Friendly Analytics vs Offen Fair Web Analytics

Compare Friendly Analytics and Offen Fair Web Analytics on capabilities, jurisdiction, assurance, and fit for European buyers.

Both listed as alternatives to: Fathom Analytics, Google Analytics, Hotjar, Matomo

Friendly Analytics

Switzerland· Web Analytics

Needs review

Shortlist when you need full Matomo depth (heatmaps, funnels, ecommerce, API) with Swiss product hosting and managed privacy defaults—especially regulated CH/EU orgs leaving Google Analytics. Skip when you only want a minimal pageview counter, a free self-serve tier, or pure DIY Matomo ops—consider Plausible, etracker, or self-hosted Matomo instead.

Matomo-as-a-ServiceCookieless by defaultSwiss product hostingISO 27001 (claimed)DPA availableEU / on-prem option

View listing Visit Website

Offen Fair Web Analytics

Germany· Web Analytics

Needs review

Shortlist when you want self-hosted, Apache-2.0 analytics that only measures after opt-in, encrypts events in the browser, and lets visitors open their own data in the Auditorium. Skip when you need cookieless full-coverage metrics, session replay/heatmaps, or zero-ops managed EU hosting—consider Plausible, Pirsch, or Friendly Analytics instead.

Opt-in onlyBrowser E2E encryptionSelf-hostedApache-2.0Visitor data accessBerlin-based project

View listing Visit Website

Highlighted rows differ between the two products.

Friendly Analytics vs Offen Fair Web Analytics: Snapshot
Feature	Friendly Analytics	Offen Fair Web Analytics
Country of origin	Switzerland	Germany
Category	Web Analytics	Web Analytics
Open source	Yes	Yes
Self-hosted	Yes	Yes
Headquarters	Switzerland	Germany
Legal entity	Friendly LLC (Friendly GmbH on DPA), Werkhofstrasse 5, 6052 Hergiswil, Switzerland	Public legal notice lists Frederik Ring, Berlin (offen.software); product authors Frederik Ring and Hendrik Niefeld—no separate GmbH name verified on imprint
Governing law	Swiss law (per customer principal agreement / DPA framework)	Germany (indicative from Berlin imprint)
US parent / control	No known US parent	No known US parent
CLOUD Act exposure (indicative)	Medium	Low
Hosting / residency	Analytics product: Infomaniak (CH) primary hosting; Netstream and Hosttech (CH) backups. AWS listed only for Friendly Automate email, not Analytics. Enterprise marketing also offers EU or on-premise hosting. Company ops: US SaaS including Google Workspace, HelpScout, Stripe, Notion, Calendly, Cloudflare (help docs).	Product is operator self-hosted (your VPS/cloud/on-prem). No Offen multi-tenant analytics SaaS or vendor subprocessor list for visitor events. Related marketing site (offen.software) names Hetzner Online GmbH (Germany) as host—not the analytics data path. Optional community deploys include Heroku (operator choice).
Summary	Swiss Matomo-as-a-Service: cookieless-by-default web analytics with heatmaps, funnels, and ecommerce, product data hosted in Switzerland, plus enterprise DPA and on-prem options.	Open-source, self-hosted web analytics with opt-in consent, browser-side end-to-end encryption, and a shared Auditorium so visitors can see and control their own usage data.
Tags	analytics privacy open-source gdpr self-hosted matomo switzerland nfadp enterprise	analytics privacy open-source gdpr self-hosted opt-in e2e-encryption

At a glance: Friendly Analytics vs Offen Fair Web Analytics
At a glance	Friendly Analytics	Offen Fair Web Analytics
HQ	Hergiswil, Switzerland	Not listed
Legal entity	Friendly LLC / Friendly GmbH	Not listed
Stack	Matomo (unmodified + premium plugins)	Not listed
Product hosts	Infomaniak; backups Netstream & Hosttech (CH)	Not listed
Commercial model	Hit-based SaaS; enterprise custom; no free trial	Not listed
Open source base	Matomo; portable to other Matomo hosts	Not listed
HQ / authors	Not listed	Berlin, Germany (Frederik Ring & Hendrik Niefeld)
License	Not listed	Apache-2.0 (code/docs); logo CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
Delivery	Not listed	Self-host only (binary, Docker, community deploys)
Consent model	Not listed	Opt-in only; first-party cookies
Default retention	Not listed	6 months (configurable shorter)
Funding note	Not listed	NLnet NGI support (project-stated)

Key capabilities: Friendly Analytics vs Offen Fair Web Analytics
Key capabilities	Friendly Analytics	Offen Fair Web Analytics
Matomo-as-a-Service	Yes	Not listed
Cookieless by default	Yes	Not listed
Swiss product hosting	Yes	Not listed
ISO 27001 (claimed)	Yes	Not listed
DPA available	Yes	Not listed
EU / on-prem option	Yes	Not listed
Opt-in only	Not listed	Yes
Browser E2E encryption	Not listed	Yes
Self-hosted	Not listed	Yes
Apache-2.0	Not listed	Yes
Visitor data access	Not listed	Yes
Berlin-based project	Not listed	Yes

Friendly Analytics

Matomo-as-a-Service with privacy defaults
Runs unmodified Matomo plus selected premium plugins, preconfigured for cookieless tracking, IP truncation, and nFADP/GDPR-oriented defaults so teams avoid operating Matomo themselves while keeping exit paths to another Matomo host.
Heatmaps, funnels, session recording, and ecommerce
Beyond pageviews: heatmaps, privacy-oriented session replays, conversion funnels, form analytics, A/B tests, and ecommerce reporting for UX and revenue analysis without bolting on a separate US product suite.
Swiss product hosting with EU or on-prem options
Visitor analytics hosted with Infomaniak in Switzerland; backups via Netstream and Hosttech (CH). Enterprise can contract Swiss, EU, or on-premise placement—confirm region in the order form rather than assuming SaaS-only CH.
Ads conversion export without third-party pixels
Advertising Conversion Export sends conversions to Google or Bing via API so campaigns can be optimized without placing those vendors' tracking codes on your site—useful when privacy policy bans extra ad tags.
GA import, reporting API, and Matomo portability
Historical Google Analytics data can be imported (manual, effort-billed). Reporting API and live export links feed BI tools; data can move to another Matomo instance, limiting classic SaaS lock-in.
Enterprise contracts, SSO, and dedicated instances
Enterprise tier adds custom DPA/DORA/NDA/SLA paperwork, dedicated account management, SSO, custom domain, dedicated instance, and phone/video support for banks, insurers, and public bodies.

Offen Fair Web Analytics

Opt-in only collection with first-party cookies
No analytics events are recorded until the visitor actively consents. Cookies are first-party and the tracker is meant to run on a same-site subdomain so third-party cookie restrictions and cross-site tracking models do not apply. Visitors who never opt in leave no usage trail—expect lower absolute volumes than cookieless tools that measure by default.
Browser-side end-to-end encryption of usage events
Clients encrypt usage data before it leaves the browser; the server stores ciphertext and cannot decrypt events alone. Only the visitor (via their cookie) and the matching operator account can open that visitor's data in the Auditorium. Practical impact: a compromised database or overly broad ops access does not yield plaintext browsing histories the way a typical self-hosted analytics DB would.
Auditorium for both operators and visitors
Operators see aggregates across pages where the installation is active (unique users/sessions, top pages, filters). Each opted-in visitor can open the same style of UI for their own data only, with plain-language metric explanations, and can delete data or fully opt out later. This is the fair design point: measurement is not a one-way glass.
Essential metrics without IP or User-Agent capture
Dashboards cover real-time activity, page views, unique users and sessions, bounce rate, returning users, top pages, referrers, UTM campaign/source, landing and exit pages, weekly retention, and load time. Location is country-level from timezone mapping; mobile share uses orientation capability—not IP geolocation or UA parsing. No heatmaps, session replay, or warehouse-grade product analytics.
Lightweight self-host: binary, Docker, SQLite or SQL
Production installs use a single binary (Linux/Windows/macOS) or the offen/offen image; docs also cover Heroku, Uberspace, and YunoHost. Default store is SQLite; MySQL and Postgres are supported. AutoTLS can request Let's Encrypt certificates. Config is environment variables or offen.env. You own uptime, backups, SMTP for password reset, and the subdomain layout.
Multi-site accounts, teams, and short retention
One installation can cover multiple websites with shared team access. Default retention is six months with automatic deletion; operators can shorten retention (e.g. 12 weeks, 30 days, 7 days) knowing shorter values purge older events on startup. Consent banner appearance is customizable; UI locales include EN, DE, FR, ES, PT, and VI.

Assurance & compliance: Friendly Analytics vs Offen Fair Web Analytics
Assurance & compliance	Friendly Analytics	Offen Fair Web Analytics
Independent security / no-logs audit	Not found Vendor describes anonymization defaults and mentions external pen tests in ISO materials; no public independent no-logs audit report found.	Not found No public third-party audit PDF found; coordinated disclosure via SECURITY.md email only.
ISO 27001	Vendor claimed Vendor publishes ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification covering the company/products with a certificate PDF; not independently re-verified against the cert body registry in this draft.	Not found No public ISO 27001 certification claim found on official site or docs.
SOC 2 / SOC 3	Not found No SOC 2/3 claim found on security/about pages reviewed.	Not found No public SOC 2/3 report found.
GDPR / EU data protection	Vendor claimed Swiss entity; public materials assert nFADP and GDPR alignment; cookieless defaults and CH processing described in DPA.	Vendor claimed EU authors; opt-in, data minimization (no IP/UA), visitor access/erasure, short default retention, Datensparsamkeit framing. Self-host means operator remains controller—confirm your legal basis and notice.
US CLOUD Act exposure (indicative)	Partial Swiss entity, no known US parent; Analytics product hosts are Swiss (Infomaniak/Netstream/Hosttech). Medium/partial because company subprocessors include US SaaS (e.g. Google Workspace, HelpScout, Stripe, Cloudflare). AWS not used for Analytics per vendor list. Indicative only—not legal advice.	Partial EuropeanStack assessment: no known US parent; product not delivered as US-hosted vendor SaaS. Operator-chosen infrastructure (including optional Heroku/US cloud) can still create CLOUD Act paths for stored ciphertext/metadata. Not legal advice.
Data processing agreement (B2B)	Vendor claimed Public DPA text for Friendly GmbH; customers asked to contact to sign. Enterprise also references DORA/NDA/SLA packs.	Not applicable No multi-tenant vendor analytics processing relationship documented; operator self-hosts and is typically controller. Custom development/support via offen.software is separate from a standard SaaS DPA.
EU AI Act	Not applicable Web analytics SaaS; not positioned as an AI system product.	Not applicable Web analytics metrics product; not an AI system product.
ISO 9001	Vendor claimed Vendor publishes ISO 9001 certification materials alongside ISO 27001.	Not listed

Considerations & known limitations: Friendly Analytics vs Offen Fair Web Analytics
Considerations & known limitations	Friendly Analytics	Offen Fair Web Analytics
US company-operation subprocessors	Medium Support, email/calendar, payments, CRM/docs, and help-docs edge use US-headquartered SaaS even though Analytics visitor data hosts are Swiss. Material for DPIAs that demand zero US processors in any vendor process.	Not listed
Cookie features can reintroduce consent needs	Low Default is cookieless, but enabling cookie-based Matomo capabilities may require banners for EU visitors—configuration discipline required.	Not listed
Small Swiss operator dependency	Low Seven-person-scale Open Startup; mitigations include Matomo portability and open financial transparency, but capacity and roadmap still depend on a small firm.	Not listed
Certifications vendor-published	Low ISO 27001/9001 are claimed with PDFs on the vendor site; procurement should verify certificate validity with the issuing body.	Not listed
Do not conflate with Friendly Automate	Medium Automate uses AWS for email sending. Scope assessments to Analytics-only subprocessors unless you also buy Automate.	Not listed
Opt-in undercounts absolute traffic	Not listed	High Visitors who never consent generate no events. Growth and content KPIs will not match cookieless tools or GA-style default measurement—treat as design, not a misconfiguration.
You own uptime, backups, and secrets	Not listed	Medium No managed Offen cloud. Operators must run HTTPS/subdomain layout, set OFFEN_SECRET for stable sessions, configure SMTP for resets, and back up SQLite/SQL—plus avoid reverse proxies that log IPs if minimization is a goal.
E2E crypto is vendor-claimed architecture	Not listed	Medium Browser-side encryption and server inability to decrypt are core claims from project docs/README, not independently audited in public materials found. Security-sensitive orgs should review source or commission assessment.
Hosting choice reintroduces cloud jurisdiction	Not listed	Medium Self-host on US-group cloud or Heroku means CLOUD Act/subprocessor analysis shifts to your host even though Offen itself is Berlin-based OSS without a vendor SaaS region map.
No public ISO/SOC or audit pack	Not listed	Low Procurement checklists that require vendor ISO 27001/SOC 2 will stall; evidence is open source and design docs, not cert registry entries.
Essential metrics only	Not listed	Medium No heatmaps, session replay, advanced funnels, or product-analytics warehouse features. Wrong tool if the shortlist criterion is UX research depth rather than fair traffic statistics.

Fit

Friendly Analytics

Best fit when

Teams that want Matomo's full feature set without self-hosting ops burden
Swiss and EU organizations prioritizing CH product residency (Infomaniak + CH backups)
Sites aiming for cookieless measurement under default privacy configuration
Marketing teams needing heatmaps, funnels, ecommerce, and ad conversion export without Google Analytics
Enterprises needing DPA/DORA/SLA paperwork, SSO, or dedicated instances

Poor fit when

Buyers who only need lightweight pageview analytics and prefer a free tier (see Plausible-class tools)
Teams that must self-operate every component with no SaaS operator in the path
Orgs that require zero US-headquartered tools anywhere in the vendor's company stack (support/billing SaaS is disclosed)
Use cases outside web/app analytics (Friendly Automate is a different product with different subprocessors)

Consider instead when

When: You want a minimal, open-source, cookieless counter with simpler SaaS UX
Consider: Plausible Analytics
Less Matomo plugin depth; different hosting/operator story (Estonia).
When: You need German enterprise analytics with long public-sector track record
Consider: etracker
Different stack (not Matomo); compare cookieless claims and contracts directly.
When: You prefer a modern EU analytics product with open-source core and lean UI
Consider: Pirsch Analytics
Germany-based; trade Matomo feature breadth for a different product surface.
When: You already run Matomo well and only need software, not a Swiss operator
Consider: Self-hosted Matomo
Maximum control; you own privacy config, updates, and hosting risk.

Offen Fair Web Analytics

Best fit when

Public-sector, media, NGO, or mission-driven sites that need visitor-visible transparency and strict opt-in
EU teams that must keep analytics off third-party trackers and can run a small always-on instance
Operators who want first-party subdomain cookies, CSP-aware embedding, and no IP/User-Agent collection
Organisations evaluating fair-processing design over maximum measurement coverage
Teams comfortable with SQLite or SQL self-host ops (binary or Docker) and publishing their own privacy notice

Poor fit when

Product or growth teams that require near-complete traffic measurement without consent friction
Needs for heatmaps, session replay, funnels, or ad-ecosystem attribution comparable to Hotjar/Mixpanel/GA
Buyers seeking a vendor-managed multi-tenant analytics cloud with SLAs and a signed vendor DPA as processor
Large enterprises that require public ISO 27001/SOC 2 or third-party security audit packs before shortlist

Consider instead when

When: You want privacy-oriented analytics with managed EU hosting and lower consent friction
Consider: Plausible Analytics or Pirsch Analytics
Typically optimised for simpler cookieless or low-friction models and hosted plans; less radical visitor Auditorium design than Offen.
When: You need EU hosted privacy analytics with operator support and less self-host burden
Consider: Friendly Analytics
European catalog peer oriented to hosted privacy analytics; compare consent model and feature depth to Offen’s opt-in + E2E approach.
When: You need deep product analytics, funnels, or session UX tooling rather than fair traffic metrics
Consider: Hotjar, Mixpanel, or a full GA4 stack (with legal review)
Different category: richer product/UX analytics, different jurisdiction and subprocessor profile.

Open questions for due diligence

Friendly Analytics

Will the signed DPA and order form pin hosting to Switzerland only, or allow EU/on-prem variants?
Which company subprocessors (HelpScout, Google Workspace, Stripe, etc.) receive which categories of customer personal data in practice?
Can the current ISO 27001 certificate be validated against the certification body's public register (scope, dates, sites)?
For enterprise: what is the RPO/RTO and whether backups remain exclusively in Switzerland?
If both Analytics and Automate are purchased, how are subprocessors and data paths segmented contractually?

Offen Fair Web Analytics

Will your traffic and KPI model tolerate opt-in-only measurement after a pilot on a non-critical property?
Where will you host the instance (EU on-prem/VPS vs US-group cloud), and who holds OFFEN_SECRET and DB backups?
Do procurement rules require third-party audits or ISO/SOC that Offen does not publish?
Do you need a signed vendor DPA as processor, or is controller-only self-host acceptable to counsel?
Is subdomain + CSP (script-src/frame-src + unsafe-inline styles for the banner) feasible on your main site?