Glyphex vs Umami
Umami is a great choice if you want fully open-source analytics and are happy to run your own server. Glyphex is for people who want the same privacy-first approach without running anything: hosted, with AI traffic detection, site health checks, insights, alerts and email reports built in.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Glyphex | Umami |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting Umami self-hosting needs a server and a Postgres or MySQL database that you maintain | Hosted, no server to run | Self-host or Umami Cloud |
| Script size Both are tiny compared to Google Analytics (45 KB). The default is core plus outbound-link and download tracking; modules you turn on add to it. | New sites ship about 1.8 KB by default (1.5 KB core) | About 2.3 KB |
| Visitor ID lifetime Glyphex rotates the visitor hash daily. Umami rotates its salt monthly by default (SALT_ROTATION), and its hash includes the website ID. | 1 day, per site | 1 month by default (configurable) |
| Cookie consent required | ||
| Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control Umami honours Do Not Track only when you add data-do-not-track="true" | Honoured by default | Opt-in per script tag |
| Open source app Umami is MIT licensed. Glyphex publishes its tracker script under MIT; the app is closed source | ||
| Free self-hosting | ||
| Free hosted tier | Free plan, 50,000 events per month | Umami Cloud Hobby tier |
| Custom events | ||
| UTM tracking | ||
| Goals and funnels | ||
| Retention reports Umami has retention cohorts. Glyphex skips them on purpose: visitor IDs reset daily, so returning visitors cannot be linked across days. Both have journeys. | ||
| AI traffic detection Glyphex classifies visits from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and other AI sources | ||
| Core Web Vitals Both are opt-in. Umami uses data-performance="true" | ||
| Broken link (404) tracking | ||
| Site health checks | ||
| Automated insights | ||
| Traffic alerts | ||
| Scheduled email reports | ||
| MCP server for AI assistants | ||
| Import from the other tool | CSV import from Umami | |
| Pricing (100k monthly events) | €4/month | Free to self-host, plus server costs |
Why choose Glyphex
- Hosted for you: no server, database, upgrades or backups to manage
- AI traffic detection shows visits from ChatGPT, Perplexity and other assistants
- Site health, broken links and automated insights in one dashboard
- Traffic alerts and scheduled email reports included
- Honours Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control by default
- Import your Umami history from a CSV
Why choose Umami
- Fully open-source app under the MIT license
- Free to self-host with full control of your data
- Retention reports
- Free Hobby tier on Umami Cloud
- Large community and a long track record
- Runs on your own Postgres or MySQL database
Which should you choose?
Choose Glyphex if you...
- →Teams who want privacy-first analytics without running a server
- →Sites that care about AI search and assistant referrals
- →Owners who want alerts and email reports without extra tools
- →Anyone tired of upgrading and backing up a self-hosted database
Choose Umami if you...
- →Developers who want to read and modify the whole app
- →Teams that must keep analytics data on their own infrastructure
- →Sites that need retention cohorts
- →Anyone who already runs servers and prefers zero licence cost
The bottom line
Choose Umami if you want to self-host, need an open-source app, or rely on retention reports. Choose Glyphex if you want the same cookieless, privacy-first approach as a hosted service, with AI traffic detection, site health, insights, alerts and email reports built in. Moving over takes a script swap and an optional CSV import.
Frequently asked questions
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