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GoatCounter Alternatives

Privacy AnalyticsFree tier available
Visit GoatCounter
PlanMonthlyAnnual
Personal (free)Free—
Business StarterMost popular$5.00/mo$60.00/yr
Self-hostedFree$0.00/yr
See our full ranking: Best Privacy Analytics of 2026

Verdict

GoatCounter is the cheapest credible tool in this category: genuinely free for personal and non-commercial use up to 100K pageviews, the entry monthly rate for commercial use, EUPL-1.2 self-host as a single Go binary. The compromise is real. No funnels, no goals, no GA4 import, a single-maintainer project, and a dashboard built for solo developers rather than client review meetings. Most readers shopping alternatives want one of three things: a more institutional vendor without giving up the price story, the same minimalism plus goals and funnels, or modern OSS that runs on Vercel without a Go-binary handoff.

Where alternatives win

Umami Cloud Hobby is genuinely free for 100K events with no card on file, the MIT OSS self-host runs cleanly on Vercel or Railway, and funnels plus retention land on the Cloud Pro tier rather than gating behind enterprise contracts.

Pirsch Hobby is the cheapest pick that adds funnels, goal conversions, and custom-domain tracking on top of cookieless analytics, with EU-only data residency baked in by default.

Plausible is the polished managed cloud with goals, conversion attribution, and GA4 import shipped in the box, a 30-day free trial, and an AGPL-3 self-hosted escape hatch for the long term.

Fathom Analytics charges a flat per-pageview rate that covers unlimited sites in one bucket, which fits anyone running a personal portfolio plus a side project plus the occasional freelance landing page.

By Subrupt EditorialPublished Reviewed

GoatCounter is what privacy analytics looks like stripped to the studs. Free for personal use up to 100K pageviews, the entry monthly rate for commercial, single Go binary for self-hosting if you ever outgrow the cloud tier. Martin Tournoij has shipped active updates from the Netherlands since 2019 and the EUPL-1.2 license is the friendliest copyleft in this category. The price is honest. Most readers do not stop using GoatCounter because of the bill.

Four alternatives sit in distinct lanes. Umami is the zero-cost MIT OSS upgrade where the Cloud Hobby plan covers 100K events without a credit card. Pirsch is the cheapest pick that adds funnels, goal conversions, and custom-domain tracking on the same tier you would otherwise pay GoatCounter for. Plausible is the polished managed cloud with goals and a GA4 importer that closes the gap on a real client-review dashboard. Fathom Analytics charges a flat per-pageview rate that covers unlimited sites in one bucket.

GoatCounter at its commercial seat is roughly a third of Plausible's 100K tier and about a third of Fathom's. The polish premium is real and worth it for some teams: goals, conversion attribution, multi-region delivery, GA4 import. For others, the budget gap funds Umami Cloud Hobby outright or pays for a Pirsch Hobby seat that adds funnels at a comparable monthly. The cost-flip math sits in the Usage Cost Table below.

Quick map by what you actually need. Free MIT OSS that runs on Vercel: Umami. Funnels and custom-domain tracking on the cheap: Pirsch. Polished cloud with goals and GA4 import: Plausible. Multiple sites at one flat rate: Fathom Analytics.

Affiliate disclosure: Subrupt earns a commission when you switch to a service through our recommendation links. This never changes the price you pay. We only recommend services where there's a real cost or feature advantage for you, and our picks are based on the data on this page, not on which programs pay the most.

Quick pick by use case

If you only have thirty seconds, find your situation below and skip to that pick.

If you want a managed cloud that is genuinely free for your real trafficUmamiUmami Cloud Hobby covers 100K events with no card across three sites.If you need funnels, goals, or custom-domain tracking at GoatCounter's price bandPirschPirsch Hobby ships funnels and custom-domain tracking on its cheapest paid tier.If you need GA4 import and a single-page dashboard a stakeholder accepts at a glancePlausiblePlausible Growth ships GA4 import and the polished dashboard the category was built around.If you run several small sites and want one flat per-pageview rateFathom AnalyticsFathom Starter covers unlimited sites at a single flat monthly with EU isolation included.If you want a license-free self-host you can audit and modify without copyleft frictionUmamiUmami is MIT licensed and avoids AGPL's network-service obligations.

Quick verdict

Skip these picks if: If your bill is already at GoatCounter's free personal or entry commercial tier and you do not need goals, funnels, GA4 import, or a client-presentation dashboard, none of the picks below clear the bar GoatCounter already meets for your shape.

At a glance: GoatCounter alternatives

Quick comparison across pricing floor, best fit, and switching effort. Tap a row to jump to the full pick.

Feature comparison

FeatureUmamiPirschPlausibleFathom Analytics
Free tier for commercial useGenuinely free, not a trial✓✗✗✗
Funnels on entry tier✗✓✗✗
Goal/conversion tracking✓✓✓✓
Self-hosted optionMIT✗AGPL-3✗
EU hosting defaultEU servers without opt-in toggle~✓~~
Unlimited sites at entry✗✗✗✓
Custom-domain trackingRoute analytics through your own subdomain~✓~✓
Google Analytics 4 import✗✓✓✓

Cost at your volume

Approximate cost per pick at typical monthly pageviews.

PickPersonal (10K)10,000 monthly pageviewsSmall site (100K)100,000 monthly pageviewsGrowing (1M)1,000,000 monthly pageviews
UmamiFreeFree$20/mo
Pirsch$6/mo$6/mo$36/mo
Plausible$9/mo$19/mo$69/mo
Fathom Analytics$15/mo$15/mo$84/mo

Cloud tiers only; self-hosted Umami and Plausible are free at any volume. Compared to GoatCounter Business Starter at $5/mo for 100K pageviews.

Our picks for GoatCounter alternatives

#1

Umami

Free tierLow switching effort 4.5/5

Best for MIT OSS with a free Cloud Hobby zero-cost upgrade

Try Umami

Umami is the cleanest modern OSS in this category and the only managed cloud in this list with a genuinely free tier for 100K events.

The trade: The hosted UX is slightly less polished than Plausible's single-page dashboard, the cloud product is newer than Plausible's, and the integration ecosystem is smaller than the long-established competitors.

The upside: MIT license avoids AGPL's network-service copyleft entirely, and the self-host runs as a Next.js app on Vercel, Railway, or any Node host with Postgres or MySQL. Cloud Hobby is free for 100K events across three sites with no card on file, which is the same volume GoatCounter commercial charges its entry monthly for. Funnels and retention reports land on the Cloud Pro tier rather than gating behind an enterprise contract.

“The integration, setup, and review of the data was simple and easy.”

Strengths

  • +MIT licensed (no AGPL copyleft)
  • +Free Cloud Hobby covers 100K events/mo with no card
  • +Self-host runs cleanly on Vercel, Railway, or any Node host
  • +Funnels and retention reports on Cloud Pro

Trade-offs

  • −Hosted UX less polished than Plausible's
  • −Cloud product newer than Plausible or Fathom
  • −Smaller integration ecosystem than Plausible
Cloud Pro
$20/mo for 1M events
Cloud Hobby
Free, 100K events/mo across 3 sites
Self-hosted
Free, MIT licensed
Pricing verified
2026-05-13
Migration steps
  1. Sign up for Umami Cloud Hobby at umami.is (no card required), or self-host on Vercel with a Postgres database in minutes.
  2. Add your sites and grab the tracking script.
  3. Replace GoatCounter's script with Umami's on each site.
  4. Run parallel for one week to validate counts.
  5. Cancel GoatCounter once the numbers reconcile, or keep the free personal tier for archive.

Not for: Skip Umami if you want goals tracking on the free tier without ever upgrading; funnels and retention reports live on Cloud Pro, not Hobby.

Paid plans from $20.00/mo

#2

Pirsch

Free tierLow switching effort 4.5/5

Best for funnels and custom-domain tracking on a tight budget

Try Pirsch

Pirsch is German-built and German-hosted, and Hobby at the same commercial monthly as GoatCounter covers 100K pageviews plus funnels, goal conversions, and custom-domain tracking that GoatCounter does not ship.

The trade: Smaller community than Plausible or Fathom, no US-isolated data option, parts of the documentation skew German-first.

The upside: Custom-domain tracking routes analytics through your own subdomain so it bypasses most ad blockers and DNS-level tracking blockers. The practical effect is measurably higher counts than GoatCounter at the same price band. EU-only data residency simplifies the GDPR posture for European companies. Goals and funnels ship on Hobby tier rather than gating to Business.

“I've totally left Google Analytics which I've been using for the last 15 years for Pirsch, because its simpleness.”

Strengths

  • +Funnels and goal conversions on Hobby tier
  • +Custom-domain tracking bypasses common ad blockers
  • +EU-hosted (Germany) by default
  • +30-day free trial, no card required

Trade-offs

  • −Smaller community than Plausible or Fathom
  • −No US-isolated data option for US-only customers
  • −Documentation occasionally skews German-first
Hobby
$6/mo for 100K pageviews + 5 sites
Business
$36/mo for 1M pageviews + unlimited sites
Trial
Free for 30 days, no card
Hosting
Germany only
Pricing verified
2026-05-13
Migration steps
  1. Start a Pirsch 30-day trial at pirsch.io (no card required).
  2. Add your sites and configure custom-domain tracking via a CNAME record on each.
  3. Replace GoatCounter's script with Pirsch's.
  4. Set up your goals and funnels in the dashboard while the trial runs.
  5. Cancel GoatCounter once counts validate, or keep the free personal tier for archive.

Not for: Skip Pirsch if your traffic skews North American with low EU exposure; the latency hit from Germany-only hosting is noticeable on US-only properties.

Paid plans from $6.00/mo

#3

Plausible

Free tierLow switching effort 4.0/5

Best for polished managed cloud with goals and GA4 import

Try Plausible

Plausible is what GoatCounter would look like if a designer team rewrote the dashboard for a Series A audience.

The trade: Growth at the entry monthly covers 10K pageviews, which is below GoatCounter's free tier ceiling, and the 100K tier costs roughly four times GoatCounter's commercial seat. AGPL-3 self-hosting requires a Phoenix/Elixir runtime plus Postgres which is heavier than GoatCounter's single Go binary.

The upside: Goals, conversion attribution, and a Google Analytics 4 import tool ship in the box. The single-page dashboard reads cleanly in a client meeting where GoatCounter's spartan tables draw questions. Plausible Insights OU has shipped from Estonia since 2018 with a real team behind the product, which closes the bus-factor gap some GoatCounter users worry about.

“Switching to Plausible significantly reduced our page load times, enhancing the user experience.”

Strengths

  • +Goals, conversions, and GA4 import shipped on Growth
  • +Polished single-page dashboard your stakeholders accept
  • +30-day free trial vs Fathom's 7
  • +AGPL-3 self-hosted escape hatch with active maintenance

Trade-offs

  • −100K tier roughly four times GoatCounter's commercial seat
  • −Self-host requires Phoenix/Elixir plus Postgres
  • −Tier-bracket pricing escalates faster than Fathom's flat per-pageview model
Growth (10K)
$9/mo for 10K pageviews + 10 sites
Growth (100K)
$19/mo for 100K pageviews + 10 sites
Business (100K)
$59/mo for 100K + custom properties + 50 sites
Self-hosted
Free, AGPL-3 licensed
Pricing verified
2026-05-13
Migration steps
  1. Sign up for Plausible's 30-day free trial at plausible.io (no card required).
  2. Add your sites and grab the tracking script.
  3. Run the GA4 importer if you have historical Google Analytics data you want to keep visible.
  4. Replace GoatCounter's script with Plausible's on each site.
  5. Run parallel for one week and cancel GoatCounter once counts reconcile.

Not for: Plausible is the wrong pick if your goal is a free or sub-five-dollar bill; GoatCounter personal or Umami Cloud Hobby fit that better.

Paid plans from $9.00/mo

#4

Fathom Analytics

Free tierLow switching effort 4.0/5

Best for unlimited sites at one flat per-pageview rate

Try Fathom Analytics

Fathom Analytics charges by total monthly pageviews across all your sites in one bucket, not per-site brackets.

The trade: Starter runs roughly three times GoatCounter's commercial monthly rate, the trial is only seven days versus Plausible's thirty, and there is no first-party self-hosted edition with active maintenance (Fathom Lite, the open-source predecessor, has been frozen for years).

The upside: The unlimited-sites flat-rate model compounds well as you add properties because adding a second or third site is free at the same tier. EU isolation routes EU visitor traffic through Fathom's EU servers, which simplifies the GDPR posture for North American operators selling into Europe. Email reports and uptime monitoring ship on Pro. For solo operators who graduated to running several small properties, Fathom is the only pick here that does not punish that growth shape.

“A top-level dashboard that summarises all data across all sites was a big win for me.”

Strengths

  • +Unlimited sites at flat per-pageview rate (no per-site bracket counting)
  • +EU isolation toggle per site
  • +Email reports and uptime monitoring on Pro
  • +Mature 2018-founded vendor with Canadian/US base

Trade-offs

  • −7-day trial shorter than Plausible's 30 days
  • −Roughly 3x GoatCounter's commercial monthly at the same volume
  • −No first-party self-hosted equivalent (Fathom Lite is frozen)
Starter (100K)
$15/mo for 100K pageviews + unlimited sites
Pro (1M)
$84/mo for 1M pageviews + unlimited sites
Trial
Free for 7 days, no card
Pricing verified
2026-05-13
Migration steps
  1. Start the Fathom 7-day free trial at usefathom.com.
  2. Add all your sites in one workspace and grab the tracking scripts.
  3. Replace GoatCounter's script on each site.
  4. Toggle EU isolation per site if any traffic is European.
  5. Validate counts for one week before canceling GoatCounter.

Not for: Skip Fathom if you only run one site and care most about the bill; GoatCounter or Pirsch Hobby are meaningfully cheaper at the same volume.

Paid plans from $15.00/mo

When to stay with GoatCounter

Stay with GoatCounter if the entry commercial monthly is fine for your scale and you do not need goals, funnels, GA4 import, or a client-presentation dashboard. The picks below trade GoatCounter's minimalism for either a polished managed cloud, modern MIT OSS, cheap funnels, or unlimited-sites flat pricing. None of them beat GoatCounter's price story without giving up some of what GoatCounter does best.

4 Alternatives to GoatCounter

PlausibleFree tier

Plausible from $9.00/mo

From $9.00/mo

Switch to Plausible
Fathom AnalyticsFree tier

Fathom Analytics from $15.00/mo

From $15.00/mo

Switch to Fathom Analytics
UmamiFree tier

Umami from $20.00/mo

From $20.00/mo

Switch to Umami
PirschFree tier

Pirsch from $6.00/mo

From $6.00/mo

Switch to Pirsch

Price Comparison

Compared against GoatCounter Business Starter ($5.00/mo)

Continue your research

Plausible alternativesUmami alternativesFathom Analytics alternativesPirsch alternativesSimple Analytics alternatives

How we picked

We split GoatCounter alternatives along three axes when scoring: feature scope (pageviews-only vs pageviews plus goals and funnels), hosting model (cloud-only vs OSS self-host vs hybrid), and entry pricing relative to GoatCounter's commercial seat. Each pick anchors a distinct combination rather than competing in the same lane.

Pricing was verified against each vendor's site on 2026-05-13 at 100K monthly pageviews for the cost-table baseline. We weighted feature density per dollar above brand recognition because the typical GoatCounter user is already price-sensitive enough to have skipped Plausible's 100K tier in the first place. Picks were also cross-checked for active maintenance: any vendor whose changelog had gone quiet for more than a year was excluded.

Update history1 update
  • Initial published version on full Stage 2 schema. Four picks (Plausible, Umami, Pirsch, Fathom Analytics) across distinct lanes covering polished cloud, free MIT OSS, cheapest-with-funnels, and unlimited-sites flat pricing. Structured verdict with pick deep-links, four-paragraph scannable intro, Quick Verdict (5 entries + skipIf), Decision Tree (5 rules), Feature Matrix (8 dimensions), Usage Cost Table at three pageview levels, four sourced operator quotes, per-pick author ratings. Pricing verified against vendor sites 2026-05-13.

Frequently asked questions about GoatCounter alternatives

Does GoatCounter have funnels or goal tracking?

GoatCounter ships goal events through a small JavaScript API and custom event tracking, but it does not ship multi-step funnels or attribution paths. If you need to model a signup flow across three or four steps, Pirsch Hobby includes funnels on its entry paid tier and Umami Pro adds funnels with retention reports. Plausible Growth ships goals and conversion attribution but adds funnels only on Business.

Why would I leave GoatCounter if it is free for personal use?

Three common reasons. You need features GoatCounter does not ship (funnels, GA4 import, custom-domain tracking). You want a more institutional vendor because GoatCounter is maintained by one developer in the Netherlands. Or you crossed the 100K monthly pageview ceiling on the personal tier and now have to choose between the commercial monthly and an alternative that adds capability at a comparable price.

Which pick is cheapest with funnels?

Pirsch Hobby ships funnels, goals, and custom-domain tracking on its entry paid tier at the same commercial monthly as GoatCounter. Umami Cloud Pro adds funnels and retention but at a higher monthly than Pirsch. Plausible adds funnels only on Business, which is the priciest funnel option in this list. If funnels are the only feature pulling you off GoatCounter, Pirsch is the smallest jump on the bill.

Is GoatCounter's single-maintainer status a real risk?

Probably modest. Martin Tournoij has shipped active updates from 2019 through 2026 and the EUPL-1.2 license means any team can fork the codebase if maintenance ever slows. The Go binary self-host is straightforward enough that an outage of goatcounter.com would not strand commercial users. That said, procurement teams at larger companies do raise the bus factor as a concern, which is part of why some teams move to Plausible Insights OU or Conva Ventures despite the higher monthly.

Can I keep GoatCounter for personal sites and use a paid tool for client work?

Yes, and this is a common pattern. Run GoatCounter's free personal tier on your own portfolio and blog, then deploy Umami Cloud Hobby or Pirsch Hobby on client properties where you need funnels, goals, or a more polished dashboard for review meetings. The trackers are independent, so counts on either side stay isolated and you only pay for the surface that actually needs the capability.

Ready to switch?

Our top GoatCounter alternative: Umami

Umami Cloud Hobby is genuinely free for 100K events with no card on file, the MIT OSS self-host runs cleanly on Vercel or Railway, and funnels plus retention land on the Cloud Pro tier rather than gating behind enterprise contracts.

Try Umami freeOr compare all 4 picks
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About the author: Subrupt Editorial

The team behind subrupt.com. We track subscriptions, surface cheaper alternatives, and publish comparisons where the score formula is on the page so you can recompute it yourself. We do not claim 30,000 hours of testing. What we claim is live pricing from our database, a transparent composite score, and honest savings math against a category baseline.

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