Perch Blog

  • From Idea to Online Store: How Good Love Got Online

    From Idea to Online Store: How Good Love Got Online

    “I didn’t need something complicated — I just needed a place that felt like mine.”

    Learn how Good Love launched a simple, affordable online store using WordPress and WooCommerce — without complexity or per-sale fees.

    Good Love is a small, independent clothing project run by Elsie van Dam. She takes second-hand garments and gives them a new life through her own printed designs, releasing them in small drops every couple of months.

    For a while, everything lived on Instagram. But it needed a proper home.

    Keeping It Simple

    “Most platforms just felt like too much, or they took a cut of every sale, which didn’t make sense for how I work.”

    Elsie wasn’t trying to build a big e-commerce operation. She just needed somewhere clean and simple — a place to upload her drops, take orders, and move on so she can focus on her designs.

    Getting Set Up

    We set her up with a WordPress and WooCommerce store on Perch.

    Nothing fancy — just something that works and let’s her products shine.

    “I can manage everything myself, which was really important. It’s simple, but it does exactly what I need.”

    The result is goodlove.online — a straightforward shop where each piece can stand on its own.

    Real Support (Not Just Docs)

    “I got stuck once, I just emailed and got a real reply. That made a big difference.”

    No tickets, no digging through help centres — just actual help when it was needed.

    So She Can Focus on the Work

    “I don’t have to think about the technical side at all — I can just focus on designing and running my business.”

    That’s really the whole point.

    The shop runs in the background, and Elsie can just get on with making things.

    Something That Can Grow

    “It feels like something I can build on, not something I’ll outgrow straight away.”

    New drops every couple of months, and the store just keeps up.

    No replatforming. No messing.

    See It For Yourself

    Good Love is live and taking orders at goodlove.online. If you’re a maker, artist, or small business owner looking for the same kind of setup — a managed WordPress store on EU infrastructure, without the complexity — we’d love to help you build it.

    Get started with Perch →

  • What’s New on Perch: More Apps, Better Backups, and a Platform Build Around You

    What’s New on Perch: More Apps, Better Backups, and a Platform Build Around You

    When we launched Perch, the goal was simple: give European teams a privacy-first, flat-rate alternative to Google Workspace — no per-user fees, no US servers, no compromises on GDPR compliance. That foundation hasn’t changed. But we’ve been busy building, and today we want to walk you through everything that’s new.

    More Apps, More Power

    Perch has always been built on Nextcloud — giving you file sync, shared calendars, team chat, and collaborative documents through Collabora Office in one place. But we know that modern teams need more than just that.

    So we’ve expanded the app catalogue. Every Perch plan now supports the following application bundles:

    Nextcloud & Collabora Office

    The core of Perch. Sync your files, collaborate on documents in real time, share calendars, and chat with your team — all in a single EU-hosted workspace. Collabora gives you full Microsoft Office format compatibility without sending a single byte to a US server.

    WordPress

    Need a website or a content hub? You can now spin up a managed WordPress instance directly on Perch. It lives in the same EU infrastructure as the rest of your tools, so your site and your team data stay under the same compliant roof.

    Forgejo & Woodpecker CI

    For developer teams, this one’s big. Forgejo is a self-hostable, open-source Git platform — a privacy-respecting alternative to GitHub — and Woodpecker CI plugs straight into it for continuous integration and deployment pipelines. Build, test, and ship code without routing your source through third-party servers.

    Your Own Corner of the European Cloud

    Every deployment on Perch gets a clean, ready-to-use hostname under our .perched.eu domain — so you’re up and running the moment your instance is provisioned. No fiddling with DNS before you can even log in.

    When you’re ready to make things official, custom domain support lets you point your own domain to your Perch instance. Whether it’s files.youragency.com or git.yourstartup.io, your team and clients see your brand, not ours.

    Backups That Match Your Risk Appetite

    Data loss is not a theoretical risk — it’s a matter of when, not if, without proper backups. Every Perch plan now includes automated daily backups with retention periods scaled to your plan:

    PlanBackup Retention
    Solo7 days
    Team14 days
    Business30 days

    No manual setup required. Your data is backed up automatically, and if something goes wrong, you can restore to any point within your retention window. It’s one less thing to worry about.

    Storage That Grows With You

    All plans come with solid base storage, but we know data grows fast — especially when your whole team is syncing files and running CI pipelines. That’s why you can add extra storage to any plan at €0.10 per GB per month, in 5 GB increments, without migrating to a new plan or touching your configuration. Just add what you need, when you need it.

    Managed, Not Abandoned

    Here’s something we want to be clear about: Perch is a fully managed platform. You don’t need a sysadmin on your team. You don’t need to know what Docker is. If you can send an email, you can run Perch.

    But “managed” means more than just keeping the servers running. It means we’re here when something isn’t working the way you expected. It means when you email us, a person replies. And it means that when a customer asks for a feature — whether that’s a new app bundle, a different backup schedule, or a workflow integration — we actually listen.

    Perch is early, and that’s honestly an advantage for you right now. Features get added fast. If something is missing from your workflow, tell us. We’d rather build what our customers actually need than guess.

    Ready to Try It?

    All of this is available today. If you’re already a Perch customer, new apps and features are available in your dashboard. If you’re not yet, you can try a Perch Solo subscription with 75% off your first order with the SOLOFIRST75 coupon code:

    Start your journey →

    Your data stays in Europe. Your tools stay under your control. And your bill stays flat, no matter how much your team grows.

  • U.S. Authorities Can Access European Cloud Data — Why This Matters

    U.S. Authorities Can Access European Cloud Data — Why This Matters

    A recent legal opinion reported by heise confirms a reality many European businesses overlook: U.S. authorities can access cloud data even when it is stored in Europe.

    The key factor isn’t where the data sits, but who controls the provider. Companies subject to U.S. law can be compelled to hand over data under laws like the CLOUD Act, regardless of server location.

    Why This Matters for GDPR

    GDPR aims to strictly limit access by third-country authorities. U.S. access laws can bypass European safeguards, creating compliance risks for businesses using U.S.-linked cloud services — including those advertising “EU data residency.”

    Why Perch Is Different

    Perch runs as a private, dedicated instance per customer, hosted in the EU and operated by a European company.

    That means:

    • No shared multi-tenant environment
    • No exposure to U.S. jurisdiction
    • Full legal and operational control under EU law

    Data sovereignty is about control, not just location.

    The Takeaway

    The heise report highlights a simple truth: European-hosted data is not automatically protected if the provider is subject to U.S. law.

    For organizations that value privacy and compliance, a private, EU-controlled collaboration platform like Perch offers a safer foundation.

    Link to heise report: https://www.heise.de/news/Gutachten-US-Behoerden-haben-weitreichenden-Zugriff-auf-europaeische-Cloud-Daten-11111043.html

  • SaaS pricing and the need for an alternative (us)

    SaaS pricing and the need for an alternative (us)

    If you’ve been anywhere near the internet lately, you’ve probably seen the headlines:
    Microsoft’s hiking prices. Google’s hiking prices. And for what?
    Not new features. Not miracles.
    Just… vibes, apparently.

    It genuinely feels like the whole SaaS industry sat down one morning and said:
    “Right lads, same product BUT let’s charge more. What other choice do they have?”

    Eventually it hit us: people are paying a premium tax for a bit of storage and a group chat. And we were sick of watching trillion-dollar giants rinse hardworking people who are trying to run actual businesses, offer real services, and keep the local economy ticking.

    So we built something different.

    Perch Platform — your own private cloud that isn’t trying to rob you

    Perch is powered by Nextcloud, hosted fully in the EU, and doesn’t need you to be some sort of server wizard to use it.

    No “surprise, here’s a new tier.”
    No “you’re paying for AI now whether you like it or not.”
    No emails saying your plan is going up again for the exact same product.

    Just:

    • Flat pricing (the price stays the price — imagine!)
    • EU hosting
    • GDPR-friendly by default
    • Perfect for small teams or even just your own files + photos
    • Private, tidy, and not run by lads with trillion-dollar egos

    Perch does NOT wake up in July thinking it deserves 30% more for doing the same job.
    (It’s got manners.)

    Why any of this matters

    Right now, most people feel stuck between two grim options:

    1. Pay Big Tech more every year, or
    2. Self-host everything and spend your weekends crying into Docker logs

    Neither sounded appealing.

    Perch sits bang in the middle — the good middle:
    you get your own private cloud, it works out of the box, and the price doesn’t jump just because the CEO felt spicy that quarter.

    Your data is yours.
    Your cost stays the same.
    And you don’t have to pretend to know what Kubernetes is.

    Who it’s for

    • Agencies and small teams who want predictable costs
    • Freelancers who want a safe home for files + photos
    • Privacy nerds
    • Anyone allergic to random price hikes
    • People who like simple things that just work

    If that’s you, you’ll probably love it.

    So yeah, that’s Perch

    Big SaaS can keep inventing new bundles and add-ons and AI glitter.
    We’re going the other direction:
    simple, private, flat-priced, European, sound.

    Give it go and stop wondering!