为什么选择 Plausible 作为 Google Analytics 的开源替代品？
分析软件

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> Plausible 作为 Google Analytics 的可行、有效的替代方案正在引起用户的关注。
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![](/data/attachment/album/202102/19/233627sb7mvtt7hn93lvvr.jpg "Analytics: Charts and Graphs")


替代 Google Analytics 似乎是一个巨大的挑战。实际上，你可以说这听起来似乎不合理（LCTT 译注：Plausible 意即“貌似合理”）。但这正是 [Plausible.io](https://plausible.io/) 取得巨大成功的原因，自 2018 年以来已注册了数千名新用户。


Plausible 的联合创始人 Uku Taht 和 Marko Saric 最近出现在 [The Craft of Open Source](https://www.flagsmith.com/podcast/02-plausible) 播客上，谈论了这个项目以及他们是如何:


* 创建了一个可行的替代 Google Analytics 的方案
* 在不到两年的时间里获得了如此大的发展势头
* 通过开源他们的项目实现其目标


请继续阅读他们与播客主持人和 Flagsmith 创始人 Ben Rometsch 的对话摘要。


### Plausible 是如何开始的


2018 年冬天，Uku 开始编写一个他认为急需的项目：一个可行的、有效的 Google Analytics 替代方案。因为他对 Google 产品的发展方向感到失望，而且所有其他数据解决方案似乎都把 Google 当作“数据处理中间人”。


Uku 的第一直觉是利用现有的数据库解决方案专注于分析方面的工作。马上，他就遇到了一些挑战。开始尝试使用了 PostgreSQL，这在技术上很幼稚，因为它很快就变得不堪重负，效率低下。因此，他的目标蜕变成了做一个分析产品，可以处理大量的数据点，而且性能不会有明显的下降。简而言之，Uku 成功了，Plausible 现在每月可以收取超过 8000 万条记录。


Plausible 的第一个版本于 2019 年夏天发布。2020 年 3 月，Marko 加入，负责项目的传播和营销方面的工作。从那时起，它它的受欢迎程度有了很大的增长。


### 为什么要开源？


Uku 热衷于遵循“独立黑客”的软件开发路线：创建一个产品，把它投放出去，然后看看它如何成长。开源在这方面是有意义的，因为你可以迅速发展一个社区并获得人气。


但 Plausible 一开始并不是开源的。Uku 最初担心软件的敏感代码，比如计费代码，但他很快就发布了，因为这对没有 API 令牌的人来说是没有用的。


现在，Plausible 是在 [AGPL](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.en.html) 下完全开源的，他们选择了 AGPL 而不是 MIT 许可。Uku 解释说，在 MIT 许可下，任何人都可以不受限制地对代码做任何事情。在 AGPL 下，如果有人修改代码，他们必须将他们的修改开源，并将代码回馈给社区。这意味着，大公司不能拿着原始代码在此基础上进行构建，然后获得所有的回报。他们必须共享，使得竞争环境更加公平。例如，如果一家公司想插入他们的计费或登录系统，他们有法律义务发布代码。


在播客中，Uku 向我询问了关于 Flagsmith 的授权，目前 Flagsmith 的授权采用 BSD 三句版许可，该许可证是高度开放的，但我即将把一些功能移到更严格的许可后面。到目前为止，Flagsmith 社区已经理解了这一变化，因为他们意识到这将带来更多更好的功能。


### Plausible vs. Google Analytics


Uku 说，在他看来，开源的精神是，代码应该是开放的，任何人都可以进行商业使用，并与社区共享，但你可以把一个闭源的 API 模块作为专有附加组件保留下来。这样一来，Plausible 和其他公司就可以通过创建和销售定制的 API 附加许可来满足不同的使用场景。


Marko 职位上是一名开发者，但从营销方面来说，他努力让这个项目在 Hacker News 和 Lobster 等网站上得到报道，并建立了 Twitter 帐户以帮助产生动力。这种宣传带来的热潮也意味着该项目在 GitHub 上起飞，从 500 颗星到 4300 颗星。随着流量的增长，Plausible 出现在 GitHub 的趋势列表中，这让其受欢迎程度像滚雪球一样。


Marko 还非常注重发布和推广博客文章。这一策略得到了回报，在最初的 6 个月里，有四五篇文章进入了病毒式传播，他利用这些峰值来放大营销信息，加速了增长。


Plausible 成长过程中最大的挑战是让人们从 Google Analytics 上转换过来。这个项目的主要目标是创建一个有用、高效、准确的网络分析产品。它还需要符合法规，并为企业和网站访问者提供高度的隐私。


Plausible 现在已经在 8000 多个网站上运行。通过与客户的交谈，Uku 估计其中约 90% 的客户运行过 Google Analytics。


Plausible 以标准的软件即服务 （SaaS） 订阅模式运行。为了让事情更公平，它按月页面浏览量收费，而不是按网站收费。对于季节性网站来说，这可能会有麻烦，比如说电子商务网站在节假日会激增，或者美国大选网站每四年激增一次。这些可能会导致月度订阅模式下的定价问题，但它通常对大多数网站很好。


### 查看播客


想要了解更多关于 Uku 和 Marko 如何以惊人的速度发展开源 Plausible 项目，并使其获得商业上的成功，请[收听播客](https://www.flagsmith.com/podcast/02-plausible)，并查看[其他剧集](https://www.flagsmith.com/podcast)，了解更多关于“开源软件社区的来龙去脉”。




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via: <https://opensource.com/article/21/2/plausible>


作者：[Ben Rometsch](https://opensource.com/users/flagsmith) 选题：[lujun9972](https://github.com/lujun9972) 译者：[geekpi](https://github.com/geekpi) 校对：[wxy](https://github.com/wxy)


本文由 [LCTT](https://github.com/LCTT/TranslateProject) 原创编译，[Linux中国](https://linux.cn/) 荣誉推出


OK
Taking on the might of Google Analytics may seem like a big challenge. In fact, you could say it doesn't sound plausible… But that's exactly what [Plausible.io](https://plausible.io/) has done with great success, signing up thousands of new users since 2018.

Plausible's co-founders Uku Taht and Marko Saric recently appeared on [The Craft of Open Source](https://www.flagsmith.com/podcast/02-plausible) podcast to talk about the project and how they:

- Created a viable alternative to Google Analytics
- Gained so much momentum in less than two years
- Achieved their goals by open sourcing the project

Read on for a summary of their conversation with podcast host and Flagsmith founder Ben Rometsch.

## How Plausible got started

In winter 2018, Uku started coding a project that he thought was desperately needed—a viable, effective alternative to Google Analytics—after becoming disillusioned with the direction Google products were heading and the fact that all other data solutions seemed to use Google as a "data-handling middleman."

Uku's first instinct was to focus on the analytics side of things using existing database solutions. Right away, he faced some challenges. The first attempt, using PostgreSQL, was technically naïve, as it became overwhelmed and inefficient pretty quickly. Therefore, his goal morphed into making an analytics product that can handle large quantities of data points with no discernable decline in performance. To cut a long story short, Uku succeeded, and Plausible can now ingest more than 80 million records per month.

The first version of Plausible was released in summer 2019. In March 2020, Marko came on board to head up the project's communications and marketing side. Since then, its popularity has grown with considerable momentum.

## Why open source?

Uku was keen to follow the "indie hacker" route of software development: create a product, put it out there, and see how it grows. Open source makes sense in this respect because you can quickly grow a community and gain popularity.

But Plausible didn't start out as open source. Uku was initially concerned about the software's sensitive code, such as billing codes, but he soon released that this was of no use to people without the API token.

Now, Plausible is fully open source under [AGPL](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.en.html), which they chose instead of the MIT License. Uku explains that under an MIT License, anyone can do anything to the code without restriction. Under AGPL, if someone changes the code, they must open source their changes and contribute the code back to the community. This means that large corporations cannot take the original code, build from it, then reap all the rewards. They must share it, making for a more level playing field. For instance, if a company wanted to plug in their billing or login system, they would be legally obliged to publish the code.

During the podcast, Uku asked me about Flagsmith's license which is currently under a BSD 3-Clause license, which is highly permissive, but I am about to move some features behind a more restrictive license. So far, the Flagsmith community has been understanding of the change as they realize this will lead to more and better features.

## Plausible vs. Google Analytics

Uku says, in his opinion, the spirit of open source is that the code should be open for commercial use by anyone and shared with the community, but you can keep back a closed-source API module as a proprietary add-on. In this way, Plausible and other companies can cater to different use-cases by creating and selling bespoke API add-on licenses.


Marko is a developer by trade, but from the marketing side of things, he worked to get the project covered on sites such as Hacker News and Lobster and build a Twitter presence to help generate momentum. The buzz created by this publicity also meant that the project took off on GitHub, going from 500 to 4,300 stars. As traffic grew, Plausible appeared on GitHub's trending list, which helped its popularity snowball.

Marko also focused heavily on publishing and promoting blog posts. This strategy paid off, as four or five posts went viral within the first six months, and he used those spikes to amplify the marketing message and accelerate growth.

The biggest challenge in Plausible's growth was getting people to switch from Google Analytics. The project's main goal was to create a web analytics product that is useful, efficient, and accurate. It also needed to be compliant with regulations and offer a high degree of privacy for both the business and website visitors.

Plausible is now running on more than 8,000 websites. From talking to customers, Uku estimates that around 90% of them would have run Google Analytics.

Plausible runs on a standard software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscription model. To make things fairer, it charges per page view on a monthly basis, rather than charging per website. This can prove tricky with seasonal websites, say e-commerce sites that spike at the holidays or US election sites that spike once every four years. These can cause pricing problems under the monthly subscription model, but it generally works well for most sites.

## Check out the podcast

To discover more about how Uku and Marko grew the open source Plausible project at a phenomenal rate and made it into a commercial success, [listen to the podcast](https://www.flagsmith.com/podcast/02-plausible) and check out [other episodes](https://www.flagsmith.com/podcast) to learn more about "the ins-and-outs of the open source software community."

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