Tool data

What are the best privacy-first web analytics tools in 2026?

Plausible is cheapest at $9/mo for 10K pageviews; Umami the only MIT-licensed self-host; Fathom the best ad-blocker resistance at $15/mo; Simple Analytics the most EU-strict; Matomo the on-premise enterprise pick; GoatCounter free for personal sites; Cloudflare Web Analytics free if already on Cloudflare.

Eight tools reviewed. The cloud options (Plausible, Fathom, Simple Analytics) and self-host options (Umami, Matomo, GoatCounter) were verified against each pricing page through September 1, 2026. Cloudflare Web Analytics is included because it's the only free option that requires no setup if you're already on Cloudflare. The five search angles for re-running competitor discovery are below.

Verified 2026-09-01

By Krishav Raj Singh, Founder, OpenCorp

How we picked these

Every tool on this list was checked against five criteria we apply uniformly across all OpenCorp comparisons:

Pricing transparency — public prices on the vendor's own page, no opaque sales calls for the entry tier.
Source coverage — the platforms your audience actually uses, not a checkmark on a marketing feature list.
Verified pricing — every number on this page was read off the vendor's pricing page on the date in the intro.
No auto-posting — we don't recommend tools that post or comment on your behalf without explicit per-action approval.
Reasoning, not just a list — every tool entry has a real best-for, not generic copy lifted from another comparison.

How this list was built

OpenCorp ran its competitor-discovery workflow on 2026-08-19 and searched these five angles, then every surviving tool was checked against its own pricing page:

“privacy-first web analytics alternative to Google Analytics”
“cookie-free web analytics with self-hosting”
“lightweight web analytics for small sites”
“GDPR-compliant analytics without consent banner”
“privacy analytics with multi-site support”

Tool	Price	Best for	Networks
Plausible	10K $9/mo, 100K $19/mo, 1M $69/mo, custom above	Solo sites and small teams wanting EU-hosted, open-source analytics with goals and funnels.	—
Umami	Self-host free; Cloud Free $0 (1M events/mo); Cloud Pro from $9/mo	Developers wanting MIT-licensed analytics with full self-host control.	—
Fathom	Starter $15/mo (100K), Plus $34/mo (250K), Pro $90/mo (2M)	Agencies and multi-site teams wanting custom tracking domains and uptime monitoring.	—
Simple Analytics	Starter EUR 15/mo (100K pageviews), Business EUR 40/mo (1M)	Marketers and SMBs in Europe wanting minimal data collection.	—
Matomo	On-premise free; Cloud from EUR 29/mo (50K hits)	Enterprises needing configurable privacy controls per regulation.	—
GoatCounter	Personal Free; Starter $5/mo (100K pageviews), Pro $15/mo (1M), Business $55/mo (10M)	Developers and indie hackers who want privacy-first analytics without any setup beyond a script tag.	Web analytics, no cookies, lightweight
Counter.dev	Free (donations)	Hobbyists and tiny sites wanting analytics with zero account or signup.	Web analytics, lightweight script, no signup
Cloudflare Web Analytics	Free	Sites already on Cloudflare that want unlimited free analytics with zero sampling and no cookie banner.	Web analytics, no cookies, Cloudflare-integrated
OpenCorp	Free	Finding the analytics comparisons your buyers actually search before switching from GA4.	—

Plausible

Plausible is the cheapest paid cloud option: $9/mo for 10K pageviews, EU-hosted, cookie-free, and AGPL-licensed for self-hosting.

Cookie-free, GDPR/CCPA/PECR compliant without consent banner.
AGPL-licensed Community Edition for self-hosting.
EU-hosted (Hetzner Frankfurt and Helsinki).
Sub-1KB script size.
Goal and funnel tracking on all plans.
Used by EU institutions including the German government and the EDPB.

Source: plausible.io/pricing

Umami

Umami is the only major analytics tool that is MIT-licensed and free to self-host indefinitely. Cloud free tier covers 1M events/month.

MIT license — more permissive than Plausible's AGPL.
Self-host on any Node.js + PostgreSQL or MySQL stack.
Cloud free tier: 1M events/month.
No cookies, no personal data, GDPR/CCPA compliant by default.
Funnels, retention, custom events, session replay on paid tiers.
OpenCorp uses Umami on this site.

Source: umami.is/pricing

Fathom

Fathom is the only one with a custom tracking domain on every plan, recovering 10–20% more visitors in markets with high ad-blocker adoption. Starts at $15/mo.

Unlimited sites on every plan.
Custom tracking domain (track.yourdomain.com) for ad-blocker resistance.
Uptime monitoring included on every tier.
EU isolation routing available.
~2KB script size.
30-day free trial.

Source: fathomanalytics.com/pricing

Simple Analytics

Simple Analytics is the most EU-strict option: Netherlands-hosted, no IPs stored, no fingerprinting, with a unique ad-blocker bypass via custom subdomain.

Netherlands-hosted (EU).
No cookies, no IPs stored, no fingerprinting.
Bypass ad-blockers via custom subdomain — recovers traffic missed by aggressive blockers.
Native Google Search Console import.
Single-page dashboard.
14-day free trial.

Source: simpleanalytics.com/pricing

Matomo

Matomo is the on-premise option for teams needing configurable privacy controls and 100% data ownership. Cloud plans start EUR 29/mo; on-premise is free.

100% data ownership positioning — runs on your infrastructure.
Self-hosted on-premise is free, open source.
Cloud plans start EUR 29/mo for 50K hits.
Configurable privacy controls per regulation.
More setup and governance work than Plausible or Umami.
GA imports available.

Source: matomo.org/pricing

GoatCounter

GoatCounter is the lightweight free open-source analytics with a personal-use tier and hosted plans from $5/mo. Self-hosting is free; the hosted version supports small businesses.

ISC-licensed open source — self-host free, hosted plans start $5/mo.
Personal use (non-commercial) is free on the hosted plan, no pageview cap.
No cookies, no personal data, GDPR-compliant by default.
Lightweight script under 4KB.
Bot detection built in; mature list of bots excluded by default.
Best for: a single site or portfolio, where Umami's UI is overkill.

Source: goatcounter.com/pricing

Counter.dev

Counter.dev is the simplest privacy-first analytics — no signup, just paste a script. Free for now while in beta; donations cover costs.

No signup, no email required — paste the script and start collecting.
No cookies, no personal data, GDPR/CCPA-compliant.
Single page dashboard: visits, referrers, browsers, screen sizes.
Free in beta; donations cover hosting costs.
Limited features compared to Plausible or Umami — minimal funnel and event support.

Source: counter.dev

Cloudflare Web Analytics

Cloudflare Web Analytics is the free option for sites already on Cloudflare — privacy-first, no sampling, no cookie banner needed, and zero cost regardless of traffic.

Free forever, no traffic limits, no sampling.
No cookie banner required — fully privacy-compliant.
Live traffic, performance metrics, and Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS) included.
Already enabled for any Cloudflare-fronted site in the dashboard.
Limited event/funnel support compared to Plausible or Umami.

Source: cloudflare.com/web-analytics

OpenCorp

OpenCorp reads a product URL and returns competitors plus the Reddit and Hacker News threads where buyers describe the problem. Free, no gate.

Searches for the problem (analytics overhead, GDPR risk), not the product name.
Returns competitors with sources, ranked threads with a reason attached.
No auto-posting — research, not distribution.
Free to run, no credit card.

Pros

Free, no signup or credit card required.
Surfaces the problem-not-brand threads that manual Reddit search misses.
Open source (Elastic License 2.0) — can be self-hosted.

Cons

Research-only — does not draft replies, post, or comment on your behalf.
Covers Reddit and Hacker News only — no X, LinkedIn, or YouTube.
Not a continuous monitor — run it once per research session, not live alerts.

Source: opencorp.live

Questions

Which privacy analytics tool is cheapest?

Umami self-hosted is free. Umami Cloud's free tier covers 1M events/month. Among paid cloud options, Plausible at $9/mo for 10K pageviews is the cheapest entry.

Do these tools need a cookie consent banner?

No. All are cookie-free and GDPR-compliant by default. Always verify with your legal team for jurisdiction-specific rules (PECR in the UK, LGPD in Brazil, etc.).

Which tools can I self-host?

Plausible (AGPL Community Edition), Umami (MIT), and Matomo (on-premise, free) are self-hostable. Fathom and Simple Analytics are cloud-only.

Which has the best ad-blocker resistance?

Fathom — custom tracking domains recover 10–20% more visitors than domain-based scripts in markets with high ad-blocker adoption.

GoatCounter vs Umami — which is better?

GoatCounter is the lightweight option — single binary, ISC-licensed, free for personal use, less than 4KB script. Umami is more feature-rich (funnels, retention, custom events) and MIT-licensed, but requires Node.js + PostgreSQL or MySQL to self-host. For a single site or portfolio, GoatCounter wins on simplicity. For multi-site or event-level analytics, Umami wins.

What is the best free privacy analytics tool?

Three credible free options: Cloudflare Web Analytics if you're already on Cloudflare (free forever, unlimited traffic), Counter.dev for zero-signup simplicity, and Umami self-hosted for full feature parity with the cloud version. Plausible, Fathom, and Simple Analytics all offer 14-30 day free trials but no permanent free tier above hobby traffic.

Do privacy analytics tools work with cookie consent banners?

They don't need one — every tool on this page is cookie-free and GDPR-compliant by default. If you already have a consent banner from a different vendor, you don't need it for these tools. Verify with your legal team for jurisdiction-specific rules (PECR in the UK, LGPD in Brazil, etc.).

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OpenCorp finds the exact Reddit and Hacker News threads where your buyers describe the problem you solve. Run it free on your product.