GoatCounter vs Umami

Two privacy-first web analytics tools, compared side-by-side on the same axes. Data is descriptive — no rankings, no editorial winners.

Updated May 1, 2026 16 of 34 verified checks differ Source: vendor docs & pricing pages

GoatCounter

Solo-developer cookieless analytics — single binary on SQLite, EUPL-1.2 license

HQ🇮🇪 Ireland
Founded2019
LicenseEUPL-1.2 (server) · ISC (count.js)
ReferenceRead full review

Umami

Open-source self-hosted privacy analytics

HQ🇺🇸 USA
Founded2020
LicenseMIT
ReferenceRead full review

At-a-glance

Five facts that most often qualify or disqualify a tool early.

	GoatCounter	Umami
Price floor	Free	Free
Free tier	Yes	Yes
Hosting model	SaaS + self-host	SaaS + self-host
Data residency	EU	US
Cookieless	Yes	Yes

Privacy posture

Frameworks claimed and sub-processors disclosed under DPA.

Frameworks claimed

Framework	GoatCounter	Umami
GDPR	Held	Held
CCPA	Not held	Held
UK PECR	Not held	Not held
SOC 2 Type II	Not held	Not held
ISO 27001	Not held	Not held
HIPAA	Not held	Not held

Sub-processors

GoatCounter (3)

Martin Tournoij (sole trader) Legal entity (sole-trader data processor) 🇮🇪 Ireland
Hetzner Online GmbH Cloud hosting — Finland AND Germany data centers 🇫🇮 Finland
Stripe Payment processing (paid subscriptions) 🇮🇪 Ireland

Umami (6)

Umami Software, Inc Legal entity (data processor for Cloud customers) 🇺🇸 United States
Vercel Inc Cloud hosting (Next.js app, edge functions) 🇺🇸 United States
ClickHouse Cloud Analytics database (US/EU regions) 🇺🇸 United States
Hetzner Online GmbH EU compute for EU-tier customers 🇩🇪 Germany
Stripe Payment processing 🇺🇸 United States
Cloudflare DNS, CDN, DDoS protection 🇺🇸 United States

Pricing at common traffic levels

Cheapest published plan from each vendor that covers the listed pageview volume. Retrieved May 1, 2026.

Pricing comparison at four traffic tiers.
Traffic	GoatCounter	Umami
10k pv/mo	$0/moEntry	$0/moHobby
100k pv/mo	$15/mo100k	$0/moHobby
500k pv/mo	Custom — contact sales	$20/moPro
1M pv/mo	Custom — contact sales	$20/moPro

Volumes between tiers follow each vendor's published pricing model. "Custom" indicates the vendor does not publish a price for that volume on their pricing page.

Feature matrix

All 38 verified checks across 4 categories.

Differences only (16)

Tracking & Reporting (15)

Feature	GoatCounter	Umami
Pageviews & visitors	Yes Pageviews + visitors	Yes Pageviews + visitors
Live visitor count	No Not in dashboard	No Cloud only feature
Top pages report	Yes By hits, simple list	Yes By pageviews/visitors
Top referrers	Yes Referrer list	Yes Referrer + UTM breakdown
UTM campaign tracking	Yes Campaign tracking via UTM parameters	Yes Auto-detected from referrer
Country & city breakdown	Partial Country-level only; no city tracking	Yes Country + city
Device, browser, OS	Yes Browser + OS	Yes Device + browser
Bounce / engagement	No Not measured	Yes Bounce rate
Time on site	No Not measured	Yes Avg session duration
Custom events	Partial count({event:true}) or data-goatcounter-click attribute; no custom dimensions	Yes Custom events with property tracking; v3.1 added Custom Boards
Goals / conversions	No Not supported — basic events only, no conversion modeling	Yes Cloud goals; self-host via SQL
Funnels	No Not supported — intentionally minimal scope	Yes Custom Boards (v3.1+); flat funnel reports
Outbound link tracking	No Manual via custom hits	Yes Via custom events
File download tracking	No Manual via custom hits	Yes Via custom events
404 / error tracking	No Pageview to /404 path	No Manual events

Privacy & Compliance (9)

Feature	GoatCounter	Umami
Cookieless by default	Yes Cookieless: no localStorage; salt rotates every 8 hours (more aggressive than daily-rotation peers)	Yes Cookieless tracking; visitor hash with salt rotation (monthly default, configurable)
No personal data collected	Yes IPs not stored; in-memory only for geo + 8h salt hash	Yes IP not stored; used in-memory for geo + salted hash
GDPR-compliant out of the box	Yes Vendor explicitly claims no banner needed; legitimate-interest basis	Partial Vendor claims no banner needed (cookieless + no PII); not a legal opinion, EU DPAs may differ on Schrems-II/US infra
Data hosted in EU	Yes Hetzner Finland + Germany; EU-only processing	Partial Mixed: Vercel + Cloudflare (US), ClickHouse (US/EU), Hetzner (EU)
Data hosted in US	No EU-only — no US data residency	Yes Vercel + Cloudflare US primary; control plane US-hosted
Self-hostable	Yes Single static Go binary or Docker; SQLite default, Postgres optional	Yes Free, Docker
Open source	Yes Server: EUPL-1.2 (slightly modified); count.js: ISC	Yes MIT
Data retention period	Configurable Indefinite by default on Cloud + self-host; manual deletion via dashboard/API	Configurable Hobby 6 mo · Pro 2 yr · Business 5 yr · Self-host: indefinite
Bot & spam filtering	No Founder explicitly does not implement DNT (see arp242.net/dnt.html essay)	Yes Bot detection

Setup & Integrations (10)

Feature	GoatCounter	Umami
Script weight (KB)	3 ~3.2 KB gzipped (~9 KB uncompressed); ISC-licensed count.js	2 ~2 KB gzipped (4.5 KB uncompressed); same gzipped basis as peers
Single-snippet install	Yes data-goatcounter endpoint URL	Yes data-website-id attribute
WordPress plugin	Partial Plugin on GitHub (savjee/goatcounter-wp); not in WP.org repository	No No official plugin; community "Integrate Umami" by Ancocodet (2k+ installs)
Proxy / first-party domain	Yes Self-host single binary or Docker; ISC-licensed count.js works anywhere	Yes Configurable via TRACKER_SCRIPT_NAME env (rename to dodge adblockers)
Public API	Yes REST API at /api/v0/* with Bearer token auth	Yes Full REST API (websites, stats, events, sessions, reports, realtime)
Data export (CSV/JSON)	Yes CSV/JSON	Yes CSV
Google Search Console connector	No No native GSC connector	No No native GSC connector
Email digests	Yes Weekly email reports	Yes Cloud
Slack / webhook alerts	No No webhooks, no Slack integration, no plugin system	No No native Slack
Public shareable dashboard	Yes Public stats per site; visitor counter widget	Yes Share-link toggle

Pricing & Plans (4)

Feature	GoatCounter	Umami
Free tier exists	Yes Free Cloud for "reasonable public use" + permanent free Self-host	Yes Hobby plan = permanent free (100k events/mo, 3 sites, 6mo retention)
Entry price ($/mo)	No No paid tiers; donation-supported via GitHub Sponsors	20 Cloud Pro tier (1M events/mo, 20 sites, 2yr retention)
Price at 100k pageviews	No No tier ladder; "personal use OK, millions of pageviews/day not"	20 Pro covers 1M events/mo (well over 100k benchmark)
Unlimited sites on entry plan	Yes Self-host: unlimited sites; Cloud: unlimited within fair-use	Partial 3 sites Hobby · 20 sites Pro · unlimited Business · unlimited Self-host

Where they differ

Axes where the two tools take materially different approaches. Each paragraph describes both vendors in parallel structure.

Pricing model

GoatCounter starts at $0/mo and reaches $15/mo at 100k pageviews. Umami starts at $0/mo and reaches $19/mo at the same volume. Both vendors publish per-tier pricing on their public pages.

License & deployment

GoatCounter is licensed under EUPL-1.2 (server) · ISC (count.js) and is available for self-hosting. Umami is licensed under MIT and is available for self-hosting.

Hosting jurisdiction

GoatCounter data residency: EU. Schrems II posture: eu only no transfer. Umami data residency: US. Schrems II posture: sccs.

Cookieless mechanism

GoatCounter uses daily salt hash for visitor uniqueness. Umami uses daily salt hash. Both mechanisms operate without setting cookies on the visitor's browser.