Friendly Analytics vs Pulse by Ciphera

Compare Friendly Analytics and Pulse by Ciphera on capabilities, jurisdiction, assurance, and fit for European buyers.

Both listed as alternatives to: Fathom Analytics, Google Analytics

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

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Pulse by Ciphera

Belgium· Web Analytics

Needs review

Shortlist Pulse when you want cookieless traffic analytics plus uptime and Lighthouse in one Belgian-operated, Swiss-hosted SaaS and can accept a closed managed backend. Skip when you need full self-hosting or GA-style user-level history; consider Plausible Analytics or Simple Analytics instead.

EU-operatedCookielessOpen-source clientSwiss-hosted dataNo analytics cookies

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Highlighted rows differ between the two products.

Friendly Analytics vs Pulse by Ciphera: Snapshot
Feature	Friendly Analytics	Pulse by Ciphera
Country of origin	Switzerland	Belgium
Category	Web Analytics	Web Analytics
Open source	Yes	Yes
Self-hosted	Yes	No
Headquarters	Switzerland	Belgium
Legal entity	Friendly LLC (Friendly GmbH on DPA), Werkhofstrasse 5, 6052 Hergiswil, Switzerland	Ciphera BV
Governing law	Swiss law (per customer principal agreement / DPA framework)	Belgian law (GDPR); Swiss FADP for infrastructure location
US parent / control	No known US parent	No known US parent
CLOUD Act exposure (indicative)	Medium	Low
EU-hosted status	Not listed	Partial
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).	Primary compute and object storage on Exoscale in Switzerland (Zurich). Encrypted backups and domain registration via Infomaniak (Switzerland). CDN/DNS/DDoS via Bunny (Slovenia HQ, global edge for transient IPs). Payments via Mollie (Netherlands). GitHub (US) for public source code only, per Trust page.
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.	Cookie-free web analytics with traffic, funnels, uptime and Lighthouse checks in one Belgian-operated, Swiss-hosted dashboard.
Tags	privacy open-source gdpr analytics matomo switzerland nfadp enterprise self-hosted	privacy open-source gdpr cookie-free web-analytics cookieless

At a glance: Friendly Analytics vs Pulse by Ciphera
At a glance	Friendly Analytics	Pulse by Ciphera
HQ	Hergiswil, Switzerland	Diegem, Belgium (Ciphera BV)
Legal entity	Friendly LLC / Friendly GmbH	Ciphera BV (KBO/BCE 1013.721.660)
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	Free Hobby tier; paid plans by traffic scale
Open source base	Matomo; portable to other Matomo hosts	Not listed
Founded	Not listed	18 September 2024 (CBE)
Primary data region	Not listed	Switzerland (Exoscale Zurich)
License	Not listed	AGPL-3.0 client; managed backend closed
Cookieless	Not listed	Yes (vendor claim: no cookies, no fingerprinting)
Data residency regions	Not listed	Switzerland (Exoscale primary; Infomaniak backups)

Key capabilities: Friendly Analytics vs Pulse by Ciphera
Key capabilities	Friendly Analytics	Pulse by Ciphera
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
EU-operated	Not listed	Yes
Cookieless	Not listed	Yes
Open-source client	Not listed	Yes
Swiss-hosted data	Not listed	Yes
No analytics cookies	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.

Pulse by Ciphera

Cookieless traffic dashboard
Pageviews, unique-visitor estimates, referrers, UTM campaigns, device or browser splits, and country-level geo from a single script tag, without cookies or fingerprinting according to Ciphera's privacy docs.
Journeys and conversion funnels
Step-by-step path columns and multi-step funnels with drop-off analysis, filterable by page, country, device, or referrer for privacy-preserving conversion debugging.
Uptime monitors with alert routes
Built-in uptime checks with downtime and recovery alerts to email, Slack, Discord, or a webhook, so availability sits beside traffic in one console.
Daily Lighthouse and Core Web Vitals
Scheduled mobile and desktop Lighthouse runs with performance, accessibility, best-practices, SEO scores, and Core Web Vitals trends without a separate RUM product.
Inspectable AGPL client and read API
Dashboard and tracking script are AGPL-3.0 on GitHub; Ciphera also documents a public read API, CLI, and export paths while keeping the managed backend closed.

Assurance & compliance: Friendly Analytics vs Pulse by Ciphera
Assurance & compliance	Friendly Analytics	Pulse by Ciphera
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 Trust page states no independent audit yet; Tessera self-audit published; independent audit planned.
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 Ciphera explicitly states it holds no ISO 27001 certification.
SOC 2 / SOC 3	Not found No SOC 2/3 claim found on security/about pages reviewed.	Not found Ciphera explicitly states it holds no SOC 2 certification.
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 Belgian controller; privacy policy describes GDPR/FADP bases and Pulse processor role. Not legal advice.
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 EU (Belgian) entity with no known US parent; primary hosts are European (Exoscale, Infomaniak, Bunny, Mollie). Residual paths: GitHub (US) for source code only; Bunny global edge for transient IPs. Indicative only, 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.	On request / NDA Privacy policy: DPA available on request at privacy@ciphera.net for Pulse processor relationships.
EU AI Act	Not applicable Web analytics SaaS; not positioned as an AI system product.	Not applicable Web analytics product; not an AI system product page.
ISO 9001	Vendor claimed Vendor publishes ISO 9001 certification materials alongside ISO 27001.	Not listed

Considerations & known limitations: Friendly Analytics vs Pulse by Ciphera
Considerations & known limitations	Friendly Analytics	Pulse by Ciphera
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
Managed backend is not open source	Not listed	Medium You can audit the browser script and dashboard code, but not the operated ingestion and storage service. Procurement that requires full-stack self-host or full server auditability should look elsewhere.
No ISO/SOC or independent audit yet	Not listed	Medium Ciphera publishes threat models, a warrant canary, and a subprocessor list, but explicitly has no ISO 27001 or SOC 2 and no completed independent audit. Enterprise security reviews will need questionnaires and a signed DPA.
Primary data residency is Switzerland, not EU/EEA	Not listed	Low Swiss adequacy covers many GDPR transfer questions, but policies that hard-require EU/EEA datacenter soil will classify this as partial rather than EU-hosted.
Marketing vs privacy wording conflicts	Not listed	Low Product FAQ pages disagree on whether custom events ship today and whether a DPA is needed. Prefer privacy@ and the privacy policy for legal commitments until Ciphera aligns the FAQs.

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.

Pulse by Ciphera

Best fit when

EU or Swiss organisations replacing GA4 primarily to remove analytics cookies and consent-banner friction
Teams that want traffic, funnels, uptime, and Lighthouse scores in one vendor console
Buyers who need a Belgian legal entity and named European subprocessors rather than a US cookieless SaaS
Sites that can work with aggregate and month-scoped visitor estimates instead of persistent user IDs
Engineering leads who want the browser script and dashboard code on GitHub under AGPL-3.0 for inspection

Poor fit when

Organisations that must self-host the full analytics backend (Pulse's managed core is closed)
Product analytics use cases that need durable cross-visit identity, cohorting, or GA4 BigQuery-style user exports
Buyers requiring completed ISO 27001, SOC 2, or a published independent security audit today
Teams that need EU/EEA soil specifically rather than Swiss residency (primary data is in Switzerland)

Consider instead when

When: You need a mature EU cookieless analytics product with an official full-stack self-host option
Consider: Plausible Analytics
Plausible (Estonia) is the common self-host plus SaaS peer; Pulse keeps the backend managed-only.
When: You want a minimal Dutch cookieless counter without uptime or Lighthouse bundles
Consider: Simple Analytics
Closer peer for strictly analytics SaaS; Pulse differentiates with ops-style panels.
When: You need enterprise analytics with strong EU residency controls and heavier compliance packaging
Consider: Piwik PRO or Friendly Analytics
Heavier Matomo-class or Swiss-hosted peers when Pulse's startup assurance set is too thin.

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?

Pulse by Ciphera

Will Ciphera sign your standard DPA and return the full registered-address subprocessor appendix on request?
What is the retention and deletion SLA for a single customer's Pulse project data after contract end?
When is the planned independent security audit scheduled, and will the report be public?
Are Google Search Console, Bing, or CDN analytics panels generally available, or only mentioned in some marketing copy?