Rybbit: The Open Source Google Analytics Alternative

Google Analytics is free — and you pay for it in complexity. GA4's interface is a maze of reports nobody asked for, the learning curve is brutal, and the tracking script is bloated. Worse, it requires cookie consent banners that annoy visitors and reduce the accuracy of your data when people click "decline."

Rybbit takes a different approach. It's an open-source analytics platform that tracks everything you actually need — pageviews, sessions, referrers, conversions — without cookies, without consent banners, and without sending your visitors' data to Google.

Why Cookieless Matters

Every cookie-based analytics tool has the same problem: GDPR and CCPA require you to ask permission before tracking. That consent banner you're forced to show? Anywhere from 30-50% of visitors reject it. That means your data is incomplete before you even start analyzing it.

Rybbit uses salted user IDs that rotate daily. No cookies, no fingerprinting, no personally identifiable information stored. You stay compliant with GDPR and CCPA automatically — and you get data on 100% of your visitors instead of just the ones who clicked "accept."

What You Actually Get

This isn't a stripped-down privacy tool that only shows pageviews. Rybbit packs features that compete with enterprise platforms:

Real-time dashboard — Live visitor activity as it happens. No waiting 24-48 hours for data to process like GA4.

Session replay — Watch actual user sessions to see where people get stuck, rage-click, or abandon your page. This alone replaces tools like Hotjar or FullStory.

Conversion funnels — Define your funnel steps and see exactly where people drop off. Landing page → pricing → checkout → purchase, with percentages at each stage.

User journeys — Visualize the actual paths visitors take through your site, not just the paths you assumed they'd take.

Core Web Vitals — Monitor page speed, layout shifts, and interactivity scores that directly affect your SEO rankings. Works alongside PageSpeed Insights for the full performance picture.

Custom events — Track button clicks, form submissions, signups, purchases — whatever matters to your business.

Bot filtering — Automatically strips bot traffic so your numbers reflect real humans.

Self-Host or Use Their Cloud

Rybbit is fully open source under AGPL 3.0 with over 11,000 stars on GitHub. You have two options:

Cloud hosted — Sign up at rybbit.com, add a script tag to your site, and you're tracking in under five minutes. First 3,000 pageviews per month are free.

Self-hosted — Spin it up with Docker Compose on your own server. Your data never leaves your infrastructure. Uses ClickHouse under the hood for fast queries even on large datasets.

The self-hosted option is a big deal for agencies managing client data. You control the server, you control the data, you control the retention policy. No third party involved.

Who This Is For

Small businesses tired of Google Analytics' complexity — Rybbit shows you what's working and what isn't without requiring a data science degree.

Agencies managing multiple client sites — one dashboard, unlimited sites, and you can share public dashboards with clients so they see their own numbers.

Developers and technical founders who want analytics that respects users' privacy while still delivering real product insights.

Anyone running funnels who needs to see where conversions break down without stitching together three different tools.

The Landscape

Rybbit sits in an interesting spot. Simple privacy tools like Plausible and Fathom give you clean dashboards but skip advanced features like session replay and funnels. Enterprise tools like PostHog, Mixpanel, and Amplitude give you everything but cost serious money and take weeks to configure.

Rybbit threads the needle — advanced features, simple interface, open source, free tier. It's what Google Analytics should have become.

Works With Everything

The tracking script integrates with 40+ platforms — WordPress, Shopify, Next.js, React, Vue, Astro, Webflow, Squarespace, and more. If your site can load a script tag, Rybbit can track it.

See Also

• SEO Tools — The broader toolkit for measuring and improving search performance
• Google Business Profiles — Another critical piece of your analytics picture for local businesses
• Schema Markup — Structured data that helps search engines understand your content