---
title: What is OpenPanel?
description: OpenPanel is an open-source web and product analytics platform that combines the power of Mixpanel with the ease of Plausible. Whether you're tracking website visitors or analyzing user behavior in your app, OpenPanel provides the insights you need without the complexity.
---

import { UserIcon,HardDriveIcon } from 'lucide-react'

## ✨ Key Features

- **🔍 Advanced Analytics**: [Funnels](/features/funnels), cohorts, user profiles, and session history
- **📊 Real-time Dashboards**: Live data updates and interactive charts
- **🎯 A/B Testing**: Built-in variant testing with detailed breakdowns
- **🔔 Smart Notifications**: Event and funnel-based alerts
- **🌍 Privacy-First**: Cookieless tracking and GDPR compliance
- **🚀 Developer-Friendly**: Comprehensive SDKs and API access
- **📦 Self-Hosted**: Full control over your data and infrastructure
- **💸 Transparent Pricing**: No hidden costs
- **🛠️ Custom Dashboards**: Flexible chart creation and [data visualization](/features/data-visualization)
- **📱 Multi-Platform**: Web, mobile (iOS/Android), and server-side tracking

## 📊 Analytics Platform Comparison

| Feature                                | OpenPanel | Mixpanel | GA4       | Plausible |
|----------------------------------------|-----------|----------|-----------|-----------|
| ✅ Open-source                         | ✅         | ❌        | ❌        | ✅         |
| 🧩 Self-hosting supported              | ✅         | ❌        | ❌        | ✅         |
| 🔒 Cookieless by default               | ✅         | ❌        | ❌        | ✅         |
| 🔁 Real-time dashboards                | ✅         | ✅        | ❌        | ✅         |
| 🔍 Funnels & cohort analysis           | ✅         | ✅        | ✅*       | ✅***         |
| 👤 User profiles & session history     | ✅         | ✅        | ❌        | ❌         |
| 📈 Custom dashboards & charts          | ✅         | ✅        | ✅        | ❌         |
| 💬 Event & funnel notifications        | ✅         | ✅        | ❌        | ❌         |
| 🌍 GDPR-compliant tracking             | ✅         | ✅        | ❌**      | ✅         |
| 📦 SDKs (Web, Swift, Kotlin, ReactNative) | ✅      | ✅        | ✅        | ❌         |
| 💸 Transparent pricing                 | ✅         | ❌        | ✅*       | ✅         |
| 🚀 Built for developers                | ✅         | ✅        | ❌        | ✅         |
| 🔧 A/B testing & variant breakdowns    | ✅         | ✅        | ❌        | ❌         |

✅* GA4 has a free tier but often requires BigQuery (paid) for raw data access.  
❌** GA4 has faced GDPR bans in several EU countries due to data transfers to US-based servers.  
✅*** Plausible has simple goals

## 🚀 Quick Start

Before you can start tracking your events you'll need to create an account or spin up your own instance of OpenPanel.

<Cards>
  <Card
    href="https://dashboard.openpanel.dev/onboarding"
    title="Create an account"
    icon={<UserIcon />}
    description="Create your account and workspace"
  />
  <Card
    href="/docs/self-hosting/self-hosting"
    title="Self-hosted OpenPanel"
    icon={<HardDriveIcon />}
    description="Get full control and start self-host"
  />
</Cards>

1. **[Install OpenPanel](/docs/get-started/install-openpanel)** - Add the script tag or use one of our SDKs
2. **[Track Events](/docs/get-started/track-events)** - Start measuring user actions
3. **[Identify Users](/docs/get-started/identify-users)** - Connect events to specific users
4. **[Track Revenue](/docs/revenue-tracking)** - Monitor purchases and subscriptions

## 🔒 Privacy First

OpenPanel is built with privacy in mind:
- **No cookies required** - Cookieless tracking by default
- **GDPR and CCPA compliant** - Built for privacy regulations
- **Self-hosting option** - Full control over your data
- **Transparent data handling** - You own your data

## 🌐 Open Source

OpenPanel is fully open-source and available on [GitHub](https://github.com/Openpanel-dev/openpanel). We believe in transparency and community-driven development.

## 💬 Need Help?

- Join our [Discord community](https://go.openpanel.dev/discord)
- Check our [GitHub issues](https://github.com/Openpanel-dev/openpanel/issues)
- Email us at [hello@openpanel.dev](mailto:hello@openpanel.dev)
