'motifcounter' provides motif matching, motif counting and motif enrichment functionality based on position frequency matrices. The main features of the packages include the utilization of higher-order background models and accounting for self-overlapping motif matches when determining motif enrichment. The background model allows to capture dinucleotide (or higher-order nucleotide) composition adequately which may reduced model biases and misleading results compared to using simple GC background models. When conducting a motif enrichment analysis based on the motif match count, the package relies on a compound Poisson distribution or alternatively a combinatorial model. These distribution account for self-overlapping motif structures as exemplified by repeat-like or palindromic motifs, and allow to determine the p-value and fold-enrichment for a set of observed motif matches.