Thoughts on privacy, analytics, and the web.
You're building in public, shipping fast, and watching your numbers. Here's why Beam is the analytics tool that fits the indie hacker workflow — no GDPR headaches, no GA bloat, free to start.
Read more →Most analytics setups have at least one GDPR compliance gap — and most site owners don't know it until they receive a complaint or an audit request. Here are the five most common mistakes, why they matter, and how to fix them.
Read more →Matomo is the gold standard for open-source analytics — but self-hosting is a real commitment and the cloud plan starts at €19/month. Here's an honest comparison of Beam and Matomo for teams that care about privacy without the complexity.
Read more →Nuxt 3 apps often break traditional analytics — route changes don't trigger page reloads, and cookie banners annoy European users. Here's how to add GDPR-compliant, cookie-free analytics to Nuxt 3 with SPA tracking that actually works.
Read more →Most analytics tools need a cookie banner because they set cookies. But the law doesn't require a banner for analytics — it requires one for cookies. Here's what GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive actually say, and why cookie-free analytics sidesteps the requirement entirely.
Read more →Three quality-of-life improvements shipped in April 2026: tiered usage warning banners so you never hit the limit by surprise, a Share button on public dashboards with UTM attribution, and per-site usage bars on the sites overview.
Read more →navigator.sendBeacon silently drops requests when your analytics endpoint is cross-origin. Here's the root cause — credentials:include meets CORS wildcard — and the two-line fix that makes cross-origin analytics work reliably.
Read more →Plausible is excellent — but it starts at $9/month and is priced for established businesses. Here's an honest look at what Plausible does well, where it falls short for early projects, and why we built Beam differently.
Read more →GDPR, consent fatigue, and ad blockers have made cookie-based analytics unreliable. Here's why cookie-free analytics is the right choice and how to make the switch.
Read more →A practical step-by-step guide to installing Beam on HTML sites, React, Next.js, WordPress, and static site generators without cookies or consent banners.
Read more →How to add GDPR-compliant, cookie-free analytics to your Next.js app — covering both the Pages Router and App Router, CSP headers, and dynamic route tracking.
Read more →An honest comparison of the best Google Analytics alternatives in 2026 — covering Beam, Plausible, Fathom, Simple Analytics, Umami, Matomo, PostHog, and Usermaven with pricing, pros, cons, and a full feature table.
Read more →beamanalytics.io announced it will shut down on September 1, 2026. Here's an honest look at your migration options — Plausible, Fathom, Umami, Simple Analytics, and Beam — with practical trade-offs to help you decide.
Read more →