PrivacyEngine

PrivacyEngine is a Dublin-based privacy-management platform, operated by PrivacyEngine Ireland Limited and on the market since 2013, used by a customer base the company puts at over 80,000 users worldwide.

The free tier covers up to five staff with a genuine feature set rather than a stripped demo: a Learning Management System, risk management, ROPA, all mandatory logs and DPIA, capped at five records of each log type.

Paid tiers scale by staff count and add consulting hours and named “Data Champions”: Starter is €4,999 a year for up to 50 staff, Standard is €7,999 a year for up to 150 staff with SSO, and Advanced is €14,999 a year for 500-plus staff with a PrivacyPulse licence; Enterprise is custom.

The distinguishing feature against most of this category is the built-in LMS — privacy and security-awareness training bundled with the compliance tooling rather than sold as a separate product — which suits an organisation that wants one vendor for both the documentation and the staff training a DPO programme also requires.

What PrivacyEngine does well

• Free tier for up to 5 staff includes real ROPA, DPIA, risk management and LMS access, not a stripped trial
• Published annual pricing at every tier up to 500+ staff, avoiding a sales call for most buyers
• Built-in Learning Management System bundles privacy training with the compliance platform
• Large reported user base (80,000+) for an independent European vendor

Where PrivacyEngine falls short

• Pricing is annual and staff-count-based, which can front-load cost for a company with many non-privacy-facing employees
• DSAR and vendor/breach management are not clearly itemised as free-tier features — the free plan centres on documentation and training
• Consulting hours are metered by tier (2, 5, 8 hours), so heavier hands-on support needs Enterprise

Standout feature. A genuinely free tier for up to 5 staff that includes ROPA, DPIA and a full LMS — not just a demo of the paid product.