Tinylytics: Privacy-First Web Analytics for Small Websites
Tinylytics has tracked 25.3 million page hits across 3,061 sites since its launch on June 12, 2023. This UK-based tool, created by solo developer Vincent Ritter, targets small websites, personal blogs, and side projects with a focus on user privacy. Unlike traditional analytics services that rely on cookies and personal data, Tinylytics operates without them, ensuring GDPR compliance from the start.
Data processing happens in European data centers, aligning with EU privacy standards. The platform combines core analytics—page views, unique visitors via probabilistic methods, referrers, countries, browsers, and user journeys—with practical tools like uptime monitoring and automated insights. Setup requires just one JavaScript snippet, and users get weekly email reports, CSV exports, and full API access.
Recent additions include content monitoring for broken links, customizable public stats pages, hit counters, kudos buttons, and widgets like webrings. Pricing remains straightforward, starting at $3 per month, with overage fees for high traffic. The service now offers a 30-day free trial, no credit card required, reflecting its growth to serve indie makers, agencies, and businesses seeking simple, ethical tracking.
What is Tinylytics?
Tinylytics is a web analytics platform built for smaller-scale websites that prioritizes privacy and ease of use. Vincent Ritter, a UK-based developer, launched it on June 12, 2023, as a bootstrapped project. From the outset, it avoided cookies and any collection of personally identifiable information, making it inherently GDPR compliant. All data is stored and processed in Hetzner's Falkenstein, Germany data center, which runs on 100% renewable energy.
The dashboard presents data in a clean, intuitive format, showing real-time metrics without overwhelming users. Key components include tracking of page views and unique hits (estimated probabilistically to respect anonymity), referrers, geographic data, browser details, and visitor paths. Beyond analytics, it monitors site uptime, SSL certificates, and domain expirations, sending email alerts for issues.
Users can set up public stats pages, protected by passcodes if needed, and embed nostalgic hit counters or kudos buttons. Automated insights analyze traffic patterns and suggest improvements, while content checks scan for broken links and mixed content daily. Weekly emails summarize performance, and exports to CSV ensure data portability. An API allows custom integrations.
As of now, Tinylytics powers 3,061 sites, has logged 25.3 million hits and 2.1 million kudos, and monitors 751 sites for uptime. Ritter provides direct support, and a changelog tracks updates like grouped sites and enhanced exports. No free tier exists long-term, but a 30-day trial supports testing.
Who Uses Tinylytics?
Tinylytics suits indie developers, personal bloggers, side project owners, growing businesses, and agencies managing client sites. It's designed for "little corners of the web," where sites see moderate traffic—up to hundreds of thousands of hits monthly on higher plans.
Bloggers use it for view counts and referrers without privacy concerns. Indie makers embed hit counters or kudos on landing pages. Agencies track multiple client sites (up to 50 on Plus), benefiting from grouped stats and shared reports. Businesses monitor uptime alongside analytics to ensure operational continuity.
No major enterprise clients are public, but its 3,000+ sites span personal portfolios to commercial projects. Users switching from Google Analytics appreciate the simplicity and ethics, while those avoiding Plausible or Fathom value the bundled monitoring.
European Advantage
Developed in the United Kingdom, Tinylytics stores all data in an EU data center in Germany, ensuring sovereignty under GDPR. No data leaves Europe, and the absence of cookies or identifiers eliminates consent requirements. This appeals to EU site owners wary of US-hosted alternatives facing regulatory scrutiny.
Hetzner's renewable-powered facilities add sustainability. For UK users post-Brexit, EU hosting maintains compliance benefits. Solo founder Vincent Ritter offers responsive support, often resolving queries personally, which fosters trust in a region valuing data protection.
How Tinylytics Compares
Tinylytics positions itself against Plausible Analytics, Simple Analytics, and Fathom Analytics, all privacy-focused alternatives to Google Analytics. Like them, it skips cookies and personal tracking, but stands out with integrated uptime, SSL, domain, and content monitoring—tools often requiring separate services.
Plausable offers similar core analytics but lacks built-in alerts or kudos. Simple Analytics emphasizes lightness, yet Tinylytics adds fun elements like public pages and buttons. Fathom provides enterprise features at higher costs; Tinylytics starts cheaper at $3/month versus their $14+, with personal support from the founder.
Its charm, rapid updates (e.g., webhooks, grouped sites), and EU hosting make it a practical choice for small teams needing more than stats alone.
Get Started with Tinylytics
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