VeritaMetrics vs Umami
Umami is an open-source, cookieless analytics tool that is free to self-host and lighter than ours, and it recently added session replay and heatmaps. Its default, simpler self-host backend is Postgres, which has no query rollup layer at all: every report scans raw rows, with no materialised views or summary tables behind it. Umami’s own answer to that is ClickHouse as an alternative backend with real hourly rollups, which a self-hoster then has to run and operate instead. VeritaMetrics adds zero-setup automatic event capture and rage and dead-click detection, fully managed, with no database to run at all.
Problems we built for, and where we stop
What people run into with analytics tools in general, read from the research, not a pitch against this one.
“decisions about landing pages, content and ad spend are being made from numbers with a messed up denominator”
What we do: Every pageview carries a bot label with a reason code; the dashboard shows the top reasons held back.
Where we stop: We label and do not block. Three reason codes fire today. A label is a statement about a signal, not a verdict. Reason-per-bot is not unique: Swetrix, Rybbit and PostHog show one.
“my tag broke and I found out weeks later”
What we do: An automatic notice when a reliably active site goes quiet.
Where we stop: Total silence only, not a drop or a partial break.
“GA4 users dropped after the banner and the modelling never brought them back”
What we do: Runs beside GA4 and counts on our own servers.
Where we stop: The capture rate is an unaudited estimate until capture-audit_plan.md finishes.
“every tool says privacy matters, and very few say anything meaningful about what they actually collect”
What we do: The privacy pages list what is stored and for how long.
Where we stop: The wording is hedged on consent by design, and the visit ID is pseudonymous, not anonymous.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | VeritaMetrics | Umami |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy & Compliance | ||
| Cookieless by default | Yes | Yes |
| Consent banner claim (vendor claim) | Usually, see /privacy | Claimed, no caveat |
| GDPR position (vendor claim) | Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)), see /privacy | Yes |
| Data storage region | London, UK | US / EU Cloud |
| Tracking & Data | ||
| Script size (gzipped) | ~8KB | ~ 2.3 KB |
| Ad blocker resilience | Yes | Manual bypass |
| No-JS fallback (pixel) | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic event capture | Yes | Pageviews only |
| Rage & dead click detection | Yes | No |
| Bot classification, with a reason per visit | Yes | No |
| Bounce that counts an engaged single-page read | Yes | No |
| Features | ||
| Session replay (DOM recording) | No | Yes |
| Visit timeline (event list) | Yes | Yes |
| Automated insights | Rule-based, no LLM | No |
| Funnels | Ordered steps, conversion window, event steps | Yes |
| Retention / cohorts | For signed-in users, in pseudonymous mode | Yes |
| Revenue attribution | Tracking only, no attribution | Manual event, attribution report |
| Live visitor count | No | Yes |
| Data export | CSV / JSON / XLSX | CSV / API |
| Pricing & Hosting | ||
| Self-hosting option | On request (contact sales) | Yes |
| Open source | No | MIT |
When to choose Umami
- Free, full-featured self-hosting under MIT, including session replay and heatmaps
- Open-source with a large community (37k+ GitHub stars) and no vendor lock-in
- A smaller script, about 1.5KB versus our ~8KB
- A full API and direct database access for teams that self-host
When to choose VeritaMetrics
- Bounce needs one pageview and under 10 engaged seconds, and the threshold is shown, where Umami’s own issue tracker shows a ten-minute read counted as a zero-second bounce
- Automatic capture of clicks, downloads, and form submits, where Umami auto-tracks only pageviews and UTM
- A fully managed, no-ops path without running a database yourself at all
- Rage and dead-click detection, which Umami does not have
- Session replay on every plan, where Umami gates it to the $200/mo cloud tier or to self-hosting
What VeritaMetrics does that Umami doesn't
Every item is a row in the table above, ticked in our column and marked No in theirs.
- Rage & dead click detection
- Bot classification, with a reason per visit
- Bounce that counts an engaged single-page read
- Automated insights
What people who use Umami say
“A long read is counted as a bounce with zero seconds on it.”
What we do: Bounce needs one pageview and under 10 engaged seconds, and the threshold is shown. The limit: Equals GA4's threshold, so new only against the privacy tools.
“Upgrading to the latest version throws a database error on startup, despite valid credentials.”
What we do: Hosted, no operations. The limit: Not open source and not self-hostable.
Pricing
Umami: Free self-hosting (MIT). Umami Cloud: free Hobby tier, Pro $20/mo, Business $200/mo (adds session replay and heatmaps).
VeritaMetrics: Free plan, then paid from 7 €/mo
See pricing and plansUmami vs VeritaMetrics: common questions
- Is Umami free?
- Self-hosting is free forever under MIT. Umami Cloud has a free Hobby tier (1 site, 100k events, 6-month history), then paid plans from $20/mo. VeritaMetrics is a managed product with no server to run.
- Does Umami have session replay?
- Yes, added in April 2026. On Umami Cloud it is limited to the $200/mo Business tier; self-hosted installs get it for free. It is a recent feature, so expect rougher edges than an established one.
- Will an ad blocker block Umami?
- Often, by default. Umami’s domain and script pattern are on common blocklists. It documents manual workarounds (reverse proxy, custom script name), none automatic.
- Does Umami auto-track clicks like VeritaMetrics?
- Only partially. Pageviews and UTM are automatic; clicks need data-umami-event tags or an extra script, and there is no rage or dead-click detection. VeritaMetrics captures clicks, downloads, and form submits with no setup.
Switch from Umami to VeritaMetrics
Same privacy commitment. More complete data. Deeper reporting.