RStudio
RStudio's first October patch is a branch merge, extending a long run of release-train upkeep.
Comparison · Analytics
OpenPanel vs Simple Analytics
A side-by-side editorial comparison of OpenPanel and Simple Analytics — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
OpenPanel vs Simple Analytics: at a glance
What is OpenPanel?
OpenPanel tags three more note-free builds in one evening, reaching 3.16.4.
OpenPanel tagged 3.16.2, 3.16.3 and 3.16.4 within about 80 minutes on October 27, after 3.16.1 the day before. Every entry is a build of main for supporters, installed with openpanel upgrade --supporter, and none carries release notes; public releases come from a separate self-hosting tag.
What is Simple Analytics?
Privacy analytics tightening its API and moving IP blocking off the CDN
The feed stores each change several times — once with the body text captured as the title, once as a clean headline, sometimes a third time with a date prefix. Behind the duplication, three real changes: API v6 with proper interval support while v5 stays unchanged for compatibility, IP blocking moved off the bunny.net CDN so it works on custom domains and applies per site rather than account-wide, and Events Explorer readability work with column truncation, a full-width toggle and collapsible headers.
OpenPanel vs Simple Analytics: editorial side-by-side
OpenPanel
5.0ANALYTICS
OpenPanel tags three more note-free builds in one evening, reaching 3.16.4.
◆ Current state
OpenPanel tagged 3.16.2, 3.16.3 and 3.16.4 within about 80 minutes on October 27, after 3.16.1 the day before. Every entry is a build of main for supporters, installed with openpanel upgrade --supporter, and none carries release notes; public releases come from a separate self-hosting tag.
◆ Where it's heading
The 3.x line has climbed from 3.0.0 to 3.16.4 in under two weeks, with each bump published as a bare build. The cadence shows active development, but the feed gives no way to see what changed or which builds matter.
◆ Prediction
Expect more note-free supporter builds; a public self-hosting release with notes is the first point where the content of 3.x becomes visible.
Simple Analytics
0.0ANALYTICS
Privacy analytics tightening its API and moving IP blocking off the CDN
◆ Current state
The feed stores each change several times — once with the body text captured as the title, once as a clean headline, sometimes a third time with a date prefix. Behind the duplication, three real changes: API v6 with proper interval support while v5 stays unchanged for compatibility, IP blocking moved off the bunny.net CDN so it works on custom domains and applies per site rather than account-wide, and Events Explorer readability work with column truncation, a full-width toggle and collapsible headers.
◆ Where it's heading
The work is about removing borrowed constraints. IP blocking inherited the CDN's limits and blast radius; moving it in-house made it per-site and custom-domain compatible. API v6 does the same for time handling — hourly data separates day and hour, weeks and months carry explicit start dates — while keeping v5 stable so nobody is forced to migrate. Both are the moves of a product whose users integrate it and stay.
◆ Prediction
With v6 shipped alongside an unchanged v5, expect a deprecation timeline for v5 to be the next API announcement, though the entries do not name one.
Alternatives to OpenPanel and Simple Analytics
Other Analytics products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either OpenPanel or Simple Analytics.
OpenReplay
OpenReplay moves its Go backend to pgx v5 and patches vulnerable deps across 1.25–1.27.
Basedash
Basedash automations can now attach scheduled CSV exports to Slack and email.
Fulcrum
Fulcrum turns on Insights, its AI assistant for field data, for every customer.
Holistics
Holistics lets admins put a key dashboard on everyone's Home page.
OpenHouse
OpenHouse locks down its column-defaults capability flag as default values near completion.
See all OpenPanel alternatives → · See all Simple Analytics alternatives →
Recent activity from OpenPanel and Simple Analytics
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoOpenPanel3.16.4: supporter build, no notes
- 1d agoOpenPanel3.16.3: supporter build, no notes
- 1d agoOpenPanel3.16.2: supporter build, no notes
- 3d agoOpenPanel3.16.1: supporter build, no notes
- 5d agoOpenPanel3.16.0: supporter build, no notes
- 5d agoOpenPanel3.15.0: supporter build, no notes
- 6mo agoSimple AnalyticsEvents Explorer column handling (duplicate record)
- 6mo agoSimple AnalyticsAPI v6 adds interval support, v5 unchanged
- 7mo agoSimple AnalyticsIP blocking moves off the CDN
- 7mo agoSimple AnalyticsEvents Explorer improvements (duplicate record)
- 7mo agoSimple AnalyticsEvents Explorer improvements
- 7mo agoSimple AnalyticsEvents Explorer improvements (duplicate record)
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between OpenPanel and Simple Analytics?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. OpenPanel is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is OpenPanel better than Simple Analytics?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. OpenPanel is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to OpenPanel?
Top OpenPanel alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "OpenPanel alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/openpanel for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Simple Analytics?
Top Simple Analytics alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Simple Analytics alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/simple-analytics for the full list with editorial commentary on each.