The 30-second answer
DataFast and Dashly both solve the same problem: connecting your traffic data to Stripe revenue so you can see which channels make money. DataFast ($9/mo) is excellent for indie hackers managing a portfolio of projects — it has a polished multi-site dashboard and social mentions tracking. Dashly ($10/mo) is built for SaaS founders who also need bot filtering, session replays, funnels, and AI search detection. Both are privacy-friendly. The difference is depth: DataFast is revenue-first and lean, Dashly is revenue-first plus the analytics layer that filters noise and shows you what visitors actually do.
Why people compare DataFast and Dashly
Both tools were built by indie founders who hit the same wall: GA4 shows traffic but not revenue, and Plausible/Fathom show traffic but not revenue either. DataFast (by Marc Lou) and Dashly (by Jack Anderson) both ship revenue attribution as the default workflow — connect Stripe, see revenue by traffic source. The comparison matters because they diverge on what sits around the revenue feature. DataFast keeps it lean. Dashly adds the analytics infrastructure (bot filtering, replays, AI detection) that determines whether the revenue numbers are even accurate.
What DataFast does well
DataFast is a genuinely well-built product. The revenue attribution is the core and it works — connect Stripe, LemonSqueezy, Polar, or Shopify and see which channels drive paying customers. The multi-site dashboard is excellent for founders running a portfolio: one view across all your projects. Social mentions tracking (X and Reddit) is a feature Dashly does not match. The UI is polished and the pricing is aggressive at $9/mo. Marc Lou has a strong community and the product is battle-tested by thousands of indie hackers. For a solo founder running multiple small projects, DataFast is a strong pick.
See which channels actually make money. Connect Stripe, filter bots, and track AI search traffic — all cookieless.
Try Dashly free →What DataFast does not do
DataFast is revenue-first and deliberately lean, which means it leaves out the analytics layer that determines whether your numbers are accurate. No bot filtering — bots and AI crawlers inflate your visitor counts by 20-40%, which means your revenue-per-visitor metric is calculated against an inflated denominator. No session replays — you cannot see what a visitor did before they bought. No AI search detection — ChatGPT and Perplexity visits land as Direct, so the fastest-growing traffic channel is invisible in your attribution. No funnels on lower tiers. If your revenue numbers are built on top of unfiltered traffic, the attribution is real but the traffic it is attributed to is noisy.
What Dashly adds that DataFast does not
Dashly's pitch is that revenue attribution is only as good as the traffic data underneath it. If 30% of your "visitors" are bots, your revenue-per-visitor is wrong by 30%. So Dashly adds the layer DataFast skips: bot filtering at collection time (3 layers: user-agent, behavior, IP), session replays so you can watch the journey that led to a purchase, AI search detection so ChatGPT and Perplexity traffic is attributed correctly instead of dumped into Direct, and funnels to see where visitors drop off. The revenue attribution is the same core feature — but the traffic it is attributed to is filtered, so the numbers are cleaner.
Feature comparison: DataFast vs Dashly
| Feature | DataFast ($9/mo) | Dashly ($10/mo) |
|---|---|---|
| Cookieless / privacy-friendly | Yes | Yes |
| Revenue attribution (Stripe) | Yes | Yes |
| LemonSqueezy / Polar | Yes | Yes |
| Bot filtering | No | Yes (3 layers) |
| Session replays | No | Yes (privacy-safe) |
| AI search traffic detection | No | Yes |
| Funnels | Basic | Yes |
| Multi-site dashboard | Yes (strong) | Yes |
| Social mentions (X, Reddit) | Yes | Roadmap |
| Shopify / WooCommerce | Yes | Roadmap |
| 3D globe / visitor geography | Yes | Yes |
| Setup time | 2 min | 2 min |
The bot filtering problem (and why it affects revenue)
Here is the thing nobody talks about in revenue attribution: if your visitor count includes bots, your revenue-per-visitor is wrong. If you had 10,000 visitors and $500 in revenue, your RPV is $0.05. If 3,000 of those visitors were bots, your real RPV is $0.07 — 40% higher. That changes whether your ad spend is profitable. DataFast does not filter bots, so its RPV metric is calculated against an inflated denominator. Dashly filters bots at collection time, so the RPV is calculated against real humans only. This is not a niche edge case — in 2026, 53% of web traffic is automated. If your revenue attribution tool does not filter bots, your attribution is real but the traffic it is attributed to is 30-50% noise.
Who should pick DataFast
Pick DataFast if you are an indie hacker running a portfolio of small projects and want one dashboard across all of them. Pick it if social mentions tracking (X, Reddit, Hacker News) is important to you — DataFast does this well and Dashly does not yet. Pick it if you want the leanest possible revenue-first tool with no extra features you will not use. Pick it if you already have a separate bot filtering or replay workflow and do not need it built in. DataFast is a well-built product by a founder who clearly uses it himself.
Who should pick Dashly
Pick Dashly if you want revenue attribution built on top of filtered traffic, not raw traffic. Pick it if bot filtering matters to you (it should — 53% of web traffic is bots in 2026). Pick it if you want session replays to see the journey that led to a purchase. Pick it if AI search traffic (ChatGPT, Perplexity) is a growing channel for you and you need it attributed correctly, not dumped into Direct. Pick it if you want funnels, replays, and revenue in one tool instead of three. The $1/mo difference buys the analytics layer that makes the revenue numbers accurate.
The honest take
DataFast is a good product and Marc Lou is a builder I respect. If you are running a portfolio of small projects and want lean revenue attribution with social mentions, DataFast is a strong pick. I built Dashly because I kept hitting the same problem: my revenue numbers were attributed to traffic that was 30% bots, and I could not see what visitors did before they bought. Revenue attribution without bot filtering is a half-answer. If you want the full answer — revenue attributed to real humans, with the journey visible — Dashly is built for that.
FAQ
Is Dashly better than DataFast?
For SaaS founders who need bot filtering, session replays, and AI search detection alongside revenue attribution, yes. For indie hackers who want lean revenue attribution with social mentions and multi-site dashboards, DataFast is excellent and $1/mo cheaper. Both connect Stripe to your traffic.
Does DataFast filter bots?
No. DataFast does not filter bots, AI crawlers, or scrapers. This means its revenue-per-visitor metric is calculated against an inflated denominator. Dashly filters bots at collection time using three layers.
Does DataFast have session replays?
No. DataFast does not have session replays. You can see which channel drove a purchase but not what the visitor did before buying. Dashly includes privacy-safe session replays.
Does DataFast track AI search traffic?
No. DataFast does not detect ChatGPT or Perplexity traffic — those visits land as Direct. Dashly detects AI search traffic using referrer matching and behavioral signals.
Why is Dashly $10/mo when DataFast is $9/mo?
Dashly includes bot filtering (3 layers), session replays, AI search detection, and funnels — features DataFast does not have. The $1/mo difference covers the infrastructure for bot detection and replay storage. If accurate revenue attribution (built on filtered traffic) matters to you, Dashly is the better value.