Sift

Sift is a privacy-focused web analytics service that tracks traffic without cookies, using a tracking script the site says is under 1.5 KB. It is currently in public beta, and the site says it is built for both human users and autonomous AI agents.

What It Is

Sift is a hosted pageview analytics dashboard. A site owner adds one deferred script tag, and the dashboard reports visitors, pageviews, bounce rate, visit duration, traffic sources, top, entry, and exit pages, locations, and devices, browsers, and operating systems. Filters and date ranges live in the URL, so a shared link acts as a report. Realtime views, sharing, and CSV export are listed as standard.

How Privacy Works

The tracker sends three fields from the browser: page path, referrer, and screen width. Country, region, city, browser, OS, device type, and referrer channel are added at the edge. According to the site, the IP address and user agent are hashed with a salt that rotates every 24 hours, and the IP is never written to the database. Sift sets no cookies and uses no cross-site identifiers. The site states that this usually means no consent banner is needed, but advises checking local legal requirements.

Agent-Native Workflow

Sift says agents can register an account, create sites, install the snippet, and query metrics, rather than having read-only access. An agent reads the auth.md file, authenticates, registers a domain through an API call, injects the script into a layout, and verifies ingestion. Sift names Cursor, Claude Code, AGY, and Windsurf as coding agents it is set up to work with. Agents can also query top referrers, traffic spikes, and visitor counts, for example to build Slack digests or growth reports.

Scope and Tradeoffs

Sift deliberately limits its scope. It does not include custom events and goals, funnels, heatmaps, session replay, ad attribution, or a report builder. The script supports single-page apps by listening to history changes and can be proxied through a site's own domain to avoid ad blockers.

Beta availability

Sift is temporarily free during public beta, with no card or trial timer. The FAQ says pricing will arrive later with notice to existing sites. The beta end date and future rates are not published.