head to head · open source
Rybbit vs Fathom Lite
Rybbit has 13,033 GitHub stars, 744 forks, 198 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Fathom Lite has 8,020 stars, 383 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. Rybbit leads on adoption by 63% (13,033 vs 8,020 stars). Rybbit is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Fathom Lite is written in Go under MIT. Rybbit has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Fathom Lite 5%. Rybbit was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (analytics, google-analytics), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Rybbit | Fathom Lite | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 13K | ★ 8.0K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-03-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 744 | ⑂ 383 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Rybbit if
- You weight community size — 13K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Fathom Lite if
- You want the Fathom Lite feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Fathom Lite fits your workflow better
About Rybbit
Rybbit is an open source web and product analytics project written in TypeScript and licensed under AGPL 3.0. It lives in the data and analytics ecosystem, specifically web and product analytics, with repository topics including analytics, google analytics, product analytics, and web analytics. The README describes it as a privacy friendly alternative to Google Analytics, with a hosted service and a self hosted path for teams that want audience data without cookies.
read the full Rybbit overview →
About Fathom Lite
Fathom Lite is the original open source, self hosted edition of Fathom Analytics — a simple, privacy focused website analytics tool written in Go with a Preact dashboard, released under the MIT licence for people who want to run their own analytics server rather than buy a hosted service.
read the full Fathom Lite overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Rybbit or Fathom Lite more popular?
Rybbit has 13,033 GitHub stars and Fathom Lite has 8,020. Rybbit has the larger community by that measure.
Are Rybbit and Fathom Lite free?
Both are open source. Rybbit is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Fathom Lite under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Rybbit and Fathom Lite?
Rybbit is written in TypeScript and Fathom Lite in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Rybbit or Fathom Lite?
Choose Rybbit if you want the larger community (13,033 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Fathom Lite if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.