Yes. Recorde is open source under the Apache License 2.0. There are no plans, seats, or pageview caps. You pay only for the server you run it on.

Where is my data stored?

On your own server, in a TimescaleDB (PostgreSQL) database that the Docker Compose stack runs for you. Nothing is sent to Recorde or any third party. Wherever you deploy is where your data lives.

What do I need to self-host it?

A Linux server with Docker and the Compose plugin, two DNS records (one for the dashboard, one for the ingestion endpoint), and optionally an SMTP server or Resend API key for sign-in emails. The deployment guide walks through a single-server install behind Caddy for automatic HTTPS. A 2 vCPU / 2 GB VPS is plenty for most personal and small business sites.

Does Recorde use cookies?

No. Visitors are counted with a rolling session ID kept in sessionStorage, which expires after 30 minutes of inactivity and is cleared when the tab closes. No cookies are set, and there is no fingerprinting or cross-site tracking.

Are IP addresses stored?

No. The IP address is used in memory to derive a country (via a GeoLite2 database you supply) and is discarded before anything is written to the database. Without the GeoLite2 file, country simply shows as Unknown.

Can visitors opt out?

Yes. Global Privacy Control is honoured automatically. Beyond that, any page with #recorde-optout in the URL disables tracking for that visitor, there is a recorde.optOut() JavaScript call, and an optional data-privacy attribute shows a small badge visitors can toggle themselves.

Can I track custom events?

Yes. Call recorde.track("signup") from your site's JavaScript, optionally with a metadata object of up to 50 keys. Events are fire-and-forget and survive page navigations. The custom events guide in the repository has the full reference.

Does it work with single-page apps?

Yes. The script listens for History API navigations and hash changes and records a new pageview whenever the path changes. No extra configuration is needed for React, Vue, Angular, SvelteKit, or Next.js.

Can I switch from Google Analytics?

Yes. One script tag to install, and you see real-time data within minutes. You can run Recorde alongside your existing analytics for as long as you like and compare the two.

Can my team see the dashboard?

Yes. You can invite read-only viewers per site. Registration can be closed with a single environment variable so only invited emails can join your instance.

Who maintains Recorde, and can I contribute?

Recorde is built in the open by an independent developer. Issues and pull requests are welcome on GitHub; the contributing guide covers the layout of the repository and how to run the checks CI runs.

Recorde is now open source

Q: What does the dashboard show?

Pageviews, visitors, bounce rate, a realtime counter, top pages, referrers, countries, devices, browsers, operating systems, UTM campaigns, entry pages, user journeys, and custom events with metadata. Data can be exported as CSV or JSON.

Recorde is now open source. The whole stack, from the tracking script to the ingestion service to the dashboard, is in one public repository under the Apache License 2.0. You can run it on your own server, read every line of what it collects, and change it if you disagree with any of it.

There are no plans, no pageview caps, and no hosted tier to upsell you to. You pay for the server it runs on and nothing else.

What is in the repository

services/ingestion/   Go: event collection, tracking script, stats API
services/dashboard/   Next.js: auth, site management, analytics UI
packages/tracking/    The browser tracking script
db/                   Schema for fresh installs and local seed data
docs/                 User and operator documentation
observability/        Optional Prometheus / Grafana / Loki / Tempo config

Three services make up a running instance:

Service	What it does
dashboard	Sign-in, site management, analytics UI
ingestion	Serves the tracking script, collects events, answers stats queries
db	TimescaleDB (PostgreSQL 17)

The dashboard gives you pageviews, visitors, bounce rate, a realtime counter, top pages, referrers, countries, devices, browsers, operating systems, UTM campaigns, entry pages, user journeys, custom events with metadata, and CSV/JSON export. You can invite read-only viewers per site.

What has not changed

The privacy model is the same one Recorde has always had:

No cookies. Visitors are counted with a rolling session ID kept in sessionStorage.
No IP addresses stored. Country is derived in memory and the IP is discarded before anything is written.
Lightweight. The tracking script is about 1 KB gzipped and can be pinned with a Subresource Integrity hash.
Global Privacy Control is honoured, and every site gets a one-click opt-out.

The difference is that now none of this has to be taken on trust. The security documentation lists each measure alongside the file it lives in.

Running it

For a local look, you need Docker with the Compose plugin:

git clone https://github.com/ronanpdh/recorde-analytics.git
cd recorde-analytics
cp .env.example .env

Set POSTGRES_PASSWORD and JWT_SESSION_SECRET (any string of 32+ characters) in .env, then:

docker compose up --build

Open http://localhost:3000, enter your email, and grab the sign-in link from the dashboard log:

docker compose logs dashboard | grep "Sign in:"

Add a site, copy the snippet from its Setup page into your website's <head>, and you are done.

For a real server with HTTPS and email, the deployment guide walks through a single-machine install with Docker Compose behind Caddy. A 2 vCPU / 2 GB VPS is plenty for most personal and small business sites.

Open source, self-hosted analytics. No cookies, no personal data.

Read the deployment guide

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. The contributing guide covers the layout of the repository and how to run every check CI runs locally. If you find a security problem, please email rather than opening a public issue.

If you have been using Recorde already, thank you. If you are just finding it, the repository is the place to start.

What is in the repository

What has not changed

Running it

Contributing

Run Recorde on your own server.