Medama vs Plausible
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted web analytics options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Medama
Privacy-focused website analytics with no cookies
VS
Plausible
Lightweight, privacy-friendly website analytics
| Feature | Medama | Plausible |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 74 · Good | 96 · Excellent |
| Category | Web Analytics | Web Analytics |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Elixir |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 645 | ★ 29,197 |
| First released | 2024 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Google Analytics | Google Analytics |
What are Medama and Plausible?
Medama
Medama is a lightweight, privacy-focused website analytics tool that operates without cookies and complies with privacy regulations. It is designed to be fast and simple to self-host.
- Cookieless tracking
- SQLite storage
- Lightweight script
- Privacy compliant
Plausible
Plausible is a lightweight, open-source, privacy-friendly web analytics tool that needs no cookies and is GDPR compliant. It targets site owners who want simple, ethical analytics. It is deployed via Docker.
- Cookie-free and GDPR compliant
- Tiny tracking script
- Clean single-page dashboard
- Goal and funnel tracking
Medama vs Plausible: key differences
Medama is written in Go, while Plausible is built with Elixir. Licensing differs — MIT for Medama versus AGPL-3.0 for Plausible. Medama is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Plausible. Plausible is the more established project (first released 2019), while Medama arrived in 2024. Plausible has the considerably larger community, at 29,197 GitHub stars versus 645.
Why pick each one
Choose Medama if…
- Easy single-binary deploy
- Very lightweight
Watch out for
- Newer project
- Smaller feature set
Choose Plausible if…
- Privacy-friendly by design
- Simple and fast
- Lightweight script
Watch out for
- Self-host needs Postgres and ClickHouse
- Fewer deep reports than Matomo
Frequently asked questions
Is Medama or Plausible better?
Neither is universally better. Plausible has the larger community, while Medama is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Medama and Plausible free and open-source?
Yes. Medama is licensed under MIT and Plausible under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Medama and Plausible with Docker?
Medama: yes. Plausible: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Medama or Plausible?
Medama has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Plausible. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.