GoSquared vs Matomo (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, GoSquared grades higher than Matomo: 2.6 against 2.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
GoSquared grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
GoSquared
Real-time website analytics with simple, privacy-minded reports
Matomo
Open-source web analytics you can host yourself or in Matomo's cloud
Which one is for you
Pick GoSquared if
- Fits if you run a few small sites and want live visitor numbers
- Works for people who want one monthly price tied to pageviews
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you track a lot of events, because every event counts toward your pageview quota
- Tight if you run many sites, as projects cap at 3 on Starter and 20 on Scale
- Skip it if you want phone support, as only email support is listed
- Watch out: the page shows pounds to UK and EU visitors, and only a monthly price is shown
Pick Matomo if
- Fits if your analytics data has to stay on your own servers
- Works for public bodies, EU sites and teams leaving Google Analytics
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you don't want to run a server and can't pay for the cloud
- Pricey if you self-host and want heatmaps, with the Team bundle at €230 a month billed yearly for 4 users
- Tight if you have more than 30 sites or 30 people on Cloud Business, or need over 24 months of raw data
- Watch out: self-hosted bundles are priced in euros only, and the free edition gets forum support only
- Watch out: the cloud trial's length isn't stated, and the cloud rises to $204 a month at 1M hits
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAGoSquaredGood | 2.4GPAMatomoFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | B$9 a month for 100,000 pageviews, inside the cheaper quarter of analytics tools, which starts at $13. It is not under 60% of that figure, so not an A. | C100,000 pageviews puts Cloud Business at $42 a month billed monthly ($26 covers 50,000 hits), rising to $204 at 1M. Yearly billing takes off two months. That's mid-category. The free edition only counts if you host it. |
| Free plan and trial | CA 7-day trial on every plan, with no free plan. The listing does not say whether a card is needed. | CThe self-hosted Community edition is free forever with unlimited users and hits, but you need your own server and get forum support only. The cloud has a free trial with no card, length not stated. |
| Features | BReal-time and historical reports, events, UTM campaigns, email reports and team sharing on every plan. The listing shows no gap in the core work. | BTraffic, campaigns, ecommerce, goals and visitor profiles without sampling, plus heatmaps, recordings, A/B tests, funnels and a tag manager on Cloud Business. That covers the whole job. On your own server those extras are paid plugins. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You add a tracking snippet and set up projects and events. | CNo rating on record. The cloud is a snippet, but the reports run as deep as Google Analytics', so there's learning to do. Self-hosting means running the server, updates and backups yourself. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with Zapier, Slack, Geckoboard, Google Data Studio, Klipfolio and Numerics listed. | BWeb only, no desktop or phone app. It has HTTP analytics and tracking APIs, log file analytics, a Google Analytics importer and plugins for WordPress and WooCommerce. The integrations list is short; the APIs are how you connect anything else. |
| Best for | simple real-time website analytics | owning your analytics data outright |
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: GoSquared and Matomo. How we grade
Price against what you get
GoSquared starts at $9 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Matomo starts at $26 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and GoSquared starts $17 a month lower. Of the other website and product analytics tools on the chart, none scores higher than GoSquared for less, and 1 scores higher than Matomo 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
- Matomo is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- GoSquared also covers reports and dashboards.
- Matomo also covers session replay and a/B testing.
At a glance
| GoSquared | Matomo | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $9 per month for 100,000 pageviews | $26 per month for up to 50,000 hits, billed monthly (Cloud Business) |
| Free plan | None | Matomo On-Premise Community: free forever and open source, hosted on your own server, with unlimited users and hits, all base features and forum support. |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial on all plans, cancel any time | Free trial of Matomo Cloud with all core features, no credit card; length not stated |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Go Squared Ltd | Matomo |
| Price read from | gosquared.com | matomo.org |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Worth knowing
GoSquared
- Pricing rises with monthly pageviews, and tracked events use the same quota.
- Project caps run from 3 on Starter to 20 on Scale.
- The pricing page shows pounds to UK and EU visitors and dollars elsewhere; only one billing period (monthly) is shown.
- The pricing page lists email support only.
Matomo
- Self-hosted premium bundles are priced in euros only; Cloud shows dollar prices to US visitors.
- On your own server, heatmaps, session recordings, funnels and A/B testing are paid plugins or bundles, not part of the free edition.
- Cloud Business caps you at 30 websites, 30 team members and 24 months of raw data; more needs Cloud Enterprise.
- Self-hosting means you run the server, updates and backups yourself, with forum support only on the free edition.
Key features
GoSquared
- Real-time analytics
- Shows live visitor activity as well as historical reports, and describes itself as the original real-time website analytics.
- Event and campaign tracking
- Event tracking and UTM campaign tracking are on every plan; tracked events count toward the pageview quota.
- Email reports and team sharing
- Reports can be emailed, and every plan allows unlimited team sharing, with each project shareable with different people.
- Privacy controls
- The vendor says it is GDPR compliant, anonymizes data by default and does not sell ads or visitor data.
- Unlimited data retention
- All plans keep data without a time limit, so older periods stay available for comparison.
Matomo
- Full web analytics without sampling
- Traffic, campaigns, ecommerce, events, site search, visitor maps and visitor profiles, with report data kept forever and no data sampling.
- Data ownership and privacy
- Data stays on your own servers or in Matomo Cloud in Frankfurt, with a GDPR manager and privacy options for what is collected.
- Heatmaps and session recordings
- Included in Cloud Business and, for self-hosters, in the Team bundle and above; also sold as a separate plugin.
- A/B testing, funnels and forms
- A/B tests, conversion funnels, user flows and form analytics come with Cloud Business; on your own server they are premium plugins or bundles.
- Google Analytics importer and APIs
- Imports historical Google Analytics data, and offers HTTP Analytics and Tracking APIs plus log file analytics.
- Tag manager
- A built-in tag manager (30 containers on Cloud Business) to add and manage tracking codes without editing the site.
Plans
GoSquared
Starter$9
per month for up to 100,000 pageviews
3 projects. Events you track count toward the pageview quota.
Standard$24
per month for up to 500,000 pageviews
5 projects. Marked as the most popular plan.
Pro$49
per month for up to 1 million pageviews
10 projects.
Scale$99
per month for up to 2.5 million pageviews
20 projects.
Matomo
Community (On-Premise)$0
Free self-hosted edition you run yourself: unlimited users and hits, base features and community plugins, forum support.
Cloud Business$26
per month for up to 50,000 hits, billed monthly
Hosted in Germany: 30 sites, 30 users, 24 months of raw data, heatmaps, recordings, A/B tests, funnels. $42 a month at 100,000 hits, $204 at 1M.
Team (On-Premise)€230
per month, billed annually (€275 billed monthly)
Self-hosted plugin bundle for up to 4 users and 5M hits a month: heatmaps and recordings, funnels, custom reports, email support.
Business (On-Premise)€1,209
per month, billed annually (€1,450 billed monthly)
Up to 20 users and 30M hits a month. Adds cohorts, multi-channel attribution, roll-up reporting, activity log and white label.
Enterprise (On-Premise)€2,834
per month, billed annually (€3,400 billed monthly)
Up to 50 users and 100M hits a month, A/B testing, a customer success manager, onboarding and chat support.
Cloud EnterpriseCustom
Sold through sales for larger sites: custom allowances and raw data retention, email support and a customer success manager.
Ways to pay less
GoSquared
No public discounts listed.
Matomo
- Annual discount
2 months free with annual billing
Matomo Cloud billed annually costs 10 times the monthly price, a 17% saving; the self-hosted bundles are also about 17% cheaper billed annually.
- Nonprofit
Discount for eligible nonprofits
Matomo says eligible nonprofit organizations and charities may receive a discount; they contact the team to learn more.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, GoSquared or Matomo?
As of Nov 13, 2026, GoSquared is cheaper to start with: $9 a month, against $26 a month for Matomo. GoSquared starts at $9 per month for 100,000 pageviews, and Matomo starts at $26 per month for up to 50,000 hits, billed monthly (Cloud Business).
Which has a free plan, GoSquared or Matomo?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Matomo has a free plan. GoSquared does not, though it has a free trial.
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.