GoatCounter
Deliberately tiny open-source analytics, free for non-commercial sites and blogs.
why this verdict
Keep it — Google has not replaced it
Google's version overlaps, but does not finish the analytics job, so this one is still worth keeping open.
- A named launch, not a vibe named, unlinked
- Free AI-summarised reporting in Google Analytics making minimal trackers look under-featured. Google, July 15, 2024 — no announcement link recorded yet.
- How much of the job it covers not the job editorial call
- Parts of it. The job still needs the tool to get finished.
- Is there a free way to do it? yes
- 2 of 3 listed replacements have a usable free tier: Umami and Matomo.
- What the call is worth nothing to cancel
- No paid entry tier tracked, so there is no subscription to cancel.
- Threatened by
- Since
- July 15, 2024
- List price
- free
- Per year
- —
The backstory
GoatCounter is a minimal open-source tracker that counts page views without cookies and stays free for personal and non-commercial use. It has no dashboards to disrupt and no seat pricing to undercut. AI features in the big platforms are irrelevant to someone who wants one number per day. Being small and free is the whole product, so nothing can really take it away.
Escape hatches
Similar minimal tracker with a hosted option
umami.is open_in_newPaid hosted analytics with the same lightweight approach
plausible.io open_in_newHeavier open-source option if you outgrow simple counts
matomo.org open_in_new2 of 3 replacements have a usable free tier.