GoatCounter — Privacy-Friendly Open Source Web Analytics

Introduction

GoatCounter provides web analytics that respect visitor privacy. It does not use cookies, does not collect personal data, and does not require a consent banner. The result is a simple, fast dashboard showing the traffic metrics that matter.

What GoatCounter Does

• Counts page views, unique visits, referrers, and browser/OS statistics
• Works without cookies, localStorage, or fingerprinting
• Provides a dashboard with daily, weekly, and monthly traffic breakdowns
• Tracks campaigns and UTM parameters for marketing attribution
• Exports data as CSV for offline analysis

Architecture Overview

GoatCounter is a single Go binary with an embedded SQLite database. It serves both the tracking endpoint and the analytics dashboard. The tracking script is a 1.5 KB JavaScript snippet that sends a lightweight beacon to the server on each page load. No personal data is stored — visit counts are aggregated by day and path. For higher-traffic sites, PostgreSQL can replace SQLite as the storage backend.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Run the single binary on any Linux, macOS, or Windows system
• Add the tracking script to your site with one HTML tag
• Configure automatic HTTPS with Let's Encrypt or run behind a reverse proxy
• Switch from SQLite to PostgreSQL by setting a database connection string
• Set up multiple sites under one installation with separate dashboards

Key Features

• No cookies and no personal data storage — fully GDPR-compliant by design
• Lightweight tracking script under 1.5 KB with no external dependencies
• API access for reading analytics data programmatically
• Configurable public or private dashboards
• Built-in bot and crawler filtering to keep stats accurate

Comparison with Similar Tools

• Plausible Analytics — similar privacy focus with a polished SaaS UI; GoatCounter is simpler and can run as a single binary with SQLite
• Umami — privacy-friendly analytics with a modern dashboard; GoatCounter is lighter and requires fewer dependencies
• Matomo — full-featured analytics suite with PHP and MySQL; GoatCounter is much simpler and avoids cookie-based tracking
• Fathom — privacy-first analytics as a commercial SaaS; GoatCounter is fully open source and free to self-host
• Google Analytics — comprehensive but relies on cookies and personal data; GoatCounter provides essential metrics without privacy concerns

FAQ

Q: Do I need a cookie consent banner with GoatCounter? A: No. GoatCounter does not use cookies or collect personal data, so consent banners are not needed under GDPR or similar regulations.

Q: How accurate are the analytics without cookies? A: GoatCounter counts page loads and uses a hash of the IP address plus date to estimate unique visitors. This provides useful aggregate data without tracking individuals.

Q: Can I use GoatCounter with a static site? A: Yes. The tracking script works with any HTML page regardless of the hosting platform — static sites, SPAs, and server-rendered pages all work.

Q: Is there a hosted version? A: Yes. The author runs a free hosted service at goatcounter.com for small sites, or you can self-host for full control.

Sources

• https://github.com/arp242/goatcounter
• https://www.goatcounter.com/