At a Glance:
HitKeep is an open-source, privacy-first web analytics platform delivered as a single Go binary with embedded DuckDB and NSQ, offering cookie-less tracking, ecommerce reporting, Google Search Console integration, and AI visibility analytics through a self-hosted or managed cloud model.
Overview:
HitKeep is an open-source web analytics tool designed for teams that need product and conversion reporting without managing external databases or queues. It provides a single Go binary that embeds DuckDB for storage and NSQ for message processing, aiming to reduce operational complexity. The platform tracks traffic, events, goals, funnels, ecommerce interactions, and UTM attribution. It uniquely includes AI visibility analytics, tracking server-side crawler fetches and AI-referred visits, alongside importing aggregate data from Google Search Console. HitKeep is available as a self-hosted solution or a managed cloud service with a choice of EU or US hosting regions.
Key Decision Points:
Operational footprint: Deploys as a single binary with an embedded DuckDB database and NSQ queue, avoiding the need to run separate PostgreSQL, Redis, or ClickHouse instances.
AI visibility reporting: Provides specific analytics for AI crawler fetches and AI-referred visits, a distinct feature set for monitoring AI-driven traffic.
API and agent access model: Offers scoped API clients and a read-only MCP (Model Context Protocol) analytics server for approved AI agents, providing differentiated data access.
Privacy-centric design: Uses cookie-less tracking by default and respects Do Not Track signals, with an opt-in approach to data collection.
Team management features: Supports passkeys, TOTP, site/team permissions, share links, and audit logs for multi-user environments.
Core Features:
Embedded DuckDB and NSQ: The application is a single Go binary with an integrated database and message queue, removing external data store dependencies.
Cookie-less Default Tracker: The analytics tracker operates without cookies by default and includes Do Not Track support.
AI Visibility Analytics: Reports on server-side crawler fetches, AI-referred visits, and provides correlation analysis for AI-driven traffic sources.
Ecommerce and Funnel Reports: Tracks ecommerce events, conversion goals, and provides multi-step funnel analysis.
Google Search Console Aggregation: Imports aggregate query, page, country, and device data from Google Search Console for combined reporting.
MCP Analytics Server: Includes a read-only MCP server that can be used to grant approved AI agents programmatic access to analytics data.
Use Cases:
Teams seeking a low-dependency analytics stack: Suitable for product and engineering teams that want to avoid maintaining a separate database, queue, and caching infrastructure for analytics.
Developers or researchers monitoring AI discoverability: Can be used to track which AI crawlers are fetching a site and how much traffic is being referred from AI platforms.
Site owners prioritizing privacy-first tracking: Provides a GDPR-friendly starting point for web analytics without requiring cookie consent banners for basic measurements.
Product-focused teams: Enables tracking of conversion paths, ecommerce performance, and UTM campaign attribution with a tool that can integrate Google Search Console data.
Open-Source Alternative Value:
As an open-source project, HitKeep consolidates its web analytics stack into a single, low-ops binary, removing the operational burden of running a separate database and queue server—a practical alternative for teams avoiding complex infrastructure. Its source-available nature, combined with a specific focus on AI-crawler visibility and a unique MCP access server for agents, provides a reference implementation for integrating analytics into AI-centric development workflows. Users can choose a self-hosted deployment to keep data in their own infrastructure or use the managed cloud option in a specific geographic region.
