Simple Analytics vs Wicked Reports in 2026: Cookieless traffic counting vs new-customer ad attribution
Two analytics tools that barely compete for the same buyer. One recovers hidden website traffic without cookies for €20 a month. The other tells ecommerce brands which ads bring first-time customers, starting at $499 a month.
Simple Analytics
Wicked Reports- Simple Analytics is a cookieless traffic dashboard starting at €20/month. Wicked Reports is a first-party ad attribution platform for ecommerce starting at $499/month.
- Simple Analytics requires no consent banner because it sets no cookies. Wicked Reports still depends on ad-platform integrations but bypasses iOS 14+ pixel restrictions with server-side Meta CAPI.
- Wicked Reports separates new-customer conversions from repeat-buyer conversions, something Simple Analytics does not attempt since it has no attribution model at all.
- Simple Analytics offers a free tier and white-label delivery for agencies at a low price point. Wicked Reports has no free tier and prices scale with annual revenue.
- Wicked Reports 5 Forces AI classifies every ad campaign as Scale, Chill, or Kill weekly. Simple Analytics has no campaign-level decision layer since it only reports aggregate site traffic.
Simple Analytics and Wicked Reports both live in the Analytics & Reporting category, but they solve almost opposite problems. Simple Analytics exists because consent banners and ad-blockers hide 20 to 60 percent of real traffic from Google Analytics, and it fixes that with a cookieless script and a one-page dashboard. Wicked Reports exists because platform-reported ROAS lies about which ads bring new customers versus recycling retargeting credit, and it fixes that with first-party click tracking, an Attribution Time Machine, and a weekly AI budget classifier. If you are choosing between them for the same job, you are probably choosing wrong; the real question is which problem you actually have.
The tools at a glance
Simple Analytics
Privacy-first web analytics that captures 100% of visitors without cookies or consent banners
Simple Analytics tracks website visitors without cookies, which means it counts people that consent-banner rejections and ad-blockers hide from Google Analytics. The entire product is one dashboard: pageviews, referrers, top pages, devices, and geography, with no funnels or user-level tracking layered on top.
It is EU-hosted and GDPR/CCPA compliant by default, so there is no data processing agreement or consent mechanism to configure. An API and white-label option exist for agencies that want to resell traffic reporting under their own brand.
The trade-off is depth. There is no attribution model, no ad spend correlation, and no way to tell which channel actually drove a sale. It answers "how many people visited" cleanly and does not attempt to answer "which ad made them buy."
| Feature | Free Free | Self-Serve €20/mo | Enterprise Contact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pageviews included | Limited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Cookieless tracking | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| API access | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| White-label | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
Wicked Reports
First-party attribution that shows which ads bring new customers, not just clicks.
Wicked Reports is built for ecommerce brands that suspect their platform-reported ROAS is inflated by retargeting campaigns claiming credit for repeat purchases. It separates new-customer attribution from repeat-buyer attribution using first-party click data and an Attribution Time Machine that matches sales back to the original click regardless of how long the sales cycle runs.
The 5 Forces AI feature runs a weekly analysis of every campaign against verified new-customer ROI and labels it Scale, Chill, or Kill, removing manual dashboard audits. Advanced Signal feeds clean new-customer conversion data back to Meta via CAPI, which survives iOS tracking restrictions that break browser-pixel attribution for most advertisers.
Pricing scales with annual revenue and starts at $499/month for Measure, climbing to $999/month for Maximize and from $4,999/month for Enterprise. There is no free tier, and 5 Forces AI plus Advanced Signal are $199/month add-ons below the Maximize plan.
| Feature | Measure $499/month | Scale $699/month | Maximize $999/month | Enterprise From $4,999/month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| API Integrations | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 5 Forces AI | Add-on +$199/mo | Add-on +$199/mo | ✓ | ✓ |
| Advanced Signal Meta CAPI | Add-on +$199/mo | Add-on +$199/mo | ✓ | ✓ |
| Priority Support | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
Head-to-head feature comparison
| Feature | Simple Analytics | Wicked Reports |
|---|---|---|
| Core focus | Aggregate website traffic counting | First-party ad attribution for ecommerce |
| Cookie use | None (cookieless) | Uses cookies plus server-side CAPI |
| GDPR compliant by default | Yes | Not stated as a design goal |
| New-customer ad attribution | No | Yes |
| Weekly campaign budget decisions | No | Yes (5 Forces AI) |
| Funnel / cohort reports | No | Yes (FunnelVision, cohorts) |
| API access | Yes (paid plans) | Yes (Scale plan and above) |
| White-label delivery | Enterprise only | No |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Starting price | Free / €20/mo self-serve | $499/month (Measure) |
Which should you choose?
Simple AnalyticsSimple AnalyticsWicked ReportsWicked ReportsSimple AnalyticsWicked ReportsThese two tools rarely show up in the same shortlist once you know what each one actually measures. Simple Analytics answers "how many people visited my site" with numbers GA4 cannot give you because it never asked for consent in the first place. Wicked Reports answers "which of my ad dollars brought a customer I did not already have" using first-party click data most sites never bother to build. A DTC brand running paid acquisition needs Wicked Reports regardless of what it uses for basic traffic counting, and a content site or SaaS marketing page with no meaningful ad attribution problem gets nothing from Wicked Reports it would ever use.
Bottom line
Pick Simple Analytics if the job is counting visitors accurately and cheaply without cookie consent overhead. Pick Wicked Reports if the job is proving which ad campaigns actually acquire new customers instead of just recycling retargeting credit, and you have the ad spend to justify a $499+/month tool. Running both is not redundant: one measures who showed up, the other measures who was worth paying to reach.
Frequently asked questions
Are Simple Analytics and Wicked Reports actually competitors?
Not really. Simple Analytics is a cookieless website traffic dashboard, while Wicked Reports is a first-party ad attribution platform for ecommerce. They can run side by side without overlap since one counts visitors and the other attributes revenue to specific ad campaigns.
Does Simple Analytics require a cookie consent banner like Wicked Reports might?
No. Simple Analytics sets no cookies, so no GDPR consent banner is required. Wicked Reports uses cookies and server-side conversion data, which typically still requires standard ecommerce consent handling depending on your jurisdiction.
Can a small ecommerce store use Wicked Reports at a lower budget than $499/month?
Wicked Reports has no lower entry point below the $499/month Measure plan and no free tier, and pricing scales further with annual revenue. Stores not yet spending significant money on paid acquisition are unlikely to get proportional value and would be better served starting with a lighter reporting tool.
Is Simple Analytics enough for an ecommerce brand that runs paid ads?
No, not on its own. Simple Analytics has no attribution model, so it cannot tell you which ad campaign drove a specific sale or separate new customers from repeat buyers. A paid-acquisition ecommerce brand needs a dedicated attribution tool like Wicked Reports alongside basic traffic analytics.
Which tool is cheaper for an agency managing multiple client sites?
Simple Analytics is dramatically cheaper for agencies that only need traffic reporting, at €20/month per self-serve account with white-label available on the Enterprise tier. Wicked Reports starts at $499/month per brand and is priced for ecommerce clients with real ad spend to attribute, not general-purpose client reporting.