diff --git a/src/squidpy/__init__.py b/src/squidpy/__init__.py
index 5fb2b848a..d52a64cbd 100644
--- a/src/squidpy/__init__.py
+++ b/src/squidpy/__init__.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 from importlib import metadata
 from importlib.metadata import PackageMetadata
 
-from squidpy import datasets, gr, im, pl, read, tl
+from squidpy import datasets, gr, im, pl, pp, read, tl
 
 try:
     md: PackageMetadata = metadata.metadata(__name__)
diff --git a/src/squidpy/pp/__init__.py b/src/squidpy/pp/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..26edb04a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/squidpy/pp/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+"""Basic pre-processing functions adapted from scanpy."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from squidpy.pp._simple import filter_cells
diff --git a/src/squidpy/pp/_simple.py b/src/squidpy/pp/_simple.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..94e02efc0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/squidpy/pp/_simple.py
@@ -0,0 +1,223 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import anndata as ad
+import numpy as np
+import pandas as pd
+import scanpy as sc
+import spatialdata as sd
+import xarray as xr
+from spatialdata._logging import logger as logg
+from spatialdata.models import Labels2DModel, PointsModel, ShapesModel, get_model
+from spatialdata.transformations import get_transformation
+from xarray import DataTree
+
+
+def filter_cells(
+    data: ad.AnnData | sd.SpatialData,
+    table: str | None = None,
+    min_counts: int | None = None,
+    min_genes: int | None = None,
+    max_counts: int | None = None,
+    max_genes: int | None = None,
+    inplace: bool = True,
+    filter_labels: bool = True,
+) -> ad.AnnData | sd.SpatialData | None:
+    if not isinstance(data, ad.AnnData | sd.SpatialData):
+        raise ValueError(f"Expected `AnnData` or `SpatialData`, found `{type(data)}`")
+
+    if isinstance(data, ad.AnnData) and table is not None:
+        raise ValueError("When filtering `AnnData`, `table` is not used.")
+
+    tables_to_use: list[str] = []
+
+    if isinstance(data, sd.SpatialData) and table is not None:
+        if isinstance(table, str):
+            tables_to_use = [table]
+
+    if isinstance(data, sd.SpatialData) and table is None:
+        tables_to_use = list(data.tables.keys())
+
+    if not isinstance(data, ad.AnnData) and tables_to_use is not None and not tables_to_use:
+        raise ValueError("Expected at least one table to be filtered, found `0`")
+
+    if any(t not in data.tables for t in tables_to_use):
+        raise ValueError(f"Expected all tables to be in `{data.tables.keys()}`.`")
+
+    # mimic scanpy's behavior in only allowing one filtering parameter per call
+    n_given_options = sum(option is not None for option in [min_genes, min_counts, max_genes, max_counts])
+    if n_given_options > 1:
+        raise ValueError("Only one filtering parameter can be provided per call (scanpy behavior).")
+
+    for param_name, param_value in [
+        ("min_counts", min_counts),
+        ("min_genes", min_genes),
+        ("max_counts", max_counts),
+        ("max_genes", max_genes),
+    ]:
+        if param_value is not None and not isinstance(param_value, int):
+            raise ValueError(f"Expected `{param_name}` to be an integer, found `{type(param_value)}`")
+
+    if not isinstance(inplace, bool):
+        raise ValueError(f"Expected `inplace` to be a boolean, found `{type(inplace)}`")
+
+    # if it's an AnnData object, we add a pseudo tablename
+    if isinstance(data, ad.AnnData):
+        tables_to_use = ["adata"]
+
+    # we need to filter the adata object either way
+    for t in tables_to_use:
+        filter_params = {
+            "min_counts": min_counts,
+            "min_genes": min_genes,
+            "max_counts": max_counts,
+            "max_genes": max_genes,
+        }
+
+        if isinstance(data, ad.AnnData):
+            table_old = data
+        else:
+            table_old = data.tables[t] if inplace else data.tables[t].copy()
+
+        for param_name, param_value in filter_params.items():
+            if param_value is not None:
+                if inplace and isinstance(data, ad.AnnData):
+                    sc.pp.filter_cells(table_old, **{param_name: param_value}, inplace=True)
+                elif not inplace:
+                    # inplace=False gives us boolean vector of which rows to remove
+                    mask_to_remove, _ = sc.pp.filter_cells(table_old, **{param_name: param_value}, inplace=False)
+
+                    if isinstance(data, ad.AnnData):
+                        return table_old[~mask_to_remove]
+
+                    # we're SpatialData now
+                    assert isinstance(data, sd.SpatialData)
+
+                    if not inplace:
+                        logg.warning(
+                            "Creating a deepcopy of the SpatialData object, depending on the size of the object this can take a while."
+                        )
+                        data_out = sd.deepcopy(data)
+
+                        # elements_dict = {}
+                        # for _, element_name, element in data.gen_elements():
+                        #     elements_dict[element_name] = sd.deepcopy(element)
+                        # deepcopied_attrs = data.attrs
+                        # data_out = sd.SpatialData.from_elements_dict(elements_dict, attrs=deepcopied_attrs)
+
+                    else:
+                        data_out = data
+
+                    table_filtered = table_old[~mask_to_remove]
+                    if table_filtered.n_obs == 0 or table_filtered.n_vars == 0:
+                        raise ValueError(f"Filter results in empty table when filtering table `{t}`.")
+                    data_out.tables[t] = table_filtered
+
+                    # if this doesn't exist, the table doesn't annotate anything
+                    if "spatialdata_attrs" not in data.tables[t].uns:
+                        raise ValueError(
+                            f"Table `{t}` does not have 'spatialdata_attrs' to indicate what it annotates."
+                        )
+
+                    instance_key = data.tables[t].uns["spatialdata_attrs"]["instance_key"]
+                    region_key = data.tables[t].uns["spatialdata_attrs"]["region_key"]
+
+                    # region can annotate one (dtype str) or multiple (dtype list[str])
+                    region = data.tables[t].uns["spatialdata_attrs"]["region"]
+                    if isinstance(region, str):
+                        region = [region]
+
+                    removed_obs = table_old.obs[mask_to_remove][[instance_key, region_key]]
+
+                    # iterate over all elements that the table annotates (region var)
+                    for r in region:
+                        element_model = get_model(data_out[r])
+
+                        ids_to_remove = removed_obs.query(f"{region_key} == '{r}'")[instance_key].tolist()
+                        if element_model == ShapesModel:
+                            data_out.shapes[r] = _filter_ShapesModel_by_instance_ids(
+                                element=data_out.shapes[r], ids_to_remove=ids_to_remove
+                            )
+
+                        if filter_labels:
+                            logg.warning("Filtering labels, this can be slow depending on the resolution.")
+                            if element_model == Labels2DModel:
+                                new_label = _filter_Labels2DModel_by_instance_ids(
+                                    element=data_out.labels[r], ids_to_remove=ids_to_remove
+                                )
+
+                                del data_out.labels[r]
+
+                                data_out.labels[r] = new_label
+
+    if not inplace:
+        return data_out
+
+
+def _filter_ShapesModel_by_instance_ids(element: ShapesModel, ids_to_remove: list[str]) -> ShapesModel:
+    return element[~element.index.isin(ids_to_remove)]
+
+
+def _filter_Labels2DModel_by_instance_ids(element: Labels2DModel, ids_to_remove: list[str]) -> Labels2DModel:
+    def set_ids_in_label_to_zero(image: xr.DataArray, ids_to_remove: list[int]) -> xr.DataArray:
+        # Use apply_ufunc for efficient processing
+        def _mask_block(block):
+            # Create a copy to avoid modifying read-only array
+            result = block.copy()
+            result[np.isin(result, ids_to_remove)] = 0
+            return result
+
+        processed = xr.apply_ufunc(
+            _mask_block,
+            image,
+            input_core_dims=[["y", "x"]],
+            output_core_dims=[["y", "x"]],
+            vectorize=True,
+            dask="parallelized",
+            output_dtypes=[image.dtype],
+            dask_gufunc_kwargs={"allow_rechunk": True},
+        )
+
+        # Force computation to ensure the changes are materialized
+        computed_result = processed.compute()
+
+        # Create a new DataArray to ensure persistence
+        result = xr.DataArray(
+            data=computed_result.data,
+            coords=image.coords,
+            dims=image.dims,
+            attrs=image.attrs.copy(),  # Preserve all attributes
+        )
+
+        return result
+
+    if isinstance(element, xr.DataArray):
+        return Labels2DModel.parse(set_ids_in_label_to_zero(element, ids_to_remove))
+
+    if isinstance(element, DataTree):
+        # we extract the info to just reconstruct the DataTree after filtering the max scale
+        max_scale = list(element.keys())[0]
+        scale_factors = _get_scale_factors(element)
+        scale_factors = [int(sf[0]) for sf in scale_factors]
+
+        return Labels2DModel.parse(
+            data=set_ids_in_label_to_zero(element[max_scale].image, ids_to_remove),
+            scale_factors=scale_factors,
+        )
+
+
+def _get_scale_factors(labels_element: Labels2DModel) -> list[tuple[float, float]]:
+    scales = list(labels_element.keys())
+
+    # Calculate relative scale factors between consecutive scales
+    scale_factors = []
+    for i in range(len(scales) - 1):
+        y_size_current = labels_element[scales[i]].image.shape[0]
+        x_size_current = labels_element[scales[i]].image.shape[1]
+        y_size_next = labels_element[scales[i + 1]].image.shape[0]
+        x_size_next = labels_element[scales[i + 1]].image.shape[1]
+        y_factor = y_size_current / y_size_next
+        x_factor = x_size_current / x_size_next
+
+        scale_factors.append((y_factor, x_factor))
+
+    return scale_factors