head to head · open source
Matomo vs Aptabase
Matomo has 21,880 GitHub stars, 2,896 forks, 2,578 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Aptabase has 1,812 stars, 138 forks, 59 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Matomo leads on adoption by 1,108% (21,880 vs 1,812 stars). Matomo is written in PHP under GPL-3.0; Aptabase is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Matomo has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, Aptabase 8%. Matomo was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (analytics, privacy), 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
| Matomo | Aptabase | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 22K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | PHP | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 138 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Matomo if
- You weight community size — 22K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Aptabase if
- You want the Aptabase feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Aptabase fits your workflow better
About Matomo
Matomo is an open source digital analytics platform for websites and apps, formerly known as Piwik. It lives in the PHP and MySQL web analytics ecosystem, and the provided description positions it as an open alternative to Google Analytics and Amplitude. The project lets an organization collect, visualise, and analyse visitor data from its own digital properties.
read the full Matomo overview →
About Aptabase
Aptabase is an open source, privacy first analytics project for mobile, desktop, and web apps. It is written in TypeScript and released under the AGPL 3.0 license. The project describes itself as an alternative to Firebase and Google Analytics for teams that need usage insights without detailed personal identifiers.
read the full Aptabase overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Matomo or Aptabase more popular?
Matomo has 21,880 GitHub stars and Aptabase has 1,812. Matomo has the larger community by that measure.
Are Matomo and Aptabase free?
Both are open source. Matomo is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Aptabase under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Matomo and Aptabase?
Matomo is written in PHP and Aptabase in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Matomo or Aptabase?
Choose Matomo if you want the larger community (21,880 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Aptabase if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.