GoatCounter help

I don’t see my pageviews? §

For reasons of efficiency the statistics are updated once every 10 seconds.

What happens if I go over the amount of pageviews for my plan? §

We’ll be in touch if you consistently go over the number over pageviews, but there is no automated process to shut down accounts or anything like that.

How are bots and crawlers counted? §

They’re not; all bots and crawlers that identify themselves as such are ignored.
It’s easy for a malicious script to disguise itself as Firefox or Chrome, and it’s hard to reliably detect this. In practice it’s unlikely that 100% of all bots are ignored (this is a general problem with analytics, and not specific to GoatCounter).

How is the Do-Not-Track header handled? §

It’s ignored for several reasons: it’s effectively abandoned with a low adoption rate, mostly intended for persistent cross-site tracking (which Goatcounter doesn’t do), and I feel there are some fundamental concerns with the approach. See Why GoatCounter ignores Do Not Track for a more in-depth explanation.

You can still implement it yourself by putting this at the start of the GoatCounter script:

<script>
	(function() {
		if ('doNotTrack' in navigator && navigator.doNotTrack === '1')
			return;

		var script = document.createElement('script');
		// [.. rest of standard script omitted ..]
	})();
</script>

What about GDPR consent notices? §

GoatCounter does not collect data which can be used to identify a person, and you almost certainly don’t need to ask for consent See Recital 26, “Not applicable to anonymous data”.

That being said, EU Regulations such as the GDPR are interpreted and enforced different across member states, and national laws may also apply. It’s advised you consult a lawyer if you want detailed legal advice specific to your situation.

How do I set up a custom domain? §

Add a CNAME record pointing to your GoatCounter subdomain:

stats   IN CNAME    mine.c.frank.be.

Then update the GoatCounter settings with your custom domain. It might take a few hours for everything to work. mine.c.frank.be will continue to work.

You will need a Business plan to set up a custom domain.

Is there any way to record HTTP status codes? §

Not directly, but if you include the status code in your error page’s title you can filter by it. Also see issue #3.