Umami – Simple and Privacy-Friendly Analytics for Modern Websites
If you run a blog, an online store, or even a small portfolio website, you know how important it is to understand your audience.
But what if I told you that you can get all the key data without invasive tracking, cookies, or bloated scripts that slow down your site?
Welcome to Umami – a lightweight, open-source analytics tool that changes the way you look at your visitors.
🎯 What Is Umami?
Umami is an open-source alternative to Google Analytics, built to be simple, fast, and privacy-focused.
It doesn’t use cookies, it doesn’t collect personal data, and it is fully compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and similar regulations.
Think of it as analytics that gives you exactly what you need – nothing more, nothing less.
🔑 Key Benefits of Umami
1. Privacy First
Umami doesn’t use cookies. This means:
- No annoying cookie banners
- Full GDPR compliance
- Greater trust from visitors, since they don’t feel tracked
2. Minimalistic and Fast
- Just one line of JavaScript – and you’re set
- Super lightweight script that won’t slow down your site
- Works even on static sites (perfect for Jekyll, Hugo, Ghost, WordPress)
3. Open Source
- Completely free
- You can self-host (full control over your data)
- You can customize the look and functionality
4. Clean and Simple Metrics
The Umami dashboard shows you:
- Page views
- Traffic sources
- Most visited pages
- Devices and countries of your visitors
- Conversions and custom events
All without complicated menus or clutter.
🛠 How to Install Umami
Here’s a quick setup guide if you want to run it on your own server:
- Download the code
git clone https://github.com/umami-software/umami.git- Install dependencies
cd umami
npm install- Configure the database
You can use PostgreSQL or MySQL.
Add your credentials in the .env file.
- Run the application
npm run build
npm start- Add the script to your website
- Place the tracking script in the
<head>tag of your pages.
That’s it – your analytics are live!
If you don’t want to host it yourself, there’s also a paid cloud plan, but for many people, the free self-hosted option is more than enough.
🚀 How I Use Umami
On my own blog, Umami helps me:
- See which posts get the most views
- Track where my traffic is coming from
- Measure campaign success (e.g., when I share a link on LinkedIn)
And all of this happens without breaking my visitors’ trust or needing a cookie consent popup.
🏁 Conclusion
If you want fast, privacy-friendly, and simple analytics for your website, Umami is a fantastic choice.
It’s lightweight, open-source, easy to set up, and gives you the data that really matters.
Give it a try and feel the difference – your visitors will thank you, and you’ll get clear, actionable insights.
