Non-Technical Solo Founder with EU Customers

ANALYTICS TOOL RECOMMENDATION
Research Date: January 19, 2026

Your Profile:

• Solo, non-technical founder with 300 MAU
• $500/month revenue, $20/month analytics budget
• EU customers requiring privacy compliance
• Currently confused by GA4
• Need: Funnel tracking to understand conversion dropoff

RECOMMENDATION: Pirsch Analytics ($6/month)

Why Pirsch for you:

• Budget perfect: $6/month for 10,000 pageviews (well under your $20 budget)
• Zero learning curve: Designed for non-technical users, intuitive dashboard
• EU-hosted: Made and hosted in Germany, GDPR/CCPA/PECR compliant by default
• No cookie banner needed: Cookieless tracking = no consent popups
• Lightweight: <1KB script won’t slow your site
• Funnel support: Track conversion steps without complexity
• Unlimited data retention: Keep all your data forever, even on cheapest plan

SETUP GUIDE (15 minutes):

Step 1: Sign up at pirsch.io

• 30-day free trial, no credit card required
• Choose the $6/month plan (10,000 pageviews)

Step 2: Add tracking script to your website header:

<script defer type="text/javascript" src="https://api.pirsch.io/pirsch.js" 
id="pirschjs" data-code="YOUR_CODE_HERE"></script>

Step 3: Set up funnel tracking with custom events:
For your signup funnel, add event tracking to key pages:

<!-- On landing page CTA click -->
<button onclick="pirsch('Signup Started')">Get Started</button>

<!-- On signup form submission -->
<button onclick="pirsch('Signup Form Submitted')" type="submit">Create Account</button>

<!-- On confirmation page -->
<script>pirsch('Signup Completed')</script>

Step 4: Create funnel in Pirsch dashboard:

• Go to Events section
• Create funnel with steps: Signup Started -> Signup Form Submitted -> Signup Completed
• View conversion rates at each step

YOUR TRACKING PLAN:

Automatic tracking (no setup needed):

1. Page views
2. Traffic sources
3. Device types
4. Countries/regions
5. Bounce rates

Custom events for funnel (add as shown above):

1. Signup Started (landing page CTA)
2. Signup Form Submitted (form completion)
3. Signup Completed (confirmation page)
4. Payment Initiated (if tracking paid conversions)
5. Payment Completed (successful payment)

WHY NOT OTHER TOOLS:

Google Analytics 4 (your current pain):

• You already identified the problem: it’s confusing
• Requires cookie consent for EU customers
• Overwhelming interface for non-technical users
• Steep learning curve wastes your limited time as solo founder

Plausible Analytics ($9/month):

• Good alternative but 50% more expensive ($9 vs $6)
• Simpler than GA4 but less funnel analysis features than Pirsch
• Similar privacy benefits
• Consider if you want even simpler interface and don’t need funnels

Simple Analytics ($15/month):

• 2.5x your budget
• Very similar features to Pirsch
• No cost advantage for your stage

Fathom Analytics ($15/month):

• Also 2.5x your budget
• Excellent tool but same privacy/simplicity as Pirsch at higher cost
• Consider when budget increases

PostHog (Free tier: 1M events):

• Way too complex for your needs
• Built for product teams with analytics expertise
• Overwhelming feature set you won’t use
• Save this for when you’re at 5,000+ MAU with product team

Mixpanel/Amplitude:

• Enterprise tools with steep learning curves
• Pricing unpredictability as you grow
• Designed for data analysts, not solo founders
• Complete overkill at 300 MAU

COST PROJECTION:

Now (300 MAU): $6/month (10,000 pageviews tier)
At 600 MAU (2x growth): $6/month (likely still under 10K pageviews)
At 1,500 MAU (5x growth): $10/month (100,000 pageviews tier)
At 5,000 MAU: $18/month (500,000 pageviews tier)

Key advantage: Predictable pricing based on pageviews, not surprise event charges. Even at 10x growth, you’re under $20/month.

MIGRATION FROM GA4:

Week 1: Install Pirsch alongside GA4

• Keep GA4 running for historical data reference
• Add Pirsch script and custom events
• Verify Pirsch is tracking correctly

Week 2-4: Compare dashboards

• Check that Pirsch numbers match GA4 general trends
• Build your funnel in Pirsch
• Get comfortable with simpler Pirsch interface

After 30 days: Remove GA4

• Once you trust Pirsch data, remove GA4 entirely
• Simplify your site (one less script)
• Remove cookie banner if GA4 was only reason for it

Total migration time: 1 hour setup + 30 days validation

EU COMPLIANCE STORY:

When customers ask about analytics/privacy:
“We use Pirsch Analytics, a privacy-first solution hosted in Germany. It:

• Doesn’t use cookies (no tracking across sites)
• Doesn’t collect personal data
• Stores all data in EU servers
• Is fully GDPR compliant
• Requires no cookie consent banner

We see page views and conversion rates, not individual user tracking.”

This addresses 95%+ of EU customer privacy concerns.

QUICK START CHECKLIST:

• Sign up for Pirsch 30-day free trial (no credit card)
• Add tracking script to site header
• Add 3-5 custom events for signup funnel
• Check dashboard after 24 hours
• Create funnel in Pirsch Events section
• Compare with GA4 for 2 weeks
• Remove GA4 when comfortable with Pirsch
• Remove cookie banner (if GA4 was only reason)
• Check analytics weekly to understand dropoff points

Expected time investment: 15 minutes setup + 5 minutes/week monitoring
Expected outcome: Clear funnel visibility without GA4 confusion, EU compliance confidence, $6/month cost