head to head · open source
Matomo vs Fathom Lite
Matomo has 22,002 GitHub stars, 2,925 forks, 2,578 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Fathom Lite has 8,034 stars, 388 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped 8 months ago. Matomo leads on adoption by 174% (22,002 vs 8,034 stars). Matomo is written in PHP under GPL-3.0; Fathom Lite is written in Go under MIT. Matomo has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, Fathom Lite 5%. 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 | Fathom Lite | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 22K | ★ 8.0K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | PHP | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-03-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 388 |
| 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 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 Matomo
Matomo (formerly Piwik) matomo.org Code Status Description Matomo is the leading Free/Libre open analytics platform. Matomo is a full featured PHP MySQL software program that you download and install on your own webserver. At the end of the five minute installation process, you will be given a JavaScript code. Simply copy and paste this tag on websites you wish to track and access your analytics reports in real time. Matomo aims to be a Free software alternative to Google Analytics and is already used on more than 1,400,000 websites. Privacy is built in! Mission Statement « To create, as a community, the leading…
read the full Matomo overview →
About Fathom Lite
Fathom Lite simple website analytics ============================== Fathom Lite is a previous and open source version of Fathom Analytics (a paid, hosted Google Analytics alternative). It was the very first version of our software, and has been downloaded millions of times! While we are no longer adding features to this Lite version, we will be continuing to maintain it long term and fix any bugs that come up. Fathom Lite vs Fathom (hosted) Today’s Fathom Analytics is a hosted product with simple pricing based on monthly pageviews. The same core capabilities are included on every plan: for example API access, up…
read the full Fathom Lite overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Matomo or Fathom Lite more popular?
Matomo has 22,002 GitHub stars and Fathom Lite has 8,034. Matomo has the larger community by that measure.
Are Matomo and Fathom Lite free?
Both are open source. Matomo is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Fathom Lite under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Matomo and Fathom Lite?
Matomo is written in PHP 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, Matomo or Fathom Lite?
Choose Matomo if you want the larger community (22,002 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Fathom Lite if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.