Splitbee

Overview

Splitbee was co-founded by Sebastian Schelter and Timo Müller in 2020 in Germany (a remote team), as a modern web analytics tool that combines website analytics and product analytics in one platform. Unlike page-traffic-only tools such as Plausible and Fathom, Splitbee is built around "goal-driven" analytics: page views and button clicks become measurable events, and events feed funnels, retention, and goal-conversion tracking, so teams see directly how many users complete key conversions and where they drop off.

Splitbee follows a German-developed privacy standard, with a lightweight tracking script (about 5KB) that loads asynchronously with virtually no performance impact. It integrates deeply with the modern web ecosystem including Vercel, Next.js, and React, and is popular in the frontend developer community. The platform offers cloud hosting (Free/Pro) and a GPL open-source self-hosted core, covering both "zero-ops, ready to use" and "full data control" needs, suiting personal site owners, content creators, and small-to-mid-size SaaS product teams.

Key Strengths

• Unified web and product analytics: One tool covers 2 categories of metrics - traffic metrics (visits, unique visitors, referrers, regions) and behavioral metrics (events, funnels, retention, goals) - giving a full view from acquisition to conversion without switching platforms.
• Goal-driven conversion tracking: Goals turn 3 categories of key actions such as signups, trials, and orders into conversion targets; combined with funnels, teams can pinpoint drop-off points and act on core metrics - see OKR and product metrics.
• 4 types of deep behavioral analytics: Built-in funnels, retention, A/B testing, and heatmaps let you validate redesigns, compare variant conversion, and visualize click and scroll distribution - differentiating it from basic stats tools.
• Lightweight, performance-friendly: The about 5KB asynchronous script does not block rendering and has minimal Core Web Vitals impact, protecting page speed and SEO; see Core Web Vitals optimization.
• Deep modern-framework integration: 4 integration paths - the JavaScript SDK, NPM package, WordPress plugin, and Next.js/React framework plugins - let frontend developers instrument in a few lines of code, keeping tracking code managed with the project.
• Open source and self-hostable: The core is GPL-licensed with 0 subscription cost, so self-hosting keeps data fully under your control.

Product Ecosystem

Web and Product Analytics

Traffic metrics such as visits, unique visitors, page views, bounce rate, referrers, regions, and devices are presented together with behavioral metrics (events, funnels, retention, goals) in one console.

Event Tracking and Goals

Define custom events (button clicks, form submissions, video plays) via the JavaScript SDK or NPM package, set key events as conversion goals, and view completion counts and conversion rates in real time, breakable down by source, device, and region.

Funnels and Retention

Visualize drop-off at each step of multi-step conversion paths (signup, trial, payment) to locate bottlenecks; retention analysis tracks returning-user trends to evaluate feature stickiness and release impact.

A/B Testing and Heatmaps

Run A/B experiments on pages or elements and compare conversion; heatmaps show click and scroll distribution to reveal attention hotspots and UX issues, supporting continuous optimization with product validation and user testing.

Framework Integrations and API

JavaScript SDK, NPM package, WordPress plugin, and Next.js/React framework integrations are available; a REST API pulls event and statistics data into custom dashboards - see the website API integration basics.

Deployment Modes

Cloud hosting is ready to use and vendor-operated; self-hosting runs the GPL open-source core on your own servers for full data control - see the server selection guide.

Limitations

• Limited free tier: The free tier allows about 10,000 events per month, easily exceeded by higher-traffic sites or heavy instrumentation, after which you must upgrade.
• Data control depends on deployment: Cloud data is stored on Splitbee servers; self-hosting gives full control but requires server ops skills that non-technical teams may lack.
• Smaller ecosystem and community: Compared with platforms like Matomo (200+ plugins), Splitbee has fewer third-party integrations and limited Chinese-language resources.
• Limited enterprise capabilities: Some advanced modules such as session recording are missing, and cross-platform mobile analytics trails dedicated product analytics platforms.

Use Cases

• Frontend developer personal projects (Recommended ★★★★★): Modern design, simple integration, usable free tier, and a natural fit with Next.js/React.
• Personal blogs and content sites (Recommended ★★★★): Lightweight script with no burden; event tracking reveals content engagement depth.
• Small-to-mid-size SaaS product websites (Recommended ★★★★★): Events, funnels, goals, and A/B testing support conversion optimization - see the SaaS product website guide.
• Teams needing data control (Recommended ★★★★): The GPL open-source core enables self-hosting with full data ownership.
• Large teams needing deep behavioral analytics (Recommended ★★★): Consider more comprehensive platforms such as PostHog or Matomo.

Pricing

Free and Pro event quotas and prices are public reference figures; the actual values depend on the official Splitbee pricing page. Self-hosting is based on the GPL open-source core with no subscription, requiring only your own server.

FAQ

• How do Splitbee and Plausible compare? Splitbee focuses on deep behavioral analytics such as events, funnels, retention, and A/B testing, while Plausible is lighter (about 1KB script) with fully free open-source self-hosting; choose Splitbee for conversion experiments and Plausible for minimal privacy stats - see the website analytics setup guide.

• Does the Splitbee script affect performance? The script is about 5KB and loads asynchronously without blocking rendering, with minimal Core Web Vitals impact, protecting page speed and SEO; see frontend RUM and Core Web Vitals monitoring.

• Can Splitbee be self-hosted? Yes. The core is GPL-licensed and can be deployed on your own servers for full data control; self-hosting needs some ops skills - see the server selection guide.

• Which framework integrations does Splitbee support? A JavaScript SDK, NPM package, and Next.js/React framework plugins let frontend developers integrate quickly; data can also be pulled to custom dashboards via the REST API - see the website API integration basics.

• Is the Splitbee free tier enough? The free tier covers about 10,000 events per month, suitable for personal projects and low-traffic sites; as traffic grows, upgrade to Pro or evaluate self-hosting - more options in web analytics tools; see website analytics setup guide.