Umami is a small analytics app you can run yourself: open source, cookieless-friendly, a dashboard that stays out of the way. Umami Cloud exists if you do not want Docker. SiteLine is a hosted product with two halves — cookieless on-site analytics and a durable Google Search Console import. Umami is not a failed SiteLine. SiteLine is not “Umami with a marketing site.” Pick by whether you need to operate the tracker, and whether Search Console history is a table you own.
What Umami is for
Umami’s job is website traffic: pageviews, referrers, browsers, OS, devices, countries, UTMs, events. Self-hosting means the script can be first-party by default and the Postgres/MySQL database is yours. That is a strong answer to “I will not send hits to a vendor.” It is a weak answer to “keep 16 months of Search Console after Google deletes the day,” because that is not what Umami is built to be. GSC inside Umami has been a long-running request, not SiteLine’s import pipeline.
SiteLine will not give you that database. It will give you a cookieless collector, goals and funnels in the UI, MCP, and a read-only GSC copy: 16-month backfill, 25,000 rows/day, kept while you subscribe, roughly two days lag. If you want Matomo-scale plugins on top of self-host, that is SiteLine vs Matomo, not Umami.
Comparison
| SiteLine | Umami | |
|---|---|---|
| Job | Cookieless traffic + durable Search Console | Lightweight web analytics |
| Deploy | Hosted | Self-host or Umami Cloud |
| Cookie | No analytics cookie; credentials: 'omit' |
Designed to run without cookies |
| Visitor hash | Truncated IP (/24 v4, /48 v6) + UA + daily salt; daily reset | Cookieless uniques in their model |
| Search Console | Import, keep while subscribed, 25k rows/day, 16-month backfill | Not a durable GSC product |
| Replay / profiles | No | No |
| Goals / funnels | UI, path and event rules | Events; keep the product small |
| First-party | DIY proxy | Free with self-host |
| MCP | Yes | Not the point |
| Price | $4.99 / $19.99 / $99.99 + overage, 7-day trial | Software + your servers, or Cloud plans |
Cookieless details (SiteLine)
No analytics cookie. Collect is fetch with keepalive and credentials omitted so a cross-origin post does not ride on site cookies. The unique-visitor key is a hash of truncated IP, user agent, and a daily salt you never see. /24 and /48 truncation is deliberate coarsening. The hash resets when the salt does: every day. Hostnames are allowlisted. Known bots are dropped before quota. That is the whole identity story. It is written down at /docs/privacy.
Umami’s tracker is also meant to avoid cookie banners for simple traffic. Self-hosting changes the processor (you), not the physics of IP and UA. Do not claim either tool “cannot be personal data” in every jurisdiction. Claim what the software actually stores.
Search Console is the hosted wedge
Google Search Console remains the source of queries, impressions, CTR, and position. A pageview tool sees Google as a referrer. SiteLine OAuth is read-only. On connect it backfills up to 16 months. Imports run per site, date, and dimension so a 25k row cap applies to a day, not to a smashed 16-month response. Retention is subscription-scoped: you keep days after Google’s UI has rolled off. MCP is for agents that should read, not edit, Search Console.
Umami users who care about queries keep using Search Console (or another importer). That is a sane stack: Umami for hits, GSC for search. SiteLine is for people who do not want those to be two decaying systems. SiteLine vs Plausible covers another cookieless traffic peer that does overlay GSC in a dashboard without promising a post-16-month archive.
Operations versus product
Self-host Umami if you already run containers, take backups, and want the script on your origin. You will apply upgrades. You will not get SiteLine’s GSC jobs, billing, or MCP for free by pointing a CNAME at your VPS.
Use SiteLine if you want those jobs hosted. Install the script or React SDK. Proxy is optional and DIY. Goals: exact path, path contains, event name; funnels are ordered steps. Not session replay. Not a warehouse. Trial is seven days at /register. Plans: $4.99, $19.99, $99.99 with overage on Scale. Paid tiers include unlimited Search Console sites and unlimited analytics domains on one event pool.
Who should pick which
Pick Umami if lightweight, preferably self-hosted traffic analytics is the whole requirement.
Pick SiteLine if you want hosted cookieless analytics and Search Console history that remains after Google’s 16-month window.
Pick neither if you need heatmaps or identified product analytics.
Comparing the two open-source options? Plausible vs Umami.
FAQ
Can I self-host SiteLine like Umami?
No. SiteLine is hosted. If self-host is a hard requirement, Umami or Matomo is the path. SiteLine’s first-party option is a reverse proxy in front of the hosted collector, not a binary you run.
Does Umami store Search Console like SiteLine?
No. SiteLine’s import is 16-month backfill, 25k rows/day, including fresh data before Google finalizes it, kept while subscribed, read-only. Umami’s job is on-site traffic. Keep using Google’s Search Console alongside Umami if you need queries.
How does SiteLine count unique visitors?
A server-side hash of truncated IP (/24 IPv4, /48 IPv6), user agent, and a daily salt. No analytics cookie. The hash resets daily. See /docs/privacy. It is not a user profile.