Web Analytics · head-to-head
Plausible Analytics vs Simple Analytics
As of 30 Oct 2026, the panel rates Plausible Analytics 2.5/5 and Simple Analytics 3/5 in Web Analytics. Weighted by what each judge cares about, 4 of the 6 judges pick Plausible Analytics and 1 picks Simple Analytics, 1 calls it a tie. Plausible Analytics scores higher on 1 of 7 criteria (Goals, events, funnels & e-commerce). Simple Analytics scores higher on 6 of 7 criteria (Pricing transparency, Consent-free operation & data minimisation, Data access, export & self-hosting, plus 3 more). Provenance — Plausible Analytics: EU-Made; Simple Analytics: EU-Made. Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: how scores are made.
The short answer
Simple Analytics holds the higher mean on six of seven criteria — consent and privacy 6.7 to 5.7, data ownership 6.3 to 5.5, sovereignty 6.2 to 5.5, pricing transparency 5.0 to 3.8, implementation 5.7 to 5.3, traffic reporting 5.0 to 4.8 — while Plausible Analytics carries the judge leans on six: 4–1 on traffic reporting, conversions and events, and implementation; 3–1 on data ownership and sovereignty; 2–1 with three ties on consent and privacy. Pricing transparency is the one criterion where no judge leans Plausible Analytics (0–2, four ties); its pages price only the 10k monthly pageview band, with Enterprise at 'Contact us'. The weighted totals divide the bench: four favor Plausible Analytics 7.4–8.0 against 6.3–7.0, the skeptic reads it 0 to Simple Analytics' 7.2, and the public-sector bench reads both 0. Both list EU-only data residency and founder-held ownership, with entities in Estonia and the Netherlands.
Choose Plausible Analytics if
- You need conversions and events coverage — four judges lean Plausible Analytics there, mean 4.5 to 4.2.
- Your team builds on documented APIs and exports and wants a 30-day trial with no credit card — the implementation lean is Plausible Analytics 4 to 1.
- Your data protection officer leads procurement — that weighted total reads Plausible Analytics 7.6 to 7, with an automatically applicable data processing agreement and visitor data stated to be processed on servers owned by European companies and never to leave the EU.
- Your buying committee resembles the e-commerce lead, agency developer and growth analyst — their totals read 7.5, 8 and 7.4 against 6.3, 6.8 and 6.7.
Choose Simple Analytics if
- You need published prices beyond an entry band before signing — pricing transparency means 5.0 to 3.8, no judge leans Plausible Analytics (0–2 with four ties), and its pages price only the 10k monthly pageview band with Enterprise at 'Contact us'.
- Your reviewer scores like the skeptic bench — its weighted total reads Simple Analytics 7.2 to Plausible Analytics 0.
- You need a consent-free position argued against named law — Simple Analytics cites ePrivacy Article 5(3), Germany's TTDSG and the UK PECR, drops IP addresses rather than storing or hashing them, and its consent and privacy mean reads 6.7 to 5.7 (leans split 2–1 with three ties).
- Your contracting requires a Dutch entity — jurisdiction is listed as the Netherlands — noting that the captured pages give different figures for the contracting entity.
Read this comparison as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.
The bench's picks
Same scores, different priorities: each judge's weighting applied to both products. The split is the finding.
- The E-Commerce Marketing Lead Plausible Analytics Simple Analytics picks Plausible Analytics
- The Data Protection Officer Plausible Analytics Simple Analytics picks Plausible Analytics
- The Agency Developer Plausible Analytics Simple Analytics picks Plausible Analytics
- The Growth Analyst Plausible Analytics Simple Analytics picks Plausible Analytics
- The Public-Sector Site Owner Plausible Analytics Simple Analytics tie
- The Skeptic Plausible Analytics Simple Analytics picks Simple Analytics
Criterion by criterion
| Criterion | Plausible Analytics | Simple Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| Traffic, sources & campaign reports | 2.5 of 5 | 2.5 of 5 |
| Goals, events, funnels & e-commerce | 2.5 of 5 | 2 of 5 |
| Consent-free operation & data minimisation | 3 of 5 | 3.5 of 5 |
| Data access, export & self-hosting | 3 of 5 | 3 of 5 |
| Installation, integrations & performance | 2.5 of 5 | 3 of 5 |
| European sovereignty | 3 of 5 | 3 of 5 |
| Pricing transparency | 2 of 5 | 2.5 of 5 |
| Criterion | Plausible Analytics | Simple Analytics | The bench leans |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traffic, sources & campaign reports | Plausible Analytics, 4 of 6 judges | ||
| Goals, events, funnels & e-commerce | Plausible Analytics, 4 of 6 judges | ||
| Consent-free operation & data minimisation | Plausible Analytics, 2 of 6 judges | ||
| Data access, export & self-hosting | Plausible Analytics, 3 of 6 judges | ||
| Installation, integrations & performance | Plausible Analytics, 4 of 6 judges | ||
| European sovereignty | Plausible Analytics, 3 of 6 judges | ||
| Pricing transparency | Simple Analytics, 2 of 6 judges |
Stars show the bench average per criterion; the lean counts which product each judge scored higher. Open a judge's tab for their reasoning on both sides.
Sovereignty, side by side
| Dimension | Plausible Analytics | Simple Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | Not determined |
| Hosting location | Not determined | Not determined |
| Hosting options | Not determined | Not determined |
| Open source | Not determined | Not determined |
| Data processing agreement | Not determined | Not determined |
| Transfer impact assessment | Not determined | Not determined |
Facts, side by side
Only facts both products carry under the same definition — anything else would not be a fair row.
| Compliance · Regulations | GDPR · CCPA · PECR1 | GDPR · ePrivacy Directive · UK GDPR · PECR2 |
|---|---|---|
| Data · Ownership | yes3 | 10 · yes4 |
| Hosting · EU hosted | yes · yes · yes5 | EU2 |
| Hosting · Region | yes · Germany3 | EU · yes6 |
| Integrations · Stats API | programmatic access to aggregated stats · yes7 | Stats API · aggregated statistics programmatically · yes8 |
| Legal · Entity | Plausible Insights OÜ · Tartu, Estonia1 | controller · Simple Analytics (sole proprietorship) · Hooftlaan 4, 1401 ED Bussum, Netherlands · 609788569 |
| Pricing · Free trial | yes10 | 3011 |
| Pricing · Model | subscription12 | yes · yes · yes · 14 · on request · no6 |
| Product · Ga import | yes13 | Google Analytics historical data import · yes8 |
| Product · No cookies | no14 | yes · yes · yes · yes15 |
| Product · No cross site tracking | no persistent visitor profiles or cross-site/device tracking5 | yes · yes15 |
| Product · No personal data | No personal data collected; IPs used only for daily rotating visitor hash, never stored; no device fingerprints or persistent identifiers14 | no16 |
| Product · Script size | 135 · yes13 | under · 56 |
| Product · Utm support | yes · yes · yes12 | Supports UTM source, medium, campaign and content parameters17 |
| Subprocessors · Bunny | Bunny · CDN, DNS and DDoS protection1 | IP addresses (not logged) · CDN, DNS · EU (Slovenia)18 |
| Subprocessors · Google | Google · Google Analytics import / integrations · yes1 | Google Analytics import and Google Data Studio connector · US18 |
| Subprocessors · Hetzner | Hetzner · server infrastructure and hosting1 | IP addresses · Infrastructure hosting · EU (Germany)18 |
Questions about Plausible Analytics and Simple Analytics
Which is better, Plausible Analytics or Simple Analytics?
As of 30 Oct 2026, the panel rates Simple Analytics higher: 3/5 against 2.5/5. Weighted by what each judge cares about, 4 of the 6 judges pick Plausible Analytics and 1 picks Simple Analytics, 1 calls it a tie. Which one fits depends on the criteria that matter to you; the table on this page shows both side by side, and each judge’s reading has its own page. Both were scored by the same AI bench under the same rubric, from public evidence only, as the methodology describes.
Is Plausible Analytics or Simple Analytics European?
Plausible Analytics is European (EU-Made). Simple Analytics is European (EU-Made). Provenance is read from each company’s own legal pages: who builds it and who owns it.
Where do Plausible Analytics and Simple Analytics store customer data?
Per the vendors’ own pages as captured — Plausible Analytics: Default not stated; pages mention the EU and Germany. Simple Analytics: Default not stated; pages mention the EU.
Do Plausible Analytics and Simple Analytics have a free plan?
As of 30 Oct 2026, Simple Analytics’s own pages state a free plan; Plausible Analytics’s pages as captured do not. Each product page links the pricing page it was read from.