Zenith vs Matomo
A lighter, cookieless alternative to Matomo
Matomo is the veteran of self-hosted analytics and it can do far more than Zenith. That breadth is also the trade: cookies on by default, a PHP application to keep fed, and several of the headline features sold as plugins on top.
Zenith vs Matomo, feature by feature
Including the rows Zenith loses. Where Matomo has something behind a paid tier or a plugin, the table says so rather than pretending it is missing.
| Feature | Zenith | Matomo |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy & compliance | ||
| Cookie-free tracking | Yes | Optional |
| No cookie banner required | Yes | Depends on config |
| GDPR compliant by default | Yes | Requires configuration |
| No personal data collected | Yes | Configurable |
| You own the raw data | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | MIT | GPL |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Analytics features | ||
| Real-time dashboard | Yes | Yes |
| Visitors, pageviews, sessions | Yes | Yes |
| Bounce rate & visit duration | Yes | Yes |
| Custom events | Yes | Yes |
| UTM & campaign tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Funnel analysis | No | Paid plugin |
| Cohort analysis | No | Paid plugin |
| Session replay | No | Paid plugin |
| Heatmaps | No | Paid plugin |
| A/B testing | No | Paid plugin |
| Feature flags | No | No |
| Agency & client work | ||
| Unlimited sites per deploy | Yes | Yes |
| Cost per extra client site | Nothing | Free self-hosted |
| Dashboard on the client's own domain | Yes | No |
| Client never sees a third-party tool | Yes | Paid plugin |
| Automatic monthly client emails | Yes | Scheduled reports |
| Per-client logins | Yes | Yes |
| SEO | ||
| Built-in SEO audits | Yes | Paid plugin |
| Core Web Vitals from a real render | Yes | No |
| SEO report emails | Yes | No |
| Setup & usability | ||
| Install | Script tag or npm | Script tag or tag manager |
| Learning curve | Minutes | Days |
| Tracking script size | ~1 KB | ~22 KB |
| API access | Yes | Yes |
| Unsampled data | Yes | Yes |
| Hosting & pricing | ||
| Hosting | Self-hosted | Cloud or self-hosted |
| Pricing model | Free, open source | Free core, paid plugins |
| Price scales with | Nothing | Plugins and hits |
| Every feature included | Yes | No |
Cookieless by default, not by configuration
Matomo can be made consent-free — disable cookies, anonymise IPs, adjust retention — but it ships with cookies on, and the configuration is yours to get right and to keep right across upgrades. Zenith has no cookie code to disable. There is no setting that makes it non-compliant, because there is no identifier to store in the first place.
What you actually run
Matomo is a large PHP application with MySQL behind it, and at real traffic it needs cron for archiving and attention when reports get slow. Zenith is two Go binaries, a DuckDB file for events and a SQLite file for everything else, brought up with one docker compose command. Less to run is the whole point; it is also less that can go wrong at 2am.
Plugins, and what is in the box
Funnels, session recording, heatmaps and A/B testing are Matomo premium plugins, licensed per year and per site. Zenith has none of those four at any price — that is an honest loss, not a paywall — but everything Zenith does have, including SEO audits and client reporting, is in the box and covered by the MIT licence. There is no upgrade path because there is nothing above.
Choose Matomo if
You need heatmaps, session recordings, funnels, ecommerce reporting or tag management under one roof, and you would rather buy plugins than run a second tool. Matomo does all of that and Zenith does none of it. Zenith's answer is a smaller product aimed squarely at agencies who need many sites, client-facing dashboards and SEO in one place.
Own your clients’ analytics.
One deploy, every site you build, no consent banner and no per-site cost. It is MIT licensed and it runs on one server.