Web analytics
Open-source alternatives to Google Analytics 4, priced
4 open-source tools that can replace Google Analytics 4, each shown with what it would actually cost to run for a team of 10 people. Google Analytics 4 on the Free tier costs $0.00 a month at that size.
The cheapest way to replace Google Analytics 4 here is Umami, at $45.54 a month against $0.00, with your own time already counted.
| Tool | Server only | With your time | vs Google Analytics 4 | Operational weight | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Umami | $8.04 | $45.54 | -$1,789 | easy | MIT |
| Plausible Analytics | $8.04 | $121 | -$4,789 | medium | AGPL-3.0 |
| Matomo | $8.04 | $121 | -$4,789 | medium | GPL-3.0 |
| PostHog | $22.15 | $247 | -$10,097 | hard | source-available |
The final column is the 36-month difference: positive means self-hosting is cheaper.
Which one to pick
Umami 38,748 stars
Next.js application against PostgreSQL or MySQL. The lightest credible analytics stack: two containers and no separate column store.
At 10 people it needs 1.3 GB of memory and 10.5 GB of disk, which fits the CX23 (cost-optimized) at Hetzner Cloud for $6.70 a month. Setting it up is roughly 2 hours of work, then 0.5 hours a month to keep it healthy.
Full Google Analytics 4 versus Umami breakdown · Umami at every team size
Plausible Analytics 29,036 stars
Ships as Elixir plus ClickHouse plus PostgreSQL. ClickHouse sets the memory floor, so this stack does not usefully shrink below 2 GB. Disk scales with pageviews rather than with seats.
At 10 people it needs 2.6 GB of memory and 21 GB of disk, which fits the CX23 (cost-optimized) at Hetzner Cloud for $6.70 a month. Setting it up is roughly 6 hours of work, then 1.5 hours a month to keep it healthy.
Full Google Analytics 4 versus Plausible Analytics breakdown · Plausible Analytics at every team size
Matomo 21,859 stars
The most feature-complete option and the heaviest. Report archiving is the expensive part and wants a cron job with real memory behind it.
At 10 people it needs 2.6 GB of memory and 26 GB of disk, which fits the CX23 (cost-optimized) at Hetzner Cloud for $6.70 a month. Setting it up is roughly 6 hours of work, then 1.5 hours a month to keep it healthy.
Full Google Analytics 4 versus Matomo breakdown · Matomo at every team size
PostHog 39,757 stars
Kafka, ClickHouse, PostgreSQL, Redis and several workers. PostHog itself now discourages self-hosting below a substantial scale, and the sizing here reflects that honestly.
At 10 people it needs 10.2 GB of memory and 62 GB of disk, which fits the CX43 (cost-optimized) at Hetzner Cloud for $18.46 a month. Setting it up is roughly 16 hours of work, then 3 hours a month to keep it healthy.
Full Google Analytics 4 versus PostHog breakdown · PostHog at every team size
How the pricing was established
Google Analytics 4 pricing was read from its own pricing page on 2026-09-12. Server prices come from the providers listed on the hosting page. The sizing model and the cost of your time are set out in full on the methodology page.
Related
- All web analytics compared
- Alternatives to Mixpanel
- Alternatives to Amplitude
- Alternatives to Fathom Analytics
- Where to host it
What you would be running
| Tool | Licence | Written in | Setup | Upkeep | GitHub stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Umami | MIT License | TypeScript | 2 h | 0.5 h a month | 38,748 |
| Plausible Analytics | GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 | Elixir | 6 h | 1.5 h a month | 29,036 |
| Matomo | GNU General Public License v3.0 | PHP | 6 h | 1.5 h a month | 21,859 |
| PostHog | Other | Python | 16 h | 3 h a month | 39,757 |
Questions people actually ask
Is there a free open-source alternative to Google Analytics 4?
There are 4 on this page. 3 of them are open source, published under AGPL-3.0, GPL-3.0, MIT, with no licence to buy. PostHog ships its source under its own licence rather than a standard open-source one, so check its terms before commercial use. None of them is free to run: the cheapest, Umami, costs $45.54 a month at 10 people once the server, backups and the time to look after it are counted.
How much does Google Analytics 4 cost?
Google Analytics 4 Free costs $0.00 a month at 10 people: free at the standard tier. That figure was read from the vendor's own pricing page on 2026-09-12.
What does it cost to self-host Umami?
$45.54 a month at 10 people. That is $6.70 for the CX23 (cost-optimized) at Hetzner Cloud, plus backups, plus 0.5 hours a month of your own time priced at the published hourly rate.
How long before Umami is cheaper than Google Analytics 4?
Never, counting $150 of first-time setup. Over 36 months the difference is $1,789.
Which Google Analytics 4 alternative is the easiest to run?
Umami, rated easy: about 2 hours to set up and 0.5 hours afterwards.