OpenCounter

What OpenCounter does

OpenCounter is a cloud-hosted SaaS platform providing permit discovery, zoning verification, and licensing solutions to U.S. local and county government agencies. Its portfolio comprises four core portals — Business Portal, Residential Portal, Special Events Portal, and ZoningCheck™ — plus Online Applications and ADU Portal modules. The platform is purpose-built for the pre-application phase of permitting, helping constituents identify which permits they need, what they will cost, and what zoning applies to a parcel, without contacting City Hall. Customers include 25+ municipalities and counties such as Cincinnati, Orlando, Miami, Detroit, Fort Worth, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Omaha, and several California cities, with documented outcomes including Cincinnati's reduction of permit research time from days to minutes and a 48-hour deployment of outdoor street dining permits during COVID-19.

The technology stack centers on a real-time fee calculation engine that runs fee estimations across multiple departments and data sets simultaneously, direct Esri ArcGIS REST API integration that pulls zone and overlay geometry from a city's GIS endpoint (so any GIS edit auto-propagates), pre-calculated zoning clearance for every parcel against every use code, intelligent land-use search that maps everyday terms to municipal land use codes, and localization in 35–40+ languages with WCAG 2.0 Level AA accessibility. Hosting is SOC 2/SSAE 16/ISO 27001-compliant from U.S. data centers with SSL and encryption at rest.

The business model is a quote-based SaaS subscription priced by jurisdiction population and the number of portals procured, sold under multi-year contracts that include white-glove implementation (the company performs 99% of implementation work), ongoing code and fee updates, and integration with existing permitting systems of record. Distribution is direct enterprise field sales to municipalities and counties, led by a Government Services team of former city planners and ICC-certified permit technicians. The company was founded around 2013–2015 (sources conflict), operated as a subsidiary of GTY Technology Holdings (NASDAQ: GTYH), and was acquired by Accela in July 2024.

Name

OpenCounter

Legal name

Open Counter Enterprises, Inc.

Website

https://opencounter.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

OpenCounter provides cloud-hosted SaaS permitting portals for U.S. local and county governments. Its platform enables permit discovery, zoning verification, and real-time fee calculation across business, residential, special events, and ADU use cases, serving 25+ municipalities nationwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Government Permitting and Licensing Software

NAICS

Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (519290), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Industry/Vertical Cloud Platforms (e.g., Gov/Healthcare/Financial Cloud Regions) (HDABAAAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Q&A and Knowledge Discovery Platforms (BPAMAAAF)

Keywords

• Government permitting software
• Permit discovery platform
• Municipal licensing solutions
• Zoning compliance software
• Civic technology SaaS

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. SaaS Subscription for Government Portals: OpenCounter provides cloud-hosted permitting portals to municipalities on a subscription basis. Pricing varies based on the population size of the jurisdiction and the number of portals procured. Implementation and configuration services are included as part of the engagement with ongoing maintenance and code updates provided free of charge for the duration of the subscription.
2. Professional Services: Expert setup, configuration, and implementation services are included as part of OpenCounter's white-glove service model. The company performs 99% of implementation work including data configuration, testing, and quality assurance.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

OpenCounter sells a cloud-hosted SaaS permit discovery platform that helps municipal and county government applicants answer pre-application permit questions without contacting City Hall. The platform is delivered as four customizable portals (Business Portal, Residential Portal, Special Events Portal, ZoningCheck) with additional Online Applications and ADU Portal modules, all featuring real-time fee calculations, interactive zoning mapping, and multi-language accessibility.

Product overview

OpenCounter is a permit discovery platform providing a suite of SaaS portals for local government permitting and licensing. The portfolio consists of four core portals: Business Portal (for entrepreneurs starting businesses), Residential Portal (for homeowners on home improvement projects), Special Events Portal (for organizing large-scale public events), and ZoningCheck (for site selection and zoning compliance). These portals share a common platform architecture featuring real-time fee calculations, interactive mapping, automated permit scoping, and multi-department workflow integration. Additional offerings include Online Applications for end-to-end permit processing and an ADU Portal for accessory dwelling unit permitting. OpenCounter was acquired by Accela in July 2024.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Business Portal A portal that helps entrepreneurs understand the costs and requirements of starting a business, featuring intelligent land use search, intuitive zoning maps, automatic permit scoping, real-time fee calculation, and analytics. Targeted at city and county government agencies serving business applicants.
• Residential Portal A portal that helps homeowners stay in compliance on home improvement projects, featuring simplified project selection, address search with interactive maps, real-time fee calculations, downloadable summaries, and analytics. Sold to city and county government agencies serving residential permit applicants.
• Special Events Portal A portal that guides event planners through the process of organizing large-scale events in public spaces, featuring powerful route and area builders, intuitive scheduling tools, and seamless department review processes. Sold to city and county government agencies supporting event organizers.
• ZoningCheck A solution that helps applicants understand how zoning ordinances impact site selection and project requirements, featuring intelligent land use search, intuitive interactive zoning maps, comprehensive ArcGIS integration, and localization in 36+ languages. Sold to city and county government agencies.
• Online Applications A module that allows applicants to apply for, track, and receive permits and licenses online. Sold to city and county government agencies as an add-on to OpenCounter's permit discovery portals.
• ADU Portal A portal designed to help with the surge of ADU zoning and permitting requests, guiding homeowners through the ADU permitting process while saving staff time and resources. Includes policy and resource guidance, ADU type determination, fee estimation, and internal workflow integration. Sold to city and county government agencies.

Quantifiable outcome

• Cincinnati cut the time it takes business owners to research how to start or expand their business from a few days to a few minutes
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability3 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• AccelacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 July 2024Accela acquired OpenCounter in July 2024 to enhance its permitting and licensing experience. The acquisition combines Accela's existing permit processing platform with OpenCounter's permit discovery capabilities, creating a more comprehensive solution for government agencies.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• OpenCities (Granicus): OpenCities (Granicus) offers a constituent-facing digital experience platform for permitting, planning, and licensing, overlapping with OpenCounter's pre-application discovery and zoning tools.
• Zencity: Zencity provides AI-driven civic analytics and resident engagement tools for local governments, an adjacent GovTech offering that competes for the same municipal digital-services budget as OpenCounter.
• Avolve (e-PlanSoft / ProjectDox): Avolve's ProjectDox / e-PlanReview delivers electronic plan review and permitting collaboration for local governments, addressing an adjacent workflow within OpenCounter's permit-discovery and applications ecosystem.

Direct peers

• Cloudpermit: Cloudpermit is a purpose-built SaaS permitting and inspection platform for building departments, directly competing for the same municipal customers and digital-permitting workloads that OpenCounter serves.
• OpenGov: OpenGov provides a suite of cloud-based software for state and local governments including permitting, licensing, budgeting, and procurement — directly competing with OpenCounter's pre-application permit discovery and licensing experience.
• SmartGov (CSDC / Questica): SmartGov offers automated permit processing and citizen self-service portals for local governments in North America, directly competing with OpenCounter's core Business and Residential permit portals.

Broad incumbents

• Granicus: Granicus provides a connected-civic experience platform spanning communications, service requests, and permitting workflows for governments, overlapping with OpenCounter's permitting discovery and resident-engagement scope.
• Tyler Technologies (Civic Services): Tyler Technologies serves municipalities with a broad portfolio including ERP, public safety, and civic services (e.g., EnerGov for permitting), making it a large incumbent competing across the same government buyer as OpenCounter.
• Accela: Accela is a leading civic-engagement and government-software platform for permitting, licensing, and code enforcement; it acquired OpenCounter in 2024 and operates the closest comparable end-to-end permitting suite for cities and counties.

Regional players

• Municity (Sire / Bglobal): Municity (formerly part of Bglobal/Sire) provides municipal digital portals for permitting and licensing in Europe, a comparable civic-tech SaaS offering serving similar pre-application workflows in a different geography.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/opencounter
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/opencounter

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about OpenCounter