GoatCounter vs Netron

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted web analytics options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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FeatureGoatCounterNetron
CategoryWeb AnalyticsWeb Analytics
LicenseEUPL-1.2MIT
LanguageGoJavaScript
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM128 MB512 MB
Deploymentbinary, dockerbare-metal
GitHub stars★ 5,864★ 33,323
First released20192026
ReplacesGoogle Analytics

Why pick each one

Choose GoatCounter if…

  • Extremely easy to run
  • Very lightweight
  • Privacy-friendly
GoatCounter details

Choose Netron if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Mature project with 33.3k GitHub stars
  • Written in JavaScript
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Netron details

Frequently asked questions

Is GoatCounter or Netron better?

Neither is universally better. Netron has the larger community, while GoatCounter is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are GoatCounter and Netron free and open-source?

Yes. GoatCounter is licensed under EUPL-1.2 and Netron under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run GoatCounter and Netron with Docker?

GoatCounter: yes. Netron: check the project docs for container support.

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