Fathom Analytics built a real following by doing one thing well: privacy-first traffic numbers, with none of the cookie banners or data-sharing baggage of Google Analytics. If you’re already using it, or considering it, you probably don’t want a review that talks you out of privacy-first analytics. You want to know if there’s a tool that gives you the same clean, cookieless numbers, plus a way to actually see what visitors do once they land on your site.
That’s the real question behind this comparison. Fathom and SimpleStats start from the same place: no cookies, no consent banners, no selling your visitors’ data. Where they split is what happens after the pageview count. Here’s an honest look at both, including where Fathom genuinely wins.
In This Article:
What Is Fathom Analytics?
Fathom Analytics is a hosted, privacy-first analytics SaaS, founded in 2018. It’s fully cookieless on every plan, with no toggle or setup involved. That’s just how it’s built.
There’s a WordPress plugin. It injects the tracking script automatically, and once you turn on dashboard sharing in your Fathom account, it can also embed your dashboard inside wp-admin.
Fathom covers the analytics basics well: pageviews, visitors, referrers, campaign links, custom events. It doesn’t offer heatmaps or session replays at all, on any plan. There’s no free tier, but every plan includes a 7-day free trial.
What Is SimpleStats?
SimpleStats is a privacy-first analytics platform with a WordPress plugin, and it also works on Shopify, Squarespace, or any custom site via a single line of code. It offers two tracking modes: Lightweight, which sets no cookies and needs no consent banner, and Advanced, which adds heatmaps, session replays, and fuller attribution in exchange for a small set of cookies.
That choice is the core difference from Fathom. Instead of one fixed architecture, SimpleStats lets you decide whether you want to stay fully cookie-free or turn on deeper behavior data, on a per-site basis.
Setup and Installation
Both tools take minutes to set up, and neither requires touching code beyond pasting a line into your site. The difference is what you get once it’s installed.
Both plugins are simple to install, and the tracking script goes live automatically. On Fathom, there’s one extra step: you need to turn on dashboard sharing in your Fathom account before your stats will actually show up inside wp-admin, otherwise the plugin only handles tracking. On any other platform, both tools work the same way: one script, no server access needed.
SimpleStats Dashboard
Fathom Analytics Dashboard
Key Takeaway: Both set up in minutes with a one-click plugin. Fathom needs dashboard sharing turned on in your account before stats show up in wp-admin.
Privacy and Cookies
Fathom is cookieless by design, on every plan, with no setting to change that. It collects no personal data, needs no consent banner, and is GDPR and CCPA compliant out of the box. That consistency is genuinely one of Fathom’s strengths: there’s no mode to pick, so there’s nothing to get wrong.
SimpleStats takes a different approach: it gives you the choice. Lightweight tracking sets no cookies and needs no consent banner, matching Fathom’s setup exactly. Advanced tracking uses a small set of cookies to add session-level data, heatmaps, and replays, which does require visitor consent. Your data stays on SimpleStats servers either way, and is never sold or shared.
If staying cookie-free, full stop, is the whole point for your site, Fathom’s simplicity has real appeal. One thing worth knowing: SimpleStats’s tracking mode is set when you add the site and can’t be changed afterward, so if there’s a real chance you’ll want heatmaps or replays down the line, it’s worth picking Advanced from the start rather than switching later.
Goal Tracking
Both tools let you track conversions, but the setup is different. Fathom’s goal tracking is included in its $15/month plan (there’s no free tier), and runs through its general-purpose custom events, so tracking something as simple as a visitor reaching your thank you page still means adding a line of code to that page. You can attach an optional monetary value to any event.
SimpleStats splits goals into two types. Destination goals fire when a visitor reaches a matching page, no code required, set up directly in the dashboard. Event goals cover custom actions and need one line of code, the same as Fathom. Either type can carry a monetary goal value, and any Destination goal can turn on a funnel, ordered steps that show exactly where visitors drop off before converting, something Fathom doesn’t offer at all.
Key Takeaway: Fathom’s goal tracking ($15/month minimum, no free tier) always needs a code snippet, even for a simple page visit. SimpleStats’s Destination goals are no-code and can include a funnel showing exactly where visitors drop off, included from the Hobby plan ($10/month).
eCommerce Tracking
Fathom’s ecommerce tracking is included in its $15/month plan (no free tier), and it’s just a custom event with an optional revenue value attached. It works, but there’s no dedicated ecommerce dashboard: no automatic breakdown by product, by channel, or a checkout funnel. You get a total, and that’s mostly it.
SimpleStats includes a full ecommerce dashboard starting on the Hobby plan ($10/month): gross sales, order count, average order value, a sales-over-time chart, and a breakdown of which products are selling. Breaking sales down by traffic channel needs Advanced tracking, since it depends on linking a sale back to a specific visitor session. Lightweight tracking still shows your totals, just not the channel behind them.
SimpleStats eCommerce Dashboard
Key Takeaway: Fathom’s ecommerce tracking ($15/month minimum) is a bare custom event with a revenue value, no dedicated reporting. SimpleStats gives you a full ecommerce dashboard from the Hobby plan ($10/month).
Heatmaps and Session Replays
This is where the two tools diverge most. Fathom doesn’t offer heatmaps or session replays, on any plan, at any price. It shows you that traffic happened, not what visitors did once they arrived.
SimpleStats includes both on Advanced tracking, starting on the Pro plan ($19/month): 1,000 session replays and 5 heatmaps a month, scaling up on higher plans. That means you can watch an actual recording of someone’s visit, or check a heatmap to see whether anyone’s scrolling far enough to see your pricing table. Heatmaps and session replays are usually the kind of thing enterprise analytics tools charge hundreds a month for. SimpleStats bundles them in from $19/month instead.
Key Takeaway: Fathom has no heatmaps or session replays on any plan. SimpleStats includes both from the Pro plan ($19/month) on Advanced tracking.
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Fathom’s pricing scales purely by pageviews, and every plan includes the same features and starts you with 50 sites, even the cheapest one, scaling up to hundreds of sites on the higher tiers. That’s genuinely generous for agencies or anyone running a portfolio of smaller sites. Fathom also keeps your data forever, with no retention cutoff on any plan.
SimpleStats scales by both pageviews and feature depth. At low traffic, it’s cheaper: Hobby ($10/month, 10,000 pageviews) already includes goals and ecommerce tracking, versus Fathom’s $15/month floor. SimpleStats keeps historical data for up to 3 years, not forever.
The price gap only tells part of the story, though. Fathom’s flat scaling means 100,000 monthly pageviews cost $15/month either way, while SimpleStats’s Growth plan at that volume is $49/month. If all you need is traffic numbers, Fathom is the cheaper way to get them at scale. If you also want heatmaps, session replays, and a real ecommerce dashboard, that price difference is what it costs to get all of it in one tool instead of paying for a second one on top of your analytics.
| SimpleStats | Fathom Analytics | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $10/month for 10,000 pageviews (Hobby) | $15/month for 100,000 pageviews |
| Cookies | Your choice: none (Lightweight) or a few (Advanced) | None, on any plan |
| Heatmaps & session replays | Included from Pro ($19/month) | Not available, on any plan |
| eCommerce dashboard | Included from Hobby ($10/month) | Basic custom event only, no dashboard |
| Sites included | 1 to 25, depending on plan | 50 minimum, scaling up on higher tiers |
Fathom vs SimpleStats: Which Should You Choose?
Choose Fathom If
- You run a lot of smaller sites and want 50 included on every plan, even the cheapest
- You have high traffic (100,000+ monthly pageviews) and want the lowest possible cost per pageview
- You want your historical data kept forever, with no retention limit to think about
- You only need clean traffic numbers and don’t need to see how visitors behave on the page
Choose SimpleStats If
- You want to see heatmaps and session replays, not just how many people visited
- You run a store and want a real ecommerce dashboard: sales, products, and channels, not a bare custom event
- You want to set up a goal without writing code, and see a funnel of exactly where visitors drop off
- You want the choice, per site, between staying fully cookie-free or getting deeper attribution and behavior data
- You’re at low to mid traffic and want goals, ecommerce, and a lower entry price bundled in from the start
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Fathom Analytics use cookies?
No. Fathom is fully cookieless on every plan, with no setting to change that. SimpleStats works the same way on Lightweight tracking, and also offers an Advanced mode that uses a few cookies in exchange for heatmaps and session replays.
Does Fathom Analytics have heatmaps or session replays?
No, on any plan. Fathom covers traffic, referrers, and custom events, but not heatmaps or session replays. SimpleStats includes both starting on its Pro plan ($19/month).
Is Fathom Analytics good for ecommerce tracking?
It’s basic. Fathom lets you log a custom event with a revenue value on its $15/month plan (no free tier), but there’s no dedicated ecommerce dashboard, product breakdown, or channel attribution. SimpleStats includes a full ecommerce dashboard from its Hobby plan ($10/month).
Can I track a goal in Fathom without writing code?
No. Even a simple goal, like a visitor reaching a thank you page, needs a code snippet added to that page. SimpleStats’s Destination goals are no-code, set up directly in the dashboard by matching a URL.
Is SimpleStats cheaper than Fathom Analytics?
It depends on your traffic. At low volume, SimpleStats’s Hobby plan ($10/month) undercuts Fathom’s $15/month floor, and includes ecommerce tracking too. Past 100,000 monthly pageviews, Fathom’s flat pricing gets cheaper, though it still won’t include heatmaps or session replays at any price.
Does Fathom Analytics have a WordPress plugin?
Yes. It injects the tracking script automatically, and can also show your dashboard inside wp-admin, but only after you turn on dashboard sharing in your Fathom account first.
Fathom and SimpleStats both deliver on the privacy-first promise: no cookies, no consent banners, no third-party data sharing. Beyond that, SimpleStats bundles in heatmaps, session replays, no-code goal funnels, and a full ecommerce dashboard, the kind of features that usually come with an enterprise price tag, starting at $10 a month. The real choice is how much of that you want, and how much you’re willing to pay for it at scale.