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About

Learn about who we are and why we started OpenPanel. We're on a mission to make powerful analytics accessible to everyone - open-source, privacy-first, and affordable.

Introduction

Hey there!

My name is Carl-Gerhard Lindesvärd. I'm the founder of OpenPanel. These days, knowing how your users interact with your product is more important than ever.

I've worked with different analytics tools for over 5 years, and I've seen it all - the good, the bad, and the ugly. I've mostly used Mixpanel along with tools like Google Analytics. Here's why I decided to start OpenPanel.

The Problem

Product analytics

Mixpanel is a solid analytics tool - it's easy to create reports and has tons of features. But I was only using a small part of it. I wanted a simple way to see my custom events, build funnels, and understand user retention.

The problem? I was paying $300/month for features I barely used. Their pricing model didn't make sense for startups and smaller teams who just need the essentials done well.

Web analytics

I also needed a simple dashboard to see how my website was performing - page views, visitors, referrers. Mixpanel doesn't really do this well, so I ended up needing a separate tool. Managing multiple analytics tools is a headache.

Privacy concerns

Google Analytics has faced GDPR bans across Europe. Mixpanel stores data on US servers by default. As someone based in the EU, I wanted a solution that takes privacy seriously from day one.

The Solution

That's why I built OpenPanel - an open-source analytics platform that combines the power of Mixpanel with the simplicity of Plausible. It's a tool I actually use myself every day.

What OpenPanel offers

  • Web + Product analytics in one place - no need for multiple tools
  • Real-time dashboards - see what's happening right now
  • Funnels & retention - understand how users move through your product
  • User profiles & sessions - see what individual users are doing
  • A/B testing - built-in variant testing with detailed breakdowns
  • Revenue tracking - monitor purchases and subscriptions
  • Smart notifications - get alerts when important events happen
  • Custom dashboards - build reports that make sense for your needs
  • Mobile-friendly - check your stats from anywhere

Privacy-first by design

  • Cookieless tracking by default - no annoying consent banners needed
  • EU-only hosting on our cloud, or self-host anywhere you want
  • GDPR and CCPA compliant out of the box
  • You own your data - export it anytime, or self-host for full control

Built for developers

OpenPanel has SDKs for pretty much everything:

  • Web (JavaScript, React, Next.js, Vue, Astro, Remix)
  • Mobile (Swift, Kotlin, React Native)
  • Backend (Python, Ruby, Rust, Express)

Plus a powerful API for custom integrations.

Where We Are Today

What started as a side project in late 2023 has grown into something I'm really proud of:

  • 1,000+ projects using OpenPanel
  • 5 billion+ events tracked
  • 5,000+ GitHub stars
  • Trusted by companies like Midday, ScreenZen, Tiptip, and many more

We run on a Kubernetes infrastructure with a Clickhouse cluster, processing millions of events every day.

Open Source

OpenPanel is fully open-source on GitHub. I believe software thrives when a community builds around it. You can self-host it for free, contribute to the codebase, or just peek under the hood to see how it works.

A Great Alternative

OpenPanel is a solid alternative to Mixpanel, Google Analytics, Plausible, and PostHog. It gives you the features you actually need without the enterprise complexity or pricing.

Got questions? Want to know more? Feel free to contact me or join our Discord community.

Company

OpenPanel (OpenPanel AB) is a company based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Address

OpenPanel AB
Sankt Eriksgatan 100
113 31 Stockholm
Sweden