diff --git a/docs/analytics.md b/docs/analytics.md
index 23d1152..0dd1eff 100644
--- a/docs/analytics.md
+++ b/docs/analytics.md
@@ -197,7 +197,8 @@ Because it is a real page, fetch-navigation handles it like any other internal
 link: clicking the 📊 pen (or any link to `/_a`) fetches the server-rendered
 HTML, swaps the dynamic regions and mounts the Vue analytics app in place. The
 range selector updates the URL hash (`#week` etc.) so links to a specific
-range can be shared.
+range can be shared. When the URL has no hash, the server defaults to `day`
+if analytics history spans less than 24 hours, otherwise `week`.
 
 `AnalyticsView.vue` is no longer a full-screen overlay; the `body.analytics-open`
 page-chrome hiding and `#/analytics/<range>` hash routing have been removed.
diff --git a/frontend/src/analytics-main.js b/frontend/src/analytics-main.js
index b65aa8d..1e5aa33 100644
--- a/frontend/src/analytics-main.js
+++ b/frontend/src/analytics-main.js
@@ -9,7 +9,9 @@ let app = null
 export function mount(container) {
   if (app) return
   app = createApp(AnalyticsView, {
-    initialRange: location.hash.slice(1) || 'week',
+    initialRange: location.hash.slice(1)
+      || container.dataset.initialRange
+      || 'week',
   })
   app.mount(container)
 }
diff --git a/pagerite/app.py b/pagerite/app.py
index 52ba28d..e92e461 100644
--- a/pagerite/app.py
+++ b/pagerite/app.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ import shutil
 import socket
 from collections.abc import AsyncIterator
 from contextlib import asynccontextmanager
-from datetime import UTC, datetime
+from datetime import UTC, datetime, timedelta
 from email.utils import format_datetime
 from functools import lru_cache
 from pathlib import Path
@@ -711,6 +711,17 @@ class AnalyticsPing(BaseModel):
     read: int = 0
 
 
+def _analytics_initial_range() -> str:
+    """Default analytics range: day when history is shorter than 24 h."""
+    visits = analytics_store.data.visits
+    if not visits:
+        return "week"
+    earliest = min(v.start for v in visits)
+    if datetime.now(UTC) - earliest < timedelta(hours=24):
+        return "day"
+    return "week"
+
+
 @app.get("/_a", response_model=None)
 async def analytics_page(request: Request) -> HTMLResponse:
     """Render the analytics viewer as a normal site page at /_a.
@@ -721,7 +732,13 @@ async def analytics_page(request: Request) -> HTMLResponse:
     """
     return HTMLResponse(
         views.render_analytics(
-            data.menu, data.brand, data.custom_css, data.theme, data.favicon, data.brand_html
+            data.menu,
+            data.brand,
+            data.custom_css,
+            data.theme,
+            data.favicon,
+            data.brand_html,
+            initial_range=_analytics_initial_range(),
         ),
         headers={"cache-control": "no-cache"},
     )
diff --git a/pagerite/views.py b/pagerite/views.py
index 66475c0..152b128 100644
--- a/pagerite/views.py
+++ b/pagerite/views.py
@@ -681,6 +681,7 @@ def render_analytics(
     theme: str = "",
     favicon: str = "",
     brand_html: str = "",
+    initial_range: str = "week",
 ) -> str:
     """Render the analytics viewer as a normal page at /_a."""
     page_scripts, page_stylesheets = _page_assets()
@@ -689,7 +690,7 @@ def render_analytics(
     stylesheets = page_stylesheets + analytics_stylesheets
     doc = E.article
     with doc:
-        doc.div(id="analytics-app")
+        doc.div(id="analytics-app", **{"data-initial-range": initial_range})
     return str(
         _layout(
             scripts,