I’ve been spending a lot of time around creator communities recently, and one thing I kept noticing was how difficult it is for smaller YouTubers to understand their channel growth clearly. Most analytics tools are either overloaded with dashboards, require full account access, or are built mainly for large creators and agencies.
So I built AAFY — a simple creator growth companion focused on clarity, privacy, and quick insights.
The idea is straightforward: you enter any public YouTube handle (for example @MKBHD), and AAFY analyzes publicly available channel/video data to generate a clean visual review of the channel.
The platform currently provides:
channel performance summaries
visual growth charts
upload consistency tracking
engagement trend analysis
time-based performance comparisons
downloadable PDF reports for review/sharing
One thing I cared about a lot while building this was privacy. AAFY does not require YouTube login or OAuth permissions because the analysis is based only on publicly accessible data. I wanted creators to feel comfortable testing insights instantly without connecting accounts.
I also tried to keep the experience lightweight and beginner-friendly. Many analytics platforms feel intimidating if you’re just starting out as a creator. My goal here was to make something that feels approachable even for smaller channels trying to improve step-by-step.
A few things I’m currently exploring next:
AI-powered growth suggestions
thumbnail/title pattern insights
upload timing recommendations
creator benchmarking
audience retention prediction models
I’d genuinely love feedback from the HN community on:
whether the reports feel useful or noisy
missing analytics creators actually care about
UI/UX improvements
performance/scalability ideas
privacy considerations I should improve further
Thanks for checking it out — happy to answer questions and discuss the build process as well
https://aafy-yt-analytics.onrender.com