Amplitude
Product analytics platform for tracking user behavior and generating data-driven insights
Fathom Lite
Simple, privacy‑first website analytics you host yourself
Fathom Lite provides lightweight, privacy‑first website analytics you can self‑host, with a clean dashboard, cookie‑free tracking, and easy Docker or binary deployment.
Overview
Overview
Fathom Lite is a lightweight, privacy‑first analytics solution you host yourself. It records page views, referrers, and basic device data without setting cookies, keeping visitor information anonymous. The dashboard, built with Go on the backend and Preact on the frontend, presents clean, real‑time stats that are easy to read.
Deployment
Installation is straightforward: compile the Go source into a single binary or use the official Docker image (usefathom/fathom:latest). After creating a user account, the server runs on port 8080 and the tracking snippet can be added to any site. Because the software is MIT‑licensed, you retain full control over data storage, backups, and updates, though you must handle those tasks manually. While it lacks the advanced features and managed support of the paid Fathom Analytics service, Fathom Lite remains a solid choice for developers and small teams that value privacy and self‑hosting.
Highlights
Cookie‑free tracking for privacy compliance
Self‑hosted deployment via binary or Docker
Clean, minimal dashboard built with Go and Preact
MIT‑licensed and community‑maintained
Pros
- Privacy‑first design with no cookies
- Lightweight and fast performance
- Full control over data and hosting
- Simple installation using Docker or compiled binary
Considerations
- No official support channel
- Manual updates and backups required
- Limited feature set compared to Pro version
- Scaling requires manual server adjustments
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Fit guide
Great for
- Developers who want self‑hosted analytics
- Sites needing privacy‑compliant, cookie‑free tracking
- Small to medium projects with modest traffic
- Teams comfortable managing their own server
Not ideal when
- Businesses requiring 24/7 support
- High‑traffic sites needing automatic scaling
- Users wanting advanced reports and UTM tracking
- Organizations needing guaranteed uptime and data redundancy
How teams use it
Personal blog traffic insights
View page views, referrers, and device breakdown without cookies, hosted on a cheap VPS.
Privacy‑compliant SaaS dashboard
Collect usage metrics while respecting GDPR, with data stored on your own infrastructure.
Docker‑based deployment for CI/CD
Spin up Fathom Lite in a container for quick analytics in staging environments.
Open‑source contribution metrics
Track visits to project documentation and gauge community interest without third‑party trackers.
Tech snapshot
Go51%
JavaScript31%
CSS15%
Makefile1%
HTML1%
Dockerfile1%
Frequently asked questions
How is data collected without cookies?
Fathom Lite uses a cookie‑free script that records page views via server‑side aggregation, keeping visitor data anonymous.
Can I run Fathom Lite in Docker?
Yes, build the image with `docker build -t fathom .` or pull the pre‑built `usefathom/fathom:latest` image and run it on port 8080.
What languages is Fathom Lite written in?
The backend is written in Go and the frontend uses Preact, compiled to JavaScript.
Is there any support provided?
The Lite version does not include official support; community help is available via the repository issues.
What license governs the code?
Fathom Lite is released under the MIT license.
Project at a glance
Dormant- Stars
- 7,996
- Watchers
- 7,996
- Forks
- 382
LicenseMIT
Repo age9 years old
Last commit2 years ago
Self-hostingSupported
Primary languageGo
Last synced 10 hours ago