Open Web Analytics vs Pirsch
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted web analytics options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Open Web Analytics | Pirsch |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 87 · Excellent | 82 · Excellent |
| Category | Web Analytics | Web Analytics |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,690 | ★ 1,030 |
| First released | 2008 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Google Analytics | Google Analytics |
What are Open Web Analytics and Pirsch?
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
Pirsch
Pirsch is a Go library for server-side, cookie-free web analytics. The open-source repository provides the tracking and statistics code you embed in your own application; the hosted pirsch.io dashboard is a separate commercial product.
- Cookie-free tracking
- No personal data collected
- Lightweight tracking script
- Go analytics engine
Open Web Analytics vs Pirsch: key differences
Open Web Analytics is written in PHP, while Pirsch is built with Go. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for Open Web Analytics versus AGPL-3.0 for Pirsch. Pirsch is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Open Web Analytics. Open Web Analytics is the more established project (first released 2008), while Pirsch arrived in 2020. Open Web Analytics has the considerably larger community, at 2,690 GitHub stars versus 1,030.
Why pick each one
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
Choose Pirsch if…
- GDPR-friendly by design
- Fast and efficient
Watch out for
- Self-hosting needs assembly
- Smaller ecosystem
Frequently asked questions
Is Open Web Analytics or Pirsch better?
Neither is universally better. Open Web Analytics has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Open Web Analytics and Pirsch free and open-source?
Yes. Open Web Analytics is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Pirsch under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Open Web Analytics and Pirsch with Docker?
Open Web Analytics: yes. Pirsch: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Open Web Analytics or Pirsch?
Pirsch has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Open Web Analytics. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.