OpenMetadata
OpenMetadata 2.0.8 widens Hex, Sigma and BigQuery coverage while 2.1 waits in release candidates.
Comparison · Analytics
Highlight vs Countly
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Highlight and Countly — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:self-hosted
Highlight vs Countly: at a glance
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.
What is Countly?
Countly 25.03.59 defaults to Node 26, supports MongoDB 9 and tightens app scoping.
Countly 25.03.59 on November 13 is a large LTS patch. Clean installs and Docker images move to Node.js 26 and MongoDB 9.0, with older versions still working, and arm64 Docker images arrive. Security fixes tighten which apps a scoped token or member can reach across exports, dashboards, alerts and data tools, and wrong two-factor codes now count toward lockout.
Highlight vs Countly: editorial side-by-side
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.
Countly
5.0ANALYTICS
Countly 25.03.59 defaults to Node 26, supports MongoDB 9 and tightens app scoping.
◆ Current state
Countly 25.03.59 on November 13 is a large LTS patch. Clean installs and Docker images move to Node.js 26 and MongoDB 9.0, with older versions still working, and arm64 Docker images arrive. Security fixes tighten which apps a scoped token or member can reach across exports, dashboards, alerts and data tools, and wrong two-factor codes now count toward lockout.
◆ Where it's heading
Countly is still mostly hardening access control, carrying the token-scoping work from 25.03.58 into every plugin that reads or changes app data. At the same time it keeps the self-hosted stack on current runtimes.
◆ Prediction
Expect a 24.05 patch that backports these scoping fixes, as 24.05.55 did after 25.03.58.
Alternatives to Highlight and Countly
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 Highlight or Countly.
Dovetail
Dovetail lets admins choose which connectors members can plug into the workspace.
Dagster
Dagster drops Python 3.10 and lets agents run schedules and sensors through MCP.
OpenHouse
OpenHouse adds time-zone-aware retention and per-database table caps.
Kubecost
Kubecost cuts three 3.3.2 release candidates in two days, still without notes.
RStudio
RStudio opens the 2026.11 train with another NOTICE file update.
See all Highlight alternatives → · See all Countly alternatives →
Recent activity from Highlight and Countly
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 17h agoCountlyCountly 25.03.59: Node 26, MongoDB 9, app scoping fixes
- 14d agoCountlyCountly 24.05.55: token rules backported, Node 22 move
- 17d agoCountlyCountly 25.03.58: token scoping, revocation and access fixes
- 19d agoCountlyCountly 25.03.57-LTS distrusts emSign roots, fixes A/B setup
- 21d agoCountlyCountly 25.03.56-LTS: Node CVE patch, licence overdue banner
- 1mo agoCountlyCountly 25.03.55: throttled active-user refresh, explicit DB names
- 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 Highlight and Countly?
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 Highlight better than Countly?
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 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.
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.