Our take
Pick GoatCounter if personal / small-site owners who will stay on hosted $0 (reasonable use) while they open a first Pages list, then self-host at $0 if they send more than “millions of pageviews/day” — not Plausible’s paid cloud first unless they need that team SKU. Pick Simple Analytics if site owners who will stay on Free hobby (5 websites, 1-month history, badge) or pay $20/month at 100k pageviews while they
Best for
GoatCounter Counts you start at a public $0
Simple Analytics A traffic list you start at a public $
Free plan
GoatCounter $0 · “for reasonable public usage.” Homepage: personal sites and small-to-medium businesses are fine; “sending millions of pageviews/day isn’t.”
Simple Analytics No free plan
Lowest paid
GoatCounter Not published by the vendor
Simple Analytics Self-serve paid $20/mo
Runs where
GoatCounter Local or hosted
Simple Analytics desktop, mobile; hosted
Watch out
GoatCounter Hosted is not unlimited
Simple Analytics Free history is 1 month and the badge stays on
Last checked
GoatCounter 2026-10-23 · goatcounter.com
Simple Analytics 2026-10-23 · simpleanalytics.com/pricing
personal / small-site owners who will stay on hosted $0 (reasonable use) while they open a first Pages list, then self-host at $0 if they send more than “millions of pageviews/day” — not Plausible’s paid cloud first unless they need that team SKU.
Read the GoatCounter pagesite owners who will stay on Free hobby (5 websites, 1-month history, badge) or pay $20/month at 100k pageviews while they open a first Top Lists, then raise the pageview slider or add +$20/user when a second seat is required.
Read the Simple Analytics page
