head to head · open source
goaccess vs Observal
goaccess has 21,110 GitHub stars, 1,210 forks, 449 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. Observal has 4,537 stars, 1,141 forks, 201 open issues and last shipped yesterday. goaccess leads on adoption by 365% (21,110 vs 4,537 stars). goaccess is written in C under MIT; Observal is written in Python under Apache-2.0. goaccess has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Observal 25%. Observal was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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
| goaccess | Observal | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 4.5K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C | Python |
| Last push | 2026-10-28 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.2K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick goaccess if
- You weight community size — 21K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Observal if
- You want the Observal feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Observal fits your workflow better
About goaccess
GoAccess ======== What is it? GoAccess is an open source, real time web log analyzer and interactive viewer that runs in a terminal on nix systems or directly in your browser. Designed with system administrators, DevOps engineers, and security professionals in mind, it delivers fast, actionable HTTP statistics and visual server reports on the fly. GoAccess parses your web server logs in real time and presents the data directly in the terminal or via a live HTML dashboard, making it easy to monitor traffic, detect anomalies, and troubleshoot issues instantly. More info at: Features GoAccess parses the specified…
read the full goaccess overview →
About Observal
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read the full Observal overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is goaccess or Observal more popular?
goaccess has 21,110 GitHub stars and Observal has 4,537. goaccess has the larger community by that measure.
Are goaccess and Observal free?
Both are open source. goaccess is licensed under MIT and Observal under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between goaccess and Observal?
goaccess is written in C and Observal in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, goaccess or Observal?
Choose goaccess if you want the larger community (21,110 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Observal if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.