Plausible and Umami are the leading privacy-focused web analytics tools, built for website owners who want insights without tracking visitors. Plausible is a paid SaaS with a clean, single-page dashboard. Umami is open source with a more traditional multi-page interface. Both are cookie-free and GDPR-compliant, but they take different approaches to features, hosting, and pricing.
Quick Verdict
Choose Plausible for the simplest setup, the cleanest dashboard, and a tool that just works with zero maintenance. Choose Umami if you want a free open-source solution, need multi-site management, or prefer self-hosting for full data control. Umami offers more features at the cost of more complexity.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Plausible | Umami |
|---|---|---|
| Open Source | ❌ (source-available) | ✅ (MIT license) |
| Self-Hosting | ✅ (paid license required) | ✅ (free) |
| Cookie-Free | ✅ | ✅ |
| GDPR / CCPA Compliant | ✅ No banner needed | ✅ No banner needed |
| Real-Time Dashboard | ✅ | ✅ |
| Custom Events | ✅ | ✅ |
| Goal Tracking | ✅ | ✅ |
| Multi-Site Support | ✅ (paid plans) | ✅ (all plans) |
| UTM Tracking | ✅ | ✅ |
| API Access | ✅ | ✅ |
| Heatmaps | ✅ (via extension) | ❌ |
| Web Vitals (Core) | ✅ Built-in | ❌ |
| Email Reports | ✅ | ✅ |
| Funnel Analysis | ✅ | ✅ |
| Script Size | < 1 KB | ~2 KB |
Plausible — Pros & Cons
Pros
- Incredibly simple — single-page dashboard with everything visible at once
- Tiny script footprint (under 1KB) with zero impact on page speed
- No cookie consent banner required, improving user experience
- Built-in Core Web Vitals tracking for performance monitoring
- Clean, distraction-free interface designed for quick insights
Cons
- Paid-only for hosted version (no free cloud tier)
- Self-hosting requires a commercial license ($9/month)
- Fewer granular reports than Umami's detailed breakdowns
- Limited multi-site management on lower tiers
- Smaller ecosystem of integrations compared to legacy tools
Umami — Pros & Cons
Pros
- Fully open source under MIT license — completely free to self-host
- Generous free cloud tier (100k events/month)
- Multi-site support on every plan, including free
- More detailed event breakdowns and custom data tracking
- Active community with frequent updates and new features
Cons
- Larger script size than Plausible (~2KB vs <1KB)
- Dashboard is busier and less intuitive for quick glances
- Self-hosting requires database management and maintenance
- No built-in Core Web Vitals tracking
- Some advanced features (retention, funnels) are Pro-only on cloud
Pricing
Plausible: Cloud starts at $9/month for up to 10k monthly pageviews. Growth tiers scale with traffic — $19/mo for 100k, $29/mo for 200k, and so on. Self-hosting requires a separate license at $9/month.
Umami: Free cloud tier includes 100k events per month. Pro is $9/month for 1M events. Unlimited events are $18/month. Self-hosting is entirely free with no limits — you only pay for your server.
Where They Differ in Practice
The fundamental difference is philosophy. Plausible is opinionated: one dashboard, one page, everything visible. You load it and immediately see what matters. There is no learning curve, no menu diving, and no configuration to tune. This makes it ideal for founders, marketers, and anyone who wants analytics without becoming an analytics person.
Umami gives you more control and more data density. Its dashboard has separate pages for websites, real-time, events, and custom reports. The trade-off is a slightly steeper learning curve, but you get richer breakdowns of UTM parameters, custom event properties, and retention metrics that Plausible keeps behind its simpler interface.
Self-hosting is where the math changes dramatically. Plausible's self-hosted option costs $9/month even though the source code is visible — it is source-available, not open source. Umami's MIT license means self-hosting is genuinely free. For a developer with a Docker setup, Umami costs nothing beyond the server it runs on. At scale (millions of events), self-hosted Umami can save hundreds per month compared to any SaaS analytics tool.
Script weight matters for performance-focused teams. Plausible's sub-1KB payload is the lightest in the analytics space. Umami's ~2KB is still excellent compared to Google Analytics (45KB+) but technically heavier. For sites obsessing over every millisecond of Largest Contentful Paint, Plausible wins on footprint.
Multi-site management is another practical divider. If you run a portfolio of blogs or manage analytics for clients, Umami gives you unlimited sites on every plan. Plausible charges per site or bundles them at higher tiers, which adds up quickly for agencies.
Conclusion
For solopreneurs, marketers, and teams who want dead-simple analytics with zero setup, Plausible's clean dashboard and tiny script make it the better choice. For developers, agencies, and privacy purists who want full data ownership and free self-hosting, Umami's open-source model and richer feature set win out. Both are excellent — the right one depends on whether you value simplicity or control more.
FAQ
Is Umami really free?
Umami's open-source version is completely free to self-host. Umami Cloud starts with a generous free tier of 100k events per month, with paid plans from $9/month for higher limits.
How does Plausible compare to Google Analytics?
Plausible is a lightweight, cookie-free alternative that loads in under 1KB. Google Analytics is feature-rich but heavier, relies on cookies, and raises privacy concerns under GDPR. For most websites, Plausible covers 80% of GA's useful features with none of the bloat.
Can I self-host Umami?
Yes. Umami is fully open source under the MIT license. You can deploy it with Docker, Vercel, or any Node.js hosting provider. Self-hosting gives you complete data ownership with no usage limits.
Does Plausible work without cookies?
Yes. Plausible is fully cookie-free by design. It is compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and PECR without requiring a cookie consent banner, which is one of its main selling points.