Like most devs, I build way too many small tools, landing pages, experiments...
Some of them get traffic. Most don’t. But I still like knowing whether anyone actually landed there.
That’s where analytics usually comes in — and that’s where the pain starts.
Why existing tools annoyed me
I’ve tried them all:
All I wanted was:
...and I wanted that without cookies, fingerprinting, or sketchy tracking.
So I built my own thing
It’s called Satsu.
It’s free. No cookies. No fingerprinting. No GDPR drama. Just a small JS snippet and a clean, fast dashboard.
I built it for myself, but figured: maybe other devs feel this pain too?
The reality check
So far?
7 users.
Turns out: building something useful ≠ people will use it
What I'm learning
What now?
I'm gonna keep building, iterating, and seeing where it goes.
Even if Satsu ends up being just for me — that's still a win.
But if you're also someone who:
Then Satsu might be useful to you too.
Would love to hear how you track your small projects — or if you even bother at all.
Let’s talk!
More...
Some of them get traffic. Most don’t. But I still like knowing whether anyone actually landed there.
That’s where analytics usually comes in — and that’s where the pain starts.
Why existing tools annoyed me
I’ve tried them all:
- Google Analytics — bloated, weird UI, needs a cookie banner, feels creepy
- Fathom / Plausible — solid, but pricing adds up if you’ve got 10+ small projects
- Matomo — too heavy, and self-hosting just drains my soul
- Server logs — noisy and not enough insight
All I wanted was:
- pageviews
- top paths
- referrers
- device types
- country-level location
...and I wanted that without cookies, fingerprinting, or sketchy tracking.
So I built my own thing
It’s called Satsu.
It’s free. No cookies. No fingerprinting. No GDPR drama. Just a small JS snippet and a clean, fast dashboard.
I built it for myself, but figured: maybe other devs feel this pain too?
The reality check
So far?
7 users.
- One is me
- Three are friends
- Two are the same guy
- One probably came from Reddit 😅
Turns out: building something useful ≠ people will use it
What I'm learning
- Devs love tools, but they don't switch unless the pain is really big
- Being “free” isn’t enough
- YouTube comments > Reddit for conversion
- Product Hunt needs an aged account 😭
- Marketing is an actual skill
- Launching is not the same as getting users
What now?
I'm gonna keep building, iterating, and seeing where it goes.
Even if Satsu ends up being just for me — that's still a win.
But if you're also someone who:
- builds way too many side projects
- hates cookie banners
- just wants to know if someone showed up
Then Satsu might be useful to you too.
Would love to hear how you track your small projects — or if you even bother at all.
Let’s talk!
More...