Countly is an open-source analytics and customer engagement platform designed for organizations that require full ownership of their user data. Unlike SaaS-only analytics tools, Countly enables complete control over infrastructure, compliance, and security by supporting on-premises or private cloud deployment. Built with Node.js and MongoDB, it provides real-time tracking of user behavior across mobile, web, desktop, and IoT applications while adhering to GDPR, HIPAA, and COPPA standards. Countly is ideal for engineering teams, product managers, and compliance officers who need to avoid vendor lock-in and maintain data sovereignty without sacrificing advanced analytics capabilities.
The platform combines session tracking, crash reporting, push notifications, remote configuration, and customizable dashboards into a modular, plugin-based architecture. Its open-source core (AGPL-3.0 licensed) allows deep customization and integration, making it a robust alternative to proprietary analytics services for teams that prioritize data privacy and infrastructure autonomy.
What You Get
- Session, view, and event tracking - Collects detailed user interaction data including session duration, screen views, and custom events across iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter, Node.js, Unity, Java, and JavaScript applications.
- Crash and error reporting - Automatically captures and categorizes crashes from mobile and desktop apps with stack traces, device info, and user context for iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter, and Node.js.
- Rich push notifications - Send targeted, personalized push messages to iOS and Android users with support for scheduling, deep linking, and segmentation.
- Remote configuration - Dynamically adjust app behavior, UI elements, or feature toggles without requiring an app store update via server-side configuration rules.
- In-app ratings and feedback - Embed customizable widgets to collect user feedback and app ratings directly within the application interface.
- Customizable dashboards and reports - Build real-time visualizations of user behavior, retention, funnel analysis, and event trends with drag-and-drop widgets.
- Email reports and alerts - Schedule automated email summaries of key metrics and set up custom alert triggers for anomalies or KPI thresholds.
- Webhooks and data hooks - Forward collected analytics data to external systems via HTTP webhooks or email integrations for downstream processing.
- Data Manager - Define, organize, and segment custom events and user properties to ensure consistent tracking across teams and platforms.
- Compliance Hub - Centralized consent management for GDPR, HIPAA, and COPPA with tools to handle user data access requests and anonymization controls.
- User and permission management - Role-based access control for teams, with granular permissions for applications, data views, and administrative functions.
- RESTful APIs - Full read and write APIs to programmatically ingest data or extract analytics results for integration with internal tools.
- Plugin-based architecture - Extend functionality via modular plugins to add custom reports, integrations, or data processors without modifying core code.
Common Use Cases
- Building a privacy-compliant mobile app with GDPR compliance - A European fintech startup uses Countly to track user behavior in its mobile banking app while ensuring all data remains on-premises and consent mechanisms are enforced via the Compliance Hub.
- Creating a multi-platform SaaS dashboard with real-time user insights - A B2B software company integrates Countly across its web, iOS, and Android apps to monitor feature adoption and optimize onboarding flows using session funnels and event segmentation.
- Problem: Vendor lock-in with analytics SaaS → Solution: Self-hosted Countly - A healthcare tech firm migrated from a third-party analytics provider to avoid data residency violations; Countly’s on-prem deployment ensured HIPAA compliance and eliminated recurring subscription costs.
- DevOps teams managing microservices with crash analytics - A DevOps team uses Countly’s Node.js and Java SDKs to monitor application stability across 50+ microservices, reducing production incidents by 40% through real-time crash reporting and alerting.
Under The Hood
Countly is a comprehensive, open-source analytics platform designed to provide real-time insights and scalable data processing capabilities. It features a modular architecture that supports extensibility through plugins and distributed job execution, making it suitable for enterprise-level applications.
Architecture
Countly follows a monolithic yet well-structured modular design, separating concerns between API and frontend components with clear layers and services.
- The system is organized around core services and extensible plugins that support diverse functionality
- Batch processing, caching strategies, and job scheduling are consistently applied across modules
- Data handling and user interface components are clearly separated with defined boundaries
- A layered approach ensures maintainability and scalability across different operational domains
Tech Stack
Countly is built using JavaScript and Node.js, integrating a wide array of backend and frontend technologies to support its analytics capabilities.
- The backend is powered by Node.js with Express.js, while the frontend utilizes Vue.js for a responsive UI
- MongoDB serves as the primary data store, complemented by utility libraries like lodash and moment
- Grunt is used for build automation, with Sass compilation and UglifyJS for minification
- Mocha, Supertest, ESLint, and TypeScript are integrated into the development workflow for testing and type safety
Code Quality
The project demonstrates mature software engineering practices with extensive test coverage and consistent error handling mechanisms.
- Comprehensive testing is employed across frontend, API, and plugin modules to ensure reliability
- Error handling is robustly implemented with widespread use of try/catch blocks and fallbacks
- Code linting and formatting tools are configured to maintain consistency and readability
- Despite mature practices, some legacy patterns and inconsistent module organization indicate technical debt
What Makes It Unique
Countly distinguishes itself through its extensible architecture and performance-optimized data handling mechanisms.
- A modular job scheduling system enables distributed task execution with inter-process communication support
- Built-in data batching and caching strategies enhance performance for high-volume event ingestion
- An extensive plugin ecosystem allows integration with third-party services like AWS SES and custom mail providers
- Unified API design and Vue.js integration deliver a cohesive experience for developers and end users