Pirsch

Pirsch is a German privacy-first web analytics platform developed by Emvi Software GmbH. The name "Pirsch" comes from the German hunting term for stalking game - appropriately, the platform helps you track visitors without intruding on their privacy. Built from the ground up with GDPR compliance in mind, Pirsch offers a simple, cookie-free alternative to Google Analytics that doesn't require consent banners.

Cookie-Free by Design

Unlike traditional analytics platforms that rely on cookies to identify returning visitors, Pirsch uses a privacy-friendly fingerprinting approach. The system creates a daily hash from the visitor's IP address, User-Agent, and a salt, allowing it to identify unique visitors within a day without storing any personal information. This hash is regenerated daily, meaning visitors cannot be tracked across days or identified personally.

Because Pirsch doesn't use cookies and doesn't store personal data, it is GDPR compliant without requiring visitor consent. This means you can use Pirsch without annoying cookie banners, improving user experience and capturing 100% of your traffic data - unlike cookie-based analytics where visitors who decline cookies aren't tracked.

German Servers and Data Protection

All Pirsch data is stored on servers located in Germany, providing strong protection under German data protection laws (BDSG) and GDPR. Germany has some of the strictest data protection regulations in the EU, making it an ideal jurisdiction for privacy-focused services. Your analytics data never leaves German soil, and Emvi Software GmbH is fully subject to EU law.

For organizations with data residency requirements or concerns about US jurisdiction, Pirsch provides peace of mind. There are no data transfers to third countries, and the company has no US presence that could subject it to laws like the CLOUD Act.

Lightweight and Fast

Pirsch's tracking script is extremely lightweight at under 1KB (gzipped), making it one of the smallest analytics scripts available. For comparison, Google Analytics 4 is over 45KB. This tiny footprint means Pirsch has virtually no impact on page load times or Core Web Vitals scores.

The script can be loaded asynchronously and even deferred, ensuring it never blocks page rendering. For performance-conscious websites where every kilobyte matters, Pirsch is an excellent choice.

Clean, Simple Dashboard

Pirsch takes a minimalist approach to analytics, focusing on the metrics that matter most. The dashboard displays visitors, page views, bounce rate, session duration, and pages per session. You can see traffic sources, top pages, device types, browsers, operating systems, countries, and languages.

The interface is clean and intuitive, avoiding the overwhelming complexity of Google Analytics. For most website owners, Pirsch provides exactly the insights needed without requiring analytics expertise to interpret. Real-time data is available, showing current visitors on your site.

Event Tracking and Goals

Beyond basic page analytics, Pirsch supports custom event tracking for measuring specific user interactions. You can track button clicks, form submissions, file downloads, and other important actions. Events can be tracked via JavaScript or server-side API calls.

The goals feature allows you to define conversion events and track their completion rates. You can set up funnel visualization to understand where users drop off in multi-step processes like checkout flows or signup forms.

UTM Campaign Tracking

Pirsch fully supports UTM parameters for campaign tracking. You can track the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, social media posts, email newsletters, and paid advertising. The dashboard breaks down traffic by source, medium, campaign, term, and content, giving you visibility into which marketing efforts drive results.

API and Integrations

Pirsch provides a comprehensive API for both data collection and retrieval. Server-side tracking is supported for applications where JavaScript tracking isn't suitable. The API allows you to build custom dashboards, integrate analytics data into other systems, or automate reporting.

Official integrations exist for popular platforms including WordPress, Vue.js, React, and others. The open-source nature of the project means the community contributes additional integrations over time.

Open Source Option

Pirsch is open source under the AGPL v3 license. You can self-host Pirsch on your own infrastructure if you prefer complete control over your analytics data. The self-hosted version includes all features of the cloud version, though you're responsible for hosting, maintenance, and updates.

Pricing Structure

Pirsch uses a straightforward pricing model based on monthly page views. Plans start at 4 euros per month for up to 10,000 page views, scaling up based on traffic. All plans include unlimited websites, unlimited team members, and all features - there's no feature gating based on plan level.

The pricing is predictable and affordable for most websites. A 30-day free trial allows you to test the service before committing. For high-traffic sites, custom enterprise pricing is available.

Considerations

While Pirsch provides essential analytics, it doesn't offer advanced features like heatmaps, session recordings, or A/B testing that some analytics platforms provide. For these capabilities, you would need to combine Pirsch with specialized tools.

The daily hash regeneration means you cannot track individual user journeys across multiple days. If long-term user path analysis is crucial for your business, a different approach may be needed. However, for most use cases, the privacy benefits outweigh this limitation.