Comparison
VisitTrack vs GoatCounter
Updated
TL;DR — the verdict
Choose GoatCounter if…
you run a personal site, blog or open-source project, you want aggregate pageviews and referrers for free, and you value a tiny, accessible, independent tool.
Choose VisitTrack if…
you sell something and need to know which referrers and campaigns produce signups and payments, with funnels, journeys, replays and Search Console in one place.
What is GoatCounter?
GoatCounter is an open-source web analytics service created and run by Martin Tournoij in Ireland. It's free for "reasonable public usage," funded by donations through GitHub Sponsors, and self-hostable under a slightly modified EUPL-1.2. Data is hosted on Hetzner in Finland and Germany.
It counts pageviews, referrers, browsers, screen sizes and locations without cookies, matching visitors only in memory for 8 hours, and its GDPR page says it probably doesn't require a consent notice. It also supports a no-JavaScript pixel, logfile import and basic click events. It doesn't have funnels, goals, revenue, journeys or integrations, and as a one-person project it offers no SLA.
Website: www.goatcounter.com
VisitTrack vs GoatCounter: feature comparison
GoatCounter's column reflects its public website, docs and pricing as of October 2026.
| Feature | VisitTrack | GoatCounter |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue attribution (payment → source) | YesBuilt in: each payment credited to its first-touch referrer, campaign and landing page | No |
| Payment providers | Stripe, Polar, Lemon Squeezy, Paddle, Razorpay | No |
| Cookieless tracking | YesCookieless mode, or hybrid (cookieless in the EU only); the default mode keeps a first-party id | YesVisitors matched in memory for 8 hours only |
| Consent banner needed (EU) | No, in cookieless mode; standard mode generally needs consent in the EU | Probably not, per GoatCounter's GDPR page |
| Bot filtering | YesEvery visit scored human vs bot at ingest; bots are never billed | PartlySelf-identified bots and crawlers are ignored |
| AI crawler tracking (GPTBot, ClaudeBot…) | YesGPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and more, verified by reverse DNS (needs a server-side snippet) | No |
| Session replay | YesOpt-in, sampled, every input masked | No |
| Heatmaps | YesClick heatmaps | No |
| Funnels | Yes | No |
| Visitor journeys / profiles | YesPer-visitor journeys and People profiles via identify() | No |
| Google Search Console | YesKeywords, clicks and impressions next to traffic | No |
| API / MCP for AI assistants | YesREST API, CLI and an MCP server (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor) | PartlyJSON API (4 requests/second); no MCP server |
| Public dashboards | YesShareable public dashboard and embeddable widgets | YesDashboards can be made public |
| Hosting & data location | Hosted SaaS on EU infrastructure; no self-hosted edition | Hetzner (Finland, Germany), or self-hosted under EUPL-1.2 |
| Script size | ~5 KB gzipped (replay recorder loads separately, only when on) | ~3.3 KB gzipped (measured October 2026) |
| Pricing model | Monthly events, from $5/mo; every feature on every plan; 14-day trial, no card | Free for reasonable use; donations welcome |
GoatCounter vs VisitTrack pricing
Monthly list prices, as of October 2026. GoatCounter: public pricing page. VisitTrack: pricing, yearly billing gives 2 months free.
| Monthly traffic | VisitTrack | GoatCounter |
|---|---|---|
| 10k pageviews / month | $5/mo | Free |
| 100k pageviews / month | $19/mo | Free |
| 1M pageviews / month | $59/mo | Free ("reasonable public usage") |
- GoatCounter is free; its terms say millions of pageviews a day aren't "reasonable usage," and it accepts donations.
- VisitTrack is paid from $5/month because it runs revenue attribution, replays, bot classification and unsampled long-term storage.
When is GoatCounter enough?
For a personal blog, a portfolio, documentation or an open-source project, GoatCounter answers the questions that matter — how many people read this, and where did they come from — for free, with no cookies and a tiny script. Its aggregate-only design is a feature: there's almost nothing personal to protect.
It stops being enough the moment you need to connect a visit to an outcome: a signup, a trial, a payment. That requires goals, funnels and an anonymous visitor id that survives until the conversion, which GoatCounter deliberately doesn't keep. VisitTrack's cookieless mode keeps a daily-rotating hash for exactly that, and its revenue attribution credits payments to their source.
Where GoatCounter is stronger
- Free, open source and independent.
- Works without JavaScript (tracking pixel) and from server logfiles.
- The most minimal data footprint in this comparison.
GoatCounter or VisitTrack: who should choose which?
GoatCounter is the better fit for
- Personal blogs, portfolios and documentation sites
- Open-source projects that want free, respectful stats
- People who prefer donation-funded, independent software
VisitTrack is the better fit for
- SaaS, digital products and paid newsletters
- Founders who need funnels and revenue per channel
- Teams who want support and a maintained, hosted service
How to switch from GoatCounter to VisitTrack
- Add the VisitTrack script tag; it can run next to GoatCounter's count.js. See installation.
- Turn on cookieless mode for a comparable privacy posture.
- Add events for signups and other conversions, and create goals and funnels from them.
- Connect your payment provider for revenue attribution.
- Export GoatCounter's CSV (with individual pageviews enabled), convert it to NDJSON and load it with the historical import.
VisitTrack vs GoatCounter: FAQ
Is GoatCounter really free?
Yes. GoatCounter is free for reasonable public usage and funded by donations; very high volumes (millions of pageviews a day) aren't covered. It can also be self-hosted.
Why pay for VisitTrack instead of using GoatCounter?
Because you need to measure outcomes, not just visits. VisitTrack tracks goals, funnels, journeys, session replays and payments from five providers, and credits revenue to the referrers and campaigns that earned it. For a personal site that only needs counts, GoatCounter is a fine free choice.
Does GoatCounter use cookies?
No. GoatCounter doesn't set cookies; it matches visitors by site, user agent and IP in memory for 8 hours only. VisitTrack's cookieless mode also stores nothing on the device.
Can I import GoatCounter data into VisitTrack?
Yes. With individual pageviews enabled, GoatCounter exports a CSV of pageviews, which you can convert to NDJSON and load through VisitTrack's historical import.
Does GoatCounter have goals or funnels?
No. GoatCounter supports basic click events but not goals, funnels or revenue. VisitTrack includes all three on every plan.
Is GoatCounter GDPR compliant?
GoatCounter is designed to collect almost no personal data: no cookies, aggregate counts only, and visitor matching held in memory for 8 hours. Its own GDPR page says it probably doesn't require a consent notice. This is general information, not legal advice.
Keep comparing
- Custom eventsTrack signups and conversions.
- robots.txt testerCheck what crawlers may access.
- Cookieless trackingHow privacy-first analytics works.
- VisitTrack vs Cloudflare Web AnalyticsFree, cookie-free page counts and Core Web Vitals — but no custom events, goals or revenue. VisitTrack is the step up when you need answers.
- VisitTrack vs UmamiMIT-licensed, self-hostable and very cheap in the cloud. VisitTrack adds payment-provider revenue attribution and replays without a $200 plan.
- VisitTrack vs PlausibleOpen-source, EU-hosted and beautifully simple. VisitTrack adds payment-provider revenue attribution, replays and heatmaps on every plan.
- All VisitTrack comparisonsEvery head-to-head, grouped by category.
Try VisitTrack next to GoatCounter
Add one script tag, connect your payment provider, and see which channels bring paying customers. Run it alongside your current tool for a couple of weeks and compare. 14 days free, no card required.