Free Tool Shield

Lightweight abuse protection and stats for free online tools

Problem

Indie developers running free online tools face two headaches at once: others embed their tool in iframes or hammer their endpoints, driving up costs, while free analytics providers now force badges on free tiers and cut history. Solo developers have no time to build protection and stats themselves.

Solution

A small script plus edge middleware detects iframe embedding, abnormal call frequency and odd referrers, then rate-limits or blocks them. It also provides badge-free lightweight traffic stats and abuse alerts so free tools stay cheap to run.

Users

Indie developers running free online tools such as PDF utilities, converters and calculators

MVP

Tenant signup and tool domain binding; iframe embedding detection and rate-limit rules; simple traffic dashboard; abuse alert emails; one-click embed verification script

Revenue

Free quota then monthly subscription by number of tool sites; add custom domains and data export

Why now

Free tool makers keep growing while free analytics providers tighten terms, creating a squeezed group that wants basic protection and stats without high prices