Publytics vs Swetrix

Compare Publytics and Swetrix on capabilities, jurisdiction, assurance, and fit for European buyers.

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

Publytics

Italy· Web Analytics

Needs review

Shortlist when you need cookieless, unsampled publisher analytics with multi-site Network views and a public EU DPA from an Italian SaaS operator. Skip when you need self-hosting, product analytics at GA4/Adobe depth, or product-level ISO/SOC—consider Plausible (simpler privacy analytics / self-host options) or Matomo (self-host ownership) instead.

Cookieless trackingNo default samplingMulti-site NetworkEU-hosted (EuroVPS/Hetzner)Public B2B DPAPublisher-focused UX

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Swetrix

United Kingdom· Web Analytics

Needs review

Shortlist Swetrix when you want cookieless traffic plus product-oriented tools (funnels, RUM, errors, optional Cloud replays) under a UK company with Hetzner DE hosting and AGPLv3 self-host CE. Skip when you need public ISO/SOC packs, zero US-group subprocessors, multi-year cookie retention cohorts, or free forever hosted analytics—consider Plausible Analytics or Simple Analytics for minimal traffic-only privacy analytics, or Matomo for heavyweight self-host control.

Cookieless trackingHetzner DE hostingOpen source (AGPLv3)Self-host CEFunnels + errors + RUMPublic DPA

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Highlighted rows differ between the two products.

Publytics vs Swetrix: Snapshot
Feature	Publytics	Swetrix
Country of origin	Italy	United Kingdom
Category	Web Analytics	Web Analytics
Open source	No	Yes
Self-hosted	No	Yes
Headquarters	Italy	United Kingdom
Legal entity	Publytics S.r.l. / Publytics SRL, Via Val Leventina 3 INT 1, 20148 Milan (MI), Italy (VAT IT13079420967)	Swetrix Ltd (SC797389), Edinburgh, Scotland
Governing law	Italy / EU GDPR (processor under published DPA)	Not listed
US parent / control	No known US parent	No known US parent
CLOUD Act exposure (indicative)	Low	Medium
Hosting / residency	Analytics infrastructure subprocessors in public DPA: EuroVPS (Euclid Services Ltd, Cyprus) and Hetzner Online GmbH (Germany). Data policy/DPA: EU storage (NL, DE, FI; DPA also IT); no transfer outside the EU for analytics processing. Account path: Stripe (payments), Brevo/Sendinblue (email).	Cloud analytics data: Hetzner Online GmbH (Germany) per DPA/Data Policy. End User error monitoring sub-processor: Sentry / Functional Software Inc. (United States). Customer-side Privacy Policy list also includes Paddle (UK payments), Fastmail (Australia business email), AWS (US transactional/marketing email), OpenRouter (US optional AI chat). No known US parent.
Summary	Cookieless web analytics SaaS for digital publishers: unsampled real-time and historical metrics, multi-site Network views, GA import, and EU-hosted measurement from an Italian company.	Cookieless, privacy-first web analytics from a UK company: traffic, funnels, errors, and performance on Hetzner in Germany, with AGPLv3 self-host Community Edition and optional Cloud session replays.
Tags	cookieless privacy gdpr web-analytics publishers real-time	cookieless privacy gdpr analytics open-source self-host product-analytics

At a glance: Publytics vs Swetrix
At a glance	Publytics	Swetrix
HQ	Milan, Italy	Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Legal entity	Publytics S.r.l. (VAT IT13079420967)	Swetrix Ltd (SC797389)
Hosting	EuroVPS + Hetzner (EU regions)	Not listed
Deployment	Managed SaaS (not self-hosted)	Not listed
Commercial model	Pageview tiers; free trial	Event-volume Cloud subscription; free self-host CE; timed trial
Open source	No (tracker uses MIT library code)	Yes — github.com/Swetrix/swetrix
Governing law	Not listed	Scotland (Terms)
Primary hosting	Not listed	Hetzner Online GmbH, Germany
License	Not listed	AGPLv3 (Community Edition)

Key capabilities: Publytics vs Swetrix
Key capabilities	Publytics	Swetrix
Cookieless tracking	Yes	Yes
No default sampling	Yes	Not listed
Multi-site Network	Yes	Not listed
EU-hosted (EuroVPS/Hetzner)	Yes	Yes
Public B2B DPA	Yes	Yes
Publisher-focused UX	Yes	Not listed
Open source (AGPLv3)	Not listed	Yes
Self-host CE	Not listed	Yes
Funnels + errors + RUM	Not listed	Yes

Publytics

Unsampled real-time and daily publisher metrics
Dashboard and Real-time views show active users (including last-minute and 30-minute windows), top pages, sources, social referrals, and day trends—with minute-level trend comparison documented for real-time. Vendor states no default data sampling, so reports reflect full counted client-side traffic rather than GA-style estimates on large properties.
Multi-site Network mode for content portfolios
Business and Enterprise plans can group properties into Networks (plan caps apply: e.g. up to three Networks on Business, unlimited on Enterprise). Network views mirror site dashboards with split-by-site filters, combined real-time tables, and PDF/CSV export across the portfolio—built for multi-brand publishers rather than single blogs.
Cookieless measurement with daily-rotating visitor hash
Tracking avoids cookies and permanent device IDs. Per the DPA, IP and User-Agent are used only to derive a daily salted hash for unique visitors, then discarded; metrics stay aggregated (URL, referrer, browser/OS, device, country). Designed so many sites can skip consent banners for analytics alone—confirm with counsel for your jurisdictions and any custom IDs you add.
Historical import, custom events/dimensions, and API
Import paths cover GA4 and other tools (Plausible/Fathom mentioned) with support-assisted finalization. Custom events, dimensions, and metrics scale by plan; REST API uses Sanctum Bearer tokens scoped to subscribed sites. Fits teams rebuilding GA-era reporting without rebuilding infrastructure.
AI referral traffic reporting
Dedicated documentation for traffic referred from AI systems (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Copilot, Mistral, Google AI Overviews, Deepseek, and others). Useful for publishers optimizing for answer-engine and AI-overview discovery alongside classic SEO sources.

Swetrix

Cookieless traffic analytics with hashed sessions
Lightweight script captures pageviews, referrers/UTMs, devices, and city-level geo without cookies or client-side storage. Per the Data Policy, IP and User-Agent are hashed in memory with a daily rotating salt; only a random session id is stored—so you get sessions without long-term cross-day visitor retention.
Funnels, custom events, and goals
Instrument signups, purchases, and other conversions as custom events; build multi-step funnels and goals in the dashboard. Useful for product and growth teams who need drop-off analysis without bolting on a second product-analytics SaaS.
Real-user performance and client error tracking
Records Web Performance API timings (TTFB, DNS, TLS, render, full page load) and optional JavaScript errors with stack/context by page and browser. Bridges marketing traffic views with engineering signals that pure pageview tools omit.
Opt-in Cloud session replays with privacy modes
Cloud projects can call startSessionReplay() to record DOM and interactions; default modes mask text/inputs. Replays are not created by ordinary pageviews—customers must enable them and own consent, masking, and page exclusions. Cloud-only versus Community Edition.
AGPLv3 open source with Docker self-host CE
Core platform is public on GitHub under GNU AGPLv3; Community Edition deploys via official Docker docs with MySQL, ClickHouse, and Redis. CE includes core analytics, events, sessions, funnels, performance, and errors—but not all Cloud extras (replays, some alerts/org/AI features).
Alerts, API, GA import, and team access
Configure alerts to email, Slack, Telegram, Discord, webhooks, or push; pull or push data via the API; import GA4 history; invite organisations with roles or share password-protected/public dashboards. Fits agencies and multi-site operators who outgrow single-user tools.

Assurance & compliance: Publytics vs Swetrix
Assurance & compliance	Publytics	Swetrix
Independent security / no-logs audit	Not found Searched official site; no public third-party security or no-logs audit PDF found. DPA describes hashing and non-retention of raw IP/UA.	Not found Searched marketing, DPA, privacy, and data policy; no public independent audit PDF located. Open-source code is available for review.
ISO 27001	Not found No Publytics product certificate found. Host EuroVPS markets ISO certifications; that is infrastructure provider scope, not Publytics certification.	Not found No public ISO 27001 certification claim found on primary pages.
SOC 2 / SOC 3	Not found No public SOC 2/3 report found on official Publytics pages.	Not found No public SOC 2/3 report found.
GDPR / EU data protection	Vendor claimed Italian controller/processor entity; cookieless design; public Art. 28 DPA; EU hosting named. Not legal advice.	Vendor claimed UK company; public GDPR/PECR discussion in Data Policy; cookieless design with non-stored IPs for standard analytics; Hetzner DE hosting; public DPA. Optional replays may be personal data depending on configuration—customer assesses legal basis.
US CLOUD Act exposure (indicative)	Partial EU entity, no known US parent; analytics hosts EuroVPS + Hetzner in EU with DPA no third-country transfer for service data. Account billing via Stripe (US company). Not a vendor 'safe' claim—EuropeanStack assessment only.	Partial No known US parent; primary analytics on Hetzner DE. Material exception: Sentry (US) processes End User error data per DPA; Privacy Policy also lists AWS and OpenRouter (US) for customer email/AI. Indicative medium exposure—not a clean bill. Not legal advice.
Data processing agreement (B2B)	Vendor claimed Full public DPA at https://publytics.net/dpa with Annex B subprocessors and Annex C security/transfer instructions.	Vendor claimed Public DPA at swetrix.com/dpa incorporated by Terms; acceptance by use of Service; signed copy on request.
EU AI Act	Not applicable Web analytics product; AI-referral reporting is measurement of referrers, not an AI system product.	Not applicable Core product is web analytics, not an AI system. Optional Ask AI / OpenRouter is ancillary; confirm if your deployment enables it.

Considerations & known limitations: Publytics vs Swetrix
Considerations & known limitations	Publytics	Swetrix
SaaS-only (no self-host)	Medium All measurement depends on Publytics cloud availability and vendor roadmap. Teams with residency or air-gap requirements need Matomo/Plausible CE-style self-host alternatives.	Not listed
No public independent security audit	Medium Hashing and non-retention claims are first-party (DPA/docs). No public third-party audit was found—enterprise security reviews will need questionnaires, DPA audit rights, and possibly NDA materials.	Not listed
Feature depth tied to pageview tiers	Low Networks, API rate limits, custom dimensions/metrics, retention years, and time granularity differ by Lite/Business/Enterprise. Validate limits against portfolio size before migration.	Not listed
US payment processor on account path	Low Stripe processes payments (US company). Separate from DPA Annex B analytics hosts, but relevant if procurement treats all vendor SaaS touchpoints as in-scope for CLOUD Act diligence.	Not listed
Customer-injected identifiers can re-identify	Medium DPA warns controllers not to inject unique user IDs that re-identify visitors via the script. Misconfiguration can undermine the cookieless privacy model.	Not listed
US-group subprocessors (Sentry, AWS, OpenRouter)	Not listed	Medium Primary analytics hosting is Hetzner DE, but Sentry (US) is an End User error-tracking sub-processor on the DPA, and AWS/OpenRouter appear for customer email/AI. Orgs with strict no-US-cloud rules need explicit acceptance or self-host CE to avoid those paths.
Session replay is opt-in and controller-owned	Not listed	Medium Cloud replays can capture DOM and inputs unless masked. Customers must enable startSessionReplay(), configure privacy modes/exclusions, and provide notices/consent where required—misconfiguration can reintroduce personal data risk that standard cookieless pageviews avoid.
No public ISO/SOC or third-party audit	Not listed	Medium Assurance relies on first-party policies, Hetzner infrastructure claims, and open source. Enterprise questionnaires that hard-gate on certs will stall until materials are provided under NDA or produced.
Cloud vs Community Edition feature gap	Not listed	Low Self-host CE is free and covers core analytics, but replays and several Cloud growth/ops features are limited or Cloud-only. Budget and feature planning must not assume feature parity.
Daily salt rotation limits retention metrics	Not listed	Low Cookieless design deliberately prevents classic multi-day visitor retention. Teams that need that metric class need another product or consented identity.

Fit

Publytics

Best fit when

Content publishers and media sites that want GA3-style reporting without cookies or default sampling
Multi-brand portfolios that need Network dashboards, split-by-site filters, and shared exports
Teams migrating historical series from GA4 (or Plausible/Fathom) into a privacy-oriented SaaS
EU-oriented controllers who want Italian legal entity, published DPA, and EU infrastructure subprocessors named in annexes
Editorial/SEO leads who need real-time active users, sources, and AI-referral reporting without operating self-hosted analytics

Poor fit when

Organizations that require self-hosted or open-source analytics only
Product/growth teams that need GA4/Adobe-class event modeling, experiment stacks, and ads ecosystem integrations
Buyers that need verified product ISO 27001/SOC 2 certificates before shortlist (none found for Publytics itself)
Very simple single-site blogs that only need minimal privacy metrics—lighter tools may be enough

Consider instead when

When: You want open-core privacy analytics with optional self-host
Consider: Plausible Analytics
Simpler surface; stronger self-host/open-core path than Publytics SaaS-only model
When: You must run analytics on your own infrastructure
Consider: Matomo (self-host) or Plausible Community Edition
Publytics is managed cloud only—no official on-prem product
When: You need deep product analytics and marketing stack integration
Consider: Google Analytics or Adobe Analytics
Trade privacy/EU-hosting priorities for ecosystem breadth

Swetrix

Best fit when

SMEs, agencies, and product teams replacing GA4 who need cookieless traffic stats without a cookie banner driven only by analytics
Engineering-minded buyers who want error tracking and real-user performance in the same privacy-first dashboard as pageviews
Teams that may enable Cloud session replays later but can treat them as explicit opt-in with their own legal basis
Operators willing to run Docker Community Edition (MySQL/ClickHouse/Redis) when Cloud commercial terms or feature limits do not fit
Buyers who need a public B2B DPA, API access, GA4 import, and multi-channel alerts under a UK legal entity

Poor fit when

Enterprises that require published ISO 27001 / SOC 2 certificates or independent audit PDFs before shortlist
Policies that forbid any US-group subprocessors (Sentry is listed for End User error data; AWS/OpenRouter appear for customer services)
Use cases that depend on long-term cookie-based retention or cross-device identity graphs
Buyers who only want free hosted analytics with no paid Cloud tier and no self-host operations burden
Sites that will run session replays on sensitive flows without capacity to configure masking, exclusions, and consent

Consider instead when

When: You only need minimal cookieless pageviews/referrers with the smallest possible product surface
Consider: Plausible Analytics or Simple Analytics
Swetrix adds funnels, errors, RUM, and Cloud replays; peers stay closer to pure traffic analytics.
When: You need deep on-prem control, plugins, and mature enterprise self-host packaging
Consider: Matomo (self-host or managed EU hosts such as Matomo by Stackhero)
Heavier ops and optional cookies; stronger fit for large controlled deployments.
When: You must stay inside Google advertising measurement and free GA4 ecosystem tooling
Consider: Google Analytics
Trade privacy, consent, and transfer complexity for ads integration and zero software fee.

Open questions for due diligence

Publytics

Will Publytics provide completed security questionnaire, pen-test summary, or ISO evidence under NDA for enterprise procurement?
Exact current pageview tier limits, Network caps, and retention for the sites you will migrate?
Is GA4 historical import complete for your property structure (events, custom dimensions) or only core traffic series?
How are subprocessors for account services (Stripe, Brevo) contractually covered relative to the analytics DPA annex?
Any planned US or non-EU hosting options that would change the current EU-only transfer instruction?

Swetrix

Can Enterprise contracts exclude or replace Sentry (and other US-group subprocessors) for End User data paths?
Are ISO 27001, SOC 2, or pen-test summaries available under NDA?
What is the exact backup/DR location topology beyond “secure backups” wording on the DPA?
Which Cloud-only features remain permanently out of CE versus delayed open-source release?
For session replay at your traffic volumes, what retention defaults and export/delete SLAs apply on your plan?