FAQ
Short answers about how flag counters work, embeds, and GitHub Camo. Prefer a walkthrough? See the GitHub README guide or create a counter.
How do unique visitors work?
Each counter counts a visitor as unique once per IP address for the lifetime of that counter. There is no cookie and no rolling window — the same IP does not add another unique later. Pageviews still increase on every image load.
Why is everyone from the United States on GitHub?
GitHub proxies README and many other external images through camo.githubusercontent.com. Those requests hit our servers from GitHub’s US proxy IPs, so GeoIP usually shows United States. We cannot see the real visitor’s country behind Camo. Country flags are meaningful on direct embeds (HTML sites, Notion, forums) where the visitor’s browser loads the image URL without a privacy proxy.
Does the counter work without JavaScript?
Yes. The widget is a plain image URL. It works in GitHub and GitLab READMEs, Notion, static sites, and forums that strip or block JavaScript analytics.
Do I need an account?
No. Anyone can create a counter without signing in. You’ll get a one-time password to edit settings later, or you can sign in and claim the counter to manage it from your dashboard.
What data do you store?
For each hit we process IP (for uniqueness and GeoIP country), country code, and User-Agent when present. Creator IP is stored for abuse prevention and never shown on public pages. See the privacy notice for details.
Is flagcounter.me free?
Yes. Creating and embedding counters is free. Optional accounts exist only to claim and manage counters you own.
More detail on data we process: Privacy.