Arp242 Goatcounter by arp242

Easy web analytics. No tracking of personal data.

goanalyticsgolang
Verdict 76/100 health $4.13/mo cheapest, hetzner 2/5 setup difficulty 18k docker pulls Last release 6 months ago

Self-host Arp242 Goatcounter on hetzner for $4.13/mo and save approximately $130/year vs Fathom Analytics.

Health score
76 /100
6-dim composite
Self-hosts from
$4.13 /mo
hetzner · CAX11
Difficulty
2 /5
Docker + read README
GitHub stars
5.8k
263 forks

About Arp242 Goatcounter

From the project's README at github.com/arp242/goatcounter. Lightly cleaned for readability; for the full source see the upstream repo.

GoatCounter is an open source web analytics platform available as a (free) hosted service or self-hosted app. It aims to offer easy to use and meaningful privacy-friendly web analytics as an alternative to Google Analytics or Matomo.

There are two ways to run this: as hosted service on [goatcounter.com][www], or run it on your own server. The source code is completely Open Source/Free Software, and it can be self-hosted without restrictions.

[sponsor]: http://www.goatcounter.com/contribute [www]: https://www.goatcounter.com

Features Privacy-aware; doesn’t track users with unique identifiers and doesn't need a GDPR notice. Fine-grained control over which data is collected. Also see the [privacy policy][privacy] and [GDPR consent notices][gdpr]. Lightweight and fast; adds just ~3.5K of extra data to your site. Also has JavaScript-free "tracking pixel" option, or you can use it from your application's middleware or import from logfiles. Identify unique visits without cookies using a non-identifiable hash ([technical details][sessions]). Keeps useful statistics such as browser information, location, and screen size. Keep track of referring sites and campaigns. Easy; if you've been confused by the myriad of options and flexibility of Google Analytics and Matomo th

Health score breakdown

6-dimension composite. See methodology for formula and weights.

activity
82
maturity
100
community
93
security
70
sustainability
88
adoption
32

Adoption signals

Real-world usage data, pulled from each registry. The bigger the numbers, the more battle-tested the project.

SignalValueSource
GitHub stars 5.8k github.com/arp242/goatcounter
GitHub forks 263 github.com/arp242/goatcounter
Docker Hub pulls 18k hub.docker.com / arp242

Release & maintenance

Is this project actively maintained, or about to die? Check the recency of last commit and last release.

Project age7.1 yearssince May 2019
Last commit5 days agoJun 21, 2026
Releases shipped27last: 6 months ago
Funding links1declared by maintainers

Self-hosting cost across providers

Detected requirements: 4GB RAM, 40GB disk minimum. Cheapest plan per provider that meets the requirement.

ProviderPlanSpecsMonthly
hetzner CAX11 2c · 4GB · 40GB $4.13 USD Deploy →
vultr VC2 1c · 1GB · 25GB $5 USD Deploy →
linode Nanode 1GB 1c · 1GB · 25GB $5.12 USD Deploy →
digitalocean Basic Regular 1GB 1c · 1GB · 25GB $6 USD Deploy →

What people say on Hacker News

Replaces these paid SaaS

Arp242 Goatcounter is one of the open-source alternatives to:

Google Analytics alternatives Fathom Analytics alternatives Simple Analytics alternatives

Ready to self-host Arp242 Goatcounter?

Spin up a hetzner CAX11 (4GB RAM, 40GB disk) for $4.13/mo and follow the project's official install docs.

Data last refreshed Jun 21, 2026.

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Frequently asked questions

Last verified . Health scores and costs are computed from public data.