Medama vs Umami
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted web analytics options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Medama | Umami |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 74 · Good | 99 · Excellent |
| Category | Web Analytics | Web Analytics |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Go | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 645 | ★ 38,981 |
| First released | 2024 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Google Analytics | Google Analytics |
What are Medama and Umami?
Medama
Medama is a lightweight, privacy-focused website analytics tool that operates without cookies and complies with privacy regulations. It is designed to be fast and simple to self-host.
- Cookieless tracking
- SQLite storage
- Lightweight script
- Privacy compliant
Umami
Umami is a simple, fast, privacy-focused alternative to Google Analytics that collects no personal data and uses no cookies. It targets developers and site owners wanting easy, ethical analytics. It is deployed via Docker.
- Cookie-free privacy analytics
- Clean modern dashboard
- Multi-site and multi-user
- Tiny tracking script
Medama vs Umami: key differences
Medama is written in Go, while Umami is built with TypeScript. Medama is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Umami. Umami is the more established project (first released 2020), while Medama arrived in 2024. Umami has the considerably larger community, at 38,981 GitHub stars versus 645.
Why pick each one
Choose Medama if…
- Easy single-binary deploy
- Very lightweight
Watch out for
- Newer project
- Smaller feature set
Choose Umami if…
- Very easy to self-host
- Privacy-friendly
- Clean interface
Watch out for
- Fewer features than Matomo
- Requires a database
Frequently asked questions
Is Medama or Umami better?
Neither is universally better. Umami has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Medama and Umami free and open-source?
Yes. Medama is licensed under MIT and Umami under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Medama and Umami with Docker?
Medama: yes. Umami: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Medama or Umami?
Medama has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Umami. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.