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Do it yourself

Open-source alternative to Google analytics

With the shutdown of Google’s Universal Analytics solution by the end of June 23, lots of new measurement solutions have been popping up recently with better privacy and usability in mind.

Tinybird built a simple, free-to-use, open-source web analytics solution using Tremor for the dashboard part. Everything from back-end to front-end is pre-deployed, and ready to be used for your website in just a few minutes. See the example here.

It comes with the following features:

  • Analytics displayed on one single page
  • Compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and PECR. No cookie banner needed
  • Lightweight script to keep your website fast
  • Can be started with a free account. Perfectly for testing and small projects
Set up your open-source web analytics dashboard in minutes by using Tinybird’s pre-deployed back-end, tracking script and Tremor dashboard.
Set up your open-source web analytics dashboard in minutes by using Tinybird’s pre-deployed back-end, tracking script, and Tremor dashboard.

1. Create a workspace at Tinybird.co

Tinybird is used as the backend. In addition, they offer a pre-configured tracking script and a ready-to-use Tremor dashboard to display collected information.

Go to Tinybird and create a workspace. A workspace can also be created with a free account . The free version includes up to 1000 requests per day, unlimited processed GB, and 10 GB max storage.

In the onboarding, you can decide between US-East and EU region to optimize for performance, and comply with local data privacy laws.

After this, select web analytics starter kit to pre-deploy all the necessary data sources, pipes, and endpoints for setting up the backend.

Configure a workspace on Tinybird.co which can also be done with a free account. Select a region of your choice and select the web analytics starter kit built with Tremor.
Configure a workspace on Tinybird.co which can also be done with a free account. Select a region of your choice and select the web analytics starter kit built with Tremor.

2. Insert tracking snippet into your website

Once the workspace is set up, you will get the JavaScript tracker with a personalized token.

<script
    defer
    src="https://unpkg.com/@tinybirdco/flock.js"
    data-host="https://api.tinybird.co"
    data-token="YOUR_PERSONALIZED_TOKEN"
/>

Insert the snippet into the <Head> section of your website and redeploy your website to start tracking traffic.

3. Start monitoring

That’s it, your dashboard is ready! In the workspace, click view dashboard to get to the pre-defined dashboard with (hopefully) some first traffic from your website.

The starter kit dashboard is fully open-source and available on GitHub. It’s a perfect base to customize to your own needs or even contribute directly to the repository. For creating custom event types (e.g. conversion tracking), read more here.

An extensive explanation of the setup along with privacy details, can be found on Tinybird’s blog article.

Feb 13, 2023