Simple Analytics vs Statcounter Comparison 2026
Simple Analytics is one page of pageview numbers with no cookies, no consent banner and EU hosting, free for a hobby site that keeps the badge on, then $20 a month at 100,000 pageviews. Statcounter adds something aggregate dashboards do not: a live feed of individual visits, free forever under 5,000 sessions a month with fourteen days of retention, then $18 a month for 20,000 sessions. Simple Analytics answers what got read; Statcounter answers what one particular visitor actually did.
At a glance
- Statcounter starts cheaper, at $18.
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Simple Analytics | Statcounter | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $20 | From $18 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | 30 days |
| API | Yes |
Simple Analytics
Website numbers on a single page
Simple Analytics is one dashboard with no setup behind it, aimed at somebody who wants to know what people read and has no intention of building funnels. No cookies, no consent banner and hosting inside the EU are the three things it leads with. Pageview volume sets the price and extra users cost the same again each. Hobby sites are free if the badge stays on the page.
Our note
The per-user price matching the base price is unusual and makes this expensive for a team of three, so it is at its best for one person. The free hobby tier is a genuine offer rather than a trial, and for a personal site the badge is a fair trade.
Statcounter
A visitor log with a lasting free tier
Statcounter has been counting visitors since before analytics became a discipline, and it still does the thing that made it useful: a live feed of individual visits rather than only aggregates, which is how somebody works out what one specific referral actually did. The free plan keeps two weeks of history for a small site. Paying buys longer retention, more sessions and session replay. It is a visitor log rather than a product analytics suite, and anybody wanting funnels and cohorts is looking at the wrong tool.
Why people weigh these two
- Statcounter instead of Simple Analytics
- Statcounter keeps a visitor log with a lasting free tier, paid from $18.
- Simple Analytics instead of Statcounter
- Simple Analytics puts everything on a single page, from $20 with a free tier.
Which one should you pick
Pick Simple Analytics for a privacy-first, one-screen dashboard: no cookies, no consent banner, data held in the EU. The free hobby tier needs the badge displayed; past that it is $20 a month at 100,000 pageviews, and a second user costs another $20, worth noticing before adding a team.
Pick Statcounter if you need to see what one specific referral actually did, visit by visit, which an aggregate-only dashboard cannot show. Basic is free forever under 5,000 sessions with fourteen days of history; Premium is $18 a month, a little cheaper than Simple Analytics' entry price, for 20,000 sessions and session replay.
Common questions
- Which one is cheaper at the entry paid tier?
- Statcounter's Premium at $18 a month is a little less than Simple Analytics' $20 a month, though the two also cap different things: 20,000 sessions against 100,000 pageviews.
- Does Simple Analytics show individual visitor sessions like Statcounter?
- No, it stays aggregate: a dashboard of what got read and where readers came from, with no live feed of individual visits. That per-visit detail is Statcounter's specific advantage.
- How generous is each free tier?
- Simple Analytics gives a month of history on five websites, with a badge required. Statcounter gives fourteen days of history on up to 5,000 sessions a month, with no badge condition.
- Does adding a second user cost more on Simple Analytics?
- Yes, notably: an extra user is $20 a month, the same as the base plan itself, so a team of three roughly triples the bill. Statcounter's pricing is not stated per seat.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.