Website Analytics for Free: 7 Options for Small Sites
You can run website analytics for free. Google Analytics costs nothing, Cloudflare Web Analytics is free, GoatCounter is free for reasonable public use, and several open source tools are free if you host them yourself. What changes between them is what you give up in exchange: privacy, setup time, features or a pageview cap.
Below are seven free options, what each one is good at, and which kind of site each fits. Prices and limits change, so confirm on each vendor’s site before you commit.
Which free website analytics tools are worth using?
| Tool | Free how | Cookies | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Analytics 4 | Free standard version | Yes | Sites that run Google Ads |
| Cloudflare Web Analytics | Free with a Cloudflare account | No | A quick count on any site |
| GoatCounter | Free hosted for reasonable public use | No | Personal sites and blogs |
| Matomo On-Premise | Free if you self-host | Configurable | Full control of your data |
| Plausible Community Edition | Free if you self-host | No | Simple stats on your own server |
| Umami | Free if you self-host, small free cloud tier | No | Developers who like open source |
| Indiehacker Studio | Free plan: 1 project, 10,000 pageviews a month | No | Analytics plus chat and feedback |
“Free if you self-host” means the software is free and you pay for the server and the time to run it. For a solo founder, that time is the real cost.
Google Analytics 4: free, deep and heavy
Google Analytics 4 is free for the standard version and has the most features of anything on this list: audiences, funnels, attribution, and a direct link to Google Ads. If you buy search ads, that link is hard to replace.
The trade-offs are a cookie-based setup that usually means a consent banner in the EU and UK, an interface built for marketing teams, and ongoing legal debate about transfers to the US. We cover the details in is Google Analytics free and Google Analytics and GDPR.
Cloudflare Web Analytics: free and minimal
Cloudflare describes its web analytics as free and privacy-first. It doesn’t use cookies or local storage and doesn’t fingerprint visitors. You can add it as a JavaScript beacon without routing your site through Cloudflare’s network.
It shows visits, page views, referrers, countries and performance data. It doesn’t do custom events in the way a product team would want, so it fits sites where a traffic count is the whole goal.
GoatCounter: free for personal sites
GoatCounter is open source and offers a hosted service for free for reasonable public use, funded by donations. It counts unique visits without cookies. Its own site notes that very high volume belongs on a self-hosted copy. For a personal blog or documentation site, it’s one of the simplest options there is.
Matomo, Plausible and Umami: free to self-host
These three publish their software so you can run it yourself:
- Matomo On-Premise is the most complete, close to Google Analytics in scope, with a long history as Piwik. See our Matomo vs Google Analytics comparison.
- Plausible Community Edition gives you Plausible’s clean single-page dashboard on your own server. Plausible’s hosted plans are paid.
- Umami is a lightweight open source tool popular with developers. It also offers a small free hosted tier; check its current limits.
All three need a server, a database, updates and backups. If you enjoy that, they’re excellent. If you’d rather ship your product, a hosted free plan saves real hours.
Indiehacker Studio: free analytics plus support in one script
Indiehacker Studio is our product, so weigh this section accordingly. The free plan covers one project and 10,000 pageviews a month with cookieless analytics: visitors, live visitors, sources, UTM campaigns, pages, countries, devices and custom events. No IP address is ever stored.
The same script also adds a chat bubble with support chat, feedback and bug reports, so the free plan replaces two tools for a small app. On Pro ($12 a month), you get every project in one dashboard and Stripe revenue next to traffic. See pricing and what’s on the privacy side.
How do you choose a free analytics tool?
Answer three questions:
- Do you run Google Ads? If yes, Google Analytics is hard to avoid.
- Will you maintain a server? If no, skip the self-hosted options and pick a hosted free plan.
- What else do you need on the page? If you also want a way for visitors to reach you, a tool that combines analytics with website chat saves a second script.
When the free tier runs out, the next step is usually a small monthly plan, not a rebuild. Pick the tool you’d be happy to pay for later.
FAQ
Is there a completely free website analytics tool?
Yes. Google Analytics 4 standard, Cloudflare Web Analytics and GoatCounter for reasonable public use are free with no paid plan required. Self-hosted tools are free apart from your hosting.
Which free analytics tool doesn’t need cookies?
Cloudflare Web Analytics, GoatCounter, Plausible, Umami and Indiehacker Studio all work without cookies. Read what is cookieless tracking for how they count visitors.
Is free analytics accurate enough?
For trends, yes. Every tool loses some visits to ad blockers and counts unique visitors with its own method. Compare a tool against itself over time, not against another tool.
Can I use two analytics tools at once?
You can, but each script adds weight and another dashboard to check. Most small sites are better served by one tool they open weekly.
Try it on one project
Install Indiehacker Studio on one site for free and get web analytics, live chat and bug reports from a single line. Create your free account.