Comparisons

Vercel Analytics Alternative

8/13/2025 • Paul Pietzko
Vercel Analytics Alternative

Vercel Analytics makes it incredibly easy to add analytics to a NextJS App - just install an npm package, drop in a component, and you’re done.
The trade-off? It’s NextJS-only. If you’re not using Vercel’s framework, that convenience disappears.

NanoSight takes a different approach. Instead of tying analytics to a single framework, it’s built using Lit custom elements - meaning it works anywhere HTML works.

The Vercel Analytics Model

Vercel’s system is simple:

  • Install @vercel/analytics
  • Add <Analytics /> to your layout.tsx
  • Deploy on Vercel

It’s a smooth developer experience if you’re already in the Next.js ecosystem. The downside is:

  • Framework lock-in — works best only in Next.JS Apps.
  • Deployment lock-in — optimized for Vercel hosting.
  • Limited portability — harder to drop into other frontends or static sites.

NanoSight’s Custom Element Approach

NanoAnalytics are shipped as an native web component built with Lit.
This means:

  • Framework-agnostic — works in NextJS, Astro, SvelteKit, plain HTML, or even legacy projects.
  • No build step requirements — just add <nano-analytics projectID="YOUR_ID" /> and you’re tracking.
  • Portable by default — copy-paste into any environment with a simple npm install.

Because it’s a real HTML element, NanoAnalytics integrates cleanly into any DOM without worrying about framework-specific lifecycle hooks.

Developer Advantages

  • Universal compatibility — no NextJS dependency, no runtime coupling.
  • Minimal footprint — small script size.
  • Event customization — track interactions beyond pageviews via attributes or JS API.
  • Deploy anywhere — works equally on Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, or a bare VPS.

TL;DR

If you’re building only in NextJS and deploying to Vercel, Vercel Analytics is a strong choice.
If you need analytics that can live anywhere—from a modern React SPA to a plain static site—NanoSight’s Lit-based, framework-agnostic design gives you the same “drop in and go” simplicity, but without the lock-in.

Check it out at nanosights.dev.