Pirsch Analytics
Server-side, cookieless web analytics hosted in Germany, built for GDPR compliance.
Overview
Pirsch Analytics is a privacy-focused web analytics product built around cookieless, server-side tracking. It uses a daily-rotating fingerprint hash instead of browser cookies, and the vendor states no cookie consent banner is required to run it. The company claims GDPR, CCPA, PECR, and Schrems II compliance, and stores all analytics data on Hetzner servers in Germany, giving it EU data residency. The tracking script is small at roughly 3.5 KB compressed.
The core analytics library is open source under AGPLv3, and on-premise self-hosting is available via an Enterprise License. Pricing starts at $6/month on the Standard plan, which covers 10,000 monthly pageviews and up to 50 websites with unlimited data retention; there is no perpetual free tier, only a 30-day free trial with no credit card required. Pirsch is built by a two-person team behind Emvi Software GmbH and was founded in 2019.
Beyond core traffic stats, it offers a real-time dashboard with live visitor count and map, custom event tracking, goal and conversion tracking, multi-step funnels (up to 8 steps on the Plus plan), and ecommerce revenue tracking with a Shopify integration. A RESTful Stats API, raw data and CSV export, Google Analytics (UA and GA4) import, an official WordPress plugin, scheduled email reports, and public or link-shared dashboards round out the feature set.
Best for
- Teams that want to avoid cookie consent banners, using cookieless tracking the vendor says needs no consent prompt.
- EU-based or privacy-sensitive organizations needing German data residency and stated GDPR, CCPA, PECR, and Schrems II compliance.
- Performance-conscious sites wanting a lightweight tracker, at roughly 3.5 KB compressed.
- Teams that want an open-source core they can self-host, with the library under AGPLv3 and on-premise deployment available.
- Product and ecommerce teams needing funnels, goal and conversion tracking, and revenue tracking with a Shopify integration.
Less ideal for
- Teams that need a permanently free plan: Pirsch offers no free tier, only a 30-day trial.
- Teams that rely on heatmaps for visual behavior analysis, which Pirsch does not offer.
Pricing
Analytics capabilities
Privacy & compliance
Data ownership & deployment
Platform & integrations
Alternatives to Pirsch Analytics
Clicky Real-time, privacy-friendly web analytics with per-visitor tracking and heatmaps.
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Cloudflare Web Analytics Free, privacy-first web analytics that tracks page views without cookies or fingerprinting.
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Fathom Analytics Privacy-first, cookieless web analytics with a simple dashboard and forever data retention.
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