What is the difference between Plausible and Simple Analytics?

Plausible is best for Privacy-conscious sites that want simple, clean analytics, while Simple Analytics is best for Privacy-conscious teams wanting ethical analytics. Plausible starts at $9/mo and Simple Analytics starts at $9/mo.

Plausible vs Simple Analytics

Plausible is privacy-friendly, lightweight web analytics. No cookies, GDPR-compliant out of the box, while Simple Analytics is privacy-first analytics that doesn't track users or use cookies. Plausible is open source and can be self-hosted, giving you full control over your data. Plausible is built for privacy-conscious sites that want simple, clean analytics, whereas Simple Analytics targets privacy-conscious teams wanting ethical analytics.

At a glance

	Plausible	Simple Analytics
Best for	Privacy-conscious sites that want simple, clean analytics	Privacy-conscious teams wanting ethical analytics
Starting price	$9/mo	$9/mo
Free tier	—	—
Open source	✓	—
Free tier available	—	—
Open source	✓	—
Cookieless	✓	—
Events	—	✓
GDPR Compliant	—	✓
Goal Tracking	✓	—
Goals	—	✓
Lightweight Script	✓	—
No Cookies	—	✓
Privacy First	✓	—
Self-Hosted	✓	—

Plausible

Strengths

Privacy-first — no cookies, no consent banners needed
Lightweight script under 1KB
Beautiful, simple dashboard
Open source, self-hostable

Weaknesses

Much less feature-rich than Google Analytics
No free tier (except self-hosted)
Limited segmentation and funnel analysis
No built-in A/B testing

Try Plausible → Full review

Simple Analytics

Strengths

Includes No Cookies as a core feature, purpose-built for analytics workflows
Includes GDPR Compliant as a core feature, purpose-built for analytics workflows
Affordable at $9/mo — one of the lower-priced options in the analytics category
Includes events alongside the core feature set — fewer separate tools needed

Weaknesses

No free plan — you need to pay $9/mo from day one to use it
Fewer built-in features means you may need additional tools to cover gaps
Data accuracy depends on tracking setup — misconfigured events give misleading results
Limited team/admin features if your organization eventually scales up

Try Simple Analytics → Full review

The bottom line

Pricing: Plausible starts at $9/mo. Simple Analytics starts at $9/mo.

Feature gaps: Plausible offers Cookieless, Goal Tracking and Lightweight Script that Simple Analytics lacks. Simple Analytics brings Events, GDPR Compliant and Goals that Plausible does not have.

Team fit: Both tools target small teams teams, so the decision hinges on features and workflow fit rather than scale.

Open source: Plausible is open source, meaning you can self-host, audit the code, and avoid vendor lock-in. Simple Analytics is proprietary — you are trusting the vendor with your data and uptime.

Where each tool shines: Plausible's biggest strengths are: privacy-first — no cookies, no consent banners needed. lightweight script under 1kb. Simple Analytics's biggest strengths are: includes no cookies as a core feature, purpose-built for analytics workflows. includes gdpr compliant as a core feature, purpose-built for analytics workflows.

Watch out for: With Plausible, users commonly note that much less feature-rich than google analytics. With Simple Analytics, the main complaint is that no free plan — you need to pay $9/mo from day one to use it.

Choose Plausible if...

You need a tool built for privacy-conscious sites that want simple, clean analytics
You need self-hosting, data sovereignty, or the ability to audit source code
You specifically need Cookieless and Goal Tracking
You care about lightweight script under 1kb

Choose Simple Analytics if...

You need a tool built for privacy-conscious teams wanting ethical analytics
You specifically need Events and GDPR Compliant
You care about includes gdpr compliant as a core feature, purpose-built for analytics workflows