Plausible vs Umami vs Lumenlytic compared

Plausible, Umami and Lumenlytic are three of the best-known cookie-free analytics tools, and they are often shortlisted together. That makes sense: all three avoid cookies, all three can run without a consent banner in most setups, and all three are fast and privacy-first. The meaningful differences are in how each is priced, whether there is a free tier, how long data is kept and whether you can run the software yourself.

This comparison is deliberately balanced. There is no tool here that wins on every axis, and the right choice depends on your traffic, whether self-hosting matters and how much you value maturity versus price. Facts below reflect published pricing at the time of writing; always confirm on the vendor's own pricing page before deciding.

Plausible: the polished reference point

Plausible helped establish the category. It is cookie-free, ships a very small script and offers a clean dashboard. It sells three feature tiers at the same traffic volume on a volume slider: entry is around $9 per month for 10k pageviews and about $69 per month at 1M pageviews on the Starter tier. There is no free tier, only a thirty-day trial. Its open-source core can be self-hosted, which matters to teams that want control, and it has the longest track record and largest community of the three.

Umami: the closest like-for-like

Umami is the most direct competitor to Lumenlytic, because it uses the same meter: events, not pageviews. That means custom events count in the same bucket, so you can compare prices without translating units. Its Hobby plan is free at 100k events a month, Pro is $20 for 1M events and 20 sites, and Business is $200 for 10M events and five-year retention. Umami is open source and can be self-hosted, which is its biggest draw for infrastructure-minded teams.

Lumenlytic: the free-tier, managed option

Lumenlytic is managed only, has a permanent free plan at 200k events a month and is priced per event without overage bills on paid plans. Solo is $15 per month for 1.5M events and five sites, and plans scale up to Enterprise. It captures Core Web Vitals alongside traffic and is designed to be read by non-specialists. The trade-offs are a shorter retention window (two years on paid plans) and less product history than Plausible or Umami.

How they differ at a glance

• Free tier: Lumenlytic 200k events; Umami 100k events; Plausible none (trial only).
• Meter: Lumenlytic and Umami bill events; Plausible bills pageviews.
• Self-hosting: Plausible and Umami yes; Lumenlytic no (managed only).
• Script size: Plausible roughly 1.3 KB; Lumenlytic roughly 3.5 KB; Umami roughly 4 KB, all gzipped.
• Retention: Umami up to five years; Lumenlytic two years; confirm Plausible's current policy.
• Core Web Vitals: built into Lumenlytic; not a headline feature for the others.

Which should you pick?

If you need self-hosting or open source, choose between Plausible and Umami. Plausible is the more polished, mature product with the smaller script; Umami is the more direct event-billed alternative and gives you five-year retention on its Business plan. If you simply want a managed tool with a real free tier and low costs as you grow, Lumenlytic is the straightforward choice.

It also helps to be honest about what you are comparing. A cheaper plan with half the retention is not actually cheaper, and an entry price of $9 usually refers to the smallest volume tier. Line up volume, retention, site count and whether a badge is required before comparing the number at the top of the page. Once you do that, the three tools separate clearly rather than blurring together.

Finally, remember that all three are cookie-free, so switching between them is low-risk. Each installs with a single script tag, and you can run two in parallel for a week to compare numbers before committing. The cost of evaluating is a few minutes, and the cost of choosing badly is mostly a monthly bill and a migration you did not need.

Do the maths at your own volume

Headline prices are misleading because the three tools meter differently. Plausible bills pageviews, while Umami and Lumenlytic bill events, and events include custom actions. If your site fires a signup, a download and a few clicks per visit, your event count can be several times your pageview count. That means a pageview plan can look cheaper than an event plan at the same traffic, or more expensive once custom events are counted. Before comparing, estimate your monthly pageviews and multiply by the average number of tracked actions per visit to get a realistic event figure. Only then do the plans line up.

Retention and site count also change the answer. Umami's Business plan offers five years of history and unlimited sites; Plausible's plans differ by feature tier at the same volume; Lumenlytic keeps two years on paid plans but includes more events at each price. If you manage several client sites, the included site count matters as much as the traffic allowance. If you need years of history, the retention window is the deciding factor. Write down which of those three constraints is actually binding for you, because the cheapest plan on the page is rarely the cheapest plan for your specific mix of traffic, sites and retention. A simple spreadsheet with three columns — monthly pageviews, tracked actions per visit, and required retention — will settle most of the debate in ten minutes. Do not compare the first number on each pricing page; compare the plan that covers your busiest month with a little headroom. Then add site count and team seats, because those are where plans quietly diverge and where a cheap-looking option becomes expensive. The result is usually a clear winner, and it is far more trustworthy than a feature-by-feature checklist. Revisit it once a year, because your traffic shape will change and the plan that fits today may not fit next year. Keep the spreadsheet handy and re-run it whenever your traffic or team changes.