SimpleGPS vs Spytec GPS
Spytec is cheaper and their device range matches ours. The difference is what you are left holding: their tracker is free for as long as you pay them, ours is bought and stays yours.
Spytec is the strongest name on this page and the numbers say so. The hardware is free on every device they sell, the annual plan is $8.95 a month for the OBD plug and $12.95 for the hardwired one, there is no contract and no activation or cancellation fee, and they publish all of it on the site instead of behind a call. They also sell an AI dash cam, which we do not.
One vehicle, first year: Spytec $107.40 with free shipping, SimpleGPS $186.88 including $15 shipping. Over three years: $322.20 against $426.64. If the cheapest total is what decides, Spytec wins and this page is not going to argue with a calculator.
The question this page is actually about is what you own at the end. A free tracker is free while you are paying for the plan attached to it. Ours costs $52 with the annual plan and is a Teltonika you have bought - it keeps working on any platform that speaks the protocol, including one you host yourself.
Side by side
| SimpleGPS | Spytec GPS | |
|---|---|---|
| You own the device outright | Yes | free, tied to the plan |
| Fits more than a car with an OBD port | Yes | Yes |
| Can be hidden, not plugged into the dash | Yes | Yes |
| No long-term contract | Yes | Yes |
| Self-serve online signup | Yes | Yes |
| Transparent public pricing | Yes | Yes |
SimpleGPS keeps full route playback for 31 days, and routes, stops and statistics for 365. We state both numbers because we have them.
The differences in detail
Free hardware, paid for through the plan
Spytec's device costs nothing up front and nothing to cancel, which is a genuinely good offer. It is also the reason the monthly is what it is: the tracker is paid for through the plan. Ours is $52 once, on the annual plan, and it is a Teltonika FMM00A that stays yours - it will talk to any platform that speaks the protocol if you ever leave.
The arithmetic, both ways
Spytec Pulse OBD on the annual plan: $0 hardware, free shipping, $107.40 a year. SimpleGPS Standard: $52 for the tracker, $15 shipping, $119.88 a year - $186.88 the first year and $119.88 after. On that plan they are cheaper every year and the gap grows, because their yearly fee is lower than ours as well as their hardware being free: $79 apart in year one, $104 by year three. There is no crossover to wait for and we are not going to invent one. On their MONTHLY plan it is the other way round, and there the totals do cross. Twelve months of Spytec is $179.40; ours is $119.88 plus a $129.99 tracker and $15 shipping, so $264.87 in year one and $119.88 after. They are ahead by $85 after one year and by $26 after two, and from month 30 we are ahead - $504.63 against $538.20 by the end of year three. What the difference buys on either plan is the same thing: a tracker you own and can keep.
Where the ranges really do match
This is worth stating plainly because it is where most comparison pages would lie. Spytec sell an OBD plug, a hidden hardwired unit, a rugged wired tracker for powered equipment and a battery tracker with up to eighteen months of life. So do we. Neither of us is limited to cars, and if you have read that we cover more shapes than they do, that was written about a different competitor.
Two countries, one account
SimpleGPS runs the same platform on simplegps.bg and simple-gps.com, with SIMs that work on both sides of the Atlantic. It matters to very few buyers, and to those it does it matters completely: a vehicle that crosses between the EU and the US stays on one account and one bill.
If you want the lowest running cost for a US fleet and you have no intention of moving platforms, buy Spytec. They are cheaper than us every year after the first, their device range covers the same ground as ours - OBD, hardwired, powered equipment, long-life battery - and they have an AI dash cam we cannot match. Nothing on this page is meant to talk you out of that.
Bottom line
Spytec includes the tracker with the plan. We sell you one outright. If you are choosing on the first three years of cost on annual billing, they win; if you would rather own the hardware and be able to leave with it, we do