Countly

What Countly does

Countly is an analytics and engagement platform for apps more than for websites. Its own SDKs collect sessions, events and crashes from iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter, Unity, Java, Node.js and the web, and the same server sends push notifications, changes app settings through remote configuration and collects in-app ratings. That combination makes it popular with teams that want app analytics and crash reporting on their own servers.

The open source repository is Countly Lite. Enterprise and Flex are commercial editions with extra features, and the plugin list in the repository shows which ones are Enterprise-only: drill-down segmentation, funnels, retention, flows, cohorts, user profiles, surveys, A/B testing, revenue and white-labelling. The SDKs are the same in every edition.

Privacy and cookies

The web SDK creates a device ID and keeps it in local storage, falling back to a cookie, so Countly is not a cookieless tool. In return it has some of the most complete consent tooling in this category: the SDKs can wait for consent and send data only for the features a user agreed to, and the server’s Compliance Hub records consent and handles data subject requests. Countly does not claim that its tracking can run without consent.

Self-hosting Countly

Lite runs on Node.js with MongoDB behind Nginx. You can install it with the official script on a fresh Ubuntu, CentOS or RHEL server with ports 80 and 443 free, or with Docker and Docker Compose. We could not retrieve documented hardware minimums. Features are added through plugins, and the dashboard itself uses the same read API that is available to you.

Hosted version

Countly Flex is a managed service on dedicated servers with a choice of hosting region, and Enterprise can also be run as a managed private cloud. The pricing page mentions a 14-day trial for Flex; there is no permanent free hosted plan, so the free option is self-hosting Lite.

License

The repository’s LICENSE file is the AGPL-3.0 with extra terms under its Section 7: you must keep Countly’s names, logos and branding in the software and its interfaces, and you may not use other brands on derivative products. The README separately describes Lite as free under a “non-commercial” license, which does not match the LICENSE file. If the license matters for your use, read the LICENSE file itself or ask Countly.

Limitations

The product analytics features that compare with Mixpanel or Amplitude, such as funnels, retention and cohorts, are Enterprise-only, which is why we list Lite only as a Google Analytics alternative. Rebranding is not allowed, and visitors are identified with a persistent browser ID.

Who it suits

Countly suits mobile and app teams that want usage analytics, crash reports and push notifications in one self-hosted server, and organizations that need detailed consent handling more than cookie-free tracking.