DataFast alternativeChartsy vs DataFast

The DataFast alternative built around your MRR

DataFast is web analytics that shows revenue by channel. Chartsy starts from your subscriptions: MRR, churn and what moved them, with the marketing channel behind every paying customer.

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14-day trial, no card. DataFast details checked October 2026.

Short answer

Choose Chartsy if

  • You want MRR, churn, LTV and an MRR breakdown, not just revenue
  • You bill through Creem.io, Freemius or Paddle Classic
  • You want MRR by channel combined across several billing providers
  • You want a read-only MCP connection for Claude or ChatGPT

Choose DataFast if

  • You want full web analytics: pages, referrers, real-time visitors, funnels and journeys
  • You sell one-time products or on Shopify or WooCommerce
  • You want ad spend next to revenue in the same dashboard
  • You run many websites on one plan

Both start at $9/mo and both show which channels bring paying customers. DataFast is the better web analytics tool; Chartsy is the better subscription analytics tool.

DataFast details come from datafa.st and its docs, checked in October 2026. Where DataFast doesn't document something, we say so instead of guessing. Disclosure: Chartsy is our product. Both tools get the same fact card and the same “not ideal for” line.

Side by side

Chartsy vs DataFast comparison table

FeatureChartsyDataFast
Starting price (Oct 2026)$9/mo (Starter)$9/mo (Starter)
Entry plan10k events, 2 websites, 2 billing sources10k events, 1 website
Next planGrowth from $29/mo: 20 websites, 20 billing sourcesGrowth $19/mo: 30 websites, 30 team members
Trial14 days, no card14 days, no card
Built forSubscription revenue: MRR and where it came fromWeb analytics with revenue attribution
MRR, churn rate, LTV, NRRYesNot documented
MRR breakdown (new, expansion, contraction, churn, reactivation)YesNot documented
Subscription events per visitorSignup, first payment, MRRTrial, renewal and churn goals (Stripe)
Revenue by marketing channelYesYes
Web analyticsVisits, referrers, landing and signup pages, countries, visit-to-paid funnelPages, referrers, real-time visitors, goals, funnels, journeys
Stripe, Paddle, Polar.sh, Lemon SqueezyYesYes
Paddle Classic, Creem.io, FreemiusYesNot documented
Shopify, WooCommerce, Dodo PaymentsNoYes
Custom payments APICustom Billing APIPayment API
Ad spend next to revenueNot documentedMeta Ads
Cookieless trackingCookieless by default; cookie mode optionalSeparate cookieless script
MCP serverRead-only, 19 tools, OAuth or tokenOAuth or token; writes need confirmation
Mobile appsNot documentediOS and Android
Why founders look elsewhere

DataFast shows the revenue. Chartsy shows the recurring revenue.

DataFast is a strong revenue-first web analytics tool. These are the gaps that matter for subscription businesses.

  • Revenue isn’t MRRA renewal, a refund and a downgrade all move revenue. Chartsy reports MRR from what each subscription is billed, and shows the new, expansion, contraction, churned and reactivated MRR behind each month.
  • Churn as a number, not just an eventDataFast tracks churn as a goal you can filter. Chartsy gives you churn rate, LTV and NRR, and lists the customers at risk.
  • More merchants of recordChartsy connects Creem.io, Freemius and Paddle Classic natively, alongside Stripe, Paddle Billing, Polar.sh and Lemon Squeezy.
  • One MRR across providersConnect several billing accounts and Chartsy adds them into one MRR, still broken down by marketing channel.
Fact cards

DataFast and Chartsy at a glance

Same fields for both tools, including what each one is not ideal for.

DataFast

Best for: Founders who want simple web analytics with revenue attribution, across SaaS, one-time products and online stores.

DataFast, made by Marc Lou, calls itself “revenue-first analytics”. It tracks visits, pages, referrers, campaigns, goals, funnels and visitor journeys, and connects payment providers so you see which channels bring paying customers. With Stripe connected it records subscription goals such as trial started, trial converted, renewed and ended, attributed to the visitor. It also estimates revenue by Google Search Console keyword, shows Meta Ads spend next to revenue, and has a cookieless script, mobile apps, an API, a CLI and an MCP server.

Pricing
Starter $9/mo: 10k monthly events, 1 website, 3 years of data. Growth $19/mo: 10k events, 30 websites, 5+ years, social mentions and link attribution. Higher event tiers aren’t priced on the site. Yearly billing gives two months free.
Free tier or trial
14-day trial, no card. Over the event limit, tracking continues but the dashboard needs an upgrade.
Payment providers
Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, Polar, Paddle, Shopify, WooCommerce, Dodo Payments and a Payment API. Creem.io, Freemius and Paddle Classic aren’t in its docs.
Subscription metrics
Revenue, conversion rate and subscription lifecycle goals. MRR, churn rate and an MRR breakdown aren’t documented.
AI and MCP
MCP server with OAuth or API tokens, a ChatGPT app and a CLI. Write actions require explicit confirmation.
Not ideal for
Subscription businesses that need MRR, churn rate and an MRR breakdown, and sellers on Creem.io, Freemius or Paddle Classic.

Chartsy

Best for: SaaS founders who want an easy MRR dashboard and the marketing channel behind every paying customer.

Chartsy connects natively to Stripe, Paddle (Billing and Classic), Polar.sh, Freemius, Creem.io and Lemon Squeezy, syncs your last 24 months, and shows MRR, ARR, churn, LTV, NRR and ARPU with an MRR breakdown. Several accounts, even on different providers, add up into one MRR.

Its revenue attribution script follows each customer from first visit to signup to first payment, so you see MRR, not just revenue, by channel, campaign and referrer, including AI assistants like ChatGPT.

Pricing
Starter from $9/mo (10k events, 2 websites, 2 billing sources), Growth from $29/mo (20 of each). Priced on tracked visits and signups. Yearly billing gives two months free. (pricing)
Free tier or trial
14-day trial, no card. Over the event limit, tracking continues but the dashboard locks until you upgrade.
Billing sources
Stripe, Paddle Billing, Paddle Classic, Polar.sh, Freemius, Creem.io, Lemon Squeezy, plus a Custom Billing API.
Subscription metrics
MRR breakdown, churn, LTV, NRR, ARPU, plan and country breakdowns, cohort retention charts, at-risk customers, goals.
AI and MCP
In-app chat and chart builder (200 questions/mo on Starter, 2,000 on Growth), and a read-only MCP server with 19 tools.
Not ideal for
Teams that want full web analytics (page-level reports, real-time visitors, funnels, journeys), Shopify or WooCommerce stores, and anyone who wants ad spend in the dashboard.
Pricing

What each costs

Both start at $9/mo for 10,000 events a month and both offer a 14-day trial. They differ in what the next plan buys.

DataFast (monthly)

PlanPriceIncludes
Starter$910k events, 1 website
Growth$1910k events, 30 websites
More eventsNot published100k, 200k and 1M+ tiers

Chartsy (monthly)

Monthly eventsStarterGrowth
10,000$9$29
100,000$29$49
500,000$59$109
1,000,000$79$149
  • One SaaS, one website, 10,000 events a month: $9/mo on either.
  • Five websites on 10,000 events: DataFast Growth is $19/mo; Chartsy Growth is $29/mo.
  • One website on 100,000 events: Chartsy Starter is $29/mo; DataFast doesn’t publish that tier’s price.

Rule of thumb: many small websites favours DataFast; one higher-traffic SaaS is easier to price on Chartsy.

Decide

Which should you choose?

  • You want to know your MRR and why it movedChartsy.
  • You want full web analytics with revenue on topDataFast.
  • You bill through Creem.io, Freemius or Paddle ClassicChartsy, which connects all three natively.
  • You sell on Shopify or WooCommerceDataFast.
  • You want ad spend and revenue side by sideDataFast, with Meta Ads.
  • You want bothSome founders run DataFast for web analytics and Chartsy for MRR. Both scripts can sit on the same site.
Other options

Other DataFast alternatives

Web analytics tools DataFast compares itself with. None of them calculate subscription MRR from your billing data.

Plausible

Best for: Privacy-first, lightweight web analytics.

Goals, funnels and ecommerce revenue events, with an open-source, self-hostable option. Revenue comes from events you send, not from your billing provider.

PostHog

Best for: Product analytics with session replay, feature flags and experiments.

A much broader product platform. Good for in-app behaviour; not built for MRR or marketing attribution to payments.

Google Analytics 4

Best for: Free, broad web analytics in the Google ecosystem.

Strong for traffic and ads. Revenue needs ecommerce events you send yourself; no subscription metrics.

Why it matters

Revenue by channel vs MRR by channel

Revenue by channel tells you which channel brought in money this month. For a subscription business that mixes renewals from customers who arrived a year ago with first payments from last week, annual plans paid in one go, refunds and one-time purchases.

MRR by channel answers a different question: how much recurring revenue each channel is responsible for right now, and whether it's growing. Chartsy calculates it from what each subscription is billed, normalized to a month, using the rules in How We Calculate MRR at Chartsy, and credits each subscription to the visit that brought the customer.

How we compared

What this page answers, and how

Questions founders ask

  • Is DataFast enough for a subscription business?
  • Does DataFast show MRR and churn?
  • Which one supports my payment provider?
  • Which is cheaper for my sites and traffic?
  • Can I use both?
  • Can I connect either one to Claude or ChatGPT?

How we compared the tools

  1. Price. Entry price, what the next plan buys, and how each scales with traffic and websites.
  2. Revenue depth. Payments and revenue versus MRR, churn and the MRR breakdown.
  3. Attribution. How each connects a visit to a signup and a payment.
  4. Payment providers. Which billing systems connect natively.
  5. Web analytics and AI. Page-level reporting, funnels, and MCP access for Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor.
FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is the best DataFast alternative for SaaS?

For subscription businesses that want MRR, churn and the MRR breakdown with revenue by channel: Chartsy. For privacy-first web analytics: Plausible. For product analytics with session replay: PostHog.

Does DataFast show MRR?

DataFast documents revenue, conversion rate and subscription lifecycle goals such as trial converted, renewed and ended. We found no documented MRR, churn rate or MRR breakdown. Chartsy calculates all three from your billing data.

How much does DataFast cost?

Starter is $9/mo for 10,000 monthly events and one website; Growth is $19/mo for 30 websites. Higher event tiers exist but aren’t priced on the site. There’s a 14-day trial with no card.

Does DataFast support Paddle, Creem.io or Freemius?

DataFast documents Paddle, Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, Polar, Shopify, WooCommerce and Dodo Payments. Creem.io, Freemius and Paddle Classic aren’t in its docs. Chartsy connects all three natively.

Can I use DataFast and Chartsy together?

Yes. DataFast for page-level web analytics, funnels and ad spend; Chartsy for MRR, churn and MRR by channel. Both are a script on your site plus a billing connection.

Which one has an MCP server?

Both. Chartsy’s is read-only, with 19 tools covering MRR, churn, customers and traffic sources. DataFast’s covers web analytics, goals, funnels and visitors, and can also make changes after explicit confirmation.

See your MRR and where it came from.

Connect Stripe, Paddle, Polar.sh, Freemius, Creem.io or Lemon Squeezy in minutes. 14-day trial, no card needed.

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DataFast is a trademark of its owner. Chartsy is not affiliated with or endorsed by DataFast.

Ministry of Economy and Innovation
Startup Albania

The Chartsy program is realized with the financial support of the Albanian Government through the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, under the Grant 2026 scheme, and is implemented by the Innovation4Albania Agency.