Matomo vs StatCounter (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, StatCounter grades higher than Matomo: 2.8 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
StatCounter grades higher on value for money and platforms. They get the same grade on the free plan, features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Matomo
Open-source web analytics you can host yourself or in Matomo's cloud
StatCounter
Web traffic stats with a live visitor feed and session replay
Which one is for you
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
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
| 2.4GPAMatomoFair | 2.8GPAStatCounterGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | BPremium is €9 a month for 20,000 sessions, near $10, inside the $13 where the cheaper quarter ends. |
| Free plan and trial | 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. | 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 | 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. | BSessions, a live feed, conversions, replay, heatmaps and UTM tracking. Replay and heatmaps cost more. |
| Ease of use | 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. | CNo rating read. A tracking code to add and reports to learn. |
| Platforms and integrations | 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. | AWeb, iPhone, Android and Windows apps, an API, and WordPress, Squarespace and Google Ads links. |
| Best for | owning your analytics data outright | 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: Matomo and StatCounter. How we grade
Price against what you get
Matomo starts at $26 a month and scores 2.7 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 $15.95 a month lower. Of the other website and product analytics tools on the chart, 1 scores higher than Matomo 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
- Matomo is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Matomo also covers a/B testing.
- StatCounter also covers reports.
At a glance
| Matomo | StatCounter | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $26 per month for up to 50,000 hits, billed monthly (Cloud Business) | €9 per month for up to 20,000 sessions (€97 billed yearly) |
| Free plan | 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. | 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 | Free trial of Matomo Cloud with all core features, no credit card; length not stated | 30-day free trial of all features, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Matomo | Statcounter |
| Price read from | matomo.org | statcounter.com |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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, Matomo or StatCounter?
As of Nov 13, 2026, StatCounter is cheaper to start with: about $10.05 a month, against $26 a month for Matomo. Matomo starts at $26 per month for up to 50,000 hits, billed monthly (Cloud Business), and StatCounter starts at €9 per month for up to 20,000 sessions (€97 billed yearly).
Which has a free plan, Matomo or StatCounter?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Matomo and StatCounter have a free plan.
Which platforms do Matomo 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.