Lots of buzz lately about building your own analytics instead of paying monthly.
For those who've run self-hosted analytics for a while: how did cost, maintenance and data accuracy compare to a hosted service over time?
Looking for real experiences, not hot takes.
Introducing DataBull 🎉
I was paying $39/mo for DataFast just to see which posts made me money.
That's $468 a year. Forever. And it goes up as your traffic grows.
So I built my own.
Same idea: revenue by traffic source.
$29 lifetime. Unlimited sites. Unlimited events. Lifetime updates.
> databull.app
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Marc Lou built a beehiiv alternative over pricing.
Now DataFast has a $29 self-hosted alternative for the same reason.
Full circle 😄
Would you pay for a subscription or a one-time self-hosted tool?
Introducing DataBull 🎉
I was paying $39/mo for DataFast just to see which posts made me money.
That's $468 a year. Forever. And it goes up as your traffic grows.
So I built my own.
Same idea: revenue by traffic source.
$29 lifetime. Unlimited sites. Unlimited events. Lifetime updates.
> databull.app
2
41
This is why spend limits and expiry dates should be on by default for every API key, not opt-in.
Leaks will happen. Defaults decide whether a leak costs you $10 or $10,000.
Until then:
• Set a spend limit
• Turn off auto-recharge
• Add an expiry
• Rotate keys now if you're on Railway.
An urgent notice from the Railway team
blog.railway.com/p/security-…
36
People are eagerly waiting for fable 5.5 launch and got this instead( still a much needed feature)
Claude Security now keeps up with your code as it changes.
Connect your repositories once. Claude runs a deep first scan, then re-scans as changes land, so findings stay close to the current state of your code.
In public beta on Claude Enterprise.
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74
SEO is dead.
AI is saturated.
Freelancing is cooked.
Nobody reads blogs.
Every niche is competitive.
Meanwhile, someone with 200 visitors is making more money than someone with 200K.
What are we actually doing here?????
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1,209
REFUND DILEMMA:
A user uses your SaaS
heavily for 29 days,
then asks for a full refund
on day 30.
Instant refund,
or enforce your terms?
Can you believe Stagetimer.io, basically a countdown timer, makes $25K a month?
12
people think blogs are dead ...
but blogs are still the easiest way to build backlinks, swap links, build competitor-alternative pages, publish listicles and eventually get mentioned by AIs
free blog hosting on Outrank is actually being tested for a few days ..
and i feel this is gonna be big
I'm making Outrank free to host blogs
every Outrank user needs a blog to publish on
it never felt fair to make them sign up for another tool and pay another subscription just for that
so now we're making it free for you to host your blogs:
- live in about a minute: drop in your website, pick a design, done
- your own domain included, even yourbrand.com/blog
- templates, newsletter forms, analytics without cookies
- sitemap, llms.txt and structured data set up for Google and AI search
- 3 free AI-written posts to get started
- free up to 10,000 visits a month, no credit card
now you have a place to publish your articles
from here, Outrank can take over: keyword research, 30 SEO articles a month, backlinks from real sites, and help you get mentioned by ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, all on autopilot
even if you never use Outrank for the backlinks or articles, I think this is the best place to host a blog right now
on your own domain, built for Google and AI search, no plugins, and no hosting cost
start here: outrank.so/free-blog
What Google shows #1
"pdf to word" on Google (US, mobile, 19 Oct 2026). What page 1 looks like:
Above the results
• 1 ad before the first organic result
• AI Overview: yes
The top 7
#1 pdf4me · DA 26 · tool
#2 camscanner · DA 75 · tool
#3 sodapdf · DA 73 · tool
#4 YouTube · DA 100 · video
#5 wondershare · DA 90 · tool
#6 mobisystems · DA 60 · tool
#7 YouTube · DA 100 · video
What's on page 1
• 5 tool or product pages (#1, #2, #3, #5, #6)
• 2 videos (#4, #7)
• No Reddit or forum threads
• YouTube appears 2 times (#4, #7)
Who ranks
• #1: pdf4me (DA 26)
• Smallest site: pdf4me (DA 26) at #1
• Sites under DA 30: 1 of 7
• Very large sites (DA 90+): YouTube, wondershare
• Average DA: 75
Titles
• 0 of 7 mention 2026
• 4 say "free"
• 0 say "best"
• 1 start with "how"
What I noticed
pdf4me (DA 26) ranks #1, above YouTube (DA 100) at #4.
DA is a Moz estimate, not a Google score. Page types are guessed from the address and title.
38
"Building in public" is the biggest scam on X.
Nobody in their right mind builds in public. It's an excuse for founders who don't want to spend money on ads, so they "grow" organically.
It reeks of desperation. The only people cheering you on are other "public builders", all jerking each other off (but everyone's broke, so nobody's buying anything).
There's not a single successful entrepreneur who builds in public. Unless they make money off the people following them.
My companies make more than $550K / month. You will NEVER see a "day 47" update from me.
Ask me anything about anything. I'm answering replies for the next 2 hours.
