Pulse · Compare
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Pulse vs Matomo
Matomo is the heavyweight open-source analytics platform — self-hostable, feature-rich (heatmaps, session recording, A/B testing) — from InnoCraft in New Zealand.
| Pulse | Matomo | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free Hobby tier; paid plans — see pricing | Self-hosted: free · Cloud from ~€19/mo |
| Cookies | None | Configurable; cookies by default |
| Consent banner (EU) | Not needed | Depends on configuration |
| Open source | Frontend + client open (AGPL) | Yes — self-hostable |
| Data residency | Switzerland / EU | Your servers, or EU Cloud |
| Company jurisdiction | Belgium (EU) | New Zealand (InnoCraft) |
Matomo is the most feature-complete option and can run entirely on your own servers, but cookieless operation takes configuration and some setups still need a consent banner. Pulse is cookieless and banner-free out of the box, fully hosted, with EU jurisdiction and Swiss residency. See Pulse pricing. Prices for Matomo 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 Matomo doesn’t
Matomo can do far more than Pulse — heatmaps, session recordings, A/B tests, form and e-commerce analytics — and you can host every byte yourself. The trade-off is weight and setup: Matomo uses cookies by default, so running it cookieless (and skipping the consent banner) requires deliberate configuration, and its Cloud company sits in New Zealand. Pulse does one thing — privacy-first web analytics — with no cookies and no banner from the first pageview, nothing to host or maintain, and an EU company with Swiss/EU data residency.
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 Matomo is the better choice
If you need depth or full self-hosting today, Matomo is the stronger tool.
- You need to self-host and own 100% of the data on your own infrastructure right now.
- You want heatmaps, session recordings, A/B testing, funnels, form and e-commerce analytics in one platform.
- You have the resources to configure and maintain a heavier analytics stack, including its cookie/consent settings.
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 Matomo 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