SHSelfHostIndex

Countly Community Edition vs OpenPanel

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?
CO Countly Community Edition Product analytics for web, mobile, and desktop VS OpenPanel Open-source web and product analytics in one tool
FeatureCountly Community EditionOpenPanel
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score90 · Excellent89 · Excellent
CategoryWeb AnalyticsWeb Analytics
LicenseAGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageJavaScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM2,048 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker
GitHub stars★ 5,907★ 7,042
First released20122024
ReplacesMixpanel, Firebase AnalyticsMixpanel, Google Analytics

What are Countly Community Edition and OpenPanel?

Countly Community Edition

Countly Community Edition is an open-source product analytics platform that tracks user behavior across web, mobile, and desktop applications. It offers funnels, retention, and crash analytics in a self-hosted package.

  • Cross-platform tracking
  • Funnels and retention
  • Crash analytics
  • Custom events

Read the full Countly Community Edition guide →

OpenPanel

OpenPanel is an open-source analytics platform that combines web analytics with product analytics, positioned as a mix of Mixpanel and Plausible. It tracks events, funnels, and user retention.

  • Web and product analytics
  • Funnels and retention
  • Real-time event tracking
  • Privacy-friendly design

Read the full OpenPanel guide →

Countly Community Edition vs OpenPanel: key differences

Countly Community Edition is written in JavaScript, while OpenPanel is built with TypeScript. OpenPanel is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Countly Community Edition. Countly Community Edition is the more established project (first released 2012), while OpenPanel arrived in 2024.

Why pick each one

Choose Countly Community Edition if…

  • Mature product analytics
  • Strong mobile support

Watch out for

  • MongoDB-based stack
  • Heavier resource needs
Countly Community Edition details

Choose OpenPanel if…

  • Mixpanel-style features open-source
  • Modern dashboard

Watch out for

  • Newer project
  • Multi-service deployment
OpenPanel details

Frequently asked questions

Is Countly Community Edition or OpenPanel better?

Neither is universally better. OpenPanel has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Countly Community Edition and OpenPanel free and open-source?

Yes. Countly Community Edition is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and OpenPanel under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Countly Community Edition and OpenPanel with Docker?

Countly Community Edition: yes. OpenPanel: yes.

Which is lighter on resources, Countly Community Edition or OpenPanel?

OpenPanel has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Countly Community Edition. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.

Related comparisons