Indie hackers love simple tools that just work. If you’re building a small SaaS, blog, or side project, you don’t want Google Analytics creeping up on you and your visitors. That’s why many turn to Umami for privacy-first analytics. But when you start managing multiple sites and need cross-domain attribution, Umami can fall short.
TLDR:
If Umami isn’t cutting it for tracking across multiple domains, don’t worry — plenty of lightweight and privacy-friendly options exist. We rounded up the top 5 analytics tools indie hackers swear by. All five focus on simplicity, speed, and data privacy. These tools won’t creep on your users (or your bandwidth).
1. Plausible: Indie-Favorite with a Focus on Privacy
Plausible is the go-to alternative for many indie devs when they outgrow Umami. Built by indie hackers, for indie hackers, it’s lightweight, cookie-free, and self-hostable.
- Pros: Designed with simplicity and speed in mind.
- Multi-site support: Yes, and beautifully organized.
- Cross-domain tracking: With a little tweak—yes!
- Integrations: API access, Zapier, and more.
It gives you a neat dashboard where traffic, marketing sources, and goals are easy to track. Plus—you can host it yourself.
With a dashboard that loads faster than your landing page, Plausible makes analytics feel like magic.
2. Fathom Analytics: Privacy Meets Elegance
Fathom gives you powerful analytics without invading your users’ privacy. It’s lightweight, easy to implement, and fast. Their global CDN ensures speed, even if you have visitors from all over.
- No cookies: Zero trackers. Still fully GDPR, CCPA, and PECR compliant.
- Multi-site management: Use one account to handle all your domains.
- Attribution magic: UTM campaign reports built-in.
Fathom even helps with legally avoiding cookie banners. That’s a win in itself.
If you’re running multiple micro-startups or testing MVPs, their Sites feature is super handy.
Image not found in postmetaFathom isn’t free, though. Plans start around $14/month—but the time it saves is worth every cent.
3. Simple Analytics: Readable Reports Without Bloat
As the name suggests, Simple Analytics isn’t trying to overwhelm you with endless graphs. Instead, it gives you clear, readable stats that answer the question: “Where are people coming from?”
- Easy to use: Link click tracking with zero setup.
- Cross-domain: Set a single dashboard across platforms.
- Doesn’t log IPs: Privacy-first, even to a fault.
Their “Tweet View” shows you what your audience likes at a glance. And yes, it supports importing data from other platforms, including Google Analytics.
It’s great if you just want to focus on what matters most: visitors, referrers, and conversions. And yes, it’s indie-hacker approved.
4. Matomo (Cloud or Self-Hosted): Enterprise-Grade, Indie-Friendly
Matomo might be overkill for simple projects, but it’s perfect when you need full control. Especially useful when you’re dealing with sensitive data or have strict compliance needs.
- Self-hosted or cloud: Choose your flavor.
- Cross-domain analytics: Yes, with robust attribution options.
- Features: Heatmaps, goal tracking, funnels, A/B testing.
It’s one of the few privacy-first platforms that gives you actual Google Analytics-level depth while letting you own 100% of the data.
It’s used by banks, governments, and universities. But don’t worry—it’s still open-source and indie-approachable with a bit of setup time.
5. Offen: Radical Transparency in Analytics
This one’s different. Offen puts your users in the loop—literally. It’s built around the idea of ethical analytics, where users can see what data is collected on them.
- Open-source and self-hostable.
- Consent built-in: Users can opt-in and view their data.
- Multi-site: Yes, works great for indie devs spinning up projects fast.
Offen balances utility with values. It’s geared toward transparency and data stewardship. This makes it a great fit for privacy-conscious developers and ethically-driven brands.
There’s a small learning curve, but once you get used to the Offen model, it feels… refreshing. It’s like analytics got a conscience.
So… Why Not Stick with Umami?
Umami is fantastic. It’s fast, free, and open-source. But if you’re trying to track visitors across a few different domains or subdomains—like a blog, a funnel, and a SaaS login—you’ll hit a wall.
It lacks meaningful multi-site attribution. You won’t know if a user saw your product on one site, then signed up on another.
Also, if you’re scaling up and want smoother integrations or built-in campaign tracking, you might feel those limitations even more.
What Should You Pick?
Here’s a super-quick cheat sheet:
- Need a beautiful indie-style dashboard? Try Plausible.
- Value speed and no-setup simplicity? Go for Fathom.
- Want real multi-site clarity? Simple Analytics nails it.
- Need full control and deep data? Matomo is unbeatable.
- Care deeply about ethics and transparency? Offen‘s for you.
Pick one based on your current stage. You can always switch later if your needs evolve.
Final Thoughts: Privacy Can Be Fun
You don’t have to trade simplicity for privacy. Indie-friendly analytics tools in 2024 are beautiful, fast, and respectful of your users.
Next time someone shares a Google Analytics screenshot—go ahead, drop a Fathom or Plausible link instead. Your visitors might not notice, but your conscience (and page speed) will.
Start simple. Track smart. And stay indie.