Counter.dev

Free, open-source, single-script analytics. The radical-simplicity option.

VISIT COUNTER.DEV

Key takeaway: For a personal blog or a side project, Counter.dev is free, tiny, and takes about a minute to wire up. That is the entire pitch and it is a good one. Do not put it on anything a client pays you to keep running, because Plausible or Umami are the versions of this with an actual team behind them.

Quick facts

  • CategoryOpen-source / self-host
  • PricingOpen source
  • Starts atFree
  • LicenseMIT
  • Created2022
  • GitHub stars1k
  • Script size<1KB
  • CookielessYes
  • Self-hostYes

What it is

Counter.dev is the most-minimal end of the analytics spectrum, open-source, MIT, single-script, free hosted version, optional self-host. No funnels, no events, just pageviews and referrers. Run by an indie developer. The product is intentionally tiny, under 1KB script, dashboard is one page.

Best for

  • Personal sites, blogs, side-projects that want zero-config free analytics
  • Teams who want even less than Plausible
  • Developers who appreciate a 1-file Python backend you can read in an afternoon

When not to pick it

Skip Counter.dev for any commercial site that needs reliability guarantees, support, or features. It is a passion project, not a vendor.

My take

Counter.dev is the right pick for personal sites and side projects. Free, fast, principled. Not a vendor I would ship for a paying client; perfect for my own blog.

A codebase you can read over a coffee

Counter.dev is deliberately small. MIT licensed, a compact backend, a one-page dashboard, a script under a kilobyte, and a hosted version that costs nothing. There is no funnel builder, no cohort view, and no event taxonomy to design and then argue about. You get pageviews, referrers, and a handful of dimensions, and the whole thing loads instantly because there is almost nothing to load. For a personal site that is genuinely all the analytics anybody needs, and there is something clarifying about a tool whose source you can read end to end in an afternoon and actually understand. Self-hosting is available if you want it, and because the surface area is so small, running it yourself is closer to running a small web app than to operating an analytics platform. Nothing here needs a cluster.

The vendor-risk conversation you have to have honestly

This is an indie project maintained by one developer, not a company with an uptime commitment, a support queue, or a continuity plan. That is not a criticism, it is the accurate description, and it should decide where you deploy it. On my own blog, the worst case is a gap in a chart nobody was going to act on. On a client engagement, the worst case is explaining why the analytics they pay you to manage stopped reporting and there is nobody to escalate to. The self-host option softens this, since the code is MIT and you can keep running it yourself, but you inherit the maintenance either way. Umami is the closest step up: also open source, also free to self-host, with an active team and a managed tier when you want one.

Frequently asked questions

Is Counter.dev free?

Yes, both ways. The hosted version costs nothing to use, and the code is MIT-licensed so you can run it on your own infrastructure without restriction. What you are not buying, and should be realistic about, is a support commitment, an uptime guarantee, or anyone contractually obliged to fix it at three in the morning when it stops collecting.

Is Counter.dev safe to use on a client site?

I would not. It is maintained by one independent developer with no support commitment or uptime guarantee, and on paid work somebody needs to be escalatable to when data stops arriving. Use Plausible or Fathom when a client is paying for the outcome, or Umami if you want open source with an active team behind it.

Counter.dev or Umami?

Counter.dev for a personal site where free, tiny, and instant is the whole requirement. Umami when you want a broader dashboard, custom events, several sites in one place, and a project with active development plus a managed option. Both are open source and free to self-host. Umami is the one that grows with you.

Links

Similar tools you should also consider

Plausible Analytics

Privacy-first, cookieless web analytics. The honest GA4 alternative, 1KB script, EU-hosted.

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Umami

Open-source, self-hostable, cookieless. The free Plausible if you can run a Postgres.

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Simple Analytics

EU-hosted, no-cookies analytics. Even simpler than Plausible, pageviews and referrers only.

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If Counter.dev is your pick, the next conversation is short

The 30-min call is where your analytics choice becomes a real implementation, an event-tracking plan that fits your product, and a privacy story that does not need a 4-screen cookie banner.