Umami Review

Umami is a self-hostable analytics platform alternative to Google Analytics. The README concentrates on installation: install from source with pnpm, set a DATABASE_URL for PostgreSQL 12.14 or newer, optionally set API_URL and BASE_PATH, and an optional TWO_FACTOR_ENCRYPTION_KEY (a 64-character hex string) to enable two-factor authentication. MCP is disabled by default; setting MCP_ENABLED=1 enables a /mcp endpoint authenticated with an API key from settings. The build creates database tables on a first install and a default admin user, with username admin and password umami, which you must change. Docker support includes an image from docker.umami.is and a compose file that runs Umami with PostgreSQL, and updating means pulling and rebuilding. The cloud pricing: Hobby is free with 100K events per month, 1 website, and 6 months of retention; Pro is $20 per month with 1 million events, up to 20 websites, and 2 years of retention; Business is $200 per month with 10 million events, unlimited websites, and 5 years; Enterprise is custom. The README also says the default credentials exist, which is a security reminder.

Requirements are a server with Node.js 18.18 or later and a PostgreSQL database 12.14 or newer. From source: clone the repository, run pnpm install, create an .env with DATABASE_URL, run pnpm run build (which creates tables and the default admin login) and pnpm run start, which listens on port 3000; you need to proxy requests or change the port to serve it directly. With Docker, pull docker.umami.is/umami-software/umami:latest or run docker compose up -d to start Umami with PostgreSQL. Change the default admin password immediately. We did not deploy it.

A clean dashboard of pageviews, visitors, referrers, devices, and events for each website, with a tracking script you add to your pages. Its simplicity is the selling point; it does not try to match Google Analytics's depth. This is based on the README and pricing page.

• Privacy-focused website analytics
• Self-hosting with Node.js and PostgreSQL or Docker
• Optional two-factor authentication
• API keys and an optional MCP endpoint
• Cloud plans with event-based pricing

• Simple to set up and to read
• Permissive MIT license
• Easy to run with the provided Docker compose file
• Popular for privacy-first analytics, about 39,400 stars

• Default admin credentials exist after install and must be changed
• Fewer reporting features than Google Analytics
• You manage PostgreSQL backups and updates when self-hosting
• On the free cloud tier, the page does not say what happens above 100K events

Self-hosting is free. Umami Cloud: Hobby $0 (100K events, 1 website, 6 months retention), Pro $20 per month (1M events, up to 20 websites, 2 years, extra events at $0.00003 each), Business $200 per month (10M events, unlimited websites, 5 years, extra events at $0.00002 each), Enterprise custom. Pro and Business include a 14-day trial.

Google Analytics is free, deeply integrated with Google's marketing tools, and very powerful, but complex and data-hungry. Umami collects only what you need, can be self-hosted so data stays with you, and is simple to read, at the cost of advanced attribution and audience features.

• Site owners who want simple privacy-friendly analytics
• Self-hosters comfortable with Docker and PostgreSQL
• Teams moving away from Google Analytics

• Marketers who rely on advanced attribution and ad integrations
• Teams without anyone to maintain a database
• Large sites needing heavy data retention without cost