Server-side tracking, without the pitch.
Three different things get sold under this name and they solve different problems. Here is what each one actually does, which parts of it Mrkr ships, and which parts it deliberately does not.
What is server-side tracking?
Server-side tracking moves part of analytics collection off the visitor's browser and onto a server. It survives content blockers and browser storage limits because the request is first-party and the processing is yours. It cannot see anything that only exists in the browser, so in practice it complements a client tracker rather than replacing one.
The confusion is that the term covers three setups with different costs and different failure modes. Separating them is most of the work, so this page does that first and only then says what Mrkr does.
The three things people mean.
Same phrase, three architectures. The right one depends on whether your problem is delivery, distribution, or events that never touch a browser at all.
| First-party proxy | Server-side tag manager | Backend event API | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | The tracker and ingest served from your own subdomain | A container you host that receives events and forwards them to vendors | Your backend posts events straight to a vendor endpoint |
| Solves | Blocked requests | Fan-out to ad platforms, payload control | Events with no browser: webhooks, jobs, payments |
| Sees browser behaviour | Yes, the tracker still runs | Only what you forward to it | No |
| Infrastructure you run | None with a managed proxy | A container and its hosting bill | Your own queue and retries |
| Typical cost | Included | Hosting plus engineering time | Engineering time |
| Mrkr ships it | Yes, managed | No | No, and it is not a supported path |
What Mrkr does on the server.
A managed first-party proxy
One CNAME, and the tracker and ingest are served from your own subdomain over a certificate Mrkr provisions.
A server-side crawler beacon
/api/data/crawl records the AI and search bots that fetch raw HTML and never execute your JavaScript.
Nothing for you to host
No container, no certificate to renew. The crawler catalogue updates server side without you redeploying.
The part a server cannot see.
A backend knows a request happened. It does not know whether anyone read the page, how far they scrolled, how long they stayed engaged, where the layout shifted under their thumb, or what they clicked before they gave up.
That is why Mrkr keeps a browser tracker and makes it undetectable-by-filter rather than replacing it with server logs. Sources, campaigns and revenue are only half of what you need. The other half only exists on the client.
- AI and search crawler hits in 30 days
- 25,564AI and search crawler hits in 30 days
- human pageviews on the same site, same window
- 2,946human pageviews on the same site, same window
- more crawler traffic than human traffic
- 8.7xmore crawler traffic than human traffic
- of those crawler hits a browser tracker could have seen
- 0of those crawler hits a browser tracker could have seen
Measured on a live site running Mrkr over 30 days, reported through the server-side crawler beacon at /api/data/crawl. Crawlers fetch raw HTML and never execute JavaScript, which is why server-side collection is the only way to count them.
What Mrkr does not do.
It is not a server-side tag manager
No container, no tag templates, no fan-out to Meta CAPI, Google Ads or TikTok Events. Run one alongside Mrkr instead.
There is no backend event API
Ingest requires a browser-shaped request. A POST from a script or curl fails those checks and is discarded as a bot.
No API key, no backend contract
Backend ingestion is not supported, so there is nothing to authenticate with and no promise the payload shape stays put.
It does not replace your warehouse
Mrkr stores pre-aggregated counters, not a raw event stream. There is no self-serve export or query API; ask and we will pull your data out.
Watch it arrive
The live demo shows the realtime view on real demo traffic. Same ingest path the proxy uses, same five-minute live window.
Open the live demo
Questions, answered.
Keep reading
- Analytics adblockers do not block
The proxy in detail: what filter lists match, and the neutral-naming rule.
- AI traffic and AI crawler tracking
What the server-side beacon is for, with real crawler numbers.
- HTTP ingest API reference
The payload contract, and the plain statement of what it is not.
- Managed proxy setup guide
The CNAME, the certificate states, and the allowed paths.
- Revenue attribution
How purchases get tied back to the campaign that produced them.
- Every Mrkr feature
The full index of what the product measures.
Your first visitor is already here.
Drop in the script and watch them land. It takes about a minute.