Compare Pulse by Ciphera and Sitesights on capabilities, jurisdiction, assurance, and fit for European buyers.
Both listed as alternatives to: Fathom Analytics, Google Analytics
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.
Germany· Web Analytics
Needs review
Shortlist Sitesights when you need German-operated cookieless web analytics with real-time dashboards, funnels, page flow, and a server-side API—especially agencies and SaaS teams that want Hetzner Germany hosting claims without running Matomo. Skip when you need public ISO/SOC audits, long-term visitor identity, session replay, or a fully published subprocessor pack; consider Plausible Analytics or self-hosted Matomo instead.
Highlighted rows differ between the two products.
| Feature | Pulse by Ciphera | Sitesights |
|---|---|---|
| Country of origin | Belgium | Germany |
| Category | Web Analytics | Web Analytics |
| Open source | Yes | No |
| Self-hosted | No | No |
| Headquarters | Belgium | Germany |
| Legal entity | Ciphera BV | Drude, Grossert GbR |
| Governing law | Belgian law (GDPR); Swiss FADP for infrastructure location | Not listed |
| US parent / control | No known US parent | No known US parent |
| CLOUD Act exposure (indicative) | Low | Medium |
| EU-hosted status | Partial | Not listed |
| Hosting / residency | 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. | Product databases and app servers claimed in Germany on Hetzner. Marketing site uses Cloudflare (US) CDN. Payments via Paddle. Full product subprocessor/backup list not published on main site. |
| Summary | Cookie-free web analytics with traffic, funnels, uptime and Lighthouse checks in one Belgian-operated, Swiss-hosted dashboard. | German cookieless web analytics SaaS with real-time dashboards, events, funnels, and server-side APIs. Operated by Drude, Grossert GbR; product data claimed on Hetzner in Germany. |
| Tags |
| At a glance | Pulse by Ciphera | Sitesights |
|---|---|---|
| HQ | Diegem, Belgium (Ciphera BV) | Not listed |
| Legal entity | Ciphera BV (KBO/BCE 1013.721.660) | Not listed |
| Founded | 18 September 2024 (CBE) | Not listed |
| Primary data region | Switzerland (Exoscale Zurich) | Not listed |
| License | AGPL-3.0 client; managed backend closed | Not listed |
| Commercial model | Free Hobby tier; paid plans by traffic scale | Free start; pageviews + events subscriptions (Paddle) |
| HQ / entity | Not listed | Drude, Grossert GbR, Germany |
| Category | Not listed | Web analytics (SaaS) |
| Hosting (product) | Not listed | Hetzner, Germany (vendor docs) |
| Tracking model | Not listed | Cookieless; 48h rotating server hash |
| Open source | Not listed | No (libs/plugins public; core SaaS proprietary) |
| Cookieless | Yes (vendor claim: no cookies, no fingerprinting) | Not listed |
| Data residency regions | Switzerland (Exoscale primary; Infomaniak backups) | Not listed |
| Key capabilities | Pulse by Ciphera | Sitesights |
|---|---|---|
| EU-operated | Yes | Yes |
| Cookieless | Yes | Yes |
| Open-source client | Yes | Not listed |
| Swiss-hosted data | Yes | Not listed |
| No analytics cookies | Yes | Not listed |
| Hetzner Germany (claimed) | Not listed | Yes |
| Server-side API | Not listed | Yes |
| Funnels + page flow | Not listed | Yes |
| Multi-project / agencies | Not listed | Yes |
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.
Cookieless 48-hour rotating session hash
Standard tracking does not set cookies. Sitesights generates a server-side salted hash from IP, User-Agent, and site id with a salt that rotates every 48 hours, so long-term cross-day visitor re-identification is intentionally broken. Useful when teams want essential traffic metrics without a cookie-consent banner solely for analytics—confirm legal basis with counsel for your jurisdiction and data fields (including geo).
Sub-1 KB client script plus WordPress and Shopify plugins
Drop-in client snippet marketed as under 1 KB, with official WordPress and Shopify integration paths for non-engineers. Fits marketing sites and stores that need quick instrumentation without a heavy tag manager stack.
Server-side REST API with C# and Node libraries
Send page views and events from your backend with API-key auth so ad blockers cannot strip the beacon. MIT-licensed C# and Node.js libraries on GitHub speed integration; keep API keys off the client. Preferred path for accuracy-critical SaaS and app backends.
Real-time overview with campaign and device filters
Live dashboard for visitors, pageviews, and sessions with advanced filters, UTM/campaign views, geo, browser, OS, screen size, and daytime patterns. Aimed at operators who want essential marketing analytics in one place rather than a full product-analytics suite.
Custom funnels and page-flow journey maps
Build multi-step funnels and visual page-flow maps to see entry paths, routes, and exits. Helps conversion and UX work without session replay. Depth is journey-oriented, not identity-graph product analytics.
Multi-project workspaces with roles for agencies
Group sites and apps into projects, assign roles/permissions, and invite clients or teammates. Marketing materials reference high ceilings for team seats and properties on paid plans—verify current limits on the official pricing page.
| Assurance & compliance | Pulse by Ciphera | Sitesights |
|---|---|---|
| Independent security / no-logs audit | Not found Trust page states no independent audit yet; Tessera self-audit published; independent audit planned. | Not found No public third-party security or no-logs audit PDF located on the official site or docs. |
| ISO 27001 | Not found Ciphera explicitly states it holds no ISO 27001 certification. | Not found No public ISO 27001 certificate found on official pages. |
| SOC 2 / SOC 3 | Not found Ciphera explicitly states it holds no SOC 2 certification. | Not found No public SOC 2/3 report found on official pages. |
| GDPR / EU data protection | Vendor claimed Belgian controller; privacy policy describes GDPR/FADP bases and Pulse processor role. Not legal advice. | Vendor claimed German controller (Drude, Grossert GbR); cookieless hashing and EU hosting claims in docs/privacy. Confirm DPA and legal basis for IP/geo with counsel. |
| US CLOUD Act exposure (indicative) | 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. | Partial EU entity / no known US parent; product hosting claimed on Hetzner Germany. Marketing site lists Cloudflare (US); payments via Paddle; full SaaS subprocessor list not public. Indicative only—not legal advice. |
| Data processing agreement (B2B) | On request / NDA Privacy policy: DPA available on request at privacy@ciphera.net for Pulse processor relationships. | Not found No standalone public DPA download found during research; request under contract for B2B processing. |
| EU AI Act | Not applicable Web analytics product; not an AI system product page. | Not applicable Web analytics product; not marketed as an AI system under the EU AI Act. |
| Considerations & known limitations | Pulse by Ciphera | Sitesights |
|---|---|---|
| Managed backend is not open source | 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. | Not listed |
| No ISO/SOC or independent audit yet | 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. | Not listed |
| Primary data residency is Switzerland, not EU/EEA | 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. | Not listed |
| Marketing vs privacy wording conflicts | 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. | Not listed |
| No public independent security audit | Not listed | Medium ISO 27001, SOC 2, and third-party security audits were not found on public pages. Enterprises may need to commission questionnaires or wait for vendor artifacts under NDA. |
| Incomplete public subprocessor list | Not listed | Medium Hetzner (product) and Cloudflare (marketing site) are documented; backups, email, support, and monitoring vendors for the SaaS are not fully listed. Ask for a current subprocessor annex. |
| US-group CDN on marketing site | Not listed | Low Privacy policy lists Cloudflare Inc. (US) for the public website CDN. Separate from claimed Hetzner product data path, but relevant to overall vendor surface area. |
| 48-hour hash limits long-term visitor analytics | Not listed | Low By design, the rotating salt prevents durable cross-day visitor recognition. Teams needing retention cohorts or multi-week funnels by person must model events differently or choose product-analytics tools. |
| On-premise availability is marketing-only detail | Not listed | Low About page claims on-prem hosting; docs do not provide a self-serve install guide. Treat as sales-assisted until scope is confirmed in writing. |
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.
When: You want a minimal EU cookieless SaaS or a well-known self-host option
Consider: Plausible Analytics
Simpler metric set; strong self-host story. Sitesights markets deeper funnels/page-flow and multi-project agency features.
When: You need full self-host control, on-prem by default, or mature open-source governance
Consider: Matomo (self-hosted)
Heavier stack, deeper feature surface, and you operate the data plane yourself.
When: You need identity-rich product analytics, retention cohorts, or event warehouses
Consider: Mixpanel or similar product-analytics platforms
Different category—Sitesights is website/app growth analytics, not a full product analytics suite.
When: You need heatmaps, recordings, or UX feedback loops
Consider: Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity, or EU UX-analytics tools
Sitesights focuses on traffic, events, funnels, and flows—not session replay.