Umami

What Is Umami Analytics?

Umami is a modern, privacy-focused web analytics platform that offers a refreshing alternative to traditional analytics tools like Google Analytics. Built as an open-source solution, Umami empowers developers and website owners to understand their audience without compromising user privacy. The platform collects essential website metrics while maintaining complete GDPR compliance and avoiding the privacy pitfalls of mainstream analytics services.

Unlike conventional analytics platforms that track individual users across the web, Umami operates on a cookieless architecture that anonymizes data and never collects personal information. This makes it an ideal choice for developers building privacy-conscious applications who refuse to sacrifice user data for insights. Whether you're running a personal blog, a SaaS application, or an enterprise website, Umami provides the analytics visibility you need with the privacy standards users deserve.

Why Privacy-Focused Analytics Matter in Modern Development

The analytics landscape has shifted dramatically. Users increasingly expect websites to respect their privacy, and governments worldwide have enacted strict regulations like GDPR and CCPA. Google Analytics, despite its dominance, presents a fundamental problem: it feeds user data to Google's advertising ecosystem.

Umami solves this dilemma by design. The platform prioritizes user privacy from the ground up rather than treating it as an afterthought. Every design decision—from the lightweight tracking script (just 2KB) to the anonymized data collection approach—reflects a commitment to ethical analytics practices.

For developers building modern applications, choosing Umami signals a commitment to building responsible, privacy-respecting products. This isn't just about compliance; it's about building trust with your users and demonstrating that you respect their data.

Key Privacy Advantages

• No cookies - Umami doesn't use cookies, eliminating complex consent requirements
• No tracking - Users are not tracked across websites or devices
• No personal data - Zero collection of identifying information
• Data ownership - All analytics data stays on your own servers
• GDPR compliant - No vendor lock-in or third-party data sharing

Core Features That Make Umami Powerful

Real-Time Analytics Dashboard

The Umami dashboard gives you immediate insight into what's happening on your website right now. View active visitors, see which pages they're browsing, understand their traffic sources, and monitor conversion metrics in real time. This immediate feedback loop is invaluable for developers launching new features or responding to traffic spikes.

The real-time view displays:

• Current visitor count on your site
• Pages being viewed and scroll depth
• Traffic sources and referrer information
• Geographic distribution of visitors
• Device and browser analytics

Custom Event Tracking

Umami's event tracking system lets you measure what actually matters for your application. Go beyond page views to track meaningful user actions like button clicks, form submissions, purchases, sign-ups, or feature usage.

Implementing custom events requires minimal code. You can track events through:

1. JavaScript API - umami.track('event-name', { property: 'value' })
2. HTML attributes - Use data-umami-event directly in your markup
3. Server-side tracking - Python, Node.js, and other language integrations available

Visual Reports and Insights

Transform raw data into actionable insights with Umami's visualization tools. The platform generates:

• Traffic trend reports showing growth over time
• Conversion funnel analysis to identify drop-off points
• Segment creation for analyzing specific user groups
• Cohort analysis to compare user behavior patterns
• Custom dashboards highlighting metrics that matter to your goals

Multi-Site Management

If you maintain multiple websites, Umami's workspace system lets you manage all of them from a single dashboard. This is perfect for developers building client projects or managing a portfolio of applications. Each site maintains independent tracking while you control everything from one central location.

Comparison: Umami vs Google Analytics

Google Analytics dominates market share, but Umami's simplicity and privacy-first approach make it increasingly attractive to developers and companies prioritizing ethical data practices and user privacy.

Getting Started: 4-Step Implementation Guide

Step 1: Choose Your Deployment Method

Umami offers two primary deployment options for your analytics needs:

Cloud Hosted (Easiest): Sign up at umami.is and get analytics running in minutes without any server setup. Perfect for those wanting to skip infrastructure complexity and just start collecting data.

Self-Hosted (Most Control): Deploy Umami on your own server using Docker, a VPS, or a Platform-as-a-Service provider like Render or Vercel. This gives you complete data control and is what most privacy-conscious developers prefer.

Step 2: Add the Tracking Script

Once your Umami instance is running, add the tracking script to your website's HTML:

<script async src="https://your-umami-instance.com/script.js" data-website-id="YOUR-WEBSITE-ID"></script>

Replace the URL with your instance and website ID. That's it! The 2KB script begins collecting analytics immediately without any additional configuration.

Step 3: Configure Custom Events

For your application, identify the actions you want to track. Common events include:

1. Sign-ups - Track when users create accounts
2. Form submissions - Monitor form completion rates
3. Feature usage - Measure which features users interact with
4. Purchases - Track e-commerce conversions
5. Downloads - Monitor content downloads
6. Button clicks - Test call-to-action effectiveness

Step 4: Monitor Results and Iterate

Access your Umami dashboard to view real-time visitors, custom events, traffic sources, and conversion metrics. Build custom reports focusing on metrics that impact your specific business goals and user experience objectives.

Integration With Your Development Stack

Docker Deployment for Complete Control

Self-hosting Umami is straightforward with Docker. Create a docker-compose.yml file:

version: '3'
services:
  umami:
    image: ghcr.io/umami-software/umami:latest
    environment:
      DATABASE_URL: postgresql://user:password@db:5432/umami
      HASH_SALT: your-random-hash-salt
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    depends_on:
      - db
  db:
    image: postgres:15
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: umami
      POSTGRES_USER: user
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
volumes:
  postgres_data:

This setup gives you a complete analytics stack running on your infrastructure with PostgreSQL for data persistence and reliability.

Framework Integration Patterns

Next.js Integration: If you're building with Next.js, installing Umami takes seconds. Add the script to your _document.js or use a Next.js Script component for optimal performance and loading behavior.

React Applications: React developers can use community packages that wrap Umami's API, making event tracking feel native to your component structure and Redux patterns.

Static Sites: Even static site generators like Hugo or Jekyll can use Umami for analytics without any build-time complexity or JavaScript frameworks.

Umami's Open Source Advantage

The open-source nature of Umami creates unique benefits for developers and organizations:

1. Transparency - Inspect the exact code handling your analytics data
2. Customization - Modify Umami to fit your specific requirements and workflows
3. Community - Thousands of developers contribute improvements and plugins
4. No vendor lock-in - Export your data or switch platforms anytime you want
5. Continuous improvement - Regular updates and new features driven by community needs

Explore similar open-source development tools like GitHub for version control. The Umami GitHub repository shows over 12,500 stars and 150+ contributors, indicating strong community support and active development by privacy-focused developers worldwide.

GDPR and Privacy Regulation Compliance

Organizations increasingly face pressure to comply with privacy regulations globally. Umami makes compliance straightforward and built-in:

• No cookie consent popup needed - Since Umami doesn't use cookies, your site doesn't trigger GDPR consent requirements
• No third-party processors - Data stays under your control, simplifying data processing agreements
• Built for regulations - Umami was designed with GDPR, CCPA, and PECR in mind from the start
• User rights friendly - Users can request data deletion; self-hosted Umami makes this process trivial

For businesses handling European users or operating in regulated industries, Umami eliminates the Google Analytics compliance headaches that have plagued many websites.

Real-World Applications and Use Cases

SaaS Dashboard Analytics

Monitor how users interact with your SaaS product. Track feature adoption, identify user bottlenecks, and measure engagement metrics without the privacy concerns of traditional product analytics platforms. Understand where users get stuck and optimize the onboarding experience.

E-Commerce Performance Optimization

Track which product pages receive traffic, monitor checkout completion rates, identify abandonment points, and measure campaign effectiveness across your store. All while maintaining customer privacy and avoiding cookie-related compliance issues.

Content Site and Blog Analytics

Understand which articles drive engagement, monitor time-on-page metrics, analyze referral sources, and optimize content strategy based on real user data and reading patterns. See which topics resonate with your audience.

API and Developer Tool Promotion

If building developer tools or platforms, track how many developers visit your documentation, measure onboarding completion rates, and understand adoption patterns—crucial for growing developer communities and improving documentation effectiveness.