Plausible vs Umami
Both are alternatives to Google Analytics. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as Umami vs Plausible — same comparison, one verdict.
Plausible and Umami are closely matched on ownership (92 vs 90) — this one comes down to pricing and to which trade-offs below you can live with.
Plausible
TOP PICKLightweight, cookieless, privacy-first analytics.
Plausible is a simple, privacy-friendly analytics tool with a tiny script and no cookies, so you usually skip the consent banner. Self-host the open-source Community Edition or use the hosted plan.
Umami
Simple, fast, self-hostable web analytics.
Umami is an MIT-licensed, privacy-focused analytics app you host yourself, offering the essential metrics with a light footprint and a clean UI.
Side by side
10 points of comparison, every one read from a verified field. Green marks the side that wins a row outright. A dash means we do not hold that fact — never that it is zero.
| Plausible | Umami | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty ScoreOur transparent 0–100 composite for data ownership and exit cost. | 92 | 90 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first data | No | No |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Pricing | Free self-host (Community Edition); paid cloud | Free self-host; paid cloud |
| RAM to run it wellThe figure that actually matters, not the vendor's minimum. | 4 GB | 1 GB with PostgreSQL alongside |
| Realistic running costWhat the box costs each month if you run it yourself. | $15–25/mo, against their cloud from $9/mo. Self-hosting is about data ownership here, not saving money. | $10–18/mo, and it runs on a free-tier serverless host comfortably |
| Setup timeHonest first-install estimate, not the marketing quickstart. | 1 hour | 30 minutes |
| Ongoing maintenanceThe part nobody budgets for. | Low. Two databases to keep happy rather than one. | Low. One container and a database, with no archiving job to schedule. |
Plausible is Macrostack's recommended Google Analytics alternative, so it's our pick here.
Weighing both against staying on Google Analytics? Is Google Analytics free? What it actually costs →
Plausible
Strengths
- +Under ~1 KB script, no cookies
- +GDPR-friendly by design
- +Clean, focused dashboard
Trade-offs
- −Fewer deep-dive reports than GA
- −Self-host needs a database
Umami
Strengths
- +Permissive MIT license
- +Lightweight and privacy-friendly
- +Easy to deploy
Trade-offs
- −Basic reporting by design
- −You run the database
Which one fits you
The trade-offs above, turned into a decision. Find the line that describes your team.
Choose Plausible
if a lower exit cost matters more to you than any single feature, and under ~1 KB script, no cookies.
Choose Umami
if permissive MIT license.
Neither, yet
if both carry a real cost you should weigh first — fewer deep-dive reports than GA, and basic reporting by design. If either of those is a dealbreaker for your team, the shortlist is wrong rather than the choice.
What it takes to run these yourself
Real requirements and honest running costs, not the vendor quickstart.
Plausible vs Umami — common questions
Is Plausible a better fit than Umami for web analytics?
It depends on what you are optimising for, and the honest split is this: Plausible scores 92 to Umami's 90 on data ownership and exit cost, so it is the safer choice if you care about being able to leave. Umami earns its place on a different axis — permissive MIT license. Neither is a wrong answer for every team; the table above is the actual comparison.
What happens if we want to switch later?
Neither of these is local-first by default, so plan the exit at the point you adopt rather than later. Export what matters on a schedule instead of trusting you can retrieve it on demand — that is the most common way a web analytics migration turns into a project instead of an afternoon.
Can I self-host Plausible or Umami?
Both can be self-hosted. The difference is what it costs you in time rather than whether it is possible — see the setup and maintenance rows above.
Are Plausible and Umami both alternatives to Google Analytics?
Yes — both appear in our Google Analytics comparison, which is why they are worth putting side by side. People usually arrive here already having decided to move off Google Analytics and now choosing between the two replacements, which is a narrower and much easier question.
More Google Analytics head-to-heads
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Facts verified 2026-07-04. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.