GoatCounter Analytics

beginner

Simple, privacy-friendly web analytics without tracking users.

Overview

GoatCounter is an open-source, privacy-focused web analytics platform created by Martin Tournoij that provides website traffic insights without tracking individual users or violating privacy. Unlike traditional analytics solutions that collect personal data and use cookies, GoatCounter focuses on aggregate statistics while respecting visitor privacy and GDPR compliance. It offers a lightweight alternative to Google Analytics with essential metrics like page views, referrers, browser statistics, and geographic data. This deployment combines the GoatCounter analytics service with a PostgreSQL database backend. The goatcounter container runs the web application and analytics engine, while the db service provides persistent data storage using PostgreSQL 15 Alpine. The two services communicate over a dedicated Docker network, with GoatCounter configured to connect to PostgreSQL using environment variables for database credentials. This stack is ideal for website owners, bloggers, small businesses, and organizations that prioritize visitor privacy while still needing meaningful analytics data. The combination offers the reliability of PostgreSQL for data persistence with GoatCounter's privacy-first approach, making it perfect for compliance-conscious environments or anyone seeking an ethical alternative to tracking-heavy analytics platforms.

Key Features

Privacy-first analytics with no personal data collection or tracking cookies
PostgreSQL backend for reliable data persistence and complex query capabilities
Real-time visitor statistics and page view tracking without user identification
Built-in referrer analysis showing traffic sources and external links
Geographic visitor distribution based on IP addresses without storing personal data
Browser and device statistics for technical insights without fingerprinting
Lightweight JavaScript tracking code with minimal performance impact
GDPR and privacy regulation compliant analytics collection

Common Use Cases

1Privacy-conscious websites needing analytics without visitor tracking
2Small business websites requiring basic traffic insights and referrer data
3Personal blogs and portfolios tracking readership without compromising visitor privacy
4Organizations in regulated industries needing GDPR-compliant analytics
5Educational institutions monitoring website usage while protecting student privacy
6Non-profit organizations tracking outreach effectiveness without data collection concerns
7Development teams needing lightweight analytics for internal projects and documentation sites

Prerequisites

Docker and Docker Compose installed on the host system
Minimum 1GB RAM for PostgreSQL database operations and GoatCounter processing
Port 8080 available for GoatCounter web interface access
DB_PASSWORD environment variable configured for database authentication
Basic understanding of JavaScript integration for adding tracking code to websites
Command-line access for initial site creation and GoatCounter configuration

For development & testing. Review security settings, change default credentials, and test thoroughly before production use. See Terms

docker-compose.yml

1services: 
2  goatcounter: 
3    image: ghcr.io/arp242/goatcounter:latest
4    container_name: goatcounter
5    environment: 
6      - GOATCOUNTER_DB=postgresql://goatcounter:${DB_PASSWORD}@db/goatcounter?sslmode=disable
7    command: serve -listen :8080 -tls none
8    ports: 
9      - "8080:8080"
10    depends_on: 
11      - db
12    networks: 
13      - goatcounter-network
14    restart: unless-stopped
15
16  db: 
17    image: postgres:15-alpine
18    container_name: goatcounter-db
19    environment: 
20      - POSTGRES_USER=goatcounter
21      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
22      - POSTGRES_DB=goatcounter
23    volumes: 
24      - postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
25    networks: 
26      - goatcounter-network
27    restart: unless-stopped
28
29volumes: 
30  postgres-data: 
31
32networks: 
33  goatcounter-network: 
34    driver: bridge

.env Template

.env

1# GoatCounter
2DB_PASSWORD=secure_goatcounter_password
3
4# Create first user: goatcounter db create site -createdb -vhost=stats.example.com -user.email=you@example.com

Usage Notes

1Web UI at http://localhost:8080
2Create site via CLI first
3Add count.js to websites
4No personal data collection
5Lightweight and fast

Individual Services(2 services)

Copy individual services to mix and match with your existing compose files.

goatcounter

goatcounter:
  image: ghcr.io/arp242/goatcounter:latest
  container_name: goatcounter
  environment:
    - GOATCOUNTER_DB=postgresql://goatcounter:${DB_PASSWORD}@db/goatcounter?sslmode=disable
  command: serve -listen :8080 -tls none
  ports:
    - "8080:8080"
  depends_on:
    - db
  networks:
    - goatcounter-network
  restart: unless-stopped

db:
  image: postgres:15-alpine
  container_name: goatcounter-db
  environment:
    - POSTGRES_USER=goatcounter
    - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
    - POSTGRES_DB=goatcounter
  volumes:
    - postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
  networks:
    - goatcounter-network
  restart: unless-stopped

Quick Start

terminal

1# 1. Create the compose file
2cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
3services:
4  goatcounter:
5    image: ghcr.io/arp242/goatcounter:latest
6    container_name: goatcounter
7    environment:
8      - GOATCOUNTER_DB=postgresql://goatcounter:${DB_PASSWORD}@db/goatcounter?sslmode=disable
9    command: serve -listen :8080 -tls none
10    ports:
11      - "8080:8080"
12    depends_on:
13      - db
14    networks:
15      - goatcounter-network
16    restart: unless-stopped
17
18  db:
19    image: postgres:15-alpine
20    container_name: goatcounter-db
21    environment:
22      - POSTGRES_USER=goatcounter
23      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
24      - POSTGRES_DB=goatcounter
25    volumes:
26      - postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
27    networks:
28      - goatcounter-network
29    restart: unless-stopped
30
31volumes:
32  postgres-data:
33
34networks:
35  goatcounter-network:
36    driver: bridge
37EOF
38
39# 2. Create the .env file
40cat > .env << 'EOF'
41# GoatCounter
42DB_PASSWORD=secure_goatcounter_password
43
44# Create first user: goatcounter db create site -createdb -vhost=stats.example.com -user.email=you@example.com
45EOF
46
47# 3. Start the services
48docker compose up -d
49
50# 4. View logs
51docker compose logs -f

One-Liner

Run this command to download and set up the recipe in one step:

terminal

1curl -fsSL https://docker.recipes/api/recipes/goatcounter-analytics/run | bash

Troubleshooting

GoatCounter shows database connection errors: Verify DB_PASSWORD environment variable matches between goatcounter and db services
Web interface not accessible at localhost:8080: Check that port 8080 is not used by other services and containers are running
Site creation fails or no data appears: Use docker exec to run goatcounter create commands inside the container before adding tracking code
PostgreSQL container fails to start: Ensure postgres-data volume permissions are correct and sufficient disk space is available
Tracking code not recording visits: Verify count.js is properly loaded from the GoatCounter instance and not blocked by ad blockers
Database performance issues with large datasets: Monitor PostgreSQL memory usage and consider increasing container memory limits for the db service

Community Notes

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