9 best open source analytics tools you can self-host

Feb 18, 2025

The best open source analytics tools

1. PostHog

What is PostHog?

• GitHub Stars: 24.2k
• License: MIT
• Category: Product and website analytics
• PostHog on GitHub

PostHog is an all-in-one platform that combines product analytics with several other developer-focused tools, such as web analytics, session replay, feature flags, experiments, error tracking, and surveys.

Beyond the core product analytics features, it also supports creating custom insights using SQL, and offers a built-in data warehouse so you can import data from external sources like Stripe, Hubspot, and Zendesk.

What closed-source tools can it replace?

Several. The built-in product analytics is an alternative to Mixpanel and Amplitude, and it can replace Google Analytics for website and marketing analytics.

PostHog also offers session replay for both web and mobile apps, so it can replace the likes of Hotjar and FullStory, and feature flag and experiment features like those found in LaunchDarkly.

What's included?

PostHog Open Source is distributed under an MIT license for hobbyists via a Docker Compose deployment. It includes most features, but is limited to one project per instance.

What are the hosting requirements?

The minimum requirements are a Hetzner VM (or equivalent) with 4 vCPU, 16GB RAM, and more than 30GB storage.

Is there a hosted option?

Yes. PostHog offers a managed cloud option with a generous free tier of 1 million events, 5,000 recordings, and 1 million flag API requests every month, and the option of US or EU-based hosting.

2. Matomo

What is Matomo?

• GitHub Stars: 20.2k
• License: AGPLv3
• Category: Website analytics
• Matomo on GitHub

Matomo is an open-source platform for website analytics. The user experience is closely modelled on the previous version of Google Analytics, known as Universal Analytics, which many people prefer to Google's current offerring.

What closed-source tools can it replace?

It's primarily pitched as an alternative to Google Analytics 4, especially for those looking for ironclad GDPR compliance. Matomo even offers a data import tool for Google Analytics, so you can bring your data with you.

What's included?

Matomo on-premise includes all the core website analytics features, such as user and event tracking, ecommerce tracking, customizable dashboards, user segmentation, scheduled email reports, and alerts. Features like A/B testing and session replay are available as paid add-ons only.

What are the hosting requirements?

The minimum requirements for 100,000 pageviews per month are: one server 2 CPU, 2 GB RAM, 50GB SSD disk. Matomo recommends separate app and database servers for anything over 1 million page views per month.

Is there a hosted option?

Yes. Matomo's cloud offereing includes all features and charges by "hits per month". The hosted version unlocks some features, like A/B testing and heatmaps, that are paid add-ons for the on-premise release.

Related: In-depth PostHog vs Matomo comparison

3. Metabase

What is Metabase?

• GitHub Stars: 40.7k
• License: AGPLv3
• Category: Dashboarding and business intelligence
• Metabase on Github

Metabase is one of the most popular open-source business intelligence (BI) tools. Metabase's visual query builder enables you to create shareable dashboards in just a few minutes with a drag-and-drop interface — though a native SQL editor is available for advanced users.

What closed-source tools can it replace?

Metabase is a direct alternative to business intelligence tools like Google's Looker / Looker Studio, Tableau, and Microsoft's Power BI. There are official connectors for all the most popular databases (Redshift, BigQuery, Snowflake, etc), and several community and partner-managed connectors for the likes of ClickHouse and DuckDB.

What's included?

The open-source version includes the same core query and visualization features as paid versions, but without advanced permission and security features tailored to large companies.

What are the hosting requirements?

Metabase recommends two servers: one for the application and one for the database. It needs at least 1 core and 1GB of RAM with additional resources required depending on the number of concurrent users.

Is there a hosted option?

Yes. The Starter plan includes cloud deployment for $85 per month for five users, with each additional user adding $5 per month.

4. Plausible Analytics

What is Plausible?

• GitHub Stars: 21.4k
• License: AGPLv3
• Category: Lightweight website analytics
• Plausible on Github

Plausible Analytics is a lightweight web analytics tool focused on providing GDPR-compliant website analytics that doesn't infringe on user privacy. This means Plausible doesn't rely on cookies and is compliant with regulations like GDPR out of the box.

What closed-source tools can it replace?

It's a popular alternative to Google Analytics for people who want something fast and easy to use. Unlike Google Analyitcs, Plausible's lightweight tracking script has minimal impact on website performance.

What's included?

The community edition offers the same features as paid offerings, including tracking all common website metrics, goal and conversion tracking, basic funnels, and reports in Slack or via email. The only limitation is it's only updated twice a year, whereas the cloud version gets continuous updates.

What are the hosting requirements?

Plausible recommends at least 2GB of RAM and it requires a CPU that supports SSE 4.2 or NEON instruction set or higher.

Is there a hosted option?

Yes. There's no free tier, but it's cheap even at high volumes. Pricing starts at €9 per month for 10,000 monthly pageviews.

5. OpenPanel

What is OpenPanel?

• GitHub Stars: 3.6k
• License: AGPLv3
• Category: Product analytics
• OpenPanel on Github

OpenPanel is inspired by Mixpanel and Plausible. It aims to offer the core features of a product analytics tool, but with the speed, simiplicity, and privacy-friendly features Plausible brings to web analytics.

What closed-source tools can it replace?

OpenPanel could replace Mixpanel, Amplitude, and Google Analytics. It isn't as advanced as any of these tools, but it covers most of the essential features they offer. Unlike PostHog, OpenPanel is focused solely on product analytics, so doesn't include things like session replay or A/B testing features.

What's included?

The open-source version is available with no limitations. Features include custom dashboards and charts (line, bar, area, map, pie, funnels, histograms, and retention), user profiles, a realtime analytics view, and tracking scripts for most popular frameworks, including Next.js, React, and React Native.

What are the hosting requirements?

OpenPanel doesn't provide minimum requirements, but recommends hosting using Hetzner, and notes it'll work on any server where you have pre-installed Docker, Docker Compose, Node and pnpm.

Is there a hosted option?

Yes. There is no free tier, but 100k events a month cost just $20, and 1 million events are $90 per month.

6. Umami

What is Umami?

• GitHub Stars: 23k
• License: MIT
• Category: Website analytics
• Umami on GitHub

Umami is another popular privacy-first website analytics tool. Like Plausible, it tracks basic website analytics, doesn't collect any personal information, and is extremely fast.

What closed-source tools can it replace?

Google Analytics mainly, but also any other tool focused mainly on website analytics, including closed-source alternatives like Fathom.

What's included?

There's no difference between the open source and paid products. Umami tracks all common website metrics, supports custom events, and offers basic funnel, user path, and retention analysis as well.

What are the hosting requirements?

Umami requires a server with Node.js version 18.18 or newer and an SQL database – MySQL (minimum v8.0) and PostgreSQL (minimum v12.14) are supported.

Is there a hosted option?

Yes and, unlike Plausible, there's a free tier. You can track up to 100k events per month on Umami Cloud for free. The Pro tier starts at just $20 per month for 1 million events per month.

7. OpenReplay

What is OpenReplay?

• GitHub Stars: 9.8kk
• License: AGPLv3
• Category: Session replay and funnel analysis
• OpenReplay on GitHub

OpenReplay is a session replay suite built for developers to find and eliminate problems. It also includes some basic analytics features, such as funnels and path analysis.

What closed-source tools can it replace?

OpenReplay is an alternative to LogRocket and other similar dev-focused session replay tools, like PostHog. It can also replace the likes of Hotjar, and includes a co-browsing feature that's similar to Hotjar's.

What's included?

The free community edition includes all OpenReplay's core features for session replay, app monitoring, and analytics with no limits on users or projects. Paying customers gain a handful of advanced features, such as support for data export, extra security features, and dedicated support.

What are the hosting requirements?

OpenReplay typically recommends a minimum of 2 vCPUs, 8 GB of RAM, 50 GB of storage, though this varies depending on the hosting provider.

Is there a hosted option?

Yes. There's a free tier that's limited to 1,000 session per month, or you can pay-as-you-go for $5.95 per 1,000 sessions each month.

8. Apache Superset

What is Apache Superset?

• GitHub Stars: 64.4k
• License: Apache-2.0
• Category: Dashboarding and business intelligence
• Superset on GitHub

Superset is the third of the big open-source business intelligence tools alongside Metabase and Redash. It's also considered the most complex and least accessible for non-technical users, though its range of visualizations and charting options is unmatched. Superset is ideal for enterprises with experienced in-house data teams, or anyone with lots of SQL experience.

What closed-source tools can it replace?

Looker, Tableau and Power BI.

What's included?

There's no paid version, so all features are included in the open source release, which includes 40+ pre-installed visualizations and vast options for data scientists to customize them to their needs.

What are the hosting requirements?

While there is a Docker Compose deployment, it's not recommended for production use cases, which require deploying Superset on Kubernetes. Superset's FAQ indicates 8GB RAM and 2vCPUs is "adequate to run a moderately-sized instance".

Is there a hosted option?

Not directly, though third-parties offer managed instances.

9. Redash

What is Redash?

• GitHub Stars: 26.9k
• License: BSD-2-Clause
• Category: Dashboarding and business intelligence
• Redash on GitHub

Like Metabase, Redash is a business intelligence tool for connecting to and visualizing data from a number of different sources. Unlike Metabase, you need to be fluent in SQL to get the most from it.

What closed-source tools can it replace?

Tools like Power BI, Looker, and Tableau.

What's included?

There is no paid version of Redash, so the open-source release includes everything. There are more than 35 supported data sources and integrations, and a wide range of visualization options, including all common chart types, cohort tables, funnels, pivot tables, and more.

What are the hosting requirements?

Redash documentation suggests a minimum of 4GB of RAM and "reasonable amount of CPU allocation".

Is there a hosted option?

No. Redash is entirely community supported with no hosted option available.

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