Ackee Analytics with MongoDB Atlas using Netlify

I transitioned from the spyware of Google Analytics to a more privacy focused analytics solution. I also didn’t require the granularity that Google Analytics provided. My other requirement was that I’m lazy and didn’t want to self-host. Thus I opted to use Ackee and Netlify in conjunction with MongoDB Atlas. It took me about 20 minutes to create the necessary accounts and install the small snippet of code to start seeing the analytics.

MongoDB Atlas

1. Create an account at MongoDB Atlas and opt for a free account. Create a new Project and then click Create a New Cluster button and wait for it to finish.

2. Under the Security column, select Database Access and create a new user database user by clicking ADD NEW DATABASE USER and choose to authenticate using the password method. Make the username ackee and create your own strong password.

3. Select Network Access and then ADD IP ADDRESS and enter 0.0.0.0/0 to make it universal since Netlify will be making the requests and not your local machine.

4. When the cluster is finished creating, select Connect and then Connect your application and note a similar connection string of mongodb+srv://ackee:<password>@cluster0.<your-server-uri>.mongodb.net/myFirstDatabase. That is all for now

Netlify

1. Click the Deploy to Netlify button found on Ackee’s Getting Started page. Then authenticate using your existing github credentials.

2. Netlify will prompt you for a few credentials. Enter the following:

• ACKEE_USERNAME = ackee
• ACKEE_PASSWORD = <your-strong-password>
• ACKEE_MONGODB = <your-mongodb-database-password-from-atlas>
• ACKEE_ALLOW_ORIGIN = *

The astrix can be replaced with your netfliy URL. Mine looks something like this dazzling-engelbart-xxxxx.netlify.app

NOTE You can change these environment variables after you create the website inside netlify under Deploy->Environment

1. Allow Netlify to now create your repository on github and build and publish it automatically! Login to your Ackee web interface, in Settings panel, set up a New domain in the Domains section. You should also see the the tracking code (embed code) with a unique domain-id. Copy and paste this code in the header section of your website in order to capture all vists. In Laravel, there is a unique head.blade template for stuffing this into.

1. See this blog post on how to keep up-to-date with Ackee.

2. You can now export all of your existing Google Analytics information into excel and delete the tracking code.