umami-vs-matomo.html

Umami vs Matomo — which analytics tool wins for your brief, in 2026

Two analytics platforms, side by side. Umami is open-source, self-hostable, cookieless. the free plausible if you can run a postgres. Matomo is the veteran open-source ga replacement. heavyweight feature set, gdpr-compliant, self-hostable. The verdict, the criteria, and the honest take below.

ALL ANALYTICS COMPARISONS →

Verdict in one paragraph

Two open-source self-hostable analytics tools. Umami wins on modern stack (Node + Postgres), simpler dashboard, and quicker setup. Matomo wins on feature breadth (ecommerce, goals, A/B test integration) and 17 years of stability. For lightweight self-hosted analytics, Umami. For full GA replacement, Matomo.

Score: Umami 4 · Matomo 2

Side by side

Umami
Matomo
Category
Open-source / self-host
Open-source / self-host
Pricing
Open source
Open source
Starts at
Free (self-host)
Free (self-host)
License
MIT
GPL-3.0
Created
2020
2007
Script size
~2KB
~22KB
Cookieless
Yes
No
Self-host
Yes
Yes

Decision criteria

  • Which is easier to set up?

    Umami

    Umami deploys to Vercel + Postgres in 5 minutes. Matomo is PHP / MySQL — heavier to deploy.

  • Which has the more modern stack?

    Umami

    Umami is Node + Postgres + React. Matomo is PHP + MySQL — battle-tested but old-school.

  • Which has the broader feature set?

    Matomo

    Matomo ships ecommerce, goals, funnels, A/B test integration. Umami is web analytics only.

  • Which has the lighter dashboard?

    Umami

    Umami dashboard is intentionally simple. Matomo dashboard is feature-dense.

  • Which is the safer 5-year bet?

    Matomo

    Matomo has been running since 2007 with stable governance. Umami is younger.

  • Which is the right pick for a 50-site agency?

    Umami

    Umami's lightweight stack is easier to scale across many sites without operational overhead.

What Umami is best for

  • Developers comfortable running Postgres + Vercel who want zero ongoing cost
  • Teams running multiple sites who want one self-hosted dashboard
  • Anyone who wants Plausible's philosophy on a permissive license

Read the full Umami entry: /analytics/umami/

What Matomo is best for

  • Enterprises requiring full GA-replacement feature parity with self-hosting
  • EU government and regulated industries with strict data sovereignty
  • Sites that need ecommerce / funnel analytics and refuse to use GA4

Read the full Matomo entry: /analytics/matomo/

The tool choice is the easy half — the tracking plan is the hard one

The hard half is what events you track, who reads the dashboard, and how the privacy story holds up. The 30-min call is where you describe your product and your goals.