fathom
Fathom Lite. Simple, privacy-focused website analytics. Built with Golang & Preact.
Runssource: GitHubhomepageGoMITcommit 2d895d8299d3
Go, MIT licensed. The project labels itself: analytics, fathom, fathom analytics, fathom dashboard, google analytics, metrics, privacy and website analytics.
fathom runs. An Argusic agent installed it in 25 minutes and hit 2 errors and fixed every one without help on a clean machine with no GPU, and the whole session was recorded.
Fresh Fathom Lite install builds, runs on localhost:8124 with SQLite, authenticates, tracks real pageviews, and serves real dashboard stats including Google referrer grouping via the fixed binary.
What the agent ended up with on a clean machine, in its own words. How this is measured
Measured by Argusic on a fresh machine every time. Every number links to its evidence. Argusic Score 100 of 100 (the mean of this project's run scores).
At a glance
Subject data from GitHub, linked at the top of this page, refreshed . Test data by Argusic (CC BY 4.0); every number links to a run page with the full log, the recording, and their sha256 hashes.
What was measured
From the run that decided this verdict. Every line is a recorded value, not an estimate.
What went wrong, in the agent's own words
The agent's own words, worst first, never rewritten into advice.
- Referrer grouping never matched (Google/Bing/etc. always blank)35 minutes
- Go toolchain not installed in container3 minutes
- Install time
- 25 minutes
- Cold machine to finish
- 22 minutes
- Errors hit and fixed
- 2 hit, 2 fixed with no human help
- How the result was proved
- make test - all packages ok; curl /health returned 200; POST /api/session returned 200; POST /api/sites created trackingId TERVW; collect beacons then stats API returned Visitors 1 Pageviews 1 and referrer Group Google
- Model tokens used
- 959,774
- Exact commit tested
- 2d895d8299d3
- Container image
- sha256:cdd920bce783
What was not measured
The other half, so you can see exactly how far this evidence goes. A gap is printed as a gap and never filled in.
- Peak GPU memory
- this ran on a CPU machine, so there was no GPU to sample
- Behaviour over a long run
- each attempt uses the smallest documented settings and a fixed time budget, so this measures whether it runs, not how it holds up under load
Watch the session
The whole run, from a clean machine, at the speed it actually happened. Nothing is cut and nothing is sped up.
A recording of attempt 1, run . The verdict above comes from a different attempt, so read this as one session and not as the current result. The terminal recording it was made from is the evidence, stored with a sha256 fingerprint; the video is a rendering of it. Nothing loads from the video host until you press play.
The end of the recording
The last lines of the terminal session that decided this verdict, exactly as they were recorded.
**Work performed**
- Installed Go 1.19.13 (official checksum verified) into `~/opt/go` — no system Go was present.
- `npm install` OK; `make build` built the `fathom` binary (includes gulp asset pipeline).
- Reproduced the full README flow: `fathom user add`, `fathom server`, then exercised the dashboard…
- Found and fixed a real bug: referrer grouping (`Google`/`Bing`/`Baidu`/`Yandex`/`Yahoo!`/`Findx`)…
- Intake aggregation obeys a 30-minute bounce/duration window by design (verified by direct DB seed…
**Final verification (fresh clean state)**
- `make test` → `ok` on all 5 test-carrying packages, no failures.
- `./fathom --version` → `Fathom version dev, commit none, built at unknown`.
- Server answered `GET /health` → 200, `GET /` → 200, `GET /tracker.js` → 200.
- Login `POST /api/session` → 200 `{"Data":true}`; site creation returned trackingId `TERVW`.
- Real pageview beacons processed; stats API returned real aggregated rows: 1 visitor/1 pageview/1 …Replay the whole session, every command from a clean machine to this point.
How it was tested
One agent, one container, no human help. It installs the project the way its own documentation says to, runs it, and fixes what breaks. Everything below is recorded as it happened: the terminal session, the log and the exact commit. The full method.
Strengths and limits
Measured facts, not opinions. How this is written.
What went well
- Reached a running state on a clean machine, with the session recorded.
- Recovered from all 2 errors without a human stepping in, which says the failures are documented well enough to solve.
- Ran without a GPU, so it does not need one to start.
- Licensed MIT, as reported by its host.
- Measured 3 times, so the result is not a one-off.
What did not, or is not known
- Took 25 minutes to install, slower than the median of the 18 comparable projects Argusic has measured.
Of the 19 analytics projects Argusic has installed and timed, fathom was the 12th fastest to reach a running state, and 15 of 19 reached one at all.
What it is a reasonable choice for
- Trying it on a laptop or a small server: it reached a running state without a GPU.
Also tested, in the same area
Every one of these was installed and run by Argusic on a clean machine. Nothing appears here that was not tested.
Run history
Topics (from GitHub)
analyticsfathomfathom-analyticsfathom-dashboardgoogle-analyticsmetricsprivacywebsite-analytics
Embed the badge
Markdown for the project README. It links back here; terms on the terms page.
[](https://argusic.com/subject/fathom)Questions
- Does fathom run?
- Yes. fathom runs. Argusic installed and launched it on a clean machine in 25 minutes, hitting 2 errors on the way, and recorded the session.
- How did Argusic test fathom?
- On a fresh, disposable machine, with every command recorded and the repository pinned at commit 2d895d8299d3. 3 attempts are recorded, and the full method is on the methodology page.
- What did it cost to test fathom?
- The run that produced this verdict cost $0.22: real compute and model cost, not a list price per million tokens. It is recorded on that run's page.
- How long does fathom take to install?
- 25 minutes in the run that decided this verdict, from a clean machine to a running state. That is one measured attempt, not an average.
- Does fathom need a GPU?
- Not to start. Argusic reached a running state on a machine with no GPU.
- What goes wrong when installing fathom?
- 2 things broke in the recorded run, and 2 were fixed without human help. Each one, and the time it cost, is listed on this page.
- How does fathom compare with the alternatives?
- Of the 19 analytics projects Argusic has installed and timed, fathom was the 12th fastest to reach a running state, and 15 of 19 reached one at all.
- Where is the evidence for fathom?
- All 3 recorded runs are on this page, each linking to its full log and terminal recording, stored with a sha256 fingerprint so it cannot be quietly altered.