Shynet logo

Shynet

Self-hosted, privacy-friendly web analytics without cookies or JavaScript

Modern web analytics platform you host yourself. Tracks visitors without cookies, respects DNT signals, and provides actionable insights while keeping data under your control.

Overview

Privacy-First Analytics You Control

Shynet is a self-hosted web analytics platform designed for developers and organizations who want meaningful visitor insights without compromising privacy. Built with Django and Python, it eliminates the need for cookie consent banners by tracking sessions without cookies, and even works when JavaScript is disabled by falling back to a transparent tracking pixel.

Flexible Deployment, Powerful Insights

Whether you're running a personal blog or managing multiple client sites, Shynet scales from a single Docker container on a small VPS to distributed Kubernetes clusters with Redis caching. Track hits, sessions, page load times, bounce rates, referrers, geographic locations, and device types across multiple services from one instance. The platform supports multi-user collaboration, allowing administrators to share services with team members.

Built for Technical Teams

Shynet requires technical expertise to deploy and maintain, making it ideal for developers who value data ownership and transparency. The lightweight tracking script (under 1KB) typically bypasses ad blockers since you control the domain. With Apache-2.0 licensing and full data portability, you maintain complete control over your analytics infrastructure and visitor data.

Highlights

Cookie-free tracking with automatic DNT signal respect
Scales from single Docker container to Kubernetes clusters
Sub-1KB tracking script with JavaScript-optional fallback
Multi-user, multi-site management from single instance

Pros

  • Complete data ownership with self-hosted deployment
  • No cookie consent banners required
  • Lightweight tracking script bypasses most ad blockers
  • Built on Django for straightforward maintenance and migration

Considerations

  • Requires technical expertise to deploy and maintain
  • Not tested for ultra-high traffic scenarios
  • No one-click deployment option available
  • Self-hosting means you manage infrastructure and updates

Managed products teams compare with

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Looking for a hosted option? These are the services engineering teams benchmark against before choosing open source.

Fit guide

Great for

  • Developers and technical teams comfortable with self-hosting
  • Personal projects and small to medium-sized websites
  • Organizations prioritizing visitor privacy and data sovereignty
  • Multi-site agencies needing centralized analytics management

Not ideal when

  • Non-technical users seeking turnkey analytics solutions
  • Ultra-high traffic sites without load testing
  • Teams without server administration capabilities
  • Projects requiring immediate plug-and-play deployment

How teams use it

Privacy-Compliant Blog Analytics

Track visitor behavior and popular content without cookie banners or third-party data sharing

Agency Multi-Client Dashboard

Monitor multiple client websites from one instance with role-based access and collaboration features

Progressive Web App Monitoring

Measure page load times and session duration even when JavaScript fails using pixel fallback

User Journey Integration

Associate anonymous visitors with authenticated user accounts using primary-key integration

Tech snapshot

Python63%
HTML33%
Dockerfile2%
JavaScript1%
Shell1%
CSS1%

Tags

analyticskubernetesself-hostedweb-analyticspythonnoscriptprivacymonitoringdjangoa17tsecuritydocker

Frequently asked questions

Does Shynet work without JavaScript?

Yes. Shynet automatically falls back to a 1x1 transparent tracking pixel when JavaScript is unavailable, ensuring you still capture visitor data.

How does Shynet handle Do Not Track signals?

Shynet respects DNT by default. You can configure each service individually to decide whether to collect data from users with DNT enabled.

Can one Shynet instance track multiple websites?

Yes. A single Shynet deployment supports multiple users, each managing multiple services (websites), with built-in collaboration features.

Why doesn't Shynet get blocked by ad blockers?

Because you self-host Shynet on your own domain, it typically isn't included in ad blocker lists, unlike third-party analytics services.

What deployment options does Shynet support?

Shynet can be deployed via Docker, docker-compose, Heroku, or Kubernetes, scaling from a single container to distributed clusters with Redis caching.

Project at a glance

Dormant
Stars
3,103
Watchers
3,103
Forks
206
LicenseApache-2.0
Repo age5 years old
Last commitlast year
Self-hostingSupported
Primary languagePython

Last synced 10 hours ago