Fathom Analytics vs Simple Analytics (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Fathom Analytics if

• Fits if you're an agency sending traffic reports to many clients
• Works for bloggers and small businesses who want stats without a cookie banner

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want to try it without handing over a card, as the 7-day trial needs one and renews itself
• Tight if you track lots of custom events, as they eat into your pageview allowance across all sites
• Not for you if you want to host your analytics yourself, which Fathom doesn't offer
• Too light for anyone who wants recordings, funnels or visitor-level data
• Pricey if traffic grows: $60 a month at 1M pageviews, $200 at 10M, and $10 a month per extra pack of 50 sites

Pick Simple Analytics if

• Fits if you want a single page of traffic numbers with no cookie banner
• Works for someone leaving GA4 who wants to run both side by side

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want to follow individual visitors, as it records pageviews with no visitor IDs
• Tight if you stay free: 1 month of history and a badge shown on your site
• Pricey if you add team members, at $20 a month each
• Watch out: bills from $500 paid by bank transfer carry an extra 10% in fees

Fathom Analytics

• There is no free plan: the 7-day trial needs a card, then the plan renews automatically.
• Custom events count against the monthly pageview allowance, shared across all your sites.
• Fathom is hosted only and cannot be self-hosted.
• Extra sites beyond those included cost $10 a month or $100 a year per pack of 50.

Simple Analytics

• The free plan keeps only the latest month of data and requires a Simple Analytics badge on the site.
• The price follows pageviews, and the paid plan includes one user; extra users are $20 a month each.
• Bills from $500 can be paid by bank transfer, with an extra 10% in banking and service fees.
• It records pageviews and events without visitor IDs, so it does not follow individual users across visits.

Fathom Analytics

No cookies or consent banner

Counts visits without cookies and anonymizes data with hashes and salts, so the vendor says no analytics consent banner is needed. EU visitor data stays in the EU.

Single-page dashboard

Pages, referrers, countries, devices and UTM campaigns on one page, in real time, with saved filtered views and milestones marked on the chart.

Events and revenue

Tracks sign-ups, form submissions and purchases as events, with a value and currency so sales totals show beside counts.

Client reports and sharing

Weekly or monthly email reports covering one or several sites, and dashboards shared publicly or behind a password.

Google Analytics and Search Console

Imports historical GA4 data and shows Search Console terms, clicks, impressions and positions beside your traffic.

Simple Analytics

No cookies, no personal data

The service says it sets no cookies, collects no personal data and creates no visitor IDs, so it does not need a consent banner.

One-page dashboard

Traffic is shown on a single dashboard that needs no configuration, with a public live dashboard available to view as an example.

Run beside GA4

Can run next to Google Analytics 4 to record pageviews and events from visitors who reject consent, so the two datasets can be compared.

API and BI access

A full API and exports let teams pull the data into their existing reporting tools. An MCP server and an AI assistant are also listed.

Google Analytics import

Historical Google Analytics data can be imported so reporting does not restart from zero after a switch.

EU hosting

Data is stored in the EU, with primary infrastructure in the Netherlands, and leaves it only when a customer opts into a feature such as the AI assistant.

Fathom Analytics

• Fathom Analytics$12.50

  per month for up to 100k pageviews, billed yearly ($15 billed monthly)

  Every feature, 50 sites, events and revenue, email reports, API. Rises with pageviews: $60 a month at 1M and $200 at 10M, billed monthly.

• High trafficCustom

  High-traffic plans above 25M monthly pageviews, quoted on request. The 25M tier itself is $470 a month, billed monthly.

Simple Analytics

• Free$0

  For hobby sites: 1 user, 5 websites, the latest month of data and a required Simple Analytics badge.

• Self-serve$20

  per month for up to 100k pageviews

  Price follows pageviews, up to 2.5M on the slider. Includes 1 user; each extra user is $20 a month. Annual billing shows 2 months free.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Quoted for your traffic, sites, data access and support needs; tied to a 30-day proof of concept run alongside GA4.

Fathom Analytics

• Annual discount

  2 months free with yearly billing

  Yearly billing costs 10 times the monthly rate: $150 a year instead of $15 a month at 100,000 pageviews, and $600 instead of $60 a month at 1M.

Simple Analytics

• Annual discount

  2 months free on annual billing

  The pricing page shows an annual payment option labelled 2 months free; the yearly total depends on the pageview limit you pick.