Counterscale vs Open Web Analytics

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted web analytics options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureCounterscaleOpen Web Analytics
CategoryWeb AnalyticsWeb Analytics
LicenseMITGPL-2.0
LanguageTypeScriptPHP
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM64 MB512 MB
Deploymentone-click, sourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 2,113★ 2,682
First released20242008
ReplacesGoogle AnalyticsGoogle Analytics

Why pick each one

Choose Counterscale if…

  • Almost free to run
  • Very easy deployment
Counterscale details

Choose Open Web Analytics if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (2.7k GitHub stars)
  • Written in PHP
Open Web Analytics details

Frequently asked questions

Is Counterscale or Open Web Analytics better?

Neither is universally better. Open Web Analytics has the larger community, while Counterscale is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Counterscale and Open Web Analytics free and open-source?

Yes. Counterscale is licensed under MIT and Open Web Analytics under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Counterscale and Open Web Analytics with Docker?

Counterscale: check the project docs for container support. Open Web Analytics: yes.

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