UTM in Fathom and Simple Analytics
Fathom Analytics and Simple Analytics are cookieless, privacy-first analytics tools. Both read standard UTM parameters from the landing-page URL to attribute campaigns, so you get source/medium/campaign reporting without tracking individuals. This page covers what each reads and how UTM behaves in a no-cookie model.
How each tool reads UTM
Fathom Analytics captures UTM parameters from the page URL and surfaces them as campaign data in its referrers/UTM views, without setting cookies. Simple Analytics similarly parses UTM parameters from the URL to attribute visits, keeping its no-personal-data posture.
Because attribution comes from the URL rather than a persistent identifier, the UTM tags must be present on the first landing hit — there is no cookie to backfill a missing source later.
- Both parse utm_source / utm_medium / utm_campaign from the URL
- No cookies or cross-site identifiers used
- Attribution depends on tags being on the landing hit
Cookieless attribution implications
In a cookieless tool, multi-session journeys are not stitched by a stored ID, so each visit's attribution stands on its UTM tags. This makes clean, consistent tagging more important, not less.
Keep UTM values lowercase and stable so the same campaign does not split into multiple rows, and avoid stripping UTM before the analytics script reads the URL.
How it appears in analytics and logs
A campaign showing up in Fathom or Simple Analytics confirms the UTM tags were present on the landing URL — these tools derive the campaign entirely from the URL, not from a stored visitor profile.
Diagnostic use case
Attribute campaigns in a cookieless analytics stack by relying on UTM parameters that both Fathom and Simple Analytics parse on the landing pageview.
What WebmasterID can help detect
WebmasterID's privacy-first model mirrors these tools: it reads UTM from the landing hit and records a campaign touch server-side, with no cookie or cross-site identifier required.
Common mistakes
- Stripping UTM parameters before the analytics script reads the landing URL.
- Expecting cookie-based multi-session stitching that cookieless tools do not do.
- Inconsistent casing fragmenting one campaign across several rows.
Privacy and accuracy notes
Both tools are designed to avoid personal data and cookies; UTM values describe the campaign, not the person. WebmasterID likewise records the touch without a visitor identity, raw IP, or exact location.
Related pages
- UTM tracking in Plausible Analytics
Plausible is a privacy-first, cookieless analytics tool that reads the standard utm_ parameters and exposes them as Source, UTM Medium, UTM Campaign, UTM Content, and UTM Term properties. Because Plausible avoids cookies and cross-site identifiers, UTMs are the primary way to attribute campaigns. This page covers how Plausible consumes the parameters and groups acquisition sources.
- UTM and privacy: what never goes in a link
Every UTM parameter is visible in the address bar, browser history, referrer headers, and server logs. This page sets the hard rule: a campaign URL must never carry personal data or a secret, and explains exactly where these values leak so the rule is concrete, not abstract.
- UTM stripping and clean URLs
UTM parameters do their job at the moment of capture; leaving them in the visible URL invites messy shares, duplicate-looking URLs, and accidental re-tagging. This page explains stripping UTMs with history.replaceState after your analytics has read them, and how to keep canonical URLs clean without losing attribution.
- Privacy-first analytics
Attribute campaigns from UTM without cookies or visitor IDs.
Sources and verification notes
- Fathom Analytics — UTM campaign trackingDocuments Fathom reading UTM parameters cookielessly.
- Simple Analytics — documentationPrivacy-first analytics that parses UTM parameters from the URL.
Last reviewed 2026-06-24. Facts are checked against primary/official sources where available; uncertain specifics are marked “Data not yet verified” rather than guessed.