Pulse · Compare
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Pulse vs Umami
Umami is a free, open-source (MIT) analytics tool you can self-host at no cost, with a hosted Cloud (including a free Hobby tier) run by a US company.
| Pulse | Umami | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free Hobby tier; paid plans — see pricing | Self-hosted: free · Cloud: free Hobby, Pro $20/mo |
| Cookies | None | None |
| Consent banner (EU) | Not needed | Not needed |
| Open source | Frontend + client open (AGPL) | Yes — MIT, self-hostable |
| Data residency | Switzerland / EU | Your servers; Cloud US-primary (EU option) |
| Company jurisdiction | Belgium (EU) | United States (Umami Software) |
Umami is the budget champion — genuinely free to self-host, with a free cloud Hobby tier. The trade-offs are that you run and maintain it yourself, and Umami’s Cloud company is US-based. Pulse is a fully-managed EU service with Swiss/EU residency and no server to operate. See Pulse pricing. Prices for Umami 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 Umami doesn’t
If cost is the deciding factor, Umami is very hard to beat — the software is MIT-licensed and free to self-host, and the cloud Hobby tier is free too. What you take on is operations: a database and app to run, update and secure yourself; and Umami Cloud is operated by a US company on US-primary infrastructure (an EU region is available). Pulse is the opposite trade — a fully-managed service with nothing to host, an EU company (Belgium) and Swiss/EU data residency — for teams who would rather not run infrastructure.
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 Umami is the better choice
When the budget is zero and you’re happy to self-host, Umami wins outright.
- You want a genuinely free, open-source (MIT) analytics tool you can self-host at no cost.
- The free cloud Hobby tier covers a small site and you don’t need managed EU residency.
- You have the ops capacity to run, update and secure the stack yourself.
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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Switch from Umami 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