Fair software: free tools you run yourself
Many everyday web services charge a monthly fee for something a small program can do. These are free versions of them. You press one button and the tool is installed in your own account, so your data stays with you and nobody can raise the price.
The tools
- Dozokit AnalyticsInstead of Google Analytics or Plausible. See how many people visit your website and which pages they read, without cookies. Free for about 9,000 pageviews a day.
- Dozokit LinksInstead of Bitly. Short links and QR codes that keep working, whether or not you pay anyone. Change where a printed code leads, and count scans.
What “your own Cloudflare account” means
Cloudflare is a company that runs websites for a living. A free account there is enough to host these tools, and it is yours: you pick the password, you can see everything in it and you can delete it any day. We never get a copy of your data.
What “fair” means here
- Free for real
- No trial, no premium plan, no limit that pushes you to pay.
- You own it
- It runs in your account. If we disappeared tomorrow, it would keep working.
- Source open
- The code is public under an open licence, so anyone can check it or fix it.
Questions
What is self-hosted software?
Software you run in your own account instead of using someone else’s service. You own the data and the settings, and nobody can change the price.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. Each tool has a step-by-step guide for people who have never done this, and one button that does the installation.
Is it really free?
The tools are. The Cloudflare account that runs them has a free plan that is enough for a small website.