate city, device, browser, OS, time on site, pages this visit |
| On the page itself | Not stated by vendor | Not stated by vendor | Cursor with a fading trail, click ripples, a scroll band for phones |
| History | Main dashboard of aggregate stats ([homepage](https://plausible.io/)) | Date picker and period comparisons ([docs](https://usefathom.com/docs/start/dashboard)) | None. Nothing about visitors is stored |
| Cookies on visitors | None ([data policy](https://plausible.io/data-policy)) | None ([features](https://usefathom.com/features)) | None |
| Location | Stores country, region and city ([data policy](https://plausible.io/data-policy)) | Countries, regions and cities tabs ([docs](https://usefathom.com/docs/start/dashboard)) | Approximate city shown live, never stored |
| Price | From $9/mo; 30-day trial, no card ([homepage](https://plausible.io/)) | From $15/mo; 7-day trial, card required ([pricing](https://usefathom.com/pricing)) | Free, no credit card, no usage limits for now |

One detail from Fathom's docs is worth knowing: "If someone stays on a page longer than 5 minutes, they'll drop out of the realtime count", and reappear when they move to another page ([Fathom docs](https://usefathom.com/docs/start/dashboard)).

## Counts vs people

A realtime count answers "how many, and from where?". A live view answers "who, and what are they doing?".

Say a post of yours is shared and traffic jumps. In Plausible or Fathom you see the current-visitor number rise and the referrer appear in the list. In whoisbrowsing you open the page that was shared and watch the visitors on it: where each cursor goes, how far phone readers scroll, whether anyone clicks through to pricing. The side panel shows live counts per page, busiest first, and each visitor's source, including Google, Bing, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Claude. The dashboard can also send a browser notification when someone new arrives, naming the landing page, from the dashboard tab you keep open.

## Privacy: close cousins

All three set no cookies on visitors. The differences are in what is kept. Plausible and Fathom keep aggregate statistics so you can look back; that is their job. whoisbrowsing keeps nothing: "Nothing about your visitors is stored on our servers." Our full statement is:

> "Your visitors' browsers send the page, pointer position, clicks, scroll, device type, source, browser and operating system, and time on site. Never keystrokes, form values or page text."

whoisbrowsing also never shows visitors from the EU/EEA, UK and Switzerland, or browsers with Global Privacy Control. That is a description of what we do, not legal advice. See [privacy](/privacy) and [real-time analytics without cookies](/learn/real-time-analytics-without-cookies).

## When to pick Plausible or Fathom instead

If you can only add one tool, and you need any of the following, choose Plausible or Fathom:

- **history:** this month vs last, top pages over a year, trends;
- **goals and conversions** you can report on;
- **traffic from Europe,** which whoisbrowsing never shows;
- **a dashboard to share** with a client or team.

whoisbrowsing is not an analytics product and has no reports. It is a live view.

## Running both

Most sites that care about privacy can run a cookieless analytics tool and whoisbrowsing side by side. Keep your Plausible or Fathom script and add:

```html
<script src="https://live.whoisbrowsing.com/s.js" data-site="YOUR_SITE_ID" defer></script>
```

It is under 4 KB gzipped, loads with `defer`, and never changes how the page looks. Start on [/try](/try) with no account, or follow an [install guide](/install). Your own browser is never counted; to test, open your site in a Chrome Incognito or Safari private window.

## Related reading

- [GA4 Realtime vs a true live visitor view](/learn/ga4-realtime-vs-live-visitor-view)
- [Best live visitor tools in 2026](/learn/best-live-visitor-tools)
- [Clarity live users vs whoisbrowsing](/learn/microsoft-clarity-live-vs-whoisbrowsing)
- All comparisons on [/compare](/compare); see it working on the [home page](/) and in [how it works](/how-it-works)

## Frequently asked questions

### Does Plausible show live visitors?

Yes, as a count. Plausible's realtime dashboard counts current visitors as those who visited in the last 5 minutes, shows sources, pages, locations and devices for that window, and updates every 30 seconds.

### Does Fathom show live visitors?

Yes, as a count. Fathom's docs say Realtime shows how many people are actively viewing your site right now, with the pages they are on and their referrers, updating in 5-minute intervals.

### Plausible or Fathom: which has a free plan?

Neither lists one. Plausible's homepage offers a 30-day free trial with no credit card, with plans from $9 a month. Fathom's pricing page says no to a free plan and offers a 7-day trial with a card, from $15 a month for up to 100,000 monthly pageviews.

### Why use whoisbrowsing if I already have Plausible or Fathom?

They answer different questions. Plausible and Fathom tell you how much traffic you had and where it came from, over time. whoisbrowsing shows each person on your page right now, with their cursor, source and approximate city, and stores nothing. Like them, it sets no cookies on visitors.