Our favourite open-source customer data platforms
Tags: database, discuss, productivity, product
Published: 2024-02-23 14:44:53


Hey friends 👋


Segment is a **Customer Data Platform** also known as _CDP_. 

The main objective behind CDPs lies in aggregating, processing, distributing, and storing customer data. 💽

[![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/h5bzt7ok3hee1s30le23.png)](https://segment.com/)

Segment has proven to be a valuable and versatile tool in the CDP industry, making it one of the market leaders in its category. 🏆

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Now, the open-source ecosystem provides various attractive alternatives to Segment. 🦾

**In this week's article, we want to share our 5 favourite open-source alternatives to Segment.**

With this in mind, let's get into it!


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/gsbwn53hluo5e9srzjol.gif)


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# [Rudderstack](https://github.com/rudderlabs/rudder-server)


[![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/qtz5t8uibw19ovb5gflx.gif)](https://github.com/rudderlabs/rudder-server)


1️⃣ RudderStack provides data pipelines to collect data from applications, websites and SaaS platforms.

2️⃣ Its API architecture and SDKs ensure developers can gather data from different sources and leverage them into their applications without disruptions.

3️⃣ RudderStack is highly versatile and integrates with over 90+ tools and data warehouse destinations. Rudderstack is also compatible with the Segment API.

**💰 Pricing**
- RudderStack costs $0 for 1M monthly events and includes 15+ SDKs, 200+ cloud destinations and reverse ETL.
- The _starter pack_ provides 3M monthly events and starts off at $500 (additional benefits include email support, near real-time data and 99.5% uptime SLA).


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# [Snowplow](https://github.com/snowplow/snowplow)


[![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/h4tlwqql2zp3d1xxag8c.png)](https://github.com/snowplow/snowplow)


1️⃣ Snowplow is made with developers in mind. It currently offers over 20 SDKs to get data from the web, mobile, and server-side applications. 

2️⃣ The known feature of Snowplow is the use of its unique schema-based approach and validation process. Its architecture ensures reliable data. 

3️⃣ Snowplow supports integration with multiple data storage and analysis tools, allowing devs to integrate with known data warehouses such as Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery and Snowflake.


**💳 Pricing:**

- You can [sign up](https://snowplow.io/get-started/community-edition-signup/) to deploy the _SnowPlow Community Edition_.
- This is a great alternative for a do-it-yourself solution if you are looking to build early-stage prototypes.
- You can expect to manage your infrastructure, self-host QA, create dev pipelines and build non-production workloads.



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# [Jitsu](https://github.com/jitsucom/jitsu)


[![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/zofw25obf0qs045hcbhe.png)](https://github.com/jitsucom/jitsu)




1️⃣  Jitsu is another self-hosted platform providing real-time data collection from websites and apps. 

2️⃣ If you check Jitsu's documentation, you will see well-written instructions for deploying at various scales.

3️⃣ Jitsu is built on Bulker, an open-source data warehouse ingestion engine. This allows it to be a versatile platform which supports various SDKs for event collection, including HTML snippets, React, and an NPM package. It also has a feature that allows it to be compatible with Segment's API. 


**💷 Pricing:**
- Jitsu provide a free version with 200k events/month, including events debugger and clickhouse UI access.
- The Business pack starts at $99, including 2M events/month and configuration API. Beyond this point, you pay $40 for every additional 1M events.


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# [Tracardi](https://github.com/Tracardi/tracardi)



[![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/d02l3t5ydq6uakgszqq9.png)](https://github.com/Tracardi/tracardi)



1️⃣ Tracardi is designed to be an API-first, low-code or no-code platform that integrates with various infrastructures.

2️⃣ Being open-source, Tracardi receives many contributions which connect with modern tools. This allows organisations to develop the latest sales or customer engagement processes. 

3️⃣ Tracardi has been developed to personalise user experiences through real-time frontend apps.  


**💶 Pricing:**
- The free version provides limited collected events per second but no event validation.
- It also includes event and profile orchestration and some simple automation.
- Passed a certain scale needed, Tracardi provides a commercial version.


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# [Apache Unomi](https://github.com/apache/unomi)


[![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/x1keulxatxqs7b5tzky8.png)](https://github.com/apache/unomi)


1️⃣ Apache Unomi is a Java open-source customer data platform. It is designed to manage customers, leads, and visitors' data and helps personalise customer experiences. 

2️⃣ Its plugin architecture and ElasticSearch allow scalability and smooth integration with various data sources.

3️⃣ If you want to focus on data privacy and security, Apache Unomi can be a great option! It is designed with privacy at the forefront, with features that focus on respecting GDPR rules. 


**💸 Pricing:**
- As long as you comply with the Apache License 2.0, Apache Unomi is free to use.
- Depending on your needs, deploying and maintaining Apache Unomi may still involve costs related to _infrastructure, support and maintenance, integration & customisation etc._


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In this article, we discovered 5 alternatives to Segment.

I recommend you look into each alternative and determine what service best suits your current (or future) needs. 

In the meantime, I invite you to consider supporting these projects by starring them on GitHub. 

_(We are not affiliated with them. We just think that great projects deserve great recognition.)_ ⭐️

See you next week,

Your Dev.to buddy 💚

Bap


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If you want to join the self-proclaimed "coolest" server in open source 😝, you should join our [discord server](https://discord.com/invite/ChAuP3SC5H/?utm_source=devto&utm_campaign=alternative_to_segment). We are here to help you on your journey in open source. 🫶


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