Pulse · Compare
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Pulse vs Google Analytics
Google Analytics 4 is the free, ubiquitous analytics product from Google — powerful, cookie-based, and wired into the wider Google advertising ecosystem.
| Pulse | Google Analytics | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free Hobby tier; paid plans — see pricing | Free (GA4) |
| Cookies | None | Yes, by default |
| Consent banner (EU) | Not needed | Required in the EU |
| Open source | Frontend + client open (AGPL) | No — closed source |
| Data residency | Switzerland / EU | Google infrastructure (global / US) |
| Company jurisdiction | Belgium (EU) | United States (Google LLC) |
Google Analytics 4 is free and deeply integrated with Google Ads. Pulse trades that ecosystem for cookieless tracking, no consent banner, an EU company and Swiss/EU data residency — the things that make GA hard to run cleanly in Europe. See Pulse pricing. Prices for Google Analytics were checked against their public pricing page on 2026-07-21 and can change — confirm the current figure with the vendor.
01 · Why teams pick Pulse
What Pulse does that Google Analytics doesn’t
The practical difference is the consent banner. Google Analytics sets cookies and, in the EU, needs opt-in consent before it can run — so it only ever sees the visitors who accept. It is also operated by a US company on Google infrastructure, and EU data-protection authorities have found Google Analytics unlawful in several rulings over EU-to-US data transfers. Pulse sets no cookies, so it needs no banner and counts everyone; it is run by an EU company (Ciphera BV, Belgium) with data on Swiss/EU infrastructure, and its dashboard and tracking client are open (AGPL) with a public live demo you can inspect on real traffic.
An EU company, under EU law
Pulse is operated by Ciphera BV, a Belgian company. Your analytics provider — and your GDPR and NIS2 jurisdiction — sits inside the EU, not offshore.
About CipheraSwiss / EU data residency
Every byte of visitor data lives on Swiss and EU infrastructure — no transfer to the US, and no dependence on US-jurisdiction cloud providers.
EU web analyticsNo cookies, no consent banner
Pulse sets no cookies and does not fingerprint visitors, so it is exempt from ePrivacy consent — no banner, and it counts every visitor, not just the ones who opt in.
How cookieless worksOpen client, public live demo
The dashboard and tracking script are open (AGPL) on GitHub, and a real, no-login demo runs on our own traffic. You can verify every claim, not just take our word.
Open the live demo02 · The honest case
When Google Analytics is the better choice
If your analytics exist to feed Google advertising, GA is hard to beat — and it is free.
- You run Google Ads and want native audience, conversion and remarketing integration across the Google Marketing Platform.
- You need GA4’s deep event model, funnels and free BigQuery export for large-scale custom analysis.
- You are already invested in Google Tag Manager and the broader Google stack and consent management is handled for you.
If none of the above is a dealbreaker, Pulse gives you cookieless, banner-free analytics from an EU company with Swiss/EU data residency — and you can check it yourself on the live demo.
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Get started
Switch from Google Analytics without the banner
Start free on the Hobby tier — one script tag, no cookies, no consent banner. Or open the live demo first and see Pulse running on real traffic.
Cookie-free · GDPR compliant · EU company