Privacy Telemetry for Open-Source Products

See who uses your OSS.
Without compromising trust.

The privacy-first analytics layer that turns invisible self-hosted deployments into measurable adoption — with zero PII, full transparency, and user opt-out.

Your OSS funnel is a black box.

You shipped an open-source product. People self-host it. You have no idea how many, who they are, or what they use. Your conversion funnel from Community to Paid is blind.

Zero visibility

Docker pulls are a vanity metric. You don't know how many instances are actually running, in which regions, or for how long.

DIY "phone home" fails

Every homegrown telemetry attempt triggers a GitHub issue storm. "Why is my self-hosted tool calling home?" Trust evaporates instantly.

Blind upsell

Your most engaged Community users — the ones running 500+ seats — are invisible. You can't identify expansion candidates you've never seen.

Investor blindspot

"How many active deployments?" is the first question VCs ask OSS companies. "We don't know" is the wrong answer.

Kaiten makes the invisible visible.

A lightweight SDK that auto-registers every self-hosted instance as a Community customer in Kaiten — with full transparency and user control.

Integrate the SDK

Add the Kaiten OSS SDK to your product. A single init call on startup. Fully open-source, auditable on GitHub.

Instances register

Each self-hosted deployment auto-registers as a Customer in Kaiten, attached to a Community license. No PII. No user data. Just instance-level metadata.

You see your funnel

Active instances, feature usage, consumption volumes. Identify your power users. Build your upgrade pipeline. Measure real adoption.

Built for OSS vendors who respect their users.

Every design decision prioritizes the trust between you and your community.

Zero PII collection

No IP addresses, no user emails, no personal data. Only instance identifiers, feature activation flags, and aggregated usage counters.

Public privacy page

A hosted, public page on kaiten.sh that your users' customers can review. It details exactly what is collected, what isn't, and how to opt out.

Fully auditable SDK

The telemetry SDK is open-source. Anyone can read the code, verify the payloads, and confirm there's no hidden tracking. Trust through transparency.

One-click opt-out

A single environment variable or config flag disables all telemetry. Your users stay in control. No dark patterns, no persistence.

Community → paid pipeline

Each self-hosted instance is a Customer in Kaiten with a Community license. When a user upgrades, the transition is seamless — the data history carries over.

Entitlement-aware

Combined with Kaiten's entitlements engine, you can gate Community vs. paid features at the SDK level. Feature limits become self-enforcing infrastructure.

Three lines to see your community.

Add the Kaiten SDK to your application startup. It registers the instance, reports feature usage, and respects opt-out — all without touching your core logic.

Your users see a clear telemetry notice. Their customers see the public privacy page. Everyone knows exactly what's happening.

sdk
// In your OSS product's main.go / index.ts / app.py

import { KaitenTelemetry } from '@kaiten/oss-sdk'

// Initialize on startup
KaitenTelemetry.init({
  product: 'your-product-name',
  version: '2.4.1',
  privacyUrl: 'https://kaiten.sh/privacy-oss'
})

// Report feature usage (aggregated, no PII)
KaitenTelemetry.track('sso-enabled', { value: true })
KaitenTelemetry.track('active-users', { value: 142 })

// User opt-out: set KAITEN_TELEMETRY=off
// That's it. Nothing else to configure.

The Privacy Commitment.

We publish exactly what is collected and what isn't. No ambiguity. No "anonymous analytics" handwaving.

What we collect

  • Anonymous instance identifier (random UUID)
  • Product name and version
  • Features activated (boolean flags)
  • Aggregated usage counters (API calls, users, storage)
  • Deployment region (if voluntarily provided)
  • License tier (Community / Pro / Enterprise)

What we never collect

  • IP addresses or geolocation
  • User emails, names, or personal data
  • Application content or customer data
  • Database queries, logs, or traces
  • Browser fingerprints or device IDs
  • Any data that could identify end users

Why not build it yourself?

Every OSS company faces this decision. Here's why Kaiten's approach is different.

CapabilityKaiten Privacy TelemetryDIY "Phone Home"PostHog / Amplitude
Public privacy page for end users✅ Hosted & auditable
Open-source SDK✅ Fully OSSVariesPartial
Zero PII by design✅ Enforced at SDK level❌ Trust-based❌ Collects user data
One-click opt-out✅ Env variableMaybe❌ Complex
Auto-creates customer records✅ Community license❌ Separate system❌ Analytics only
Entitlement enforcement✅ Native integration
Feature flag gating✅ OpenFeaturePartial
Community trust impact✅ Designed for it❌ GitHub backlashMixed reception

Your community deserves transparency.
Your business deserves visibility.

Join the OSS vendors who measure adoption without sacrificing trust. Open source. Privacy-first. Zero PII.

Entitlements & Metering →