Ackee vs Rybbit vs Swetrix

All three are cookie-free, self-hostable Google Analytics alternatives, but they diverge on how features are gated. Ackee stays deliberately minimal with no…

Ackee

Free (open source) · From Free

Best for: Developers who want the absolute simplest free, self-hosted, cookie-free tracker with no managed cloud distraction.

Rybbit

Freemium SaaS with a fully feature-complete self-hosted open-source option under AGPL-3 · From Free (3,000 events per month); paid plans from $13 per month billed annually

Best for: Teams that want a feature-complete self-hosted build, including session replay and funnels, for free, or an affordable EU-hosted cloud option with a generous free tier.

Swetrix

freemium (free open-source self-hosted edition plus paid cloud subscriptions) · From €17/month

Best for: Teams that need web analytics plus error tracking and A/B testing in one platform, and are willing to pay for the higher tiers that unlock them.

At a Glance

 AckeeRybbitSwetrix
Primary categoryAnalyticsAnalyticsAnalytics
RatingNot documentedNot documentedNot documented
Pricing modelFree (open source)Freemium SaaS with a fully feature-complete self-hosted open-source option under AGPL-3freemium (free open-source self-hosted edition plus paid cloud subscriptions)
Starting priceFreeFree (3,000 events per month); paid plans from $13 per month billed annually€17/month
Free planNot documentedYesYes
Free trialNot documentedYesYes
PlatformsWebNot documentedNot documented
Team collaborationNot documentedNot documentedNot documented
AI featuresNot documentedNot documentedNot documented
Public APIYesYesYes

Standout Differences

Feature-complete self-hosting

Rybbit's self-hosted build includes session replay and funnels for free, while Swetrix documents session replay and A/B testing as gated behind its paid Plus tier; Ackee is minimal by design rather than by gating.

Rybbit, Swetrix

Company maturity

Rybbit launched publicly in 2025 and grew past 10,000 GitHub stars in its first year, Swetrix was founded in 2021, and Ackee has been maintained as a long-running minimalist project by developer studio Electerious.

Ackee, Rybbit, Swetrix

Free tier generosity

Rybbit offers a free managed cloud tier covering 3,000 events per month, Ackee is fully free with no cloud tier at all, and Swetrix's free option is limited to its self-hosted Community Edition with no free cloud plan.

Ackee, Rybbit, Swetrix

Product analytics extras

Swetrix adds error tracking and A/B testing with feature flags, Rybbit adds funnels and session replay, and Ackee sticks to pageviews and custom events.

Ackee, Rybbit, Swetrix

Feature-by-Feature

Core Tracking

FeatureAckeeRybbitSwetrix
Cookie-free trackingAvailableAvailableAvailable

Self-Hosting

FeatureAckeeRybbitSwetrix
Free self-hosted deploymentAvailableAvailableAvailable
Self-hosted build is feature-complete (no gating)AvailableAvailableLimited

Cloud Pricing

FeatureAckeeRybbitSwetrix
Free managed cloud tierUnavailableAvailableUnavailable

Product Analytics

FeatureAckeeRybbitSwetrix
Session replayUnavailableAvailableAvailable
Funnel analysisUnavailableAvailableAvailable
Error trackingUnavailableNot documentedAvailable
A/B testingUnavailableNot documentedAvailable

Pricing Compared

Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.

Ackee

Self-Hosted (Open Source) — Free

Rybbit

Free — $0 Monthly
Standard — $13 per month billed annually ($19 per month billed monthly) Monthly or annual
Pro — $26 per month billed annually ($39 per month billed monthly) Monthly or annual
Self-Hosted — Free Open source, AGPL-3 license

Swetrix

Standard — €17/month monthly (billed yearly for the discount)
Plus — €35/month monthly (billed yearly for the discount)
Enterprise — Custom custom
Community Edition (self-hosted) — Free one-time setup, self-managed

Pros & Cons

Ackee

Pros

  • Completely free and open source
  • No cookies required, simplifying consent/compliance concerns
  • Full data ownership since it's self-hosted
  • Multiple deployment options to fit different infrastructure

Cons

  • Requires self-hosting and ongoing maintenance (no managed cloud version)
  • Requires running and maintaining a MongoDB database
  • Minimal feature set compared to full-featured commercial analytics suites

Rybbit

Pros

  • Generous free tier covering 3,000 events per month without any cost
  • No cookies required, simplifying compliance with privacy regulations
  • Self-hosted version is free and feature-complete rather than a stripped-down demo
  • Simpler interface than Google Analytics 4 while offering more depth than minimalist alternatives
  • EU-hosted cloud infrastructure supports GDPR compliance by default
  • Affordable paid tiers relative to many analytics competitors

Cons

  • Very young product, launched in 2025, with a shorter track record than established analytics tools
  • Built and maintained by a very small team, which may limit support capacity at scale
  • Self-hosting requires technical setup and ongoing maintenance
  • Advanced features on the hosted plan are gated behind the Pro tier
  • Smaller third-party integration ecosystem than long-established analytics platforms
  • Rapid early growth means the product and pricing may still change significantly

Swetrix

Pros

  • Open-source with a genuinely free self-hosted Community Edition
  • Combines web analytics, error tracking, and A and B testing in one product
  • Cookieless design simplifies GDPR and privacy compliance
  • Lightweight tracking script with minimal performance impact
  • Transparent, usage-based cloud pricing with a free trial

Cons

  • Cloud plan pricing scales with event volume, which can add up for high-traffic sites
  • Self-hosting requires ongoing server maintenance and updates
  • Smaller ecosystem and community than Google Analytics or Plausible
  • Session replays and A and B testing are gated behind the higher-priced Plus tier
  • Enterprise features like SSO require custom-quoted pricing

Use Cases

Choose Ackee: Developers who want the absolute simplest free, self-hosted, cookie-free tracker with no managed cloud distraction.
Choose Rybbit: Teams that want a feature-complete self-hosted build, including session replay and funnels, for free, or an affordable EU-hosted cloud option with a generous free tier.
Choose Swetrix: Teams that need web analytics plus error tracking and A/B testing in one platform, and are willing to pay for the higher tiers that unlock them.

Ackee

  • Privacy-first site analytics — Site owners who want visitor insights without cookie banners or third-party data sharing.
  • Self-hosted analytics for multiple projects — Developers running several sites who want one dashboard without per-site SaaS fees.

Rybbit

  • Privacy-conscious website analytics — Site owners who want visitor analytics without cookies or personal data collection use Rybbit's cookieless tracking.
  • Self-hosted analytics for developers — Developers who want full control over their analytics infrastructure self-host Rybbit's open-source AGPL-3 codebase.
  • Google Analytics replacement — Businesses looking to move off Google Analytics use Rybbit's hosted cloud plans for a simpler, GDPR-friendly alternative.

Swetrix

  • Privacy-first website analytics — Replacing Google Analytics with a cookieless tool that avoids consent banners while still reporting traffic and conversion data.
  • Product and error monitoring for web apps — Combining session replays, funnels, and error tracking to debug and improve a SaaS product in one dashboard.
  • Self-hosted analytics for data sovereignty — Running the open-source Community Edition on internal infrastructure to keep all visitor data in-house.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which tool is the newest?

Rybbit is the newest, publicly launching in April 2025, compared with Swetrix's 2021 founding and Ackee's longer-running maintenance history.

Does the free self-hosted version include the same features as paid plans?

Rybbit's self-hosted build is reported to be feature-complete, including session replay and funnels; Swetrix's documented feature set gates session replay and A/B testing to its paid Plus tier; Ackee has no paid tier since its full self-hosted build is its only offering.

Which has a free managed cloud tier I can use without self-hosting?

Rybbit offers a free cloud tier covering 3,000 events per month on one site; Ackee and Swetrix don't offer a free managed cloud option, only free self-hosting.

Which tool includes error tracking?

Only Swetrix documents built-in error tracking among these three.

Which is best for GDPR compliance out of the box?

Rybbit's hosted cloud runs on EU (Germany) infrastructure for default GDPR alignment; Ackee and Swetrix are cookie-free by design, but self-hosted compliance posture depends on where you choose to deploy them.

Read the full Ackee review · Read the full Rybbit review · Read the full Swetrix review