NetSendo v2.6.0: Opt-In Anonymous Telemetry, Off by Default

If you self-host your marketing platform, you probably do it partly to keep your data in your own hands. That raises an obvious question for any open-source project: how do maintainers learn which versions are still running and which features matter, without taking data you never agreed to share?

NetSendo v2.6.0 answers this with a consented, anonymous usage report that is off by default. In 2.5.1 we removed the hard-coded Google Analytics. This release replaces it with a documented, opt-in report that you control. It sends nothing to Google or any other third party.

🚀 What's New in v2.6.0

Think of it like a survey card that comes with a product. It's blank until you decide to fill it in, you can read every question first, and you can ask for it back later. Here are the main points:

What Is Sent

Once a day, the report is sent as JSON to POST https://netsendo.com/api/telemetry. It contains:

• A random installation id created when you turn telemetry on. It is not derived from your domain, licence key, email or any account.
• Environment info: NetSendo version, plan (silver/gold/none), deployment type (docker/cloud/other), panel language, and the PHP, database and queue driver versions.
• Counts, given only as ranges (0, 1-10, 11-100, 101-1k, 1k-10k, 10k-100k, 100k-1m, 1m+): contacts, lists, users and campaigns; emails and SMS sent in the last 30 days; active funnels and automations; webinars, forms and mailboxes.
• True/false flags for SMS, AI, Brain, MCP, API keys, webhooks, CRM, webinars and A/B tests, plus the WooCommerce, WordPress, n8n, Shopify, Stripe, Polar, Calendly, Google Calendar and Zoom integrations.
• Provider types only, such as smtp, twilio or openai.

What Is Never Sent

• 🚫 Contacts or any of their data, including email addresses and names
• 🚫 Message subjects or content
• 🚫 Names of lists, forms or campaigns
• 🚫 Your domain, host names, keys or logs

ℹ️ Note: Every field is listed in docs/TELEMETRY.md and on the telemetry documentation page. netsendo.com stores only those fields and does not store your IP address.

Asked Once, Then Left Alone

Administrators see a short question on the dashboard with three options: Turn on, See what is sent or No, thanks. NetSendo saves whichever answer you give, and the question doesn't come back.

Scheduling and Reliability

The netsendo:telemetry command runs every hour at minute 17. It sends a report once a day, at an hour based on your installation id, so installations don't all send at the same moment. If the last report is more than two days old, it sends straight away. If a send fails, the error is logged and your installation is not affected. Dormant (sleeping) Cloud instances send nothing, just like every other scheduled job.

💼 Benefits & Use Cases

🛠️ Step-by-Step Guide

1. Update to v2.6.0

   Pull the new image and restart your stack:

   docker compose pull
   docker compose up -d

2. Preview the report

   Before you decide, check exactly what would be sent:

   php artisan netsendo:telemetry --show

   Or open Settings → Telemetry. This page is visible to administrators only. It shows the generated report, the installation id and when the last report was sent.

3. Decide in the panel

   Turn the switch on or leave it off. You can also answer the one-time question on the dashboard.

4. Or lock it with environment variables

   # .env
   NETSENDO_TELEMETRY=false      # or true. If unset, the panel decides (default: off)
   NETSENDO_DEPLOYMENT=docker    # docker | cloud | other
   # NETSENDO_TELEMETRY_URL=...  # optional: use a different endpoint

   When NETSENDO_TELEMETRY is set, it overrides the panel setting and the switch is locked.

5. Make sure the scheduler is running

   Reports are sent by the Laravel scheduler, so your scheduler or cron container must be running.

⚠️ Common pitfall: If you set NETSENDO_TELEMETRY and the panel switch looks greyed out, nothing is broken. The environment variable takes priority. Remove it if you want to control telemetry from the panel instead.

💡 Pro Tip: If you leave NETSENDO_DEPLOYMENT unset, NetSendo reports docker when /.dockerenv exists and other when it doesn't. Set it explicitly if your container runtime doesn't create that file.

🎯 Conclusion

NetSendo v2.6.0 shows how telemetry can respect a self-hosted setup. To sum up:

• It's off by default, and only an administrator can turn it on.
• Every field is documented, and you can preview the exact report.
• Counts are sent only as ranges, and nothing identifies you or your contacts.
• Switching it off asks netsendo.com to delete your past reports.

If you turn it on, you help us see which versions are still running and decide what to fix and build first. If you don't, nothing changes. You still have full data ownership, unlimited sending and no vendor lock-in.