Onyx is an ambitious open-source, self-hosted web analytics platform designed as a modern, privacy-focused alternative to services like Google Analytics. Its core mission is to empower website owners with complete control over their data, ensuring transparency, privacy, and performance without compromising on powerful insights. Developed with a "privacy-by-design" philosophy, Onyx addresses growing concerns about data ownership, compliance with regulations like GDPR and CCPA, and the often-complex, resource-intensive nature of traditional analytics solutions.

At its heart, Onyx offers a robust suite of features tailored for contemporary web applications. It provides real-time analytics dashboards, allowing users to monitor website traffic, user behavior, and key metrics as they happen. The platform supports custom event tracking, enabling detailed analysis of specific user interactions, conversions, and funnels. Its lightweight JavaScript tracking script ensures minimal impact on website performance, a crucial factor for user experience and SEO. Furthermore, Onyx boasts a modern, intuitive user interface built with React and TypeScript, designed for ease of use and efficient data exploration.

Technically, Onyx is engineered for scalability, performance, and reliability. The backend is written in Go (Golang), known for its efficiency and concurrency, making it ideal for handling high volumes of incoming event data. For data storage, Onyx leverages ClickHouse, a high-performance columnar database optimized for analytical queries, which powers its real-time dashboards and complex data aggregations. PostgreSQL is utilized for managing metadata, user accounts, and configuration. The frontend, as mentioned, is a modern React application, providing a responsive and dynamic user experience. Deployment is streamlined through Docker and Kubernetes, offering flexibility for self-hosting on various cloud providers or on-premise infrastructure.

A cornerstone of Onyx's appeal is its unwavering commitment to privacy. Unlike many commercial analytics platforms, Onyx is designed to be cookie-less by default, relying on anonymous session tracking to gather data without storing personally identifiable information on users' devices. It implements IP address anonymization, further safeguarding user privacy. By allowing users to self-host, Onyx ensures that all collected data resides entirely within their own infrastructure, eliminating third-party data sharing and providing full data ownership. This approach simplifies compliance with stringent data protection regulations, offering peace of mind to businesses and individuals alike.

Onyx targets developers, privacy-conscious organizations, and anyone seeking a powerful, transparent, and cost-effective analytics solution. It provides an API-first architecture, making it highly extensible and easy to integrate with other systems. By offering a comprehensive, open-source alternative, Onyx aims to democratize web analytics, providing a platform that is not only feature-rich and performant but also aligns with the ethical demands of the digital age. Its ongoing development promises further enhancements, including advanced features like A/B testing and more sophisticated user journey mapping, solidifying its position as a leading choice for the future of web analytics.