HitKeep review 2026: see how this open-source, cookie-free web analytics platform compares on features, self-hosting, pricing and alternatives.
HitKeep is an open-source web analytics platform built around privacy and data ownership, offering an alternative to cookie-based tools like Google Analytics. Its architecture is unusually lightweight for a self-hosted analytics tool: it ships as a single binary with an embedded DuckDB database and NSQ message queue, meaning teams can run a full analytics stack without provisioning separate database or queue infrastructure.
The project is MIT-licensed with source code available on GitHub, and it can be deployed either as a fully self-hosted instance at no cost, or used through a managed cloud service hosted in the EU or US. This dual model lets privacy-focused technical teams retain full control of their data while still offering a low-friction option for teams that prefer a managed service.
HitKeep tracks pageviews, custom events, conversion goals, multi-step funnels and ecommerce transaction revenue, alongside UTM-based campaign attribution and referral source tracking. It automatically distinguishes AI crawler and bot traffic from genuine human visits, and pulls Google Search Console data directly into its dashboards so search performance and on-site behavior can be reviewed together.
By default, HitKeep sets no cookies, avoids collecting personal identifiers, and honors Do Not Track signals, with configurable retention windows to support privacy compliance without a consent banner. Additional capabilities include multi-client reporting for agencies, automatic capture of outbound clicks, downloads and form submissions, scheduled email reports, a REST API with signed webhooks, QR code campaign tracking, and full data export.
HitKeep's self-hosted deployment is free to run indefinitely, with no feature restrictions, appealing to developers and organizations that want complete control over their infrastructure and data residency. For teams that prefer not to manage hosting, HitKeep's cloud service starts with a Free tier covering 3 sites, 3 team members and 60 days of retention.
Paid cloud tiers scale from there: Pro is priced at €150 per year for up to 10 sites, 5 members and 1 year of data retention, while Business is priced at €390 per year for up to 50 sites, 20 members and 3 years of retention, targeting agencies that manage analytics across many client websites from a single account.
HitKeep is used as a privacy-first, cookie-free web analytics platform to track pageviews, events, funnels, ecommerce revenue and search performance, either self-hosted or via a managed cloud service.
Yes, self-hosting HitKeep is free indefinitely. The managed cloud service also has a free tier for up to 3 sites, with paid Pro and Business tiers for higher limits.
Yes, HitKeep is MIT-licensed open-source software with its source code publicly available on GitHub.
No, HitKeep's default tracking sets no cookies and avoids collecting personal identifiers, and it honors Do Not Track browser signals.
Yes, HitKeep tracks ecommerce transaction revenue alongside pageviews, events, funnels and campaign attribution in its dashboards.
HitKeep is cookie-free, self-hostable and open source, giving users full data ownership, whereas Google Analytics relies on cookies and keeps data within Google's infrastructure.