Fathom Analytics vs Google Analytics

Fathom Analytics

• Event tracking for custom interactions like sign-ups, clicks, and ecommerce transactions
• Real-time dashboard powered by a lightweight, 2kB script
• Automated email reports on a weekly or monthly cadence
• UTM-based campaign and newsletter performance tracking
• Perpetual data retention with unlimited historical access
• Bot detection to filter spam and scraper traffic
• Developer-friendly API integrating with any CMS or framework, with no cookie consent banners required

Google Analytics

• Web and app event-based measurement in Google Analytics 4
• Cross-platform reporting and attribution
• Audiences, key events, explorations, and customizable reports
• Machine-learning-based insights and predictive capabilities
• Native integrations with Google Ads, Search Ads 360, Search Console, and Google Cloud
• BigQuery export, with materially higher daily export limits on Analytics 360

Fathom Analytics

• Event tracking for custom interactions like sign-ups, clicks, and ecommerce transactions
• Real-time dashboard powered by a lightweight, 2kB script
• Automated email reports on a weekly or monthly cadence
• UTM-based campaign and newsletter performance tracking
• Perpetual data retention with unlimited historical access
• Bot detection to filter spam and scraper traffic
• Developer-friendly API integrating with any CMS or framework, with no cookie consent banners required

• Fathom has no permanent free plan; the 7-day trial requires a card and converts to paid billing unless canceled.
• Pageviews and custom events share the monthly allowance across all sites, so high event volume can consume the same quota that governs pageview pricing.

Google Analytics

• Web and app event-based measurement in Google Analytics 4
• Cross-platform reporting and attribution
• Audiences, key events, explorations, and customizable reports
• Machine-learning-based insights and predictive capabilities
• Native integrations with Google Ads, Search Ads 360, Search Console, and Google Cloud
• BigQuery export, with materially higher daily export limits on Analytics 360

• Standard properties have lower limits than Analytics 360, including up to 14 months of configurable data retention versus up to 50 months on 360.
• Standard explorations can sample at 10 million events per query, while 360 raises that threshold and adds unsampled exploration capacity.
• Standard daily BigQuery export is capped at 1 million events, while Analytics 360 supports much larger daily exports; organizations exceeding Standard limits need to evaluate a 360 contract.