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.
| Feature | Counterscale | Open Web Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 80 · Excellent | 87 · Excellent |
| Category | Web Analytics | Web Analytics |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | one-click, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,148 | ★ 2,690 |
| First released | 2024 | 2008 |
| Replaces | Google Analytics | Google Analytics |
What are Counterscale and Open Web Analytics?
Counterscale
Counterscale is a simple, privacy-friendly web analytics tool designed to be easy to deploy and maintain on Cloudflare Workers. It tracks page views and visitors with minimal infrastructure.
- Runs on Cloudflare Workers
- Privacy-friendly tracking
- Minimal infrastructure
- Cheap to operate
Open Web Analytics
Open Web Analytics (OWA) is a long-standing self-hosted web analytics framework that tracks visitors, click streams, and heatmaps. It can be embedded in WordPress and MediaWiki.
- Click stream tracking
- Heatmaps
- WordPress integration
- Visitor profiles
Counterscale vs Open Web Analytics: key differences
Counterscale is written in TypeScript, while Open Web Analytics is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for Counterscale versus GPL-2.0 for Open Web Analytics. Counterscale is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Open Web Analytics. Open Web Analytics is the more established project (first released 2008), while Counterscale arrived in 2024. Open Web Analytics lists first-class Docker deployment; Counterscale does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Counterscale if…
- Almost free to run
- Very easy deployment
Watch out for
- Cloudflare dependency
- Basic feature set
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
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.
Which is lighter on resources, Counterscale or Open Web Analytics?
Counterscale has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Open Web Analytics. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.