GoatCounter vs Umami (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, we pick Umami: it is third in our ranking of website and product analytics tools, though GoatCounter grades higher (2.8 against 2.6) on value for money and the free plan.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Umami 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.
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 Umami if
- Fits if you want free analytics on one site or are happy to host it yourself
- Works for a developer who wants an API and MCP access
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay on Hobby: 1 website, 100K events and no teams, API or email reports
- Pricey if you want replays or heatmaps, which start at Business, $200 a month, and extra replays cost $0.005 each
- Watch out: pageviews and every stored event property count as events, so heavy tagging raises the bill
- Watch out: self-hosting means you run and update the server and change the default admin password
How we grade them
| 2.8GPAGoatCounterGood | 2.6GPAUmamiGood | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | CPro is $20 a month for 1 million events, in the middle of the analytics range. The free self-hosted version needs your own server. |
| Free plan and trial | AFree outright, with no cap a normal site would reach. Millions of pageviews a day are out of scope. | BHobby is free for 1 website, 100K events a month and 6 months of data, with community support. A 14-day trial covers Pro and Business. |
| 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. | BTraffic and campaign reports, events, funnels, retention, replays, heatmaps, revenue reporting and an API and MCP server. Hobby has no API or teams, and replays and heatmaps are Business. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You sign up and add one script, or self-host. | CNo store rating on record. You add a script, or host the server and update it yourself. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, with an API and a couple of static-site tools (Gatsby, Publii). | BWeb only, with WordPress, Nuxt, Gatsby, Magento 2, Flutter and other integrations, plus an API and MCP server. |
| Best for | free, privacy-minded visitor stats | open-source analytics, hosted or self-hosted |
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 Umami. 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. Umami starts at $20 a month and scores 2.7.
Umami scores higher, and starts $20 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 Umami 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
- Umami also covers reports and session replay.
At a glance
| GoatCounter | Umami | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | $20 per month, with 1 million events included |
| Free plan | None | Hobby plan: 100K events a month, 1 website, 6 months of data retention and community support. |
| Free trial | None listed | 14-day free trial on the Pro and Business plans |
| Web | ||
| Made by | GoatCounter | Umami Software, Inc. |
| Price read from | goatcounter.com | umami.is |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 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.
Umami
- Hobby covers one website and 100K events a month, with no teams, API or email reports.
- Usage counts pageviews and every stored event property as events, so heavy tagging raises the bill.
- Replays and heatmaps start at Business ($200 a month), which includes 5,000 replays; extra replays cost $0.005 each.
- Self-hosting means you run and update the server; the docs warn to change the default admin password.
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.
Umami
- Traffic and campaign reports
- Pageviews, visitors, referrers, locations and devices on one dashboard, with UTM tracking, comparison between periods and attribution.
- Events, funnels and retention
- Custom events and properties feed goals, funnels, journeys and retention reports that show where visitors drop off or return.
- Session replays and heatmaps
- Replays and heatmaps show what visitors did on a page. On Umami Cloud they are part of the Business plan and above.
- Revenue reporting
- Values can be attached to events, and a revenue report shows which pages, campaigns and visitor segments bring in the most.
- API and MCP server
- A REST API and an official MCP server let you build your own reports or connect an AI assistant. Both are part of Pro and above.
- Cloud or self-hosted
- Run it yourself with Docker or from source, or use the hosted Umami Cloud service. Teams and boards support shared dashboards.
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.
Umami
Hobby$0
Umami Cloud with up to 100K events a month, 1 website, 6 months of retention and community support.
Pro$20
per month for 1 million events
Up to 20 websites, 10 team members, 2 years of retention, API and MCP access. Extra events cost $0.00003 each.
Business$200
per month for 10 million events
Unlimited sites and members, 5 years of retention, heatmaps, white-labeling and 5,000 replays. Extra events $0.00002 each.
EnterpriseCustom
Adds SAML single sign-on, onboarding, an uptime SLA, custom retention, invoice billing and enterprise support.
Self-hosted$0
The open-source software, which you install and run yourself from source or a Docker image.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, GoatCounter or Umami?
As of Nov 12, 2026, GoatCounter is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $20 a month for Umami. GoatCounter is free, and Umami starts at $20 per month, with 1 million events included.
Which has a free plan, GoatCounter or Umami?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both GoatCounter and Umami have a free plan.
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.