Which alternatives are free, and what is the catch?
A free plan is only useful if its limits fit your site. The table lists the free option each tool offers today and the main limit you will run into.
| Tool | Free option | Main limits | Cookies |
|---|---|---|---|
| BYOViral | Free plan | Last 500 visitors per site in the visitor log; daily totals kept with no time limit; unlimited sites | None |
| Statcounter | Free Basic plan | 5,000 sessions a month; 14 days of data | First- and third-party |
| Clicky | Free plan | 1 site; 3,000 pageviews a day; 30 days of history | None by default |
| Simple Analytics | Free plan | 1 user, 5 sites, 1 month of history; their badge must be shown | None |
| Umami | Hobby plan, or self-hosting | Hobby: 100,000 events a month, 1 site, 6 months of data. Self-hosting is free under the MIT license | None |
| Matomo | Self-hosted On-Premise | Free software under GPLv3, but you run and maintain the server. Matomo Cloud starts at €22 a month | Yes by default; can be switched off |
| Google Analytics 4 | Free standard edition | Event data kept 2 or 14 months for explorations; thresholds can hide small numbers | _ga cookies |
| Plausible | No free plan | 30-day trial, then from $9 a month. The self-hosted Community Edition is free under AGPLv3 | None |
| Fathom | No free plan | 7-day trial with a card, then from $15 a month | None |
Older comparisons often say Statcounter's free plan keeps "the last 500 pageviews". Statcounter's current pricing page describes a monthly session allowance and a 14-day data window instead.
Why sites move away from GA4
Google stopped processing data in standard Universal Analytics properties on July 1, 2023, and removed access to those properties and their historical data starting the week of July 1, 2024. Sites that never exported their old reports lost them, and many owners used the switch as a moment to reconsider.
GA4 itself is free and capable, but it is built for analysts. Its standard reports can take 24 to 48 hours to fill in, data thresholds can hide rows when traffic is small, and its _ga cookies usually mean a consent banner for visitors in the EU and UK. If all you want is "who is on my site, where did they come from, and is it growing", that is a lot of setup.
What BYOViral's free plan includes
- A live view. An Online Now count of visitors active in the last five minutes, plus the most recent visits as they arrive.
- A visitor log. The last 500 visitors per site, each with the pages viewed, referrer, country and city, browser, device, IP address and network.
- Daily totals that never expire. Visitors, pageviews, sources, countries and devices are stored as daily figures that stay after the log rolls over.
- Likely-bot labeling. Visits from hosting and cloud networks, and from automation tools, are labeled and kept out of your human totals.
- A weekly email report every Monday.
- Custom events with one line of JavaScript:
pa.track({name: 'Signup'}). - An optional public stats page at
/site/yourdomain.comand a badge showing your rank and this month's visitors. - 39 free SEO and web tools, open to everyone.
- Unlimited sites on one account.
When the free plan stops being enough
The visitor log is what fills up. On a busy site, 500 visitors may cover only a few hours, although the daily totals keep counting either way. Premium costs $5 a month or $50 a year and raises the log to 10,000 visitors per site. It also adds CSV export, alerts for traffic spikes, drops and a silent tracker, goals with simple funnels, Search Console queries, professional SEO reports and uptime checks every five minutes.
Ultra costs $9 a month or $90 a year. It raises the log to 100,000 visitors per site and adds visitor and IP labels with return alerts, a daily briefing and API access. Prices do not change with traffic, and payment is through PayPal.
Setting it up
- Create an account at byoviral.com/register. No card is needed.
- Add your site. Choose Public if you want the stats page and badge, or keep it Private or behind a password.
- Paste the script from your site's settings into the
<head>of your pages. On WordPress, use your theme header or a header-code plugin; Wix, Squarespace, Webflow and Shopify all have a custom-code field for this. - Open your site in another tab. Your own visit should appear in the live view within a few seconds.
The script is about 650 bytes, sets no cookies and uses no browser storage. It also follows page changes in single-page apps.
A note on cookies and consent
BYOViral sets no cookies, which removes the most common reason for an analytics consent banner. It does keep IP addresses in each site's visitor log until those visits roll out of the plan's log size, and whether your site needs a banner also depends on every other script on your pages. If you are unsure, check with someone who knows the rules where your visitors live.
Common questions
Is there a completely free Google Analytics alternative?
Yes, several. BYOViral, Statcounter, Clicky and Simple Analytics have free hosted plans, Umami has a free Hobby plan, and Matomo, Umami and Plausible can be self-hosted for free if you run your own server. Each free plan has limits, such as a session cap, a short history or a single site.
Are Plausible and Fathom free?
No. Plausible has a 30-day trial and then starts at $9 a month, and Fathom has a 7-day trial and starts at $15 a month. Plausible's Community Edition is free to self-host.
How much traffic can BYOViral's free plan handle?
There is no traffic cap. Every visit is counted in the daily totals. What is limited is the detailed visitor log, which keeps the most recent 500 visitors per site on the free plan.
Can I import my Google Analytics history?
No. BYOViral starts counting from the moment the script is added. Keep GA4 or your exported reports for older periods.
How long does setup take?
A few minutes: create an account, add your site and paste one script tag into your pages.
Start with the free plan
No card, unlimited sites, and your daily totals start building today.
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