Overview

Microanalytics is a US-based open-source, self-hosted web analytics tool that pushes minimalism to the extreme, sitting between lightweight privacy analytics and self-hosted data sovereignty. Microanalytics does not track personal identity or use cookies, so it naturally complies with GDPR and CCPA; at the same time, its source code is open and it supports one-click Docker deployment, letting teams run the analytics service and its data entirely on infrastructure they control.

Compared with privacy-focused tools such as Plausible and Fathom, Microanalytics differentiates itself with open-source self-hosting and event tracking - beyond core page metrics, custom interactions can be instrumented. The tracking script is under 2KB and loads asynchronously with zero rendering block, and the dashboard focuses on core traffic metrics, suiting privacy-conscious individual site owners and lightweight teams that want to own their data; see the website analytics setup guide for implementation guidance.

Key Strengths

  • Open-source self-hosting with one-click Docker deployment: The full source code is open and the service can be launched on your own server with Docker, giving you full control over data storage and retention and avoiding SaaS data-sovereignty and latency concerns; see Docker deployment beginner's guide for practices.
  • Cookie-less privacy architecture: No cookies and no browser fingerprinting, with IP anonymized server-side to coarse location data, so GDPR/CCPA compliance needs no consent banner; verify with the GDPR compliance checklist before going live.
  • Event tracking capability: Beyond core metrics such as page views, custom events like button clicks and form submissions can be instrumented, providing a lightweight conversion-analysis foundation on top of the minimal design.
  • Ultra-lightweight script under 2KB: The minified script is under 2KB and loads asynchronously without blocking rendering, with negligible impact on Core Web Vitals - see the Core Web Vitals optimization guide.
  • Free plan and controlled cost: A free plan covers basic traffic analytics, and the self-hosted version costs only server resources, keeping total cost of ownership low among similar tools.

Product Ecosystem

Core Web Analytics

Focuses on core metrics such as visits, unique visitors, page views, and traffic sources, presented as time-series trends with redundant dimensions like bounce rate and time-on-site removed, so traffic status is clear at a glance.

Event Tracking

Supports instrumenting custom interactions (such as button clicks, form submissions, and outbound link clicks) to measure feature engagement and landing-page conversion, forming a data foundation for lightweight conversion analysis.

Self-Hosted Deployment

Provides a Docker image and deployment documentation to bring up the full analytics service on a VPS, cloud server, or local environment in one step, with support for custom tracking domains and data-retention policies - ideal for teams with data-sovereignty and localization requirements.

Data Export and API

Supports exporting statistics and event data for offline archiving and secondary analysis, and can feed analytics into your own dashboards or pipelines; common patterns are covered in website API integration basics.

Limitations

  • Minimal feature set: No funnels, heatmaps, session recording, A/B testing, or automated alerts; for deep behavior analytics and growth experiments, pair with PostHog or Matomo.
  • Independently maintained with uncertain long-term support: The project is maintained by an independent developer, so feature iteration, bug fixes, and issue response depend on the maintainer's time, without a commercial team backing it; treat this as a risk for mission-critical infrastructure.
  • No formal commercial SLA: No enterprise SLA or priority technical support, so response times and availability guarantees cannot be written into a contract; reliability-sensitive sites should be cautious.
  • Limited third-party integration ecosystem: Fewer third-party plugins, framework SDKs, and collaboration-tool integrations; teams relying on a rich ecosystem should evaluate more mature options such as Plausible.

Use Cases

  • Teams needing self-hosting and data sovereignty (Recommended ★★★★★): One-click Docker deployment with fully owned data suits individuals and teams with data-sovereignty and localization requirements.
  • Personal blogs and minimal sites (Recommended ★★★★★): The under-2KB script adds zero performance burden and the free plan covers basic traffic monitoring.
  • Privacy-first projects (Recommended ★★★★★): Cookie-less architecture is compliant out of the box with zero configuration cost; walk through the website GDPR compliance checklist.
  • Learning and experimental projects (Recommended ★★★★): Open-source self-hosting is ideal for learning analytics internals and self-hosting practice.
  • Teams needing deep analytics and rich integrations (Recommended ★★): Feature set and ecosystem are limited; evaluate Matomo or Plausible instead.

Pricing

Plan Reference Price Key Features
Free $0 Basic traffic analytics with limited visit quota
Paid ~$19/month (ref.) Higher visit quotas, more sites, more retention
Self-Hosted (Open Source) Server cost only All features, full data ownership, one-click Docker

Prices are public reference figures; confirm current rates on the official website. The self-hosted version is open-source and free, requiring only server costs (VPS roughly $5-15/month). Details such as paid-plan quotas and retention should be verified through official channels.

FAQ

  • How do Microanalytics, Plausible, and Fathom compare? Microanalytics stands out for open-source self-hosting and event tracking, at the cost of a more minimal feature set and ecosystem; Plausible and Fathom are more mature. Choose based on your preference for self-hosting versus feature breadth - see the website analytics setup guide.

  • Does Microanalytics really not use cookies? Correct. It collects anonymized visit data via a simplified protocol with no cookies or browser fingerprinting, so no consent banner is needed; compliance details are in the GDPR compliance checklist.

  • How do I self-host Microanalytics? Launch the full analytics service with a Docker image so data lives on your own server; deployment and operations are covered in Docker deployment beginner's guide, with more practices in web analytics tools.

  • Will it be maintained long term? The project is maintained by an independent developer without a commercial team's roadmap commitment; risk is acceptable for non-critical personal projects, but commercial sites should evaluate company-backed options such as Matomo or Plausible - see web analytics tools; see open source commercial software market overview.

  • Is Microanalytics suitable for ecommerce? It supports only basic traffic and custom-event tracking without ecommerce events or funnels; for deep ecommerce analytics choose Matomo or Google Analytics 4, as noted in SEO performance tracking and measurement.