No cookies, no VC: Simple Analytics has made $1.9M selling privacy-first analytics
Adriaan van Rossum started Simple Analytics alone in 2018. Eight years later the three-person Amsterdam team shows $38,250 in verified MRR on TrustMRR.
This story is based on public sources: verified revenue on TrustMRR, the Simple Analytics website and Adriaan van Rossum's public profile on X. It is not an interview. Revenue figures were last checked on 5 November 2026.
Most analytics tools start by collecting as much as they can about each visitor. Simple Analytics was built on the opposite idea, and it has been paying its own way since 2018.
The numbers
On TrustMRR, Simple Analytics shows $38,250 in MRR from 1,260 active subscriptions. All-time revenue is $1,938,925, and revenue over the last 12 months was $473,744. The figures are verified through a Stripe API key.
Monthly revenue has been steady. TrustMRR's timeline shows between $34,424 and $50,631 a month from December 2025 to October 2026, with October at $45,158.
Adriaan's own X bio describes Simple Analytics as "since 2018 $50k+ mrr". That is his figure and is higher than the Stripe-verified MRR on TrustMRR.
A one-person project
The company's About page tells the origin story. "Simple Analytics started in September 2018 when Adriaan, a developer from the Netherlands, grew frustrated with the state of web analytics. Every tool on the market demanded personal data from visitors - cookies, IP addresses, fingerprints - just to show page view counts."
He built the first version alone: "a lightweight script that gives website owners the insights they need without tracking individuals. No cookie banners required."
In 2022 Iron Brands joined as co-founder to lead marketing and growth, and engineer Aleksandar Ivanov joined later. The site calls the company "a three-person team based in the Netherlands" and lists it as "Self-funded and profitable. No VC pressure, no compromises."
What it sells
Simple Analytics shows pageviews, referrers, campaigns and events "without cookies or personal data." The company says its script is under 5 KB and its data is hosted on European-owned servers in the EU. There is a free plan and paid monthly or annual plans with a 14-day trial.
The customer list goes well beyond indie makers. The About page names Bloomberg, Michelin, GOV.UK and the Bank of England among the teams using it, and says it has more than 31,000 users.
Why it matters
Simple Analytics competes with free tools from some of the biggest companies in the world. It has kept going for eight years by picking one clear position, privacy, and sticking to it. Three people, no outside money and close to $2 million in verified lifetime revenue is a solid result in a market where most products are free.
Sources
- TrustMRR, Simple Analytics. trustmrr.com/startup/simple-analytics
- Simple Analytics, About. simpleanalytics.com/about
- Adriaan van Rossum on X. x.com/adriaandotcom
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Our story is on @UntoldStartups_ today: how we built Simple Analytics, with the real numbers. No cookies, no VC: Simple Analytics has made $1.9M selling privacy-first analytics https://untoldstartups.com/stories/simple-analytics-adriaan-van-rossum-privacy-analytics-38k-mrr
Grateful to have Simple Analytics's story featured on Untold Startups. It covers how we got here, what worked, and the real numbers behind it. No cookies, no VC: Simple Analytics has made $1.9M selling privacy-first analytics https://untoldstartups.com/stories/simple-analytics-adriaan-van-rossum-privacy-analytics-38k-mrr
