Articles

Writing about what pays back.

Comparisons of the tools in this category with real prices, and the acquisition questions that sit underneath them: why your traffic number and your Stripe number disagree, how long a channel takes to pay for itself, and which one to stop funding. We build Ripples, so we are biased. Every article says where.

No affiliate links Prices checked and dated Nothing gated
  1. Comparisons

    13 Aug 2026

    7 min read

    7 Best DataFast Alternatives in 2026 (With Real Prices)

    Seven tools that do roughly what DataFast does, compared on price, free tier, ad platform coverage and retention. Prices checked August 2026, no affiliate links, and a note on why most DataFast reviews you will find are paid for.

  2. Attribution

    13 Aug 2026

    6 min read

    How to Connect Stripe to Google Analytics (And Why It Still Will Not Tell You What You Need)

    The working method, with code: capture the GA4 client_id, carry it through Stripe Checkout, and post purchases back via the Measurement Protocol. Then the four reasons this still will not tell you whether a channel paid back.

  3. Paid acquisition

    13 Aug 2026

    6 min read

    Google Ads for Micro-SaaS: What $2,000 of Spend Tells You About Payback

    A worked $2,000 Google Ads test on a $29/mo product, month by month. Why first-month ROAS reads like a disaster when the spend is fine, and why the blended payback number hid a 4-month winner inside a 17-month loser.

  4. Metrics

    13 Aug 2026

    5 min read

    CAC Payback Period: How to Calculate It When You Are Pre-$10K MRR

    The formula, the churn correction most versions leave out, and the condition under which a channel never pays back at all. Plus the four ways the standard calculation misleads you at small scale.

  5. Attribution

    13 Aug 2026

    6 min read

    Why Your Analytics Says 200 Visitors and Stripe Says 2 Customers

    Eight reasons the two numbers disagree, ordered by how much damage each one does, and a diagnostic sequence for working out which one is yours. Most of the gap is arithmetic, not a tracking bug.

  6. Comparisons

    13 Aug 2026

    6 min read

    How to Choose a Google Analytics Alternative (A Decision Guide for Solo Founders)

    Twenty-two tools do roughly the same thing, so the list is not the hard part. Five questions that narrow it to one or two, what you actually lose when you leave GA4, and how to switch without losing a year of history.

  7. Comparisons

    13 Aug 2026

    6 min read

    Plausible vs Fathom vs Simple Analytics: An Honest Comparison

    Three privacy-first analytics tools that look nearly identical on their pricing pages. The four differences that actually decide it, with real prices checked August 2026, from a company that does not sell any of them.

  8. Comparisons

    13 Aug 2026

    6 min read

    PostHog's Free Tier: What It Actually Costs Once You Grow

    PostHog gives away 1M events, 5,000 session recordings and 1M feature flag requests a month. Here is the arithmetic on where that runs out, which product generates the bill (it is not the one you expect), and the setting that keeps it near zero.

  9. Comparisons

    13 Aug 2026

    6 min read

    5 Best Fathom Analytics Alternatives in 2026

    Fathom is $15 a month with no free plan, which is the reason most people go looking. Five alternatives that keep what made Fathom good, with real prices checked August 2026 and no affiliate links.

  10. Attribution

    13 Aug 2026

    6 min read

    Which Marketing Channel Actually Brings You Paying Customers?

    Traffic by source is the wrong report. The right one has five columns, ends in payback, and usually reveals that your biggest channel is your worst. How to build it, and the three things that break it.

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