Beam Analytics
Web and SaaS
web analytics
SHOW HN2023
124points
94comments
#504of 3,109 in 2023
Top 17%of 2023 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
5 positive, 12 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 17 critical, out of 36 comments about the project. Thread score -0.24.
Privacy: 0 for, 12 againstDesign: 1 for, 2 againstPricing: 2 for, 1 againstIdea: 1 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Generous free tier
From 3 comments
Appreciate the free tier. I seem to recall looking around at analytics options and them being too expensive for my idle projects. Is there more documentation on "custom events"…
mNovak on HNThanks for the generous free tier. I used plausible for a month then shifted to cloudflare web-analytics, that also has a free tier. Cloudflare UI is very basic, will give…
mukundesh on HNI've been using Beam Analytics for quite some time and just love it for its neat UI as well as for a generous free tier.
wyem on HN
Simple, clean UI
From 2 comments
I've been using Beam for a week now - big fan. Analytics are simple enough for my personal projects, and I'm able to add custom event tracking as well which is really nice.
prithsr on HNI've been using Beam Analytics for quite some time and just love it for its neat UI as well as for a generous free tier.
wyem on HN
Cookieless, so no cookie banner needed
From 1 comment
> Does this mean my site won’t need a cookie alert banner? Correct > what happens if my hobby site gets an unexpected surge in traffic? Nope. You don't even need to put in CC to…
flurly on HN
Objections
GDPR compliance questioned: hashing treated as pseudonymisation, UK/AWS subprocessor, no DPO
From 3 comments
Note that despite the claims of GDPR compliance, Beam is likely _not_ GDPR compliant for a few different reasons. Going off of this doc[0], a few things stand out. First, there's…
malisper on HNHow do you justify GDPR compliance? GDPR compliance is not to be confused with privacy. You don't have Data Protection Officer (even if you have one, you ought to publish their…
openplatypus on HN1. My apologies. I as looking at the link from WordPress. Right. As UK entity you are good. 2. Your subprocessor uses AWS. No way to stay compliant if you transmit visitor IP to…
openplatypus on HN
Pricing requires talking to sales for quotes
From 1 comment
Why is it that I always have to "talk to you" when I'm at a big company to get a quote, instead of just receiving some standard price I can see on the page? Is it because,…
kepler1 on HN
Landing page claims 'best' without a live demo
From 2 comments
I don't think using the word "best" on the landing page is very smart. In fact, you don't even provide a demo page of your own analytics, so how exactly is a anyone supposed to…
skilled on HNHello from the competition :-) It looks nice. I like how the main value proposition is actually clearly written out and basically can't not be not read. What I'd like is a live…
ihucos on HN
Open source alternatives are free
From 1 comment
Why use this when we can go straight with true open source projects for that at way more generous and give you basically everything for free without restrictions. Where all they…
redder23 on HN
Requests
Live demo of the analytics dashboard
From 2 comments
I don't think using the word "best" on the landing page is very smart. In fact, you don't even provide a demo page of your own analytics, so how exactly is a anyone supposed to…
skilled on HNHello from the competition :-) It looks nice. I like how the main value proposition is actually clearly written out and basically can't not be not read. What I'd like is a live…
ihucos on HN
Comparisons with other tools
From 1 comment
Thanks for the generous free tier. I used plausible for a month then shifted to cloudflare web-analytics, that also has a free tier. Cloudflare UI is very basic, will give…
mukundesh on HN
Documentation on custom events
From 1 comment
Appreciate the free tier. I seem to recall looking around at analytics options and them being too expensive for my idle projects. Is there more documentation on "custom events"…
mNovak on HN
Questions
How is GDPR compliance justified?
From 2 comments
How do you justify GDPR compliance? GDPR compliance is not to be confused with privacy. You don't have Data Protection Officer (even if you have one, you ought to publish their…
openplatypus on HN1. My apologies. I as looking at the link from WordPress. Right. As UK entity you are good. 2. Your subprocessor uses AWS. No way to stay compliant if you transmit visitor IP to…
openplatypus on HN
How can users verify data is not sold?
From 1 comment
This applies to Plausable as well as to BeamAnalytics: You claim that the data of your users "belongs to them" and only to them. Question: "How can any of your users verify that…
cascada on HN
How does it compare to PostHog?
From 1 comment
How would you compare yourself to PostHog?
ovaistariq on HN
Can cookie consent popups be skipped?
From 1 comment
Can I skip the cookie consent pop up if I use Beam?
bjornsing on HN
Alternatives named
Plausible
From 2 comments
I don't think using the word "best" on the landing page is very smart. In fact, you don't even provide a demo page of your own analytics, so how exactly is a anyone supposed to…
skilled on HNI wouldn't use it just because plausible's design is so shamelessly copied.
kebsup on HN
Fathom
From 1 comment
Hi HN, As an indie hacker, the new Google Analytics (GA4) coming motivated me to look for a straightforward alternative that would also be affordable. I had a few basic product…
flurly on HN
Microsoft Clarity
From 1 comment
Wow this is simply not true, Microsoft Clarity is free forever and has better analytics. I recommend it to any founder or builder because it comes with free unlimited heatmap.…
Shindi on HN
Counter.dev
From 1 comment
For a simple analytics try https://counter.dev/ which is _open source_ which is a must for proper privacy
fractalf on HN
PostHog
From 1 comment
How would you compare yourself to PostHog?
ovaistariq on HN
Cloudflare Web Analytics
From 1 comment
Thanks for the generous free tier. I used plausible for a month then shifted to cloudflare web-analytics, that also has a free tier. Cloudflare UI is very basic, will give…
mukundesh on HN