Open-source ad fraud detection for small businesses

Live Demo • Quick Start • Why Different • Contribute

Founded by Hongyi Shui

Detect click fraud, bot traffic, and fake conversions from Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram, and TikTok. AdTruth is a free, open-source ad fraud detection tool that helps small businesses identify which advertising platforms waste their budget on fraudulent traffic.

You're spending $3,000/month on paid ads. Conversion rate: 5%.

30% of those clicks might be fake.

Not obvious bots—AI-powered ad fraud that mimics human behavior perfectly. Natural mouse movement. Human-like scrolling. They visit your page, bounce after 8 seconds. You just paid $2.50 for nothing.

Enterprise fraud detection tools (ClickCease, CHEQ, TrafficGuard) cost thousands per month.

We built AdTruth to give small businesses the same ad fraud visibility, completely free. Detect bot traffic and fraudulent clicks across all your advertising platforms. See which channels waste your budget on fake traffic and shift spending to real customers.

The fraud economy: Fake websites generate clicks → Fraudsters profit → Your budget disappears → Real customers never see your ads

AdTruth reveals which platforms have higher fraud rates, so you can shift budget from high-fraud channels to low-fraud ones.

Try it yourself: adtruth.io • Enter your website to see estimated fraud rates across Google, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok

Real-time insights:

• See which platforms waste money on bots vs attract real customers
• Compare your fraud rates to industry benchmarks
• Get actionable recommendations

1. Install → Add one line of code to your website (takes 60 seconds)

2. Collect → AdTruth automatically tracks visitor behavior and fraud signals

3. Analyze → Our ML models calculate fraud rates for each traffic source

4. Optimize → See platform-by-platform fraud rates (e.g., "Google: 11%, Instagram: 63%")

5. Reallocate → Shift budget from high-fraud platforms to channels with real customers

Zero configuration. No maintenance. Just install and go.

Get started in 60 seconds • No credit card required • Free forever

Add this script before the closing </body> tag:

<script>
(function(d, s, id) {
    var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
    if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
    js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
    js.src = 'https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/papa-torb/adtruth@latest/dist/adtruth.min.js';
    js.onload = function() {
        AdTruth.init('YOUR_API_KEY_HERE');
    };
    fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, 'script', 'adtruth-js'));
</script>

Get your free API key: Sign up at adtruth.io (takes 30 seconds)

Time: 2 minutes • Difficulty: Easy • Tested: Verified working

WordPress powers 43% of all websites. We've tested and confirmed this integration works perfectly.

Quick Steps:

1. Install the WPCode plugin (2M+ active installations)
2. Go to Code Snippets → Header & Footer
3. Paste the AdTruth script in the Footer section
4. Click Save Changes

View detailed WordPress guide →

Time: 3 minutes • Difficulty: Easy • Tested: Verified working

Modern Shopify stores use Custom Pixels for tracking scripts. This is the recommended method.

Quick Steps:

1. Go to Settings → Customer Events
2. Click Add Custom Pixel
3. Name it "AdTruth Fraud Detection"
4. Paste the AdTruth initialization code
5. Click Save

View detailed Shopify guide →

Time: 2 minutes • Difficulty: Easy

Quick Steps:

1. Go to Settings → Custom Code in your Wix dashboard
2. Click + Add Custom Code
3. Paste the AdTruth script
4. Set to load on All Pages in the Body - end
5. Click Apply

View detailed Wix guide →

We have tested integration guides for:

• Squarespace - View guide
• Webflow - View guide
• GoDaddy Website Builder - View guide
• GitHub Pages - View guide

Enterprise-grade fraud analytics without enterprise pricing. Your traffic data helps train models that benefit the entire network. When we detect fraud patterns on one site, every other business gets better fraud scoring immediately.

AdTruth uses a multi-layered approach to identify fraudulent traffic:

• Browser fingerprinting - Unique device signatures that bots can't fake
• Behavioral analysis - Real users scroll, move, and click differently than bots
• Machine learning - Isolation Forest models trained on collective network data
• Network intelligence - Fraud patterns detected on one site protect all sites

Why we don't share all our methods: Disclosing detailed detection techniques helps fraudsters bypass them. Our open-source SDK is transparent, but our ML models and detection rules remain proprietary to stay ahead of evolving fraud.

AdTruth is designed with privacy as a core principle:

• ✅ GDPR compliant - No personal data collection
• ✅ CCPA compliant - Users can opt-out anytime
• ✅ No PII storage - We don't collect names, emails, or addresses
• ✅ Cookie-less tracking - Works without third-party cookies
• ✅ Encrypted in transit - All data encrypted via HTTPS
• ✅ Respects Do Not Track - Honors browser privacy settings
• ✅ Open source - Audit the code yourself

What we collect:

• Anonymized behavioral signals (mouse patterns, scroll depth)
• Technical attributes (browser type, screen resolution)
• Campaign parameters (UTM codes from ad links)

What we DON'T collect:

• Personal information (names, emails, phone numbers)
• Payment information
• Precise geolocation
• Browsing history outside your website

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/papa-torb/adtruth.git
cd adtruth

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build for production
npm run build

# Build for development (with watch)
npm run dev

# Run tests
npm test

adtruth/
├── src/
│   ├── core/           # Core tracking logic
│   ├── fingerprint/    # Browser fingerprinting
│   ├── behavior/       # Behavioral analysis
│   └── utils/          # Helper functions
├── dist/               # Built files
├── tests/              # Test suite
└── rollup.config.js    # Build configuration

We welcome contributions! Every improvement you make helps protect thousands of businesses.

How to contribute:

1. Fork the repository and create a feature branch
2. Write tests for your changes
3. Follow our coding standards (ESLint + Prettier configured)
4. Submit a pull request with a clear description

Areas where we need help:

• New fraud detection techniques
• Performance optimizations
• Browser compatibility testing
• Documentation improvements
• Translation to other languages

Not a developer? You can still help:

• Report bugs or fraud patterns you've discovered
• Improve documentation
• Share AdTruth with other small business owners
• Contribute to discussions and feature ideas

See CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines.

• ✅ Browser fingerprinting
• ✅ Behavioral analysis (mouse, scroll, touch)
• ✅ UTM campaign tracking
• ✅ Real-time dashboard
• ✅ ML-based fraud scoring
• ✅ Page unload tracking (accurate session duration)
• ✅ Platform integration guides (WordPress, Shopify, Wix)

• 🔄 Advanced ML models (ensemble methods)
• 🔄 Honeypot trap implementation
• 🔄 WebGL fingerprinting
• 🔄 Page visibility tracking
• 🔄 Email/Slack alerts for fraud spikes

• 📋 Open fraud dataset for researchers - Preview documentation
• 📋 Community-contributed fraud rules
• 📋 Plugin marketplace (WordPress, Shopify, etc.)
• 📋 API for third-party integrations
• 📋 Mobile app for on-the-go monitoring

Want to influence the roadmap? Open an issue or join the discussion.

• GitHub Issues: Report bugs or request features
• Documentation: See CHANGELOG.md, SECURITY.md, and platform guides in examples/
• Email: contact@adtruth.io

• ⭐ Star this repo to show support
• 👀 Watch releases to get notified of updates
• 📋 Read the CHANGELOG for version updates

The more businesses that use AdTruth, the better it works for everyone. Share with:

• Other small business owners
• Marketing agencies
• Developer communities
• Anyone paying for online advertising

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

What this means:

• ✅ Use AdTruth commercially
• ✅ Modify the code
• ✅ Distribute your own versions
• ✅ Private use
• ⚠️ Must include copyright notice
• ⚠️ No warranty provided

• Founded by Hongyi Shui - Building fraud protection for small businesses
• Inspired by research from Stanford, MIT, and industry fraud detection papers
• Special thanks to the open-source community for making projects like this possible

AdTruth - Protecting your ad spend through collective intelligence

Made with care for small businesses everywhere

Note: This project is still under development.