Open Web Analytics
Open Web Analytics (OWA) is a free, GPLv2-licensed, self-hosted web analytics framework offering JavaScript and PHP tracking APIs, heatmaps, conversion funnels, e-commerce reporting, and WordPress integration, distributed via GitHub to developers and privacy-focused site owners.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2006
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Open Web Analytics does
Open Web Analytics (OWA) is a free, open source web analytics framework licensed under GPLv2 that has been in continuous development since 2006. The platform enables developers and website owners to track and analyze how visitors use their websites and applications, offering JavaScript and PHP-based tracking APIs, native WordPress integration, and a self-hosted PHP/MySQL deployment model. Core feature modules include visitor clickstream reporting, click heatmaps, DOM click tracking, conversion funnels, e-commerce analytics (revenue, transactions, product/SKU performance), traffic source attribution, SEO search term tracking, RSS feed tracking, and domstream session replay.
The underlying technology is a self-hosted PHP application with client-side JavaScript tracking and a separately maintained PHP SDK. Distribution is exclusively via GitHub (Open-Web-Analytics repository), with discovery driven by the openwebanalytics.com website, a public demo site (demo.openwebanalytics.com), and a GitHub-hosted documentation wiki. There is no cloud-hosted SaaS offering, no marketplace listing, and no formal sales motion.
The project operates as a community-driven open source initiative rather than a conventional software vendor. The software carries no license fee and no tiered pricing; the only disclosed monetization vector is optional sponsorship via GitHub Sponsors (github.com/sponsors/padams). No institutional funding, no enterprise customers, no formal management team, and no parent entity are disclosed. Recent release activity (versions 1.7.7 through 1.8.1 from February 2022 through September 2025) has been confined to security patches, bug fixes, and PHP 8 compatibility work, indicating a maintenance posture rather than active product expansion.
Open Web Analytics firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Open Web Analytics
- Legal name
- Open Web Analytics
- Website
- https://openwebanalytics.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2006
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Open Web Analytics (OWA) is a free, GPLv2-licensed, self-hosted web analytics framework offering JavaScript and PHP tracking APIs, heatmaps, conversion funnels, e-commerce reporting, and WordPress integration, distributed via GitHub to developers and privacy-focused site owners.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Open Web Analytics is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Markets served
Open Web Analytics business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations
Revenue model
- Open Source Software Distribution: Open Web Analytics is distributed as free and open source software under the GPLv2 license. The project does not charge for the software itself. Revenue generation is not the primary business model; instead, the project operates as a community open source initiative, potentially funded through donations, sponsorships (GitHub Sponsors), or complementary services such as hosting support, custom development, and consulting.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free Open Source - No cost software |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels5 records
Open Web Analytics product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Open Web Analytics (OWA) is a free, open source web analytics framework licensed under GPLv2 that enables users to track and analyze how visitors use their websites and applications. The platform is self-hosted on the user's own infrastructure and provides JavaScript and PHP based tracking APIs for integration, along with native support for WordPress sites. The software delivers comprehensive reporting including visitor analytics, click heatmaps, clickstream analysis, domstream session recordings, conversion funnels, ecommerce tracking, SEO search term tracking, and custom action tracking.
Product overview
Open Web Analytics (OWA) is a free, open source web analytics framework licensed under GPLv2. The core product consists of the main OWA analytics platform with integrated JavaScript and PHP tracking APIs. The platform provides comprehensive web analytics capabilities through various reporting modules including visitor analytics (geolocation, demographics, browser/OS tracking), click heatmaps, DOM stream session recordings, e-commerce tracking (revenue, transactions, product performance), conversion funnel visualization, traffic source analysis (search terms, referrals, campaigns), content analytics (top pages, entry/exit pages), and custom action tracking. The system supports WordPress integration natively and is downloadable from GitHub as a tarball or repository checkout.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Open Web Analytics (OWA) Free, open source (GPLv2) web analytics framework that lets site owners and developers track and analyze how people use their websites and applications. Distributed via GitHub and installed on the user's own web hosting infrastructure, providing full data ownership with no per-pageview costs.
- OWA JavaScript Tracker
Companies that use Open Web Analytics
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Open Web Analytics technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
Feature12 records
Open Web Analytics partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators1 record
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights3 records
Open Web Analytics competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Matomo: Matomo is the leading open source web analytics platform (formerly Piwik), offering a PHP-based self-hosted alternative to Google Analytics with similar visitor tracking, ecommerce, funnel, and heatmap features — the closest direct functional analogue to OWA.
- Plausible Analytics: Plausible is a privacy-focused web analytics tool that, like OWA, emphasizes data ownership and cookieless measurement, but delivers it as a polished managed SaaS product targeting the same GDPR-conscious developer audience.
- Fathom Analytics: Fathom is a privacy-first web analytics product competing for the same developer and small business segment as OWA, offering both self-hosted and managed deployment options with a streamlined modern UI.
- Simple Analytics: Simple Analytics is a privacy-focused, cookieless web analytics provider addressing the same GDPR-driven use cases as OWA, with a managed SaaS delivery model that contrasts with OWA's self-hosted-only approach.
- Countly: Countly is an open source product analytics platform supporting web and mobile with self-hosted and enterprise editions, covering similar event-tracking, funnel, and dashboard use cases to OWA.
- Hotjar: Hotjar is a SaaS analytics and UX insights tool offering heatmaps and session recordings — features that closely mirror OWA's click heatmaps and domstream recording capabilities for the same SMB and developer audience.
Broad incumbents
- Google Analytics: Google Analytics is the dominant SaaS web analytics platform; OWA is explicitly positioned in its own materials as a privacy-friendly, self-hosted alternative to Google Analytics.
- Mixpanel: Mixpanel is a leading product analytics platform with event-based tracking, funnels, and retention reports targeting similar digital product teams seeking the same granular user behavior insights OWA provides.
- Adobe Analytics: Adobe Analytics is an enterprise-grade analytics suite within the Adobe Experience Cloud, serving similar measurement, segmentation, and reporting needs as OWA but at enterprise scale and pricing.
- Amplitude: Amplitude is a product analytics platform serving overlapping use cases in funnels, retention, and cohort analysis for product-led growth teams that might otherwise evaluate OWA for digital behavior measurement.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
Open Web Analytics social profiles
Digital presenceOpen Web Analytics financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Open Web Analytics leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Open Web Analytics funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Open Web Analytics M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Open Web Analytics
What does Open Web Analytics do?
Open Web Analytics (OWA) is a free, open source web analytics framework licensed under GPLv2 that enables users to track and analyze how visitors use their websites and applications. The platform is self-hosted on the user's own infrastructure and provides JavaScript and PHP based tracking APIs for integration, along with native support for WordPress sites. The software delivers comprehensive reporting including visitor analytics, click heatmaps, clickstream analysis, domstream session recordings, conversion funnels, ecommerce tracking, SEO search term tracking, and custom action tracking.
Is Open Web Analytics a public or private company?
Open Web Analytics is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Open Web Analytics founded?
Open Web Analytics was founded in 2006. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Open Web Analytics based?
Open Web Analytics is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Open Web Analytics make money?
One revenue line is on record: open Source Software Distribution.
Who are Open Web Analytics's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Matomo, Plausible Analytics, Fathom Analytics, Simple Analytics, Countly and Hotjar. Broad incumbents are Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Adobe Analytics and Amplitude.
Does Open Web Analytics have an API?
Yes. OWA provides JavaScript and PHP based APIs for tracking. The JavaScript tracker offers methods including trackPageView(), trackClicks(), and trackDomStream(). The tracker is embedded via a script tag that loads owa.tracker-combined-min.js and uses OWA.setSetting() for configuration and OWA.tracker() for creating tracker instances. PHP SDK available separately at https://github.com/Open-Web-Analytics/owa-php-sdk for PHP-based application tracking. Developer documentation is at github.com/padams/Open-Web-Analytics/wiki.