GoatCounter vs StatCounter (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, GoatCounter and StatCounter share a 2.8 GPA, both have a free plan, and GoatCounter has no paid plan to buy, against about $10.05 a month for StatCounter.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
GoatCounter grades higher on value for money and the free plan. StatCounter grades higher on features and platforms. They get the same grade on ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
StatCounter
Web traffic stats with a live visitor feed and session replay
Which one is for you
Pick GoatCounter if
- Fits if you want visitor stats with no personal data collected
- Works for personal sites and small businesses on a budget
Look elsewhere if
- Too light for funnels, heatmaps or recordings
- Skip it if your site gets millions of pageviews a day, as the hosted service is not meant for that
- Watch out: it's funded by donations, so no support commitment is published
- Not for you if you need a paid plan with guarantees
Pick StatCounter if
- Fits if you want to watch individual visits as they happen
- Works for small sites under 20,000 sessions a month
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free, with 5,000 sessions and 14 days of data
- Watch out: session replay is billed separately from €9 a month
- Watch out: heatmaps and UTM tracking need Premium Plus at €19
- Pricey if your traffic grows, since 100,000 sessions is €29 or €45
- Watch out: the prices read were in euros, with no confirmed dollar price
How we grade them
| 2.8GPAGoatCounterGood | 2.8GPAStatCounterGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree for personal sites and small-to-medium businesses, or free to self-host. It's donation-supported, with no paid plan. | BPremium is €9 a month for 20,000 sessions, near $10, inside the $13 where the cheaper quarter ends. |
| Free plan and trial | AFree outright, with no cap a normal site would reach. Millions of pageviews a day are out of scope. | CFree forever, but 5,000 sessions a month and 14 days of data are caps you'll reach. The 30-day trial needs no card. |
| Features | CPageviews, referrers, browsers, locations, screen sizes and campaigns, plus exports and an API. It does that job fully, a smaller job than most analytics tools. | BSessions, a live feed, conversions, replay, heatmaps and UTM tracking. Replay and heatmaps cost more. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You sign up and add one script, or self-host. | CNo rating read. A tracking code to add and reports to learn. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, with an API and a couple of static-site tools (Gatsby, Publii). | AWeb, iPhone, Android and Windows apps, an API, and WordPress, Squarespace and Google Ads links. |
| Best for | free, privacy-minded visitor stats | simple traffic stats with a live visitor feed |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: GoatCounter and StatCounter. How we grade
Price against what you get
GoatCounter has no paid plan and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. StatCounter starts at about $10.05 a month and scores 3.0.
StatCounter scores higher, and starts $10.05 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other website and product analytics tools on the chart, none scores higher than GoatCounter for less, and none scores higher than StatCounter for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- GoatCounter is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- StatCounter also covers reports and session replay.
At a glance
| GoatCounter | StatCounter | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | €9 per month for up to 20,000 sessions (€97 billed yearly) |
| Free plan | None | Basic plan, free forever: 5,000 sessions per month, 14 days of data retention, trend charts, a reports dashboard and a real-time visitor feed. |
| Free trial | None listed | 30-day free trial of all features, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | GoatCounter | Statcounter |
| Price read from | goatcounter.com | statcounter.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
GoatCounter
- The hosted service is meant for reasonable public use; heavy traffic is pointed to self-hosting.
- Funded by donations through GitHub Sponsors, so there is no paid plan or published support commitment.
- A deliberately small feature set; the vendor presents it as a simpler alternative to Google Analytics and Matomo.
StatCounter
- The pricing page displayed euro prices when read from India; a US dollar list price was not confirmed.
- The free Basic plan stops at 5,000 sessions a month and keeps data for only 14 days.
- Session replay is billed separately: €9 a month for 1,000 recordings, €19 for 10,000, €29 for 50,000.
- Heatmaps and UTM campaign tracking need Premium Plus, the higher-priced tier.
Key features
GoatCounter
- No personal-data tracking
- Visits are told apart without cookies or persistently stored personal data. The vendor says no GDPR notice is needed and lets you control what is collected.
- Light script
- The tracking script adds about 3.5KB to a page. A JavaScript-free tracking pixel is also offered.
- Several ways to send data
- Use the script tag, an image-based tracker, your application's middleware, or import server log files.
- Basic visitor statistics
- Reports show browser, location, screen size, referring sites and campaigns.
- Exports and an API
- All data can be exported, and the documentation lists CSV and JSON exports and a JSON API.
- Accessible interface
- The vendor lists accessibility as a high-priority feature, and says the interface works with screen readers.
StatCounter
- Live visitor feed
- A real-time list of visitors as they arrive, with location, device, navigation path and visit history for each one.
- Session replay
- Plays back a recording of each visitor's session. Basic includes none; recordings are an add-on from 1,000 per month on every plan.
- Heatmaps
- Interactive heatmaps show which parts of a page get attention and where visitors click on elements that are not links. Premium Plus only.
- Conversion and paid traffic analysis
- Premium tracks a landing page conversion rate and looks for repeat paid clicks from the same visitor, to help spot click fraud.
- Visitor labels and alerts
- Attach notes or customer IDs to a visitor and get an email or mobile alert when that visitor returns. Premium and above.
- Mobile apps and API
- iOS, Android and Windows apps are linked from the site, and the Premium plan adds API access for custom reports and scripts.
Plans
GoatCounter
Hosted service$0
Free for reasonable public usage, such as a personal site or a small-to-medium business. Millions of pageviews a day are out of scope.
Self-hosted$0
Run the open source app on your own server for any purpose; you pay only for your own hosting.
StatCounter
Basic€0
per month for up to 5,000 sessions
Trend charts, reports dashboard, real-time visitor feed and basic email reports. 14 days of data retention.
Premium€9
per month for up to 20,000 sessions (€97 billed yearly)
Adds landing page analysis, conversion tracking, CSV export, API access, live chat support and 3 years of data. €29 a month at 100,000 sessions.
Premium Plus€19
per month for up to 20,000 sessions (€205 billed yearly)
Adds heatmaps, Google Ads integration and UTM campaign tracking, with 5 years of data. €45 a month at 100,000 sessions.
Ways to pay less
GoatCounter
No public discounts listed.
StatCounter
- Annual discount
Save 10% with yearly billing
The pricing page says paying yearly saves 10%: Premium at 20,000 sessions is €97 a year against €9 a month.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, GoatCounter or StatCounter?
As of Nov 13, 2026, GoatCounter is cheaper to start with: it is free, against about $10.05 a month for StatCounter. GoatCounter is free, and StatCounter starts at €9 per month for up to 20,000 sessions (€97 billed yearly).
Which has a free plan, GoatCounter or StatCounter?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both GoatCounter and StatCounter have a free plan.
Which platforms do GoatCounter and StatCounter run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only StatCounter lists Windows, iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.