Web Development

Ditching Google Analytics? A Quick Guide to Umami Setup

Tired of Google Analytics' complexity and privacy concerns? Discover Umami, a simple, self-hosted alternative. Our quick guide makes setup a breeze.

Alex Carter

A privacy-focused web developer and advocate for open-source software solutions.

September 16, 20257 min read22 views

Let’s be honest. When was the last time you logged into Google Analytics and felt... joy? For most of us, it’s a landscape of complex reports, endless menus, and a nagging feeling that we’re just scratching the surface of a data behemoth we don’t really need. Add in the ever-present privacy concerns and those pesky cookie banners, and the whole affair starts to feel like a chore.

What if there was a different way? What if your website analytics could be simple, fast, beautiful, and—most importantly—respectful of your visitors' privacy? What if you owned your own data?

Enter Umami. It’s the breath of fresh air the web analytics world desperately needed. In this guide, we're not just talking about an alternative; we're showing you how to reclaim your data and simplify your life by setting up your very own Umami instance.

Why Even Bother Leaving Google Analytics?

Google Analytics, especially in its latest GA4 iteration, is undeniably powerful. But with great power comes... great complexity. For bloggers, portfolio owners, and small businesses, it's often like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

The Complexity Creep

Remember Universal Analytics? It had its quirks, but you could generally find what you needed. GA4, on the other hand, is built for enterprise-level event tracking and data modeling. The learning curve isn't just steep; it's a sheer cliff face. If all you want to know is "How many people visited my site?" and "Where did they come from?", you're navigating a labyrinth for a simple answer.

The Privacy Conundrum

This is the big one. Using Google Analytics means feeding your user data directly into Google's ecosystem. Regulations like GDPR in Europe and CCPA in California have put a spotlight on data privacy. This is why you see cookie consent banners everywhere. They exist because services like Google Analytics use cookies to track users across sessions and sites. By collecting less, and doing it more ethically, you build trust with your audience. Umami is cookieless by design, meaning for many use cases, you can finally ditch that annoying banner.

The Performance Penalty

While Google's tracking script is optimized, it's still another third-party resource your users' browsers have to download and execute. A lighter, simpler script means a faster website. Umami's tracking script is tiny—less than 2 kilobytes—and that's a win for both user experience and SEO.

Meet Umami: Analytics, Simplified

So, what exactly is Umami? It's a free, open-source, and self-hostable web analytics solution. Think of it as the minimalist, privacy-conscious cousin to Google Analytics.

Here’s what makes it so compelling:

You Own Your Data: When you self-host Umami, the analytics data lives on your server. Not Google's. You have complete control and ownership.
Simple, Actionable Metrics: The dashboard is clean and intuitive. It shows you what you need: pageviews, unique visitors, bounce rate, average visit time, referrers, and top pages. No fluff, no analysis paralysis.
Cookieless Tracking: Umami anonymizes all data and doesn't use cookies. It can track unique sessions without needing to store any personal information on a visitor's device.
Incredibly Lightweight: As mentioned, the tracking script is feather-light, ensuring it has virtually no impact on your site's performance.
Unlimited Websites: You can track as many websites as you want from a single Umami installation.

A Quick Guide to Your Umami Setup

Ready to dive in? The most robust and popular way to run Umami is with Docker. It packages the application and its database into neat, manageable containers. This guide will focus on that method.

Prerequisites: What You'll Need

A Virtual Private Server (VPS). Providers like DigitalOcean, Vultr, or Hetzner are great choices. A basic $5-10/month plan is more than enough.
A domain or subdomain pointed at your server's IP address (e.g., stats.yourwebsite.com).
Docker and Docker Compose installed on your server. Most VPS providers have one-click installs or simple tutorials for this.
Basic comfort with the command line.

Step 1: Prepare Your Docker Compose File

SSH into your server and create a new directory for your Umami project. Inside that directory, create a file named docker-compose.yml.

mkdir umami-app
cd umami-app
touch docker-compose.yml

Now, open docker-compose.yml with a text editor (like nano or vim) and paste the following configuration:

version: '3'
services:
  umami:
    image: ghcr.io/umami-software/umami:postgresql-latest
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      DATABASE_URL: postgresql://umami:your_strong_password@db:5432/umami
      HASH_SALT: replace-this-with-a-random-string
    depends_on:
      - db
    restart: always
  db:
    image: postgres:12-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: umami
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: your_strong_password
      POSTGRES_DB: umami
    volumes:
      - ./umami-db-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    restart: always

Important: Before you save, you need to make two changes:

Replace both instances of your_strong_password with a secure password of your choice.
Replace replace-this-with-a-random-string with a unique, long, random string. This is crucial for securing your Umami instance. You can generate one easily by typing openssl rand -base64 32 in your terminal.

Step 2: Launch Umami!

With your docker-compose.yml file saved, you're ready for the magic. In the same directory, run:

docker-compose up -d

Docker will now pull the necessary images for Umami and PostgreSQL and start them in the background (that's what -d does). This might take a minute or two the first time.

Once it's done, you should be able to access your Umami dashboard by navigating to http://your-server-ip:3000 in your browser. The default login is:

Username: admin
Password: umami

Step 3: Add Your Website and Get the Tracking Code

The rest is a breeze. In your Umami dashboard:

Go to Websites and click Add website.
Enter the name and domain of the site you want to track.
Click Save. You'll be taken to a page with your unique tracking code.

It will look something like this:

<script async defer src="http://your-server-ip:3000/script.js" data-website-id="your-unique-id"></script>

Copy this snippet and paste it into the <head> section of your website's HTML. If you're using a CMS like WordPress, there are plugins that let you easily add header scripts. If you're using a framework like Next.js, you'd add it to your _document.js file.

Pro Tip: For a production setup, you'll want to run Umami on a proper subdomain with SSL (e.g., https://stats.yourwebsite.com). This involves using a reverse proxy like Nginx or Caddy to direct traffic to your Docker container. It's an extra step, but well worth it for security and professionalism.

The Verdict: Is Umami for You?

Switching analytics tools is a big decision. While Umami is fantastic, it's not a one-size-fits-all replacement for Google Analytics.

Feature	Umami	Google Analytics (GA4)
Cost	Free (plus server costs, ~$5/mo)	Free (you are the product)
Data Ownership	100% Yours	Owned by Google
Privacy	Excellent (Cookieless, Anonymized)	Questionable (Cookie-based, Data sharing)
Complexity	Very Low	Extremely High
Best For	Individuals, SMBs, privacy advocates	Large enterprises, marketing teams

Umami is perfect for you if: You're a blogger, developer, freelancer, or small business owner who wants straightforward, ethical analytics without the corporate baggage.

Stick with Google Analytics if: You're part of a large marketing team that relies heavily on its deep integration with Google Ads, complex conversion funnels, and advanced attribution modeling.

Making the switch isn't just about changing a tool; it's about adopting a different philosophy. It's a powerful step towards building a more independent, private, and user-friendly web. Give Umami a try—your website's performance, your visitors, and your own sanity will thank you for it.