Matomo is a full analytics suite you can self-host, with heatmaps, session recordings and A/B tests as add-ons; Matomo Cloud starts at 29 a month (excl. tax) for 50,000 hits, where every pageview, event, download and outlink counts as a hit. PubPulse is a lighter hosted tool for content sites: billed by pageviews and events, from €2.50 a month, cookieless by default, with author and category dimensions, AI-assistant traffic and Discover reports built in.
In short
- Choose Matomo if you must self-host, or you need heatmaps, session recordings, form analytics or A/B tests in the same tool.
- Choose PubPulse if you want publisher reports without running a server, a small script, cookieless tracking by default and a price that follows your pageviews.
Side by side
Facts about Matomo are from matomo.org/pricing in November 2026.
| Matomo | PubPulse | |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud entry price | 29 / month excl. tax, 50,000 hits | €2.50 / month, 10,000 pageviews; €7.50 for 100,000 |
| What is counted | hits: pageviews, events, downloads, outlinks, site search | pageviews and custom events |
| Self-hosting | ✓ free core, paid premium plugins | – |
| Cookies | set by default, can be switched off | none, by design |
| Heatmaps, session recordings, A/B tests | ✓ (plans and plugins) | – |
| Author and category reports | via custom dimensions | ✓ custom dimensions on every plan |
| Free trial | ✓ | 30 days, no card, no pageview limit |
Built in on every PubPulse plan
- Custom dimensions such as author, category and publish date, with reports per dimension.
- An AI traffic report for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and Copilot, plus clicks from Google AI Overviews.
- Google Discover and Google News as sources of their own, separate from search.
- Users and sessions per page in real time, refreshed every 10 seconds.
- Networks: several sites in one report (Business plan).
- A tracking script of about 1 KB compressed, with no cookies.
The real cost of self-hosting
The Matomo core is free, but a busy site needs a server and a database that someone keeps updated, backed up and fast. At publisher traffic that is often more work than the subscription it replaces. PubPulse runs on ClickHouse, keeps every hit unsampled and answers reports in about a second, with nothing to maintain.
See it with sample data
Open the live demo: 90 days of a made-up food and travel site, no sign-up.
Try PubPulse free for 30 days
Every feature, no pageview limit, no credit card. Paste one line of code and your first visits show up within seconds.
Start your free trialor click around the live demo first, no sign-up needed