Open-source Google Analytics alternatives

An analytics tool has two parts: the tracking script that runs in your visitors' browsers, and the server that stores the data and draws the dashboard. A tool is open source when the code of both is public, under a licence that lets you read it, run it and change it. Three of the tools we reviewed qualify: Umami, Plausible and Matomo. Each runs on your own server with no licence fee, and each vendor also sells a hosted cloud version.

Several other tools publish part of their code, which is useful but not the same thing. Simple Analytics publishes only its tracking scripts, and WireBoard only its SDKs and plugins, both under MIT. Fathom's only open-source code is the older Fathom Lite. Pirsch publishes its core counting library under AGPL v3, but its dashboard is closed, and running Pirsch on your own servers needs an Enterprise licence. These open parts let you check some of what happens to your data, but none of these tools lets you run the whole service yourself for free.

Three things change when all the code is open.

You can check what is collected. Privacy claims stop being a matter of trust. Plausible says it keeps no persistent identifiers and deletes the salt of its visitor hash every 24 hours. Umami says it stores no personal data and changes its salt every month. With the code public, anyone can read how the hash is built and see whether the claim holds.

You can keep the data at home. On your own server, the data never leaves your infrastructure. The cloud editions are hosted by the vendor: Plausible on servers in Germany and Finland, Matomo Cloud in Frankfurt, and Umami Cloud in the US or the EU, picked at sign-up.

You are not locked in. If the vendor raises its prices, changes its plans or closes, the code you run keeps working, and the same software stays available for you to run yourself.

Each of the three uses a different licence. For a site owner who installs the tool and uses it on their own sites, none of them asks anything of you. The differences start when you change the code.

• MIT (Umami). A permissive licence. You can use, change and redistribute the code, and keep your changes private.
• GPL v3 (Matomo). A copyleft licence. If you distribute a changed version, you must publish its source under the same licence. Running a changed copy on your own server, without giving it to anyone, does not trigger that.
• AGPL v3 (Plausible, and Pirsch's counting library). The GPL with one addition: if people use your changed version over a network, you must offer them its source too. An agency that modifies Plausible and hosts it for clients falls under that rule.

This is a plain summary, not legal advice. If you plan to ship changes, read the licence text first.

The licence covers the code, not the vendor's cloud. Umami Cloud, Plausible's cloud and Matomo Cloud are services with their own terms, prices and limits.

Self-hosting is free in licence fees, not in work. You take on the server, the database, security updates, upgrades of the tool itself, and backups. If the server goes down, nobody counts your visitors until you notice.

What each one needs, according to its vendor:

• Umami: Node.js and a PostgreSQL database, or the official Docker image.
• Matomo: a PHP server with MySQL or MariaDB. Matomo recommends 2 CPUs and 2 GB of memory up to 100,000 pageviews a month, and a separate database server above 1 million. Matomo 6, in beta since September 2026, will need PHP 8.1 and MySQL 8.0 or MariaDB 10.6: an upgrade of the tool can mean an upgrade of the server too.
• Plausible: the Community Edition is free as well. Check Plausible's self-hosting page for what it needs before you plan a server.

Self-hosting has upsides beyond the price. Self-hosted Matomo processes its reports every 15 minutes by default, where Matomo Cloud updates today's reports every 6 hours. A self-hosted Umami can rotate its visitor hash daily or weekly instead of monthly.

The cloud spares you all of that work. Umami Cloud has a free Hobby plan for 100,000 events a month on one site. Plausible starts at $9 a month for 10,000 pageviews on one site. Matomo Cloud starts at $26 a month for 50,000 hits on up to 30 sites, with its premium features included.

"Free and open source" does not always mean "every feature". Each project draws the line in a different place.

• Umami keeps almost nothing back: the self-hosted edition has every feature except email reports. That includes session replays and heatmaps, which on Umami Cloud need the Business plan at $200 a month.
• Plausible's Community Edition has fewer features than the cloud, and funnels are among those it leaves out.
• Matomo's On-Premise edition has unlimited users and hits, but its premium features are paid plugins, funnels, heatmaps and custom reports among them. Bundles start at €275 a month for up to 4 users. Matomo Cloud includes those features from $26 a month, with monthly quotas (1,500 heatmap pageviews and 150 recordings on the entry plan). For a small site, the full Matomo feature set can cost less in the cloud than on your own server.

• You want a page you can read in a minute, with no cookies. Plausible, on its cloud from $9 a month or self-hosted for free. It scores 5 for ease of use and 5 for privacy.
• You want funnels, retention and cohorts without paying. Umami. Its free cloud plan includes them, and so does the self-hosted edition.
• You want the depth of Google Analytics: ecommerce, segments on every report, custom reports, A/B tests. Matomo, if you accept a learning curve and switch its cookies off yourself.
• You want the data in the EU without running a server. Plausible's cloud runs in Germany and Finland, Matomo Cloud in Frankfurt, and Umami lets you pick the EU at sign-up.
• You are leaving Google Analytics and want your history. Plausible imports your GA4 history on every plan, and Matomo Cloud includes an importer for Google Analytics data.

• Assuming open source means no cookies. Open source is about the code, not about what the code collects. Matomo sets first-party cookies by default, including a visitor ID kept 13 months, until you switch them off.
• Counting only the licence fee. Budget time for updates and backups, and for upgrades such as the newer PHP and database versions Matomo 6 will need.
• Expecting the cloud features at home. Check the list above before you plan a funnel report on Plausible's Community Edition or heatmaps on free Matomo.
• Mistaking an open script for an open tool. A public tracking script lets you audit what is sent, but not host the service.
• Ignoring how the cloud counts. Matomo Cloud counts hits (every pageview, event, download, outlink, site search and content interaction), and Umami counts each event property you save as an event. A detailed setup fills a quota faster than traffic suggests.