Ahoy
What it is
Ahoy is a free, MIT-licensed analytics library for Rails applications that tracks visits and events across Ruby, JavaScript, and native apps. Visit records can include traffic source, location, browser, operating system, device type, and UTM parameters. The library supports event tracking, conversion funnels, and ecommerce tracking. It stores tracked data in the Rails database by default, with customizable data stores and examples for systems including Kafka, RabbitMQ, Fluentd, NATS, NSQ, and Amazon Kinesis Firehose. Its API accepts POST requests for visits and events at /ahoy/visits and /ahoy/events. Privacy options include IP masking, cookie-free anonymity sets, and turning off automatic visit-to-user association. For geocoding, the project recommends local or load-balancer processing to avoid sending IP addresses to a third party. Bots are excluded by default, and custom exclusions can be configured. A new visit begins after four hours of inactivity by default. Documentation examples also cover deleting older visit and event records or a specific user's data.
For and against
For
- Free and MIT licensed
- Tracks visits and events in multiple environments
- Rails database storage by default
- Bots are excluded from tracking by default
- Includes privacy controls such as IP masking
Against
- Targets Rails applications
- No free trial is listed
- A new visit starts after four hours of inactivity by default
The verdict
Ahoy offers developers a Rails-focused way to track visits, events, funnels, and ecommerce activity while retaining database and data-store options. Its privacy controls and API are useful considerations for teams planning how to collect and manage analytics data.
Who it suits
Ahoy is aimed at developers building Rails applications who want first-party visit and event analytics. It suits teams that want data stored in their own Rails database by default.
Plans and prices
Ahoy
MIT-licensed Rails analytics library; data stored in your database by default
Read 12 Oct 2026 · github.com
On the record
- API
- The API accepts POST requests for visits and events at /ahoy/visits and /ahoy/events.github.com · read 12 Oct 2026
- API access
- Yesgithub.com · read 21 Sep 2026
- Bot filtering
- Bots are excluded from tracking by default, and custom exclusion rules can be configured.github.com · read 12 Oct 2026
- Conversion funnels
- Yesgithub.com · read 21 Sep 2026
- Data retention
- The README provides examples for deleting older visit and event data and deleting data for a specific user.github.com · read 12 Oct 2026
- Ecommerce tracking
- Yesgithub.com · read 21 Sep 2026
- Event tracking
- Events have a name and properties and can be tracked from Ruby, JavaScript, native apps, and AMP.github.com · read 12 Oct 2026
- Geocoding privacy
- The README recommends local or load-balancer geocoding to avoid sending IP addresses to a third-party service.github.com · read 12 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- The README gives examples for Kafka, RabbitMQ, Fluentd, NATS, NSQ, and Amazon Kinesis Firehose data stores.github.com · read 12 Oct 2026
- Intended users
- The project describes itself as built with developers in mind and targets Rails applications.github.com · read 12 Oct 2026
- License
- The GitHub repository identifies the project as MIT licensed.github.com · read 12 Oct 2026
- Privacy
- Ahoy offers IP masking, cookie-free anonymity sets, and disabling automatic association of visits with users as options to help with GDPR compliance.github.com · read 12 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Ahoy is first-party analytics for Rails that tracks visits and events in Ruby, JavaScript, and native apps.github.com · read 12 Oct 2026
- Storage
- Ahoy stores tracked data in the Rails database by default and supports customizable data stores.github.com · read 12 Oct 2026
- Visit data
- Visits can include traffic source, location, browser, operating system, device type, and UTM parameters.github.com · read 12 Oct 2026
- Visit duration
- A new visit is created after four hours of inactivity by default.github.com · read 12 Oct 2026
