Same year, same promise
All three companies trace their start to 2018: Simple Analytics in September 2018 by Adriaan van Rossum, Plausible in December 2018 by Uku Taht, and Fathom in 2018 after a tweeted dashboard mockup. Each sells website analytics that avoid cookies and personal data, and each describes itself as self-funded. A crowded niche did not prevent all three from building lasting businesses, according to their own pages.
Different first moves
Fathom tested demand with a screenshot before building, then released open-source software before a paid hosted product. Plausible launched paid subscriptions in 2019 and is open source under AGPLv3. Simple Analytics stayed a solo project until a marketing co-founder joined in 2022. Editorial inference: the same market supported three distinct entry strategies—validation by mockup, open code as trust, and a long solo build followed by a distribution hire.
Pricing on the same unit
All three price by monthly pageviews. On October 18, 2026, Fathom started at $15 per month for 100,000 pageviews across 50 sites with a 7-day card-required trial; Simple Analytics at $20 per month for 100,000 pageviews with a free hobby plan; Plausible offered a 30-day trial without a card. Editorial analysis: sharing a unit makes the products easy to compare, so they compete on trust, interface and trial terms rather than on how the bill is calculated.
Different teams, different claims
Plausible reports crossing $1M ARR in 2022 and a team of 10. Simple Analytics lists three people and 31k+ users. Fathom describes a small remote team and thousands of paying customers. These numbers are self-reported, cover different metrics and dates, and cannot be ranked against each other. Editorial inference: in a niche with a shared promise, the entry strategy and team shape matter as much as the product.
What a fourth entrant would need
All three companies already sell the same promise at similar entry prices on the same unit. A new privacy analytics product would struggle to win on "no cookies" alone. Editorial inference: a newcomer would need a segment the three serve less well—for example, a specific platform integration, a regulated industry with unusual hosting rules, or revenue attribution for small online stores—and a distribution channel the incumbents do not dominate. Before building, read the three companies' comparison and pricing pages, list what each leaves out, and interview ten site owners in the chosen segment about what they still track elsewhere. That list is the product brief.
Three kinds of openness
The three companies are open in different ways. Plausible publishes its code under the AGPLv3 license. Fathom says its first version was released as open source before the paid hosted product. Simple Analytics publishes its legal entity, registration and hosting location on its about page. Editorial inference: openness is not a single feature. A buyer worried about lock-in may value open code, while a procurement team may care more about company registration and data location. A newcomer should decide which kind of openness its target buyer actually checks, and make that evidence easy to find. Each kind also costs something: open code invites self-hosting that earns nothing, while publishing company details exposes how small the vendor is. The right choice depends on which risk the target buyer fears more.
Experiments you can run
Small, falsifiable tests inspired by this case. They are MRRTrace suggestions, not steps the company reported.
Pick your entry strategy explicitly
- Do
- Choose one: mockup validation, open-source first, or paid from day one. Write down why and what result would prove it wrong.
- Measure
- The pre-set success metric (waitlist, installs, or paying customers) after 60 days.
- Stop if
- Switch strategy if the metric is under half of the target after 60 days.
Compete on trial terms
- Do
- In a market with a shared pricing unit, test a longer no-card trial against a shorter card-required one.
- Measure
- Trial-to-paid conversion and paid customers per 100 visitors.
- Stop if
- Keep the variant that yields more paying customers per 100 visitors, not more trials.
Timeline
What to take into your next build
- A crowded niche can support several founders with different entry strategies.
- When competitors share a pricing unit, they compete on trust and trial terms.
- Self-reported metrics from different dates cannot be ranked.
Takeaways are MRRTrace editorial inferences.
Sources
- Simple Analytics company history
- Plausible company history
- Fathom company story
- Fathom pricing
- Simple Analytics pricing
- Plausible trial terms
This case study combines cited public information and editorial analysis. Outcomes from an established business do not prove that a new entrant can repeat them.