Compare Pulse by Ciphera and Stormly on capabilities, jurisdiction, assurance, and fit for European buyers.
Both listed as alternatives to: 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.
Netherlands· Web Analytics
Needs review
Shortlist Stormly when you need Dutch-contracted, e-commerce-first product analytics: SKU-aware report packs, Shopify/Adobe-oriented setup, inbox-style AI anomaly narratives, and a public DPA. Skip when you need cookieless privacy web stats only (consider Plausible, Simple Analytics, or Pirsch), open-source self-hosting, verified ISO/SOC on a public cert page, or a subprocessor chain free of US-group cloud and Azure OpenAI.
Highlighted rows differ between the two products.
| Feature | Pulse by Ciphera | Stormly |
|---|---|---|
| Country of origin | Belgium | Netherlands |
| Category | Web Analytics | Web Analytics |
| Open source | Yes | No |
| Self-hosted | No | No |
| Headquarters | Belgium | Netherlands |
| Legal entity | Ciphera BV | Monon B.V. (Lutmastraat 1-3, 1072 JL Amsterdam; KvK 76248747 per Terms) |
| Governing law | Belgian law (GDPR); Swiss FADP for infrastructure location | Netherlands (Dutch law; Amsterdam courts) |
| 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. | Client analytics subprocessors (Security Architecture): Hetzner (EU); Amazon AWS (US company, vendor states EU regions only for encrypted analytics backups); Vultr (US company); Microsoft Azure OpenAI (US company, vendor states EU Azure region). Plans market EU data residency. Controller privacy policy also references Vultr/AWS for account data, AuthSMTP EU + Amazon SES USA for email, Stripe for payments; marketing site uses Google Analytics and Hotjar. |
| Summary | Cookie-free web analytics with traffic, funnels, uptime and Lighthouse checks in one Belgian-operated, Swiss-hosted dashboard. | Dutch SaaS product analytics for e-commerce teams: SKU-aware reports, AI-assisted anomaly and root-cause insights, and Shopify/Adobe Commerce/Segment/GTM-oriented connections under Monon B.V. (Amsterdam). |
| Tags |
| At a glance | Pulse by Ciphera | Stormly |
|---|---|---|
| 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 tier + monthly plan + custom; trial path on paid |
| HQ / entity | Not listed | Monon B.V., Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Category | Not listed | E-commerce product analytics (SaaS) |
| Hosting (public) | Not listed | Hetzner; AWS EU-region backups; Vultr; Azure OpenAI EU region (vendor docs) |
| Open source | Not listed | No |
| Self-host | Not listed | No |
| Governing law | Not listed | Dutch law; Amsterdam courts |
| 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 | Stormly |
|---|---|---|
| EU-operated | Yes | Not listed |
| Cookieless | Yes | Not listed |
| Open-source client | Yes | Not listed |
| Swiss-hosted data | Yes | Not listed |
| No analytics cookies | Yes | Not listed |
| E-commerce product analytics | Not listed | Yes |
| SKU-aware reports | Not listed | Yes |
| AI anomaly insights | Not listed | Yes |
| Shopify / Adobe Commerce | Not listed | Yes |
| NL entity + public DPA | Not listed | Yes |
| SaaS (not self-host) | 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.
AI agent for trends, anomalies, and root-cause style digs
Stormly positions an AI agent that watches connected e-commerce data for trends and anomalies (for example conversion drops or product spikes), then delivers plain-language findings—often to the inbox—with root-cause style exploration for questions like mobile conversion drops or regional return spikes. AI assistant access is plan-dependent; the public DPA documents Azure OpenAI (Microsoft) handling of assistant queries with a 30-day retention window and property stripping rules. Best for merchandising and growth leads who want narrative answers without waiting on a data team.
SKU-aware e-commerce report library (plus custom builds)
Ready reports target commerce questions: New Arrivals Performance (early SKU winners/laggards), Unviewed & Unsold Products, cart abandonment and revenue contribution by product/category, Conversion Journey and funnels by device/region, A/B test insights, Aha Moment Discovery, cross-selling analysis, and broader library items (retention, CLV, forecasting, SQL report, and more). Vendor materials state custom reports are included without a separate fee when a needed view is missing—useful for mid-market retailers that outgrow generic event charts.
Shopify, Adobe Commerce, Segment, and GTM-oriented connections
Homepage setup emphasizes linking Shopify, Adobe Commerce, or Segment quickly, with Google Tag Manager also listed among integrations. The DPA describes additional programmatic paths (JS library, import, custom endpoints, third-party sources). Fits stores already on common commerce stacks; teams on exotic storefronts should validate event coverage and product-feed depth in a pilot before replacing an existing analytics stack.
End-user tracking with IP anonymization defaults
Per the DPA, IP addresses for end-user analytics are not stored in full: the last octet is removed and geo/timezone are derived from the anonymized value. Web integrations automatically capture first-party cookie user ids, page/referrer/UTM context, and device metadata; app properties depend on client or CDP configuration. This is still full product analytics (not cookieless aggregate-only web stats)—clients remain responsible for consent banners and lawful basis for shopper tracking.
Public DPA, security architecture, and Dutch contracting
B2B buyers can download a Data Processing Agreement (effective 2023-09-06) and a Security Architecture page listing subprocessors, encryption expectations, backup retention (analytics backups up to six months), and logical tenant isolation. Contracts and DPA are governed by Dutch law with Amsterdam courts. Useful for EU procurement packages—but US-group subprocessors (AWS, Vultr, Azure OpenAI) still require transfer and CLOUD Act diligence.
| Assurance & compliance | Pulse by Ciphera | Stormly |
|---|---|---|
| Independent security / no-logs audit | Not found Trust page states no independent audit yet; Tessera self-audit published; independent audit planned. | Not found Security Architecture describes encryption, monitoring, isolation, and vulnerability contact (security@stormly.com); no public third-party audit PDF found. |
| ISO 27001 | Not found Ciphera explicitly states it holds no ISO 27001 certification. | Not found No public ISO 27001 certificate located on official legal/security pages reviewed. |
| SOC 2 / SOC 3 | Not found Ciphera explicitly states it holds no SOC 2 certification. | Not found No public SOC 2/3 report located on official pages reviewed. |
| GDPR / EU data protection | Vendor claimed Belgian controller; privacy policy describes GDPR/FADP bases and Pulse processor role. Not legal advice. | Vendor claimed NL entity; public privacy policy and DPA (GDPR-oriented); IP last-octet anonymization for end-user analytics; SCCs language for restricted transfers in DPA. |
| 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, but public client subprocessors include AWS, Vultr, and Microsoft Azure OpenAI (US-group companies). Account path historically also lists Amazon SES and Stripe. Residency claims do not remove US-group legal exposure. 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. | Vendor claimed Downloadable DPA PDF linked from stormly.com/dpa (effective 6 September 2023); audit rights and subprocessor notice described; Security Architecture lists subprocessors. |
| EU AI Act | Not applicable Web analytics product; not an AI system product page. | Partial Product includes an AI assistant via Azure OpenAI; not positioned as a high-risk AI system marketing claim. Buyers should map AI assistant use to their own AI Act / internal AI policy—vendor does not publish a full AI Act conformity package on the pages reviewed. |
| Considerations & known limitations | Pulse by Ciphera | Stormly |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| US-group cloud and AI subprocessors | Not listed | Medium Despite Dutch HQ and EU residency marketing, client data paths publicly include AWS, Vultr, and Microsoft Azure OpenAI. Transfer tooling (SCCs) and encryption of backups are documented, but CLOUD Act / US legal process risk remains a diligence item for sovereignty-sensitive buyers. |
| No public ISO/SOC or independent audit | Not listed | Medium Enterprise security questionnaires may stall without ISO 27001/SOC 2 packs. DPA offers information/audit rights—plan time for NDA evidence requests. |
| Azure OpenAI retains assistant context 30 days | Not listed | Medium AI queries and aggregate report results are stored on Microsoft Azure OpenAI for 30 days per DPA. Property stripping reduces some identifiers, but misconfigured event properties could still expose sensitive content—govern AI use and property hygiene. |
| Controller privacy policy vs security architecture drift | Not listed | Low Privacy policy (controller, effective 2019) still emphasizes Vultr USA wording in places, while Security Architecture (client data) lists Hetzner/AWS/Vultr/Azure. Ask for a single current subprocessor and region matrix at contract time. |
| Not a privacy web-analytics substitute | Not listed | Low Full product analytics with cookies/identifiers for web integrations—not a cookieless aggregate counter. Consent UX remains on the client. |
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 only need privacy-oriented website metrics (pageviews, sources) rather than SKU-level product analytics
Consider: Plausible Analytics, Simple Analytics, or Pirsch Analytics
EU web-analytics peers; different category from e-commerce product analytics
When: You need deep general-purpose product analytics, large ecosystem, and mature multi-product SaaS event modeling
Consider: Mixpanel or Amplitude
US incumbents; stronger breadth, different jurisdiction and commercial model
When: You primarily need free/universal marketing acquisition reporting already embedded in the stack
Consider: Google Analytics (incumbent) or dual-run GA for marketing + Stormly for product/merch
GA is not SKU-first product analytics; Stormly is not a GA replacement for every report