EthicsPortal vs. FaceUp #
FaceUp is a whistleblower platform used by over 3,500 organizations across 60 countries. Originally built with a strong focus on schools and education, FaceUp has expanded into corporate compliance. They support an impressive 113 languages and run an aggressive affiliate program. Their pricing is in US dollars, which can make budgeting less predictable for European businesses.
Quick comparison #
| Feature | EthicsPortal | FaceUp |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | €41.67/mo billed annually (EUR) | Not public — “Get a Quote” on all tiers (USD) |
| Portal activation | Self-service, minutes | Quote required |
| Encryption | Yes (non-deterministic ActiveRecord Encryption) | Yes |
| EU hosting | Yes (Hetzner, Germany) | Yes (EU) |
| File metadata stripping | Yes (EXIF, GPS, author info) | Not publicly documented |
| IP anonymization | Yes (one-way hash, no storage) | Not publicly documented |
| Audit trail | Yes, append-only | Yes |
| Deadline tracking | Yes (7-day and 3-month with notifications) | Yes |
| PDF export | Yes | Yes |
| Oral / voice reporting | Yes (in-portal voice recording, automatically voice-anonymized) | Yes (voice messages) |
| Data export (GDPR Art. 20) | Yes (full-tenant ZIP, audit-logged) | Not publicly documented |
| Structured intake | Yes — 5 built-in Directive-aligned questions, all optional | Configurable custom fields (admin-built) |
| Languages | 12 EU official languages | 113 languages |
Where FaceUp is strong #
- Language support. 113 languages is among the highest in the market. If your organization operates in countries with less common languages, FaceUp likely has you covered.
- Education market. FaceUp has a unique position in schools and universities. If you need a reporting tool for an educational institution, they have purpose-built features for that context.
- Mobile app. FaceUp offers a mobile application, which EthicsPortal does not currently have.
Where EthicsPortal is different #
- Euro pricing, published. EthicsPortal is €41.67/month billed annually and published before procurement starts. FaceUp does not publish prices: all three tiers (Starter, Professional, Enterprise) show “Get a Quote” buttons, and pricing is quoted in US dollars. For European businesses, that adds a currency conversion to the budgeting process. With EthicsPortal, there is one plan at one price, in euros.
- Privacy protections built in. File metadata stripping (EXIF, GPS, author data) and IP anonymization (one-way hash) are standard on every EthicsPortal account. Oral reports recorded in the portal are voice-anonymized automatically — the audio is pitch-shifted and the original purged, so the reporter’s true voice is never stored. These are not paid add-ons.
- Directive features in the single plan. Oral reporting (Art. 9(2)(b)), a read-only auditor/legal-counsel role, report categories mapped to Directive Art. 2(1), structured intake questions mapped to Art. 4 and Art. 19, and a full GDPR Art. 20 data export are part of the flat €41.67/month plan (billed annually) — not a tier upgrade.
- Built-in structured intake. EthicsPortal ships five optional, Directive-aligned intake questions (relationship to the organization, source of knowledge, timing, prior reporting, retaliation concern) as a default guided step, with retaliation surfaced to handlers as an urgency badge. FaceUp lets an organization add custom form fields itself; the questions are not a shipped Directive-aligned default.
- Focused on business compliance. EthicsPortal is built specifically for EU Directive 2019/1937 compliance. FaceUp serves both schools and businesses, so its feature set spans two different audiences rather than concentrating on corporate Directive compliance.
- EU-hosted on Hetzner in Germany. Your data is stored on specific, verifiable German infrastructure — important for organizations that need to demonstrate GDPR-compliant data residency.
Who should choose FaceUp #
FaceUp is a good fit for organizations that need 113 languages, want a mobile app for reporters, or operate in the education sector. If you are a school, university, or multi-national enterprise where USD pricing is not a concern, FaceUp offers broad coverage.
Who should choose EthicsPortal #
EthicsPortal is built for European SMEs that want straightforward EU Directive compliance in euros, without navigating multiple pricing tiers or wondering which features require an upgrade. If you value built-in privacy protections and a product focused on whistleblower compliance rather than split between schools and businesses, EthicsPortal is the more direct fit.
Deploy your reporting channel →
Last updated: