RStudio
RStudio's first October patch is a branch merge, extending a long run of release-train upkeep.
Comparison · Analytics
Countly vs Highlight
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Countly and Highlight — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:self-hosted
Countly vs Highlight: at a glance
What is Countly?
Countly 25.03.58 tightens API tokens, sessions and login lockouts in one security patch.
Countly 25.03.58 is a security-heavy patch for the 25.03 line. App-restricted tokens must now declare their permissions, password changes and member lockouts revoke tokens, single-use tokens and reset links work once even under concurrency, and login failures count per account regardless of username casing. It also tightens access to dashboards, dbviewer and exports, and fixes file migration, remote-config targeting and star-rating widgets.
What is Highlight?
Highlight grew from session replay into SQL-driven observability, then went quiet in August 2025.
Highlight is an open-source observability stack covering session replay, errors, logs, traces and metrics. Its last tagged self-hosted release, docker-v0.5.6, shipped in August 2025 with session-replay performance fixes and session restarts. Nothing has been tagged since.
Countly vs Highlight: editorial side-by-side
Countly
5.0ANALYTICS
Countly 25.03.58 tightens API tokens, sessions and login lockouts in one security patch.
◆ Current state
Countly 25.03.58 is a security-heavy patch for the 25.03 line. App-restricted tokens must now declare their permissions, password changes and member lockouts revoke tokens, single-use tokens and reset links work once even under concurrency, and login failures count per account regardless of username casing. It also tightens access to dashboards, dbviewer and exports, and fixes file migration, remote-config targeting and star-rating widgets.
◆ Where it's heading
The 25.03 LTS line keeps absorbing security work at a fast clip: an upstream Node CVE, certificate distrust, and now a sweep of Countly's own token and permission model. Feature work stays in enterprise licensing and journeys, while LTS releases mostly harden what exists.
◆ Prediction
Expect a matching 24.05 backport of the token and permission fixes. Token owners may also need migration guidance, since existing app-restricted tokens without permissions are now limited to their owner's rights.
Highlight
0.0ANALYTICS
Highlight grew from session replay into SQL-driven observability, then went quiet in August 2025.
◆ Current state
Highlight is an open-source observability stack covering session replay, errors, logs, traces and metrics. Its last tagged self-hosted release, docker-v0.5.6, shipped in August 2025 with session-replay performance fixes and session restarts. Nothing has been tagged since.
◆ Where it's heading
Through 2025 the releases added OpenTelemetry metrics ingest, a SQL editor and builder for graphs, SQL alerts and dashboards created from log and trace views. That pushed Highlight from a replay tool toward a general telemetry platform. The cadence then slowed from roughly monthly to a two-month gap before stopping.
◆ Prediction
The entries show no release in more than a year, so the self-hosted line's future is unclear. Any new tag would most likely be maintenance on session replay and OTel ingestion.
Alternatives to Countly and Highlight
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 Countly or Highlight.
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.
OpenPanel
OpenPanel tags three more note-free builds in one evening, reaching 3.16.4.
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.
See all Countly alternatives → · See all Highlight alternatives →
Recent activity from Countly and Highlight
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoCountlyCountly 25.03.58: token scoping, revocation and access fixes
- 3d agoCountlyCountly 25.03.57-LTS distrusts emSign roots, fixes A/B setup
- 6d agoCountlyCountly 25.03.56-LTS: Node CVE patch, licence overdue banner
- 17d agoCountlyCountly 25.03.55: throttled active-user refresh, explicit DB names
- 29d agoCountly24.05.54: data-manager merge and logging fixes
- 1mo agoCountly25.03.54: License v2 entitlements and journey charts
- 1y agoHighlightdocker-v0.5.6: session replay performance and session restarts
- 1y agoHighlightdocker-v0.5.5: SQL alerts, log downloads, video in replays
- 1y agoHighlightdocker-v0.5.4: SQL joins and graphed error metrics
- 1y agoHighlightdocker-v0.5.3: dashboards and alerts from logs and traces
- 1y agoHighlightdocker-v0.5.2: OTel metrics in the web SDK
- 1y agoHighlightdocker-v0.5.1: SQL editor for graphs and OTel metrics export ⚡
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Countly and Highlight?
Both compete on the same themes — self-hosted — within Analytics. Countly 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 Countly better than Highlight?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Countly 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 Countly?
Top Countly alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Countly alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/countly-server for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Highlight?
Top Highlight alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Highlight alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/highlight for the full list with editorial commentary on each.