Links checked 2026-10-14
Self-hosting Umami
The self-hosted route instead of Google Analytics.
One container and one database. Someone who has run Docker Compose before can finish this in an evening. The ongoing work is the backup, and that is true of everything on this page.
What it is
A privacy-focused web analytics application: traffic, referrers, events, goals and funnels on one dashboard, with a tracker that does not set cookies in its default configuration. It is one Node application beside one PostgreSQL database, which is why it is often the first thing people self-host.
What you actually need
This is the reader's own hardware and configuration, not a price. We describe what a job needs; we do not put a figure on what self-hosting costs, because that depends on the provider, the term and the disk you choose.
- The server
- A small VPS is enough for the application; the database, not the app, is what grows with your traffic.
- How it installs
- Docker Compose, a prebuilt Docker image, or from source with Node 18.18 or newer. The project's installation page covers all three.
- Data store
- PostgreSQL, which the installation page states at version 12.14 or newer. The project recommends running it in UTC.
- What grows
- The PostgreSQL data directory. It grows with the number of pageviews and events you keep, and it is the whole of your history.
Before it is safe to expose
- A reverse proxy and a TLS certificate in front of it
- Change the default login the application creates on first run, before the instance is reachable
- A process manager if you install from source instead of running the container
- A scheduled PostgreSQL backup, and one restore you have actually performed
The trade-offs, specifically for Umami
- There is no managed service to apply updates for you: the application and its database are yours to keep current.
- The installation page documents a default administrator login created on first run. Left unchanged on a public URL, that is an open analytics dashboard.
- If the database is lost, the history is lost. Hosted analytics keeps that data for you; here, the backup schedule is the product.
- Bot filtering, traffic spikes and a growing events table are yours to handle. A busy site can outgrow a small server, and the fix is a bigger one.
And the six things you own from now on
These are true of every tool in this section, including Umami. They are also the reason to decide against self-hosting, which is a legitimate decision.
- You own the updates. Security releases have to be applied by you, on your schedule, and a project that stops publishing releases becomes your problem to notice.
- You own the backups, and a backup is not a backup until you have restored from it once.
- You own the uptime. There is no status page to watch and no support line to call when it stops answering.
- You own the security patches, the TLS certificate, the reverse proxy and the firewall in front of it.
- You are the on-call rota. The failure mode nobody plans for is being the only person who knows how the thing was set up.
- The hardware has a running cost and a lifetime. Disks fail, and the replacement is on you.
What you give up
- The wider Google ecosystem around Analytics: advertising integrations and the tag setup teams already have
- A support contract. Questions go to the project's issue tracker and are answered when a maintainer has time
- Any uptime commitment from a vendor
What you gain
- Visitor data stays on hardware you control, which is the usual reason to do this at all
- The default tracker needs no cookie banner
- Tracking more pages and more events does not move a vendor's bill
Elsewhere in the index
The box it runs on
A small VPS is enough for the application; the database, not the app, is what grows with your traffic. That machine is the purchase this page is really about, and it is the one number we will not invent for you: the right size depends on the provider, the term and the disk, so check it on the provider's own page.
Hostinger
Hostinger's VPS product is the closest fit to a self-hosted application: its own page advertises root access, Docker and NVMe storage, with data centres in several regions.
See Hostinger's plansRead Hostinger's published pricing ↗DigitalOcean
Virtual machines billed as you use them, with separate volumes, snapshots and object storage for the parts you want to keep outside the server.
See DigitalOcean's plansRead DigitalOcean's published pricing ↗Hetzner
Cloud instances and dedicated servers with rates published per instance size, so the cost of a bigger box is visible before you move.
See Hetzner's plansRead Hetzner's published pricing ↗What to check before you buy
- A virtual machine you have root on, not a website plan with a control panel bolted on top.
- Snapshots or automated backups, and where those backups are stored.
- Block storage or object storage for the data that will outgrow the server's own disk.
- What the monthly rate renews at, rather than the first-term rate on the signup page.
- Where the data centre is, if the data has a jurisdiction attached to it.
The “See plans” links go through our own /go/ redirect and some are affiliate links, which pay us if you sign up. The descriptions and trade-offs on this page are written from the project's own documentation and are unaffected. The plain pricing link under each provider is not an affiliate link. See our disclosure.
Frequently asked questions about self-hosting Umami
Answers restate the notes on this page or point at the project's own documentation. Self-hosting moves work to you rather than removing it, and these answers say so.
What is Umami?
A privacy-focused web analytics application: traffic, referrers, events, goals and funnels on one dashboard, with a tracker that does not set cookies in its default configuration. We cover it as a replacement for Google Analytics.
What do you need to run Umami yourself?
Docker Compose, a prebuilt Docker image, or from source with Node 18.18 or newer. The project's installation page covers all three. The requirements table on this page lists the server, the data store, what grows and what else to arrange first. Setup steps are at Umami's installation documentation.
How hard is Umami to run yourself?
We rate it Straightforward. One container and one database. Someone who has run Docker Compose before can finish this in an evening. The ongoing work is the backup, and that is true of everything on this page.
What are the trade-offs of self-hosting Umami?
Our notes list these costs. There is no managed service to apply updates for you: the application and its database are yours to keep current. The installation page documents a default administrator login created on first run. Left unchanged on a public URL, that is an open analytics dashboard.
What do you give up by running Umami yourself?
You take on what Google Analytics used to do for you. The wider Google ecosystem around Analytics: advertising integrations and the tag setup teams already have. A support contract. Questions go to the project's issue tracker and are answered when a maintainer has time. Self-hosting moves that work to you rather than removing it.
What do you gain by running Umami yourself?
Our notes list these. Visitor data stays on hardware you control, which is the usual reason to do this at all. The default tracker needs no cookie banner.