The 'small web' movement has grown far beyond expectations, with 32,000 sites now active across the Internet. Kevin Boone's analysis reveals that 9,000 sites publish updates at least monthly, with 1,251 updates occurring on a single day in March 2025. This growth challenges the notion that non-commercial web spaces are shrinking in an advertising-dominated Internet.

Boone's investigation began with the Gemini protocol, a stripped-down alternative to the traditional web that uses different protocols and software. With only about 6,000 Gemini capsules worldwide and roughly a hundred active users in forums, Gemini represents a niche but passionate community. The protocol's limitations make commercial exploitation nearly impossible, which drives its appeal among IT professionals seeking ad-free spaces.

Using Kagi's small web initiative list and feed aggregation techniques, Boone discovered the small web is too active to aggregate on a single page. While he hoped to create a Gemini-style feed aggregator for the broader small web, the sheer volume of daily updates makes this impractical. This growth actually validates the small web's mission - that private, non-commercial websites still thrive despite corporate dominance. The finding that 25,000 sites were excluded for lacking timestamps or being inactive further demonstrates the ecosystem's vibrancy.