Pick a look, copy the code, paste it on your site. No account, no email address. The count is kept on our server, so every visitor sees the same number — reloading the page doesn't inflate it, and clearing cookies doesn't reset it.
A lot of "free hit counter" snippets keep the number in your visitor's own browser. That looks fine when you test it — until you open your site in a second browser and it says 1 again, because it was only ever counting that one person. This one keeps the number on our server, ignores obvious bots, and won't count the same person twice within half an hour.
No. Make the counter, copy the code, close the tab. An account is only needed if you later want the full analytics — referrers, locations, live visitors and bot scoring.