Litlyx, Medama Analytics, and Open Web Analytics are all self-hostable, privacy-oriented alternatives to Google Analytics, but they differ in maturity and how…
Freemium / Subscription (self-hosted free option available) · From Free (self-hosted) or from EUR 8.99/month (Mini cloud plan)
Best for: Agencies and freelancers who want AI-generated client reports, multi-workspace management, and the flexibility of either a hosted cloud plan or self-hosting
Best for: Developers who want an extremely lightweight, dependency-free self-hosted analytics binary with a fully documented REST API and minimal server requirements
Best for: Organizations that want a mature, entirely free, self-hosted PHP and MySQL analytics platform with built-in heatmaps and session visualization, and no cloud dependency at all
Free (self-hosted) or from EUR 8.99/month (Mini cloud plan)
Free
Free
Free plan
Yes
Not documented
Not documented
Free trial
Not documented
Not documented
Not documented
Platforms
Not documented
Not documented
Web
Team collaboration
Not documented
Not documented
Not documented
AI features
Yes
Not documented
Not documented
Public API
Yes
Yes
Yes
Standout Differences
Only Litlyx offers a managed cloud plan
Litlyx sells hosted cloud tiers starting at EUR 8.99 per month alongside a free self-hosted option, while Medama Analytics and Open Web Analytics are documented as self-hosted only, with no official SaaS product to fall back on.
Litlyx
Medama is built to be the lightest possible self-hosted install
Medama ships as a single dependency-free binary that the project states can run on virtual machines with as little as 256 MB of memory, with a tracker script kept under 1 KB to minimize page-load impact.
Medama Analytics
Open Web Analytics brings the deepest visual feature set
OWA includes heatmap generation and a session-replay-style DOMstream feature that neither Litlyx nor Medama documents, reflecting nearly two decades of development since its original 2006 release.
Open Web Analytics
AI-generated reporting is unique to Litlyx
Litlyx layers one-click AI-generated summaries of web, product, SEO, and marketing performance on top of standard analytics, a capability not present in Medama's or OWA's documented feature sets.
Litlyx
Feature-by-Feature
Deployment and Hosting
Feature
Litlyx
Medama Analytics
Open Web Analytics
Official hosted or cloud SaaS option
Available
Unavailable
Unavailable
Free self-hosting option
Available
Available
Available
Privacy and Tracking
Feature
Litlyx
Medama Analytics
Open Web Analytics
Cookie-free tracking by design
Available
Available
Not documented
Funnel or multi-step conversion tracking
Available
Not documented
Limited
Visualization and Reporting
Feature
Litlyx
Medama Analytics
Open Web Analytics
Heatmaps or session-replay-style visualization
Not documented
Not documented
Available
AI-generated report summaries
Available
Unavailable
Unavailable
Integration and Scale
Feature
Litlyx
Medama Analytics
Open Web Analytics
Documented REST API for custom integrations
Not documented
Available
Available
Multi-site management from a single install or account
Available
Not documented
Available
Pricing Compared
Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.
Litlyx
Mini — EUR 8.99/month Annual
Basic — EUR 14.99/month Annual
Pro — EUR 29.99/month Annual
Self-Hosted — Free N/A
Medama Analytics
Open Source (Self-Hosted) — Free N/A
Open Web Analytics
Open Source (GPL v2) — Free N/A
Pros & Cons
Litlyx
Pros
Cookieless and GDPR-compliant by design, avoiding consent-banner overhead
AI-generated reports save time for agencies producing recurring client summaries
Both hosted and self-hosted deployment options available
Very fast, low-friction setup compared to Google Analytics
Competitive, transparent pricing for small sites and agencies
Cons
Very young company founded in late 2024, with limited operating track record
Small team of under 10 employees may limit support responsiveness at scale
Feature set is less mature than long-established analytics platforms
Pageview-based pricing tiers can become costly for high-traffic sites
Some advanced product-analytics features lag behind dedicated tools like PostHog
Medama Analytics
Pros
Completely free and open source
No cookies or IP address storage, simplifying privacy compliance
Very lightweight tracker script with minimal performance impact
Low infrastructure requirements make self-hosting inexpensive
Fully documented OpenAPI REST API for custom integrations
Cons
No official managed hosting or SaaS plan, requires self-hosting expertise
Smaller community and ecosystem compared to Umami or Plausible
Documentation and long-term support depend on an open-source community rather than a company
Feature set is more limited than commercial, full-featured analytics platforms
No confirmed enterprise support or SLA options
Open Web Analytics
Pros
Completely free and open source with no usage-based pricing
Full data ownership since all tracking data stays on the organization's own server
Includes heatmap and session-visualization features not present in every open analytics tool
Simple integration via WordPress plugin or PHP SDK
Can monitor unlimited websites from a single self-hosted instance
Cons
Requires self-hosting a PHP/MySQL application, including ongoing maintenance and security updates
Smaller active community and slower release cadence than Matomo or commercial analytics tools
No official hosted/cloud version for teams that do not want to manage infrastructure
Interface and reporting are less polished than modern commercial analytics dashboards
Limited public documentation compared to more actively marketed alternatives
Use Cases
Choose Litlyx: Agencies and freelancers who want AI-generated client reports, multi-workspace management, and the flexibility of either a hosted cloud plan or self-hosting
Choose Medama Analytics: Developers who want an extremely lightweight, dependency-free self-hosted analytics binary with a fully documented REST API and minimal server requirements
Choose Open Web Analytics: Organizations that want a mature, entirely free, self-hosted PHP and MySQL analytics platform with built-in heatmaps and session visualization, and no cloud dependency at all
Litlyx
Agency multi-client reporting — Digital agencies use Litlyx's multi-workspace support and AI-generated reports to manage analytics for many client sites and produce branded client reports quickly.
Privacy-first GA4 replacement — Small and mid-size businesses migrate from Google Analytics to Litlyx to achieve GDPR compliance and skip cookie consent banners.
Self-hosted analytics for developers — Developers deploy the open-source Docker version of Litlyx to keep full control of visitor data on their own infrastructure at no cost.
Medama Analytics
Privacy-compliant website analytics — Site owners use Medama to measure traffic without collecting cookies or IP addresses, easing GDPR and PECR compliance.
Self-hosted analytics for small infrastructure — Developers deploy Medama on low-resource VMs or containers to avoid the cost and complexity of larger analytics platforms.
Custom analytics integrations — Teams use Medama's OpenAPI-documented REST API to pull visitor data into internal dashboards or tools.
Open Web Analytics
Privacy-focused website analytics — Organizations with data-sovereignty or privacy compliance requirements self-host OWA to keep visitor data off third-party servers.
WordPress site tracking — WordPress site owners install the official OWA plugin to get self-hosted analytics without relying on Google Analytics.
Custom application event tracking — Developers use the PHP SDK to integrate custom event and e-commerce tracking directly into their own applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do any of these tools require a cookie consent banner?
Litlyx and Medama Analytics are both explicitly designed to be cookie-free and avoid personally identifying data, which is intended to let sites skip a consent banner for analytics. Open Web Analytics does not document a cookie-free tracking approach, so its consent requirements may depend on how it is configured.
Which of these offers a managed cloud version so I don't have to run my own server?
Litlyx is the only one with an official hosted cloud product, with paid tiers starting at EUR 8.99 per month; Medama Analytics and Open Web Analytics are both self-hosted only with no official SaaS offering.
Which tool has heatmaps?
Open Web Analytics is the only one of the three that documents heatmap generation, along with a session-visualization feature called DOMstream. Neither Litlyx nor Medama Analytics documents heatmap functionality.
Which is the most lightweight to self-host?
Medama Analytics is built specifically for this: it ships as a single dependency-free binary with a tracker script under 1 KB and can reportedly run on a virtual machine with as little as 256 MB of memory.
Can I get AI-generated summaries of my analytics data with any of these?
Yes, but only with Litlyx, which offers one-click AI-generated reports summarizing web, product, SEO, and marketing performance. This is not a documented feature of Medama Analytics or Open Web Analytics.
Which is best for an agency managing several client websites?
Litlyx supports multi-domain workspaces and shareable branded client reports, while Open Web Analytics can monitor an effectively unlimited number of websites from a single self-hosted instance. Medama Analytics does not document multi-site management features.