Best Free Web Analytics Tools 2026: 8 Options Compared

Free website analytics comes in two forms: hosted products that cap your traffic and self-hosted software that costs only your server. Google Analytics is free of charge for the standard version and is the default for most sites, but it asks for a consent banner in many regions and the interface takes time to learn. Microsoft Clarity is free with no traffic limits, unlimited heatmaps and session recordings of up to 100,000 sessions per project per day, according to search excerpts of its pricing page. Mixpanel and Amplitude suit product teams, with free tiers of 1 million and 2 million events a month respectively. Hotjar offers a free plan that tops out at 200,000 sessions a month. For privacy-first, cookie-light tracking, Matomo's on-premise Community edition has unlimited users and hits, Umami's Hobby plan covers 100,000 events a month for one website and is self-hostable under MIT, and PostHog gives 1 million events and 5,000 recordings a month in its cloud free tier. Pick a hosted tool when you want zero maintenance; pick a self-hosted one when privacy rules or traffic volume matter. The trade-off with self-hosting is upkeep: you run the database, apply updates and watch storage as your data grows.

Google Analytics

Standard Google Analytics is free of charge, with no event cap stated. It is the common default, but 360 pricing is unpublished and consent rules apply in many regions.

Price: Free (Standard Google Analytics is free of charge) (Google Analytics pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary.

Best for: General traffic reporting and ad integrations.

Compare: Google Analytics alternatives

Microsoft Clarity

Free with no traffic limits, unlimited heatmaps, sites and team members, per search excerpts of the pricing page. Strong for watching how visitors actually use a page.

Price: Free (Free with no traffic limits, unlimited heatmaps, sites and team members; records up to 100,000 sessions per project per day) (Microsoft Clarity pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.

Best for: Heatmaps and recordings at zero cost.

Matomo

GPL-3.0 on-premise Community edition is free with unlimited users and hits. Heatmaps and session recording need a paid plan, and cloud pricing was not confirmed.

Price: Free (On-premise Community edition is free with unlimited users and hits; heatmaps and session recording need a paid on-premise bundle) (Matomo pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web browser, Self-hosted (PHP). GPL-3.0-or-later (open source).

Project activity: 22k GitHub stars · latest release 5.14.2 (Oct 22, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026

Best for: Self-hosted, privacy-conscious analytics.

Umami

MIT-licensed; Hobby plan is up to 100K events a month for 1 website with 6 months retention, and self-hosting is free. Cloud Pro is $20 a month billed monthly.

Price: Free (Hobby: up to 100K events per month, 1 website, 6 months data retention; self-hosting is free); paid from $20 per month, billed monthly (Pro, 1M events per month) (Umami pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web browser, Self-hosted. MIT (open source).

Project activity: 39.7k GitHub stars · latest release v3.4.1 (Oct 23, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026

Best for: Simple, light analytics for small sites.

PostHog

MIT core with a free cloud tier of 1M events and 5k recordings a month. Self-hosted hobby deploys suit about 100K events and come with no support.

Price: Free (Cloud free tier includes 5k recordings and 1M events a month; self-hosted hobby deploy suits about 100k events a month) (PostHog pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web browser, Linux (self-hosted, Docker). MIT (ee/ directory under a separate licence) (open source).

Project activity: 40.5k GitHub stars · latest release desktop-v0.61.851 (Oct 27, 2026) · last commit Oct 28, 2026

Best for: Product analytics plus session replay.

Mixpanel

Free up to 1M events a month with unlimited seats. The next paid tier shown starts at 1.5M events, and Growth is $100 a month billed yearly.

Price: Free (Up to 1M events per month, unlimited seats); paid from $100 per month, billed yearly (Growth first paid tier, 1.5M events/month; $140 billed monthly) (Mixpanel pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.

Best for: Funnels and retention for product teams.

Worth knowing: Growth is listed as starting at $0 for the first 1M events; the first paid tier shown is 1.5M events a month.

Compare: Mixpanel alternatives

Amplitude

Free for 2M events a month with unlimited team members. Check the pricing page for rates above 2M events.

Price: Free (2M events per month, unlimited team members) (Amplitude pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.

Best for: Product analytics with a high free event cap.

Compare: Amplitude alternatives

Hotjar

Free plan up to 200K sessions a month, per Contentsquare's pricing page where hotjar.com now redirects. The Growth plan is $39 a month billed yearly.

Price: Free (Free plan with up to 200k sessions a month (shown on Contentsquare's pricing page, where hotjar.com/pricing now redirects)); paid from $39 per month, billed yearly (Growth; $49 billed monthly) (Hotjar pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.

Best for: Surveys and heatmaps for marketers.

Compare: Hotjar alternatives

Which one to pick

• You just want traffic numbers and ad reporting: Google Analytics
• You want heatmaps and recordings for free: Microsoft Clarity
• You must keep data on your own server: Matomo
• You run a product with accounts and funnels: PostHog