Counter.dev Selfhost 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? Compare Counter.dev Selfhost with Compare Open Web Analytics with

CO Counter.dev Selfhost Minimalist privacy-respecting web analytics VS OP Open Web Analytics Self-hosted web analytics with click and heatmap tracking

Feature	Counter.dev Selfhost	Open Web Analytics
Deploy effort	Under-an-hour setup	Under-an-hour setup
Health score	78 · Good	87 · Excellent
Category	Web Analytics	Web Analytics
License	MIT	GPL-2.0
Language	JavaScript	PHP
Setup difficulty	Easy	Medium
Min. RAM	128 MB	512 MB
Deployment	docker	docker, bare-metal
GitHub stars	★ 1,009	★ 2,690
First released	2020	2008
Replaces	Google Analytics	Google Analytics

What are Counter.dev Selfhost and Open Web Analytics?

Counter.dev Selfhost

Counter.dev is a minimalist, privacy-respecting web analytics service that can be self-hosted. It records page visits without cookies and shows a compact stats view.

Cookie-free analytics
Minimal dashboard
Easy embed
Privacy respecting

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

Counter.dev Selfhost vs Open Web Analytics: key differences

Counter.dev Selfhost is written in JavaScript, while Open Web Analytics is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for Counter.dev Selfhost versus GPL-2.0 for Open Web Analytics. Counter.dev Selfhost is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Open Web Analytics. Open Web Analytics is the more established project (first released 2008), while Counter.dev Selfhost arrived in 2020. Open Web Analytics has the considerably larger community, at 2,690 GitHub stars versus 1,009.

Why pick each one

Choose Counter.dev Selfhost if…

Released under the MIT license
Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
First-class Docker support for quick deployment
Active community (1k GitHub stars)

Counter.dev Selfhost 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 Counter.dev Selfhost or Open Web Analytics better?

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

Are Counter.dev Selfhost and Open Web Analytics free and open-source?

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

Can I run Counter.dev Selfhost and Open Web Analytics with Docker?

Counter.dev Selfhost: yes. Open Web Analytics: yes.

Which is lighter on resources, Counter.dev Selfhost or Open Web Analytics?

Counter.dev Selfhost has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Open Web Analytics. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.