OpenPanel Analytics | An open-source alternative to Mixpanel

What it is

OpenPanel is an open-source web and product analytics platform designed as an alternative to tools like Mixpanel and Plausible. It combines product analytics (events, funnels, retention, cohorts, user profiles) with web analytics (page views, traffic sources, session replays) in a single, self-hostable or cloud-based solution. The platform is GDPR compliant, EU hosted, uses cookie-less tracking, and is fully open-source (4.8k stars on GitHub). It targets teams and projects that want privacy-friendly analytics with full data ownership and no vendor lock-in.

Main Features

AI-Native Analytics

• Connect AI agents (Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, or custom MCP clients) to query user data directly.
• Over 30 pre-built MCP tools (e.g., get_analytics_overview, get_funnel, find_profiles, get_retention_cohort, get_top_pages) for natural-language analytics without tab-switching.

Core Product & Web Analytics

• Session Replay: Watch real user sessions (clicks, scrolls, rage clicks) with built-in privacy controls.
• Funnels & Conversion Tracking: Monitor conversion rates, break down by A/B variant, country, or device. Trigger notifications when funnels complete.
• Retention & Cohorts: Weekly retention series, rolling active users, user flow analysis.
• Revenue Tracking: Connect payment events to track MRR and revenue by referrer.
• Google Search Console Integration: View organic search queries alongside conversion data.

Data Visualization & Collaboration

• Build interactive dashboards with line charts, bar charts, sankey flows. Combine metrics from any event into a single view.
• Unlimited dashboards, charts, and tracked profiles.
• Share dashboards publicly or password-protected; invite unlimited team members with org-wide or project-level access.

Integrations & Automation

• Forward events to third-party tools via webhooks, or connect to Slack and data warehouses.
• MCP (Model Context Protocol) support for AI agent integration.
• Lightweight SDKs for HTML, React, Next.js, Remix, Vue, Astro, Node, Express, Laravel, Rust, Ruby, iOS, Android, and more.

Privacy & Data Control

• Cookie-less tracking: no cookies, no fingerprinting. IP + User Agent hashed daily.
• GDPR compliant with DPA available. Data is EU hosted (cloud) or stored on your own server (self-hosted).
• Data retention configurable; export data anytime.

How it works

Self-hosting or Cloud

• Self-host: Deploy via Docker on your own infrastructure (server, cloud, or local). Free with unlimited events, no data limits, full data ownership.
• Cloud: OpenPanel-hosted with zero server setup, auto-scaling, backups, 99.9% uptime, 24/7 support. Pay per event volume (starting at $2.50/month). 30-day free trial, no credit card required.

Integration & Tracking

• Add OpenPanel to a website or app via an SDK (a few lines of code) or REST API.
• Track events, identify users, set up funnels and retention cohorts.
• Connect your existing analytics pipelines via webhooks or MCP.

AI Agent Workflow

• Connect an AI agent (e.g., Claude) to OpenPanel via MCP.
• Ask natural-language questions (e.g., "How did our signups perform last week?") and receive structured answers with funnel conversion, visitor counts, etc.

Key Points

• Open source & transparent: Full code on GitHub – audit, contribute, fork, or self-host without lock-in.
• Privacy-first: GDPR compliant, cookie-less, no fingerprinting, EU hosted (cloud) or fully controlled self-hosted.
• No sampling or data limits: Self-hosted version has unlimited events; cloud plans bill per event volume.
• Cost-effective: Cloud pricing starts at $2.50/month; self-host is free. Significantly cheaper than Mixpanel at scale.
• All-in-one: Combines web analytics, product analytics, session replays, revenue tracking, and SEO data in one platform.
• Trusted by 1,000+ projects; used by indie hackers and teams (testimonials from Strackr, uneed.best, and others).

Additional Details

• Pricing (cloud): Pay per monthly events – options from 5K events to 50M+ events. Example shown: 100K events at $20/month (plus VAT). All other features (users, dashboards, charts, profiles) are unlimited.
• Free tier: 30-day free trial for cloud. Self-host is free forever with unlimited events.
• Open-source projects: Free analytics available for qualifying open-source projects.
• SDKs & integrations: Support for JavaScript frameworks (React, Next.js, Vue, etc.), mobile (iOS, Android), backend (Node, Express, Laravel, Rust, Ruby), and REST API.
• Comparisons: Positioned as a Mixpanel alternative (lower cost, self-hostable, open-source) and an upgrade from Plausible (more features, better UX). Also compared to Google Analytics, Umami, Matomo, PostHog, and others.
• Documentation & resources: Full docs, guides, SDKs, articles, and a live demo available at demo.openpanel.dev.
• Compliance: DPA available; cookie policy explicitly states "just kidding" – no cookies used.