Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | Logly | Simple Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | ✓ 1 site, up to 10,000 pv/mo, 1-month history, badge | ✓ 5 sites, unlimited pv (fair use), 30-day history, badge |
| Entry price (100k pv/mo) | ✓ $9/mo (early access) | ~$19/mo |
| Script size | ✓ < 1 KB | ~4 KB |
| Active time-on-page | ✓ Pauses when tab is hidden | ✗ Counts total tab open time |
| Ad blocker bypass | ✓ Built-in, zero config | Custom domain option (extra setup) |
| Bot & AI-crawler breakdown | ✓ Counted separately and labelled by type — search engines, AI crawlers, SEO tools, monitors | ✗ Tagged as robot and dropped; no report documented |
| No cookies | ✓ | ✓ |
| No consent banner needed for analytics | ✓ | ✓ |
| EU hosted | ✓ UK / EU | ✓ Netherlands |
| Public shareable dashboards | ✓ Toggle per site | ✓ |
| Email reports | ✓ Weekly or monthly | ✓ |
| Import from Google Analytics | ✗ | ✓ |
| Open source | ✗ | ✓ Partially (dashboard) |
| Setup time | ✓ ~2 min | ✓ ~2 min |
Pricing as published on simpleanalytics.com — verify with their current page. Last checked October 2026.
3 reasons people switch from Simple Analytics to Logly
Logly shows you the bots it filters
Simple Analytics tags automated traffic as robots and drops it; we found no report of what was removed. Logly counts filtered bots separately and names them — search engines, AI crawlers, SEO tools, monitors — so you can see which AI systems read your site. It only sees bots that run JavaScript, so treat the report as a minimum, not a full census.
4 KB vs under 1 KB — it's still a difference on slow connections
Simple Analytics' script is around 4 KB compressed. Logly's is under 1 KB. On fast broadband both are negligible. On a mobile connection in a rural area, every byte counts — and the gap matters more if you're loading multiple third-party scripts. Both are async and non-render-blocking, but Logly is smaller by design.
Time on page that reflects reading, not tab management
Logly uses the Page Visibility API to pause the timer when the visitor switches tabs. Simple Analytics measures wall-clock time from page load to navigation. A visitor who left your article open behind a video call will show 90 minutes in Simple Analytics and 4 minutes in Logly. One of those is more useful.
Frequently asked questions
Simple Analytics is built by an indie developer — does that matter?
Simple Analytics was founded by Adriaan van Rossum as a one-person bootstrapped business, which many people in the indie community specifically support. Logly is also bootstrapped. If the story behind the tool matters to you, both are worth considering on those grounds — it's a genuine distinction, not a marketing angle.
Simple Analytics has public dashboards — Logly doesn't. Is that a big deal?
If you want to share your stats publicly — as many open-source projects or newsletters do — Simple Analytics has this built in. Logly doesn't yet. If public transparency is a core requirement, Simple Analytics wins that specific feature.
Can I import my Simple Analytics data into Logly?
Not currently. Logly doesn't have an import tool. You'd start fresh with data from the day you install the snippet. For most sites that's acceptable; if you need to preserve historical trends, consider keeping Simple Analytics running in read-only mode while you evaluate Logly.
Both tools are privacy-first — is there any real GDPR difference?
Both are cookie-free and built so analytics alone doesn't need a consent banner. Simple Analytics is based in the Netherlands; Logly stores its data in the EU. The difference is in features and price.
Same privacy philosophy, lighter script, free tier included
Free up to 10,000 pageviews a month. One script tag, no DNS changes, works with Brave and uBlock out of the box.
Get started free → or try the live demo → No credit card · Free forever on the Free plan · 2 minutes to install