GoatCounter – Simple web statistics, with no tracking of personal data (goatcounter.com)

Article summary

GoatCounter is an open-source web analytics platform that offers a privacy-friendly alternative to Google Analytics and Matomo. It provides easy-to-use and meaningful statistics without tracking personal data. The platform is available as a free donation-supported hosted service or self-hosted app. GoatCounter aims to give meaningful web analytics for business purposes while staying usable for non-technical users.

Main themes

• web analytics
• privacy
• open-source
• Google Analytics alternative
• ease of use
• feature development
• licensing and copyright
• market competition
• user tracking and conversion optimization

What commenters say

• Some commenters appreciate GoatCounter's focus on privacy and ease of use, but others find its current feature set limited.
• The choice of EUPL license for GoatCounter is debated, with some arguing it does not provide sufficient protection.
• There is a need for a comprehensive and user-friendly analytics platform that prioritizes privacy and is accessible to small businesses and individuals.
• Some argue that creating a free and comprehensive analytics platform is difficult due to the high infrastructure costs and the dominance of Google Analytics.
• Others believe that most users only need a subset of the features offered by Google Analytics and that a simpler, paid alternative could be viable.
• The importance of tracking users for optimizing conversion is discussed, with some arguing it is necessary and others proposing alternative methods that preserve anonymity.
• The development of GoatCounter is seen as a step towards providing a more privacy-friendly analytics solution, but some commenters think it still lacks key features.
• The complexity and cost of building a comprehensive analytics platform are cited as reasons why Google Analytics remains the dominant player in the market.