GoatCounter is a minimalist open-source web analytics tool developed and operated by solo developer Martin Tournoij (GitHub: arp242). The hosted service goatcounter.com runs on Hetzner Online GmbH servers in Finland and Germany; the operator is currently based in Ireland. The project is fully open source on GitHub and self-hostable, making it a credible "no SaaS lock-in, no CLOUD Act exposure" answer for indie publishers, NGO sites, and small EU teams.
The privacy posture is exceptionally clean: GoatCounter does not store IP addresses, does not store the full User-Agent header, does not use cookies for visitor tracking, and stores only aggregate-table data per hour rather than individual pageviews (with the option to opt into pageview-level data collection if the customer enables it). Site owners are advised that a GDPR consent banner is generally not required because no personally identifiable data is collected and the service rests on legitimate interest analogous to in-store foot-traffic counting. Account login uses cookies for session persistence; no third-party sharing of account data; backups retained up to 30 days after account deletion.
Pricing is freemium and pragmatic: the hosted service is free for personal and non-commercial use, with paid tiers for commercial and high-traffic use; specific tier prices were not captured at audit and are listed in /help/billing. Best fit: indie devs, bloggers, small e-commerce shops, and EU NGOs who want a no-cookie analytics stack on Hetzner with the option to self-host the open-source build. Procurement-grade enterprise buyers who require a formal DPA, named sub-processors annex, and a corporate legal entity should look at Plausible (also Hetzner DE) or Pirsch (also Hetzner DE) instead. GoatCounter is structurally a one-person shop and does not produce those artefacts today.