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Ask HN: Looking for a simple and free website analytics solution

13 points by wheresvic4 6y ago

Hi! I have a low traffic blog and would like to get a bit of insight on where it is coming from. I know there are quite a few solutions out there but I don't want to use Google. I'm looking for something simple, straightforward, maybe self-hosted but if not, with a generous free plan :) What does the HN community recommend?

mtmail 6y ago
fathom lite (https://github.com/usefathom/fathom https://github.com/usefathom/fathom) can be self-hosted. We use the pro version https://usefathom.com/ https://usefathom.com/ and are happy, especially with their support. There's a couple more alternatives in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17497699 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17497699
troydavis 6y ago
I haven’t used it myself, but I saw that this was released in April: https://github.com/milesmcc/shynet https://github.com/milesmcc/shynet . At least one author is an HN user.
jamieweb 6y ago
My own solution is AWStats combined with a custom log file anonymizer that I wrote. https://gitlab.com/jamieweb/web-server-log-anonymizer-bloom-filter https://gitlab.com/jamieweb/web-server-log-anonymizer-bloom-... This will provide stats on unique visitors, most viewed pages, referring sites, etc, whilst protecting the privacy of visitors.
codegeek 6y ago
This may not be popular opinion but I like Cloudflare's free plan analytics. It may not be as extensive as Google analytics but for a low traffic blog, should be good enough.
zzo38computer 6y ago
I use server side only, and that is also what I recommend. If wanted, you can program it to reduce what things are logged if the "DNT:1" header is present (and I do this too).
tout 6y ago
GoatCounter is a pretty straightforward option. https://www.goatcounter.com/ https://www.goatcounter.com/
- wheresvic4 6y ago
  Nice! I settled on Goatcounter. It is rather new so even UBlock does not have it built in!
pruthvishetty 6y ago
Any reason why you don't want to use Google Analytics?

13 points by wheresvic4 6y ago

mtmail 6y ago

fathom lite (https://github.com/usefathom/fathom https://github.com/usefathom/fathom) can be self-hosted. We use the pro version https://usefathom.com/ https://usefathom.com/ and are happy, especially with their support. There's a couple more alternatives in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17497699 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17497699

troydavis 6y ago

I haven’t used it myself, but I saw that this was released in April: https://github.com/milesmcc/shynet https://github.com/milesmcc/shynet . At least one author is an HN user.

jamieweb 6y ago

My own solution is AWStats combined with a custom log file anonymizer that I wrote. https://gitlab.com/jamieweb/web-server-log-anonymizer-bloom-filter https://gitlab.com/jamieweb/web-server-log-anonymizer-bloom-... This will provide stats on unique visitors, most viewed pages, referring sites, etc, whilst protecting the privacy of visitors.

codegeek 6y ago

This may not be popular opinion but I like Cloudflare's free plan analytics. It may not be as extensive as Google analytics but for a low traffic blog, should be good enough.

zzo38computer 6y ago

I use server side only, and that is also what I recommend. If wanted, you can program it to reduce what things are logged if the "DNT:1" header is present (and I do this too).

tout 6y ago

GoatCounter is a pretty straightforward option. https://www.goatcounter.com/ https://www.goatcounter.com/

wheresvic4 6y ago
Nice! I settled on Goatcounter. It is rather new so even UBlock does not have it built in!

pruthvishetty 6y ago

Any reason why you don't want to use Google Analytics?