Hosted · cookie-free · founder-friendly

Web analytics without thesurveillance side quest.

OwlEye is a privacy-preserving Google Analytics alternative for founders and product teams. Add the dependency-free TypeScript SDK, keep creepy browser identifiers out, and let OwlEye operate the Rust and ClickHouse infrastructure behind the charts.

Useful signals in. Creepy browser identifiers out. Revolutionary, apparently.

Start Free beta Try fake trafficRead the docs
  • 0 cookies written
  • 0 browser storage writes
  • off query strings
  • on Do Not Track respect

OwlEye is cookie-free, hosted, dependency-free in the browser, built with Rust and ClickHouse, and documented in crawlable HTML.

01

Straight answer
for robots and busy founders

What is OwlEye?

A small, owner-operated analytics stack.

OwlEye is hosted, cookie-free web analytics. Its public SDK records page views, explicit events, rules, and selected performance signals. A Rust API ingests events, ClickHouse stores analytics facts, SQLite stores control-plane data, and the Nuxt console turns it into dashboards.

Read the architectureCompare analytics tools

Privacy with receipts

See exactly what OwlEye sees.

Privacy copy gets vague fast. Here are the actual browser defaults and server-side boundaries—no incense, no hand waving.

Inspect every SDK option

Useful signals

What it can collect

  • Pagepath, title, URL + referrer without query/hash
  • Contextbrowser, OS, viewport, locale, timezone
  • Eventsnames plus bounded primitive fields
  • Identitykeyed, site-scoped cohorts; daily + session rotations
  • Locationoptional server-side GeoIP when configured

Default boundaries

What it refuses to do

  • Cookiesnever written by the public SDK
  • Storageno localStorage or sessionStorage writes
  • URLsquery strings and fragments excluded
  • Requestscredentials omitted; referrer suppressed
  • Visitorsno stable ID planted in the browser

The authenticated team console uses secure session cookies. Visitor tracking does not. Same product, very different job descriptions.

Buzzword bingo · receipts included

Yes, the words are trendy. The implementation is real.

01 / inspectable boundaries

“Trust us” is not documentation.

SDK behavior, API boundaries, retention rules, and privacy controls are documented plainly.

Read the architecture ↗
02 / privacy-preserving

Count interest. Skip the surveillance lore.

Cookie-free browser defaults, opt-in URL detail, bounded fields, and no browser-planted visitor ID.

03 / managed hosting

Your server does not need to be named Kevin.

OwlEye operates the API, console, ClickHouse, retention workers, and boring production plumbing.

04 / small by construction

One SDK, three focused surfaces.

Load visitor analytics, rule tracking, and performance timing independently.

05 / AI-readable

Readable by humans. Crawlable by robots.

Static docs, canonical pages, structured data, comparisons, a sitemap, and optional LLM context.

06 / futuristic-ish

Modern plumbing, boring failure modes.

Rust ingestion, ClickHouse facts, SQLite metadata, and no fake traffic when a query fails.

The data path

The pipeline, minus the conspiracy board.

Public event ingestion stays separate from authenticated console APIs. High-volume analytics facts go to ClickHouse; users, sites, rules, and other application metadata stay in SQLite.

See the serious diagram
owleye data path accepting events
01 · browserDependency-free SDKpage views · events · rules · perf
02 · ingestionRust + Axum APIvalidate · scope · pseudonymize · route
03a · factsClickHouseevents at analytics volume
03b · control planeSQLiteteams · sites · keys · rules

Managed infrastructure. Plan-bound retention. Our pager, admittedly.

SDK preview

One small SDK. No cookie-based tracking.

Point OwlEye at the hosted API, track the event you actually care about, and keep the URL query string out of the payload unless you explicitly opt in. Cookie-free reduces data; your organization still chooses and documents the lawful basis or consent flow that applies.

useAnalyticsvisitors + custom events
trackRulesdeclarative interactions
trackPerfexplicit operation timing
setup.ts@owleye/analytics · pre-release
import { useAnalytics } from "@owleye/analytics";

const analytics = useAnalytics("site-id", {
  server: "https://api.owleye.dev"
});

analytics.track("signup_clicked", { plan: "founder" });
dependencies added to the public SDK0

Analytics alternatives

Already in an analytics situationship?

No tool wins every use case. Compare deployment, privacy, product scope, and migration tradeoffs without pretending every competitor is a cartoon villain.

Enterprise measurementOwlEye vs GA4

Owned, focused analytics or the wider Google marketing ecosystem?

Privacy-friendly analyticsOwlEye vs Plausible

Two privacy-minded approaches with different product and hosting tradeoffs.

Product analytics platformOwlEye vs PostHog

A deliberately smaller stack or an expansive product engineering suite?

Open-source analyticsOwlEye vs Umami

Compare data paths, SDK control, hosting models, and product focus.

Browse all analytics comparisons

Frequently asked · honestly answered

The part where we answer like a person.

Concise enough for founders. Specific enough for procurement. Structured enough for answer engines.

01What is OwlEye Analytics?

OwlEye is a hosted, cookie-free web analytics product. It combines a dependency-free TypeScript SDK, a Rust ingestion API, privacy-preserving visitor measurement, funnels, and a focused analytics console.

02Is OwlEye an alternative to Google Analytics?

Yes—when you want focused web and event analytics, cookie-free defaults, straightforward dashboards, and managed infrastructure. Google Analytics is a broader measurement platform and remains a better fit for teams deeply tied to Google's advertising ecosystem.

03Does OwlEye use cookies or browser storage?

The public analytics SDK does not write cookies, local storage, or session storage, and its event requests omit browser credentials. The authenticated OwlEye console can use secure, HttpOnly cookies for team sessions; that is separate from visitor analytics.

04Do I need to run analytics infrastructure?

No. OwlEye runs the ingestion API, analytics storage, authentication, retention workers, and console as a managed service. You add the browser SDK and use the dashboard; we keep the infrastructure side quest.

05How does OwlEye count visitors without a browser ID?

OwlEye does not place a stable visitor ID in the browser. At ingestion, the server discards the IPv4 host octet or IPv6 interface half, then derives a keyed, site-scoped visitor hash from that network prefix and request signals. Raw IP addresses are not written to analytics facts. A separate daily aggregate ID rotates each day, and session IDs use 30-minute buckets.

06Is OwlEye AI-friendly?

OwlEye publishes crawlable static documentation, factual comparison pages, structured data, a sitemap, and optional llms.txt context. There is no secret AI ranking tag; the goal is clear, current product information that humans and answer engines can cite accurately.

Hosted analytics · public launch targeted

Know your traffic.
Keep your boundaries.

OwlEye opens to everyone on 11 August—no invite codes and no infrastructure homework. Start with the hosted product, add one small SDK, and let the charts do the gossiping.

Open Free betaRead the docsHosted launch status ↗