Introduction: Reclaiming Web Analytics

This post explores open-source, self-hostable alternatives to Google Analytics, empowering you to understand your website’s traffic while respecting user privacy. Take control of your data and provide a better, more ethical browsing experience.

Key Features of Cookieless Web Analytics:

  • Privacy-Focused: These tools often operate without cookies, respecting user privacy.
  • Self-Hosted: You control your data by hosting the analytics on your own server.
  • Open Source: Transparency and community-driven development are key.

Top F/OSS Web Analytics Tools

Here’s a look at some leading open-source web analytics solutions:

  1. Umami - Simple, cookieless analytics with a focus on ease of use.
  2. Swetrix - A feature-rich, privacy-focused alternative to Google Analytics.
  3. Matomo - A powerful, mature platform offering a wide range of features.
  4. Plausible - Lightweight and privacy-friendly web analytics.

Comparison Chart

Star History Chart

Detailed Overviews

Swetrix [swetrix]

Ultimate, privacy-focused and feature-rich alternative to Google Analytics; Swetrix JavaScript tracking client.

Swetrix emphasizes cookieless tracking and provides a comprehensive analytics platform.

Vince

Vince offers a straightforward and efficient approach to web analytics.

docker manifest inspect ghcr.io/vinceanalytics/vince | jq -r '.manifests[].platform.architecture' | sort -u
Architecture Vince Container
linux/amd64 Available ✅
linux/arm64 Available ✅

Umami [umami]

Umami is known for its simplicity and focus on user privacy.

It’s MIT licensed and cookieless by design.

Effortless analytics and real-time insights

Architecture Umami Container
linux/amd64 Available ✅
linux/arm64 Available ✅

Umami anonymizes all data, ensuring GDPR and CCPA compliance by default.

Tianji

Medama

✨ Open Source, Privacy-First and Simple Analytics for Mobile, Desktop and Web Apps

Medama provides a lightweight (< 1KB tracker) and privacy-focused analytics solution.

Matomo [matomo]

Empowering People Ethically with the leading open source alternative to Google Analytics that gives you full control over your data.

Matomo is a mature and feature-rich platform, offering a comprehensive alternative to Google Analytics.

{{< dropdown title=“How to Setup Matomo with docker 👇” closed=“true” >}}

version: '3.9'
services:
  mariadb:
    container_name: Matomo-DB
    image: mariadb:11.3-jammy
    command: --max_allowed_packet=1073741824
    restart: on-failure:5
    volumes:
      - /volume1/docker/matomodb:/var/lib/mysql:rw
    environment:
      - MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD=yes
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=matomodb
  matomo:
    container_name: Matomo
    environment:
      - PUID=1026
      - PGID=100
      - TZ=Europe/Bucharest
    ports:
      - 8597:80
    depends_on:
      - mariadb
    volumes:
      - /volume1/docker/matomo:/var/www/html:rw
    image: matomo
    restart: on-failure:5

{{< /dropdown >}}

Fathom

Fathom Lite. Simple, privacy-focused website analytics. Built with Golang & Preact.

Fathom focuses on ease of use, data retention, and GDPR compliance.

Lytlyx

Lytlix Web Analytics Views Distribution

Plausible [plausible]

Disk Cleanup (Post-Installation)

After experimenting with different web analytics tools, you may want to clean up Docker resources:

docker builder prune
#docker system prune -a
docker volume prune
docker image prune -a

FAQ

Other Interesting Web Tools

  • ArchiveBox is a powerful, self-hosted internet archiving solution.

Cloudflare Zaraz vs Google Tag Manager: YouTube Video

Other F/OSS Alternatives to Google Analytics?

GA, Adobe Analytics, Cloudflare Web Analytics…

Fortunately we have alternatives!