I was building a side project last year and needed to track visitors.
Google Analytics felt like overkill. 15 minutes of setup, a privacy policy update, cookie consent banners, GDPR configuration, and I still wasn't sure if my data was being used to target ads somewhere. For a side project. That maybe 50 people would visit.
Plausible was clean but $9/month for something I wasn't even monetizing yet felt wrong. Fathom was $14/month. Same problem.
So I did what developers do when nothing fits.
I built my own.
What I Built
PhantomTrack is a privacy-first web analytics tool with no signup, no cookies, and a 30-second setup.
You generate a tracking ID instantly (no account required, no email), drop one script tag into your HTML, and your dashboard is live. That's it.
<script
src="https://phantomtrack-cdn.vercel.app/phantom.js"
data-track-id="YOUR_TRACK_ID">
</script>
One line. Done.
The Features That Actually Matter
No Signup Required
This is the one I'm most proud of. Every analytics tool makes you create an account before you can track a single pageview. PhantomTrack generates your tracking ID instantly. No account, no email, no friction. You're collecting data before most tools have even sent you a verification email.
No Cookies. Zero.
PhantomTrack doesn't use cookies at all. No cookie consent banners. No GDPR headaches. No annoying popups destroying your UI because a lawyer said so. We only track what matters: pageviews and traffic sources, without storing personal data.
Works on SPAs (React, Next.js, Vue)
This one took the most work to get right. Standard analytics scripts track page loads. SPAs don't reload the page on navigation. They swap content dynamically. Most lightweight analytics tools miss this entirely.
PhantomTrack patches history.pushState under the hood so every route change in your React or Next.js app gets tracked automatically. No extra configuration needed.
Everything on One Dashboard
Visitors, unique visitors, pageviews, session duration, geographic data with country tier analysis, device and browser breakdown, traffic sources, real-time trends. All on one screen. No tab switching. No digging through menus.
AI Weekly Review
Every week PhantomTrack generates an AI-powered analysis of your traffic patterns: what's growing, what dropped, where your best traffic comes from. Useful when you're too busy shipping to manually analyze charts.
Country Tier Analysis
This one is specific to developers building for global audiences. PhantomTrack classifies your visitors by country tier (Tier 1, 2, 3) so you can understand not just where your traffic comes from but what that traffic is worth commercially.
7+ Export Formats
CSV, JSON, XML, Excel, PHP array, HTML, plain text. Your data, your way. No lock-in.
Three Ways to View Your Data
Web dashboard, iframe embed (drop your analytics directly into your own site or app), or JSON API (pull data programmatically and build whatever you want on top of it).
Pricing (And a Lifetime Deal)
- Free: 10,000 requests/month. All features included.
- Pro: $3/month. 30,000 requests/month.
- Premium: $5/month. 60,000 requests/month.
- Enterprise: $8/month. 100,000 requests/month.
- Lifetime: $20 one-time. 300,000 requests/month, forever.
The lifetime deal is a launch special. It goes up to $50 after the launch period. If you're building side projects and want analytics without a recurring subscription, this is the one.
How It Compares
| Feature | PhantomTrack | Google Analytics | Plausible | Fathom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No signup required | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Setup time | 30 seconds | 15-30 minutes | 5-10 minutes | 5-10 minutes |
| No cookies | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| SPA support | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| AI weekly insights | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Country tier analysis | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Iframe embed | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Export formats | 7+ | Limited | CSV only | CSV only |
| Lifetime deal | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Starting price | Free | Free* | $9/month | $14/month |
*Google Analytics is free but uses your data for ad targeting.
Try It Live
The docs site itself runs PhantomTrack. You can see the actual live dashboard tracking real visitor data right now at phantomtrack-docs.vercel.app.
That's not a demo with fake numbers. That's real traffic, tracked with the same script tag you'd use on your own site.
Get Started
👉 phantomtrack-docs.vercel.app
Generate your tracking ID, drop the script tag, and you'll have your first pageview tracked in under a minute. No account. No credit card. No setup friction.
If you try it, I'd genuinely love to hear what you think: what's missing, what's confusing, what would make it more useful for your workflow. Drop a comment or find me on X.
Built by Raphael, full stack developer. Also building phantomit-cli, a CLI tool that writes your git commit messages using AI.
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