If you’re looking to move off Google Analytics, you have options. Real ones. Here are the 4 open-source, self-hostable alternatives I’ve tested, with honest notes on what each does well and where each falls short.
Why leave Google Analytics?
- GA4 UX is broadly disliked and reports are less useful than the old Universal Analytics.
- GDPR / privacy regulations make GA a legal risk in the EU.
- Data is sampled aggressively — you rarely see full traffic numbers.
The 4 best self-hosted alternatives to Google Analytics
Plausible
Clean, privacy-first, cookieless. The most straightforward GA replacement. Excellent hosted or self-hosted.
Visit Plausible website →Matomo
Feature-parity with GA. Heavy but complete. Free self-hosted, paid features on Cloud.
Visit Matomo website →Posthog
Product analytics (funnels, sessions, feature flags). Overkill for simple pageview tracking.
Visit Posthog website →Quick comparison
| Alternative | Difficulty | License |
|---|---|---|
| Plausible | Easy | AGPL-3.0 |
| Matomo | Medium | GPL-3.0 |
| Umami | Easy | MIT |
| Posthog | Hard | MIT |
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free alternative to Google Analytics?
Yes. Every tool listed above is free and open source. Some, like Plausible, also have optional paid hosted tiers if you don’t want to run the server yourself. Everything else is genuinely free to self-host — you pay only for your own hardware and time.
Which one should I pick if I’ve never self-hosted anything before?
Start with Plausible. It’s the lowest-friction option here — realistic to have running in an afternoon on a small server or Raspberry Pi. If it doesn’t fit your workflow, Matomo is a good second try.
Can I run these on a Raspberry Pi?
Most of them, yes — the tools marked Easy here will comfortably run on a Pi 4 or Pi 5 with 4GB+ of RAM. The Medium tools may work but appreciate a mini PC or a spare desktop. Hard-tagged tools generally want real server hardware.
What about mobile apps?
It varies. Tools like Vaultwarden and Immich have native iOS/Android apps that connect to your server. Others rely on the web UI through your phone browser — fine for occasional use, not a full app experience.