Open Web Analytics vs Swetrix
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted web analytics options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Swetrix
Privacy-focused, cookieless web analytics service
| Feature | Open Web Analytics | Swetrix |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 87 · Excellent | 83 · Excellent |
| Category | Web Analytics | Web Analytics |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,690 | ★ 1,202 |
| First released | 2008 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Google Analytics | Google Analytics |
What are Open Web Analytics and Swetrix?
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
Swetrix
Swetrix is an open-source, privacy-focused web analytics platform that is fully cookieless and GDPR compliant. It tracks page views, user flows, and custom events without identifying visitors.
- Cookieless tracking
- User flow analysis
- Custom events
- Performance metrics
Open Web Analytics vs Swetrix: key differences
Open Web Analytics is written in PHP, while Swetrix is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for Open Web Analytics versus AGPL-3.0 for Swetrix. Open Web Analytics is the more established project (first released 2008), while Swetrix arrived in 2021. Open Web Analytics has the considerably larger community, at 2,690 GitHub stars versus 1,202.
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 Swetrix if…
- No cookie banner needed
- Detailed flow reports
Watch out for
- Needs ClickHouse and Redis
- Setup is multi-component
Frequently asked questions
Is Open Web Analytics or Swetrix 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 Swetrix free and open-source?
Yes. Open Web Analytics is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Swetrix under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Open Web Analytics and Swetrix with Docker?
Open Web Analytics: yes. Swetrix: yes.