Fathom Lite vs Vince Analytics
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted web analytics options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Fathom Lite | Vince Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 57 · Fair | 42 · Fair |
| Category | Web Analytics | Web Analytics |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 8,019 | ★ 2,015 |
| First released | 2018 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Google Analytics | Google Analytics |
What are Fathom Lite and Vince Analytics?
Fathom Lite
Fathom Lite is the open-source edition of Fathom Analytics, providing simple, privacy-focused website analytics. It targets users who want a lightweight self-hosted analytics tool. It is deployed as a single binary or via Docker.
- Simple privacy-focused analytics
- Single-binary deployment
- No cookies
- Lightweight dashboard
Vince Analytics
Vince is a self-hosted, privacy-friendly alternative to Google Analytics packaged as a single small binary. It focuses on low resource usage and a simple Plausible-style dashboard.
- Single small binary
- Privacy-friendly tracking
- Plausible-style dashboard
- Low resource usage
Fathom Lite vs Vince Analytics: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — MIT for Fathom Lite versus AGPL-3.0 for Vince Analytics. Fathom Lite is the more established project (first released 2018), while Vince Analytics arrived in 2023. Fathom Lite has the considerably larger community, at 8,019 GitHub stars versus 2,015.
Why pick each one
Choose Fathom Lite if…
- Very easy to run
- Privacy-friendly
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- Lite edition no longer actively developed
- Basic feature set
Choose Vince Analytics if…
- Trivial to deploy
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- Younger project
- Smaller community
Frequently asked questions
Is Fathom Lite or Vince Analytics better?
Neither is universally better. Fathom Lite has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Fathom Lite and Vince Analytics free and open-source?
Yes. Fathom Lite is licensed under MIT and Vince Analytics under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Fathom Lite and Vince Analytics with Docker?
Fathom Lite: yes. Vince Analytics: yes.