GoatCounter

What it is for

GoatCounter is a privacy analytics desk: you open Pages (/static-go.html 381, / 156) with day / week / month sparklines and a Totals row, and hosted use is $0 for reasonable public traffic (or self-host at $0). Use it when the job is counts you start at a public $0, not when you need a paid session-replay seat.

Soft-note: hosted Free for reasonable use + self-host OSS $0. Donations via GitHub Sponsors — no printed Sponsor $. Distinct from Plausible, Umami, Fathom, and Simple Analytics.

What makes it unique: the cover is GoatCounter’s official Pages dashboard (day / week / month / quarter / half year / year, paths /static-go.html / / / /go-easy.html, purple sparklines, Totals 17277 visits / 18255 pageviews) from static.zgo.at/screenshot.png — not a Product Hunt badge. The /static-go.html row itself is ops of Pages.

Key features

• Pages — the path list (cover still; goatcounter.com). One desk. Cover /static-go.html sits here.
• Range chips — day / week / month / quarter / half year / year (cover). A range, not a paid tile.
• Sparklines — the purple per-path lines (cover). A chart, not a $0 meter.
• Totals — 17277 visits / 18255 pageviews (cover). A sum, not Sponsors.
• Filter paths — the search field (cover). A filter, not Get Started.
• Snippet — one count.js tag (help/start). A script, not a seat.

No cover control is a pricing CTA. GitHub Sponsors stay in Pricing as donations, not a SKU we invent.

Who it's for

Best fit: 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.

Pricing

Verified 2026-10-23 (Asia/Shanghai) from goatcounter.com. Soft-note: hosted $0 for reasonable use.

• Hosted (goatcounter.com) — $0 “for reasonable public usage.” Homepage: personal sites and small-to-medium businesses are fine; “sending millions of pageviews/day isn’t.”
• Self-host — $0. OSS on arp242/goatcounter.
• Donations — GitHub Sponsors “to cover server costs.” No dollar printed. Do not invent a Sponsor $.

Confirm the hosted acceptable-use line before you point a high-traffic property at .goatcounter.com.

Limitations / costs

• Hosted is not unlimited. Millions of pageviews/day is a self-host job.
• No session replay. For Click maps see Microsoft Clarity.
• A Pages list, not Plausible’s paid cloud. For that cloud see Plausible.

Alternatives

• Plausible — privacy analytics when you want that paid hosted SKU, not GoatCounter’s /static-go.html row.
• Umami — OSS analytics when you want Hobby $0 / Pro $20, not donation-supported hosted $0.
• Fathom — privacy analytics when you want that paid desk, not sparklines on Pages.
• Simple Analytics — privacy counts when you want that card, not self-host $0.

Official tutorial

We searched for an official GoatCounter / arp242 YouTube channel before writing this. The upload we resolved (“Web Analytics Without the Creepy Tracking…”) is third-party. We do not embed it as officialVideo. Use the written Getting started and the Pages still. Live demo: stats.arp242.net.

Website

https://www.goatcounter.com/

Source

Catalog row curated for AI Tools Nav. Cover is GoatCounter’s official Pages screenshot (/static-go.html + day/week/month + Totals 17277 visits). Dollars checked on goatcounter.com (hosted $0 reasonable use; self-host $0; Sponsors with no printed $). No official how-to YouTube at check.

Last verified

2026-10-23 (Asia/Shanghai) editorial check.