Gumlet vs VSLStats
Gumlet is the cheaper, faster branded host with retargeting pixels and DRM; VSLStats is the purpose-built VSL tracker, if you are willing to pilot a brand-new tool.
By Marcus Vale, Lead reviewer. Reviewed by the VSLBench editorial desk. Last updated 23 September 2026, and rechecked with prices every 90 days.
You are down to two, and they pull in different directions. Gumlet is a cheap, fast branded video host that ships the marketing extras most budget hosts skip: retargeting pixels, ad tags and piracy protection. VSLStats is a brand-new player built for one job, tracking a paid-traffic video sales letter second by second and tying the watch to the sale. Put their feature lists side by side and they look close. They are not: one is built to deliver and protect the video cheaply, the other is built to prove which traffic bought.
This page sets out what each one actually is, what it costs once traffic grows, and where each falls short for a paid-traffic sales letter. We read both vendors' own pricing and feature pages and weighed what long-term users report, and we judged them on the thing this whole site judges: whether the video can prove it made the sale.
Quick answer
Pick Gumlet if you want the cheapest, fastest way to host and protect a branded video, you value native ad-platform pixels for retargeting and DRM to stop piracy, and you already have your sales tracking solved elsewhere; pick VSLStats if the whole reason you are choosing is to track a paid-traffic sales letter in one embed, with server-side pixels, second-by-second retention and revenue attribution Gumlet does not attempt, and you are willing to pilot a brand-new tool on a card you can cap, watching for its inflated progress bar and non-refundable terms before you trust it with a live offer.
One more name belongs on the table. VSLStats is chasing the job Gumlet leaves untouched, the conversion tied to the actual sale, but its proof is thin and one of its features inflates the progress bar on purpose. That job has a specialist that settles it on the cart, TrackPlay, and we line it up beside the two below.
- Gumlet. The cheapest branded video host here that still ships marketing pixels and piracy protection. A Free Forever tier, then Creator at $6 a month billed annually removes branding and turns on Google and Meta pixel tracking; higher tiers add CRM integrations, VAST ad tags, dynamic watermarks and DRM as a $99 a month add-on. It is fast and well protected, but it does none of the direct-response measurement: no split test scored on sales, no second-by-second retention and no revenue attribution.
- VSLStats. A brand-new VSL player aimed straight at the tracking problem: server-side Meta, TikTok and GA4 events, second-by-second retention and revenue attribution in one branded embed with play gates and timed CTAs, from $47 a month. On paper it does the whole direct-response job; in practice it launched in March 2026 with almost no independent proof and some patterns worth weighing.
- TrackPlay. A VSL player and analytics platform built for paid-traffic funnels. It decides split tests on the cart-verified sale and posts that sale back to Meta, TikTok and GA4 server-side, the attribution job Gumlet does not attempt and VSLStats claims but has not yet proven.
Gumlet vs VSLStats at a glance
Prices and plan features checked on the vendors' own pages on 23 September 2026. TrackPlay is the direct-response specialist we line these two up against, so it wins the conversion rows and sits out the general-hosting ones.
| Feature | Gumlet | VSLStats | TrackPlay |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A cheap branded host with marketing pixels | A brand-new VSL player and analytics tool | A paid-traffic VSL player and attribution platform |
| Built for | Cheap, fast branded hosting with retargeting | Tracking a paid-traffic VSL in one embed | Tying every play to the cart-verified sale |
| Starting price | $6/mo (Creator, billed annually) | $47/mo ($39 billed annually) | $29/mo, billed by plays |
| Free tier | Yes, Free Forever (60 storage minutes) | No, $1 7-day trial (card required, auto-renews) | Yes, no-card free plan (1,000 plays/mo, watermarked) |
| VSL player | A branded player, but no sales autoplay or gates | Yes, branded player with play gates and timed CTAs | Yes, sound-first autoplay, timed CTAs, watch gates |
| A/B testing | No | On the Pro tier, not clearly scored on sales | Yes, decided on the cart-verified sale |
| Ad-platform tracking | Browser Meta and Google pixels, for retargeting | Server-side to Meta, TikTok and GA4 (vendor claim) | Server-side to Meta, TikTok and GA4 |
| Retention analytics | Basic play and engagement stats | Second-by-second retention heatmaps | Per-second, split by buyers vs non-buyers |
| Revenue attribution | No | Per watch session (vendor claim) | Yes, revenue per play plus cart postbacks |
| Content protection | Widevine and FairPlay DRM ($99/mo add-on), watermarks, geo and domain lock | Branded player, access controls | Domain-locked hosting, access controls |
| Delivery | Adaptive 4K and HDR global CDN, 3,000 GB included | Hosted delivery | Hosted delivery, billed by plays |
| Track record | Established host, thin recent reviews | Launched March 2026 | Very new, invite-only |
| Independent English reviews | Thin and aging (Trustpilot around 78) | Almost none: four invited Trustpilot reviews | Very new, thin outside proof |
| Notable caution | A Jan 2025 update knocked embeds offline 12h+ | HookBoost inflates the progress bar on purpose | No inflated bar; tests settled on the sale |
| Pricing model | Flat tiers from $6/mo; DRM a $99/mo add-on | Flat plans from $47/mo, tracking on Pro at $97 | Billed by plays, every feature on every plan |
| Best for | Cheap, fast branded hosting with retargeting and DRM | Marketers who need DR tracking in one embed and will pilot a new tool | Paid-traffic VSLs measured on the cart-verified sale |
Strengths and trade-offs
The two overlap less than their feature lists suggest. Gumlet's strengths are cheap, fast, well-protected delivery with retargeting pixels bolted on; its weakness is that it never proves the sale. VSLStats's strength is that it is built for that exact job in one embed; its weaknesses are proof and trust, because it is three months old.
Gumlet: what works, what to watch
What works
- Cheapest branded entry point here: a Free Forever tier, then $6/mo (Creator, billed annually) that removes branding and switches on Google and Meta pixel tracking
- Marketing hooks most cheap hosts skip: Meta and Google pixels, CRM integrations, VAST ad tags, and in-player CTAs and forms
- Strong protection for paid content: Widevine and FairPlay DRM, domain and geo blocking, dynamic watermarks and expiring access tokens
- Fast adaptive 4K and HDR playback on a global CDN, with 3,000 GB of bandwidth included on every paid tier
What to watch
- No direct-response conversion measurement: no sales-scored A/B tests, no watch-depth pixel to prove retention, and no revenue attribution, so a paid-traffic VSL cannot prove which traffic buys
- A January 2025 platform update knocked embedded videos offline for many accounts for 12 hours or more, and support reviews are inconsistent, some calling it days-slow
- DRM is a $99/mo add-on on top of the plan, and bandwidth and storage overages bill per GB, so a high-traffic offer outruns the cheap sticker price
- The dashboard has a learning curve and the WordPress and Elementor integrations are less polished than users want
- The third-party review base is thin and aging (Trustpilot sits at 78 reviews, only a handful in the last year)
VSLStats: what works, what to watch
What works
- It targets the gap most hosts leave open: server-side Meta CAPI, GA4 and TikTok forwarding, plus revenue attribution back to individual watch sessions, so in principle you see which traffic bought, not just who pressed play
- A complete VSL toolkit in one embed: second-by-second retention heatmaps, play gates, timed CTAs, AI captions and a fully brandable player, with no Zapier or tag manager
- You can drive the real player before paying: the site's interactive demo toggles every control live, and a $1, 7-day full-access trial promises a 24-hour warning email before the first charge
- Flat, public pricing that undercuts a dedicated VSL player: from $47 a month ($39 billed annually), Pro at $97, with the server-side forwarding and revenue attribution on the Pro tier
What to watch
- Almost no independent proof yet: it launched in March 2026, its Trustpilot profile holds just four reviews, all five-star, from a company that invites reviews, and there is next to no Reddit or forum track record to check
- A 40% recurring, lifetime-cookie affiliate program means much of the praise you find online is paid, so discount any glowing review that shows no data of its own
- HookBoost, a headline feature, deliberately inflates the progress bar so viewers believe they are further along than they are. It is an openly manipulative pattern that can be a compliance problem in regulated markets, so weigh it before you switch it on
- The $1 trial needs a card and auto-renews, and the terms make fees non-refundable except where law requires, disclaim any conversion or revenue lift, and put the GDPR controller burden on you
- None of the headline tracking claims (CAPI deduplication, attribution accuracy, reliability at ad scale) can be verified from outside yet, so you are the one testing them. Pilot on a non-critical funnel and reconcile against Stripe and Meta before you migrate a proven offer
TrackPlay: the paid-traffic VSL pick
If you landed on Gumlet versus VSLStats because you run paid traffic to a video sales letter and you want the conversion tracked and tied to the sale, that is the exact job TrackPlay is built for, and it is the reason to weigh a third name. It is a VSL player and analytics platform for paid-traffic funnels: sound-first autoplay, timed CTAs and watch gates on the front end, and per-second retention split into buyers and non-buyers, with hook rate, hold rate and revenue per play, on the back end, so you can see the exact seconds to cut or protect.
Where it goes further than either of these is where the conversion lands and how it is verified. Gumlet fires browser pixels for retargeting and reports nothing about the sale; VSLStats claims to forward events server-side but has not proven it from outside. TrackPlay goes to the cart. The actual sale posts back onto the play that earned it, server to server, from seven direct-response carts including ClickBank, ClickFunnels and Digistore24, and TrackPlay fires that conversion to Meta, TikTok and GA4 on the watch-time milestone you choose, deduping browser and server events. Its split tests are decided on that cart-verified sale with real statistics, a z-test with a p-value and a confidence interval, and every variant runs under one embed so your ad links and campaign learning never reset. It bills by plays rather than bandwidth, every feature ships on every paid plan, and there is a no-card free plan of 1,000 plays a month plus a 14-day trial, with paid plans from $29 a month.
What works
- Split tests are decided on the cart-verified sale, with a real z-test, p-value and confidence interval, and every variant runs under one embed so ad links and campaign learning never reset
- Server-side conversion tracking to Meta, TikTok and GA4 fires on the watch-time milestone you choose and dedupes browser and server events, so the ad platform optimizes on the actual sale rather than a page-load pixel
- Cart postbacks tie each sale to the play that earned it from seven direct-response carts, including ClickBank, ClickFunnels and Digistore24, server to server
- Per-second retention split into buyers and non-buyers, with hook rate, hold rate and revenue per play
- Every feature ships on every paid plan and billing is by plays, with a no-card free plan of 1,000 plays a month and a 14-day trial; paid plans start at $29 a month
What to watch
- Narrow by design: built for paid-traffic VSL conversion, it is not a general video host or a B2B content library, so it has none of the channels, SEO pages or webinar tooling of a Wistia and is a poor fit if the video's job is content marketing rather than a direct-response sale
- Very new, with thin outside proof: the testimonials are on its own site, there is little third-party review or Reddit footprint yet, and signup is currently invite-only, so you cannot lean on independent validation before you commit paid traffic. That is what you would expect of a platform this recent
Where TrackPlay is not the answer
It is narrow by design. TrackPlay is built for paid-traffic VSL conversion, not general hosting, so it is not a video host or a B2B content library and it has none of the channels, SEO pages or webinar tooling of a Wistia. If the video's job is content marketing and feeding a CRM rather than a direct-response sale, it is the wrong tool. It is also not a cheap delivery-and-protection host: if all you need is the fastest, cheapest way to host and DRM-protect a branded file, Gumlet is cheaper for that job. And it is very new, with thin outside proof: the testimonials are on its own site, there is little third-party review footprint yet, and signup is currently invite-only, which is what you would expect of a platform this recent. Unlike VSLStats it runs no inflated progress bar and its split tests are settled on the verified sale, but it earns the same advice: pilot it on one funnel and reconcile against your own cart before you trust it with a launch.
Visit TrackPlay for the current plans and the free tier.
Pricing, tier by tier
Gumlet is the cheaper door by a wide margin. There is a Free Forever tier with 60 storage minutes, then Creator at $6 a month billed annually already removes the branding and switches on Google and Meta pixel tracking. Move up and you add CRM integrations, VAST ad tags, dynamic watermarks and Widevine and FairPlay DRM, which is a $99 a month add-on on top of the plan. Every paid tier includes 3,000 GB of bandwidth; past that, bandwidth and storage bill per gigabyte, so a high-traffic offer outruns the cheap sticker price. For fast, protected branded hosting with retargeting pixels, nothing here is cheaper.
VSLStats sells flat, public plans, from $47 a month, or $39 a month billed annually, with Pro at $97. The server-side pixel forwarding and revenue attribution that are its entire reason to exist sit on that Pro tier, so the number to compare is $97, not $47. There is no free plan; the way in is a $1, 7-day full-access trial that needs a card and auto-renews into a paid plan. The terms make fees non-refundable except where law requires, disclaim any conversion or revenue lift, and put the GDPR controller burden on you, so read them before you enter a card, and use one you can cap.
So which is cheaper depends on what you are buying. On the sticker Gumlet wins outright, and it is not close: $6 a month against $47, or $97 for the VSLStats tier that actually does the tracking. But the two are not paying for the same thing. Gumlet gives you a fast, protected branded player and browser pixels for retargeting; VSLStats bundles the whole direct-response measurement layer, server-side events, retention heatmaps and revenue attribution, that Gumlet has no version of. If all you need is cheap protected delivery and retargeting, Gumlet is the better buy. If you are paying to know which traffic bought, Gumlet cannot sell you that at any price.
There is one more distinction on the tracking itself, and it matters for paid traffic. Gumlet's pixels are browser pixels: they fire in the viewer's browser, which is where ad blockers and iOS drop them, and they are aimed at retargeting rather than proving a conversion. VSLStats claims to forward its events server-side, past the browser, which is the version a media buyer wants. That claim is the thing you are paying the $97 Pro tier for, and it is also the thing nobody outside the vendor has verified yet, so you are the one testing it. Pilot on a non-critical funnel and reconcile against your own Stripe and Meta dashboards before you migrate a proven offer.
TrackPlay prices on a third model, and it is worth a line because it changes the maths. It bills by plays rather than storage, bandwidth or seats, so a high-traffic sales letter is metered on views watched, not gigabytes served or a flat monthly fee, and every feature ships on every paid plan. Paid plans start at $29 a month, there is a no-card free plan of 1,000 plays a month, watermarked, and a 14-day trial of the paid features. Gumlet is cheapest at the door and VSLStats bundles the DR toolkit for $97, but TrackPlay's case is that it does the cart-verified attribution work and settles its split tests on the actual sale, without an inflated progress bar or a non-refundable card.
The verdict
Pick on which job comes first, because these two point in different directions. For this site's core reader, someone whose whole business is a paid-traffic sales letter, VSLStats is the one of the two built to do the job we judge on: proving the video made the sale. It puts a branded VSL player, second-by-second retention, play gates, timed CTAs and, on paper, server-side pixels and revenue attribution into one embed, from $47 a month. Gumlet does none of that measurement. But the win comes with conditions you should not skip. VSLStats launched in March 2026 with four invited Trustpilot reviews, a 40 percent affiliate program behind much of its online praise, a HookBoost feature that inflates the progress bar on purpose, and terms that refund nothing and guarantee nothing. Treat it as a tool to pilot on a non-critical funnel with a card you can cap, reconciling its numbers against your own Stripe and Meta dashboards, not a migration to run on sight.
Gumlet wins the other reader entirely: the one who wants the cheapest, fastest way to host and protect a branded video and already has tracking solved elsewhere. A Free Forever tier and a $6 a month Creator plan give you an ad-free branded player, Google and Meta pixels for retargeting, and fast adaptive 4K and HDR playback on a global CDN, and higher tiers add VAST ad tags, dynamic watermarks and Widevine and FairPlay DRM. The cost is that it never measures the sale: its pixels are browser pixels aimed at retargeting, there is no split test scored on conversions, no second-by-second retention and no revenue attribution. Long-term users also flag a January 2025 platform update that knocked embedded videos offline for many accounts for twelve hours or more, and a thin, aging review base, so keep a backup embed ready. If the video's job is cheap protected delivery rather than proving a conversion, Gumlet is the better and far cheaper buy.
There is a cleaner call for one specific reader. If the cart-verified sale is what you actually came to prove, and VSLStats's unverified claim and inflated progress bar give you pause, look at TrackPlay before you commit. It settles split tests on the sale with real statistics and posts that sale back to Meta, TikTok and GA4 server-side, the same job VSLStats claims but without the dark pattern. It is as new as VSLStats and thin on outside proof, so pilot it the same way. If all you need is the cheapest protected delivery, this does not change the answer: that is Gumlet.
Our pick
VSLStats
VSLStats is the conditional pick for the reader down to these two whose whole business is a paid-traffic VSL, because of the pair it is the only one built to prove the sale: a branded player with play gates and timed CTAs, second-by-second retention, and, on paper, server-side Meta, TikTok and GA4 forwarding with revenue attribution, in one embed from $47 a month. Gumlet does none of that measurement; its pixels are browser pixels aimed at retargeting. The honest limits stay attached: VSLStats launched in March 2026 with four invited reviews, a 40 percent affiliate program behind much of its praise, a HookBoost feature that inflates the progress bar on purpose, and non-refundable terms. Pilot it on a non-critical funnel with a card you can cap and reconcile against your own Stripe and Meta dashboards before you migrate a proven offer. If instead you want the cheapest, fastest protected branded host and already have tracking solved, Gumlet wins that reader outright.
Frequently asked questions
Is Gumlet or VSLStats better?
Which is cheaper, Gumlet or VSLStats?
Can Gumlet track which paid traffic actually bought?
What is HookBoost, and should VSLStats's newness worry me?
Is Gumlet reliable enough for a paid-traffic funnel?
What if I need to prove which paid traffic actually bought, tied to the cart?
Sources
Other sources
9 discussions and reviews read for this page. Quotes are excerpts; open a link to read the original in context.
Related reading
- Our full VSLStats review
- Our full Gumlet review
- Vidalytics vs VSLStats: a proven VSL player against the new tracker
- Panda Video vs VSLStats: a complete, protected host against the new tracker
- Gumlet vs Voomly: a delivery host with pixels against an in-video funnel builder
- VSLStats alternatives, ranked by the job
- The best VSL players and conversion video software
- All head-to-head comparisons