VeritaMetrics vs Fathom Analytics
Fathom is a cookieless analytics tool with a light ~2KB script and EU data isolation on by default. Its own documentation is unusually direct about scope: "if you’re looking for a feature and it’s not on our website or in this support section, it’s because it doesn’t exist." VeritaMetrics matches Fathom’s privacy stance and adds funnels, session replay, and automatic event capture that Fathom leaves out; revenue is a tie, both products track a value on an event with no attribution to a source or campaign.
Problems we built for, and where we stop
What people run into with analytics tools in general, read from the research, not a pitch against this one.
“decisions about landing pages, content and ad spend are being made from numbers with a messed up denominator”
What we do: Every pageview carries a bot label with a reason code; the dashboard shows the top reasons held back.
Where we stop: We label and do not block. Three reason codes fire today. A label is a statement about a signal, not a verdict. Reason-per-bot is not unique: Swetrix, Rybbit and PostHog show one.
“my tag broke and I found out weeks later”
What we do: An automatic notice when a reliably active site goes quiet.
Where we stop: Total silence only, not a drop or a partial break.
“a ten-minute read counted as a zero-second bounce”
What we do: Bounce needs one pageview and under 10 engaged seconds, and the threshold is shown.
Where we stop: Equals GA4's threshold, so new only against the privacy tools.
“GA4 users dropped after the banner and the modelling never brought them back”
What we do: Runs beside GA4 and counts on our own servers.
Where we stop: The capture rate is an unaudited estimate until capture-audit_plan.md finishes.
“an upgrade that will not boot, RAM and ClickHouse for a small site”
What we do: Hosted, no operations.
Where we stop: Not open source and not self-hostable.
“every tool says privacy matters, and very few say anything meaningful about what they actually collect”
What we do: The privacy pages list what is stored and for how long.
Where we stop: The wording is hedged on consent by design, and the visit ID is pseudonymous, not anonymous.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | VeritaMetrics | Fathom Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy & Compliance | ||
| Cookieless by default | Yes | Yes |
| Consent banner claim (vendor claim) | Usually, see /privacy | Claimed, with caveat |
| GDPR position (vendor claim) | Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)), see /privacy | Yes |
| Data storage region | London, UK | EU isolation by default |
| Tracking & Data | ||
| Script size (gzipped) | ~8KB | ~ 2 KB |
| Ad blocker resilience | Yes | Custom domain (undocumented) |
| No-JS fallback (pixel) | Yes | No |
| Automatic event capture | Yes | No |
| Rage & dead click detection | Yes | No |
| Bot classification, with a reason per visit | Yes | Aggregate only, not per visit |
| Bounce that counts an engaged single-page read | Yes | No |
| Features | ||
| Session replay (DOM recording) | No | No |
| Visit timeline (event list) | Yes | No |
| Automated insights | Rule-based, no LLM | No |
| Funnels | Yes | No |
| Revenue attribution | Tracking only, no attribution | Event values only |
| Live visitor count | No | Yes |
| Hourly granularity | No | Under 14 days only |
| Report time zone | No | Yes |
| Data export | CSV / JSON / XLSX | CSV only |
| Pricing & Hosting | ||
| Self-hosting option | On request (contact sales) | Fathom Lite (frozen) |
| Open source | No | Lite only |
When to choose Fathom Analytics
- EU data isolation on by default at every tier, at no extra cost
- Lighter script (~2KB versus our ~8KB)
- Flat pricing where every plan includes every feature, so nothing is gated behind a higher tier
- Established since 2018, with a frozen but MIT-licensed self-host option (Fathom Lite)
When to choose VeritaMetrics
- The privacy pages list what is stored and for how long, the kind of detail the research found most privacy-analytics pages skip
- Captures clicks, outbound links, downloads, and form submits with no manual JavaScript
- Funnels for step-by-step drop-off, the feature Fathom users most often leave for
- CSV, JSON, or XLSX export, where Fathom exports CSV only
- Privacy-safe session replay, which Fathom does not offer
- Rage and dead-click detection, and a rule-based site-health score
What VeritaMetrics does that Fathom Analytics doesn't
Every item is a row in the table above, ticked in our column and marked No in theirs.
- No-JS fallback (pixel)
- Automatic event capture
- Rage & dead click detection
- Bounce that counts an engaged single-page read
- Visit timeline (event list)
- Automated insights
- Funnels
Pricing
Fathom Analytics: From $15/mo for 100k pageviews, every feature on every plan (7-day trial).
VeritaMetrics: Free plan, then paid from 7 €/mo
See pricing and plansFathom Analytics vs VeritaMetrics: common questions
- Does Fathom Analytics use cookies?
- No. Fathom is cookieless, and so is VeritaMetrics: we identify a visit with a SHA-256 hash whose inputs include the UTC date, so the same visitor is assigned a different ID each day. The secret mixed into that hash is itself replaced with fresh random bytes on the same daily schedule, and a retired one is deleted 48 hours later.
- Does Fathom have funnels or session replay?
- No to both, confirmed against Fathom’s own docs. If you need step-by-step funnel drop-off or recorded sessions, Fathom is not built for it. VeritaMetrics includes both.
- Can I self-host Fathom?
- Only the legacy Fathom Lite, which is MIT-licensed but frozen and receives no new features. The current paid product is hosted-only.
- Is Fathom’s script smaller than VeritaMetrics’?
- Yes, slightly. Fathom’s script is about 2KB versus our ~8KB, so it wins on raw page weight. VeritaMetrics spends those extra bytes on automatic events, session replay, and funnels that Fathom does not ship.
Switch from Fathom Analytics to VeritaMetrics
Same privacy commitment. More complete data. Deeper reporting.