# DataFast vs Cool Analytics

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/datafast-vs-cool-analytics/

Every value below is read from DataFast's and Cool Analytics's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | DataFast | Cool Analytics |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | No | No |
| Kind of free offer | Free trial | Free trial |
| What the free plan includes | Nothing standing — the only free access is a 14-day trial with no card. The entry Starter tier, once paid for, lists 10,000 monthly events, one website, one team member and three years of data retention. | A 7-day free trial of the paid plan with every feature; the pages describe no standing free plan. |
| Credit card to start | No | Yes |
| When the free offer ends | You can try DataFast for free for 14 days and you don't even need a credit card! | 7 days from the start of the trial; the card on file is then charged unless the plan is cancelled. |
| Entry paid plan | Not readable. The pricing block renders its plan contents in full and then prints "$ /month" with an empty figure and "Save $NaN" — in a headless browser, after twenty seconds, on every extraction tier this site has. | From $3 a month, billed monthly, at 10k events a month on a single event-priced plan that carries every feature. |
| Pricing model | Traffic-based plans metered in monthly events rather than pageviews, from 10,000 to over 10 million, monthly or yearly with two months free on yearly. | One plan with every feature, priced by monthly events: every pageview and every custom event sent counts as one. The price follows a traffic slider from 10k to 10M+ events a month, billed monthly or yearly (yearly gives two months free). |
| Sites or apps included | One website and one team member on Starter, the entry tier. Growth raises both to 30. | Grows with the monthly event size picked on the pricing slider; there are no separate plans. The default 500k-event size shows 20 websites and 5 team members, and the price table carries the count at each size. |
| Revenue attribution from a payment provider | Supported | Supported |
| Payment providers connected | Stripe, LemonSqueezy, Polar, Shopify, WooCommerce, Paddle, Dodo Payments, and others. | Stripe, Dodo Payments, Polar, Paddle, Creem, Lemon Squeezy and Razorpay, plus an API for anything else. |
| Retention window | Three years of data retention on Starter, the entry tier; five or more on Growth. | 1 to 5 years of data history, rising with the monthly event size; the default 500k-event size shows 2 years. |

## Where they differ

### What the free plan includes

- DataFast: Nothing standing — the only free access is a 14-day trial with no card. The entry Starter tier, once paid for, lists 10,000 monthly events, one website, one team member and three years of data retention. ([source](https://datafa.st/))
- Cool Analytics: A 7-day free trial of the paid plan with every feature; the pages describe no standing free plan. ([source](https://coolanalytics.dev/terms))
- Lean: none. No documented basis to lean either way on this criterion.

### Credit card to start

- DataFast: No ([source](https://datafa.st/))
- Cool Analytics: Yes ([source](https://coolanalytics.dev/terms))
- Lean: 78% DataFast / 22% Cool Analytics — whether it is required at all (not requiring it is better). inetGeek's own reading, computed from the two values above by the rules at https://inetgeek.com/methodology/, not a provider claim.

### When the free offer ends

- DataFast: You can try DataFast for free for 14 days and you don't even need a credit card! ([source](https://datafa.st/))
- Cool Analytics: 7 days from the start of the trial; the card on file is then charged unless the plan is cancelled. ([source](https://coolanalytics.dev/terms))
- Lean: none. No documented basis to lean either way on this criterion.

### Entry paid plan

- DataFast: Not readable. The pricing block renders its plan contents in full and then prints "$ /month" with an empty figure and "Save $NaN" — in a headless browser, after twenty seconds, on every extraction tier this site has. ([source](https://datafa.st/))
- Cool Analytics: From $3 a month, billed monthly, at 10k events a month on a single event-priced plan that carries every feature. ([source](https://coolanalytics.dev/compare/plausible))
- Lean: none. No documented basis to lean either way on this criterion.

### Pricing model

- DataFast: Traffic-based plans metered in monthly events rather than pageviews, from 10,000 to over 10 million, monthly or yearly with two months free on yearly. ([source](https://datafa.st/))
- Cool Analytics: One plan with every feature, priced by monthly events: every pageview and every custom event sent counts as one. The price follows a traffic slider from 10k to 10M+ events a month, billed monthly or yearly (yearly gives two months free). ([source](https://coolanalytics.dev/))
- Lean: none. No documented basis to lean either way on this criterion.

### Sites or apps included

- DataFast: One website and one team member on Starter, the entry tier. Growth raises both to 30. ([source](https://datafa.st/))
- Cool Analytics: Grows with the monthly event size picked on the pricing slider; there are no separate plans. The default 500k-event size shows 20 websites and 5 team members, and the price table carries the count at each size. ([source](https://coolanalytics.dev/))
- Lean: none. No documented basis to lean either way on this criterion.

### Payment providers connected

- DataFast: Stripe, LemonSqueezy, Polar, Shopify, WooCommerce, Paddle, Dodo Payments, and others. ([source](https://datafa.st/llms.txt))
- Cool Analytics: Stripe, Dodo Payments, Polar, Paddle, Creem, Lemon Squeezy and Razorpay, plus an API for anything else. ([source](https://coolanalytics.dev/))
- Lean: none. No documented basis to lean either way on this criterion.

### Retention window

- DataFast: Three years of data retention on Starter, the entry tier; five or more on Growth. ([source](https://datafa.st/))
- Cool Analytics: 1 to 5 years of data history, rising with the monthly event size; the default 500k-event size shows 2 years. ([source](https://coolanalytics.dev/compare/plausible))
- Lean: none. No documented basis to lean either way on this criterion.

## Which should you choose?

Pick DataFast if Tying revenue back to the channel that produced it. DataFast connects a payment provider per website and reports revenue per visitor rather than pageviews alone, which is a different question from the one the rest of this category answers.

Pick Cool Analytics if A founder who wants each payment from a connected processor — Stripe, Dodo Payments, Polar, Paddle, Creem, Lemon Squeezy or Razorpay — credited to the visit behind it, at a flat price by monthly events, from $3 a month for 10,000 events, with data hosted in Germany.

Consider something else: DataFast — You need to know the price before signing up. The pricing block lists what each plan contains and never renders the figure — it prints an empty amount and a literal NaN — so the only way to learn the cost is to start the trial.

Consider something else: Cool Analytics — You need a product you can sign up to today: Cool Analytics shows a waitlist and says early access is opening soon, offers a 7-day trial with a card on file, is hosted only, and does not state a SOC 2 or similar audit.

## Documented by only one

One side documents these and the other does not. An absence is a missing source, not a stated "no" — except where a line says the other page was READ on a date and does not mention it, which is a sourced observation and the only one-sided case this site leans on.

- Works without cookies: Cool Analytics: Supported — A random visitor ID is kept in browser local storage
- AI and search crawler tracking: DataFast: Supported
- Self-hostable: Cool Analytics: Not supported
- GDPR / data residency: Cool Analytics: Data is stored in the EU (Germany) on Hetzner servers; support and maintenance access from India relies on Standard Contractual Clauses.
  - DataFast: not stated on https://datafa.st/, read 2026-09-21. Corrections: https://inetgeek.com/contact/
  - Lean: 22% DataFast / 78% Cool Analytics — documented, against a vendor page that does not state it (checked 2026-09-21).
- Encryption at rest: Cool Analytics: The DPA lists encryption at rest only for payment provider keys, with HTTPS in transit everywhere; it does not say stored visit data is encrypted at rest.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: DataFast or Cool Analytics?**

DataFast: Not readable. The pricing block renders its plan contents in full and then prints "$ /month" with an empty figure and "Save $NaN" — in a headless browser, after twenty seconds, on every extraction tier this site has.
Cool Analytics: From $3 a month, billed monthly, at 10k events a month on a single event-priced plan that carries every feature.

**Should I choose DataFast or Cool Analytics?**

Pick DataFast if Tying revenue back to the channel that produced it. DataFast connects a payment provider per website and reports revenue per visitor rather than pageviews alone, which is a different question from the one the rest of this category answers.
Pick Cool Analytics if A founder who wants each payment from a connected processor — Stripe, Dodo Payments, Polar, Paddle, Creem, Lemon Squeezy or Razorpay — credited to the visit behind it, at a flat price by monthly events, from $3 a month for 10,000 events, with data hosted in Germany.