Umami shows the report. Neo reads it for you.
Umami is for developers who want to own their analytics and read the reports themselves. GrainQL is for teams where nobody has time to dig and the site has to earn.
14 days free, no card. Runs next to Umami.
Which one fits you.
Pick Umami if
You want open source analytics on your own database and you are happy to read the reports yourself.
- You want the data on your own Postgres, not on a vendor's servers
- A developer on the team enjoys running and updating the stack
- You need a free tool for a side project or a small site
Pick GrainQL if
Your site is where the revenue comes from and nobody on the team has time to work out why it dipped.
- Conversions dropped and nobody technical is free to find out why
- You want to track a new button without waiting for a deploy
- You want replay and heatmaps without a $200 plan or a server to run
What actually differs.
Three situations where the choice shows.
The report is not the answer.
Checkout conversion fell on Thursday. You open the funnel and see the drop at step three. You still do not know what broke.
Umami
Umami gives you the funnel, the journey report and the replays. Someone still has to filter the sessions, watch them and connect the cause.
GrainQL
Neo answers "why did checkout drop on Thursday" in plain words, names the cause and attaches the session recordings that show it.
Tracking a new button should not need a deploy.
Marketing ships a new pricing page on Monday. They want to know which plan button gets clicked. The developer is busy until next sprint.
Umami
Umami tracks custom events with a data attribute in your HTML or a umami.track call in JavaScript. Both are code changes on your site.
GrainQL
GrainQL has a visual picker. Point at the button on your live site and click to track it. No code, no deploy, no ticket.
Somebody has to be looking when it breaks.
A form stops submitting on mobile Safari on Friday night. Nobody opens the dashboard until Tuesday. Four days of leads are gone.
Umami
Umami records the drop and shows it when you open the report. Finding it depends on someone looking at the right chart in time.
GrainQL
Neo sends a daily digest and flags drops and spikes without being asked. One customer found 700+ form interactions and zero submissions in 4 minutes.
Row by row.
Checked against Umami's own site in October 2026.
Finding the cause
Seeing the evidence
Setup and upkeep
Data and ownership
What it costs.
Umami is cheaper, and free if you self-host. GrainQL costs more because Neo does the reading, and replay is on the $29 plan.
Umami
Free if you host it yourself. Umami Cloud has a free Hobby plan for 100,000 events a month, then Pro from $20 a month. Replay and heatmaps on Cloud start at Business, from $200 a month.
GrainQL
From $29 a month for 50,000 monthly visitors. Billed by visitors, with unlimited events per visitor. Every feature is on every plan.
See every planWhen Umami is the better pick.
Fair is fair.
You want to own the whole stack.
Umami is MIT licensed and runs on your own PostgreSQL. Your data never leaves your servers. GrainQL is not open source and only self-hosts as an Enterprise deployment.
You need it to be free.
Self-hosted Umami costs only your server. Umami Cloud has a free plan with funnels, journeys and retention. GrainQL has a 14-day trial and no free plan.
You like reading the reports yourself.
Umami has funnels, retention, cohorts, revenue, attribution and custom boards in a clean interface. If you enjoy the digging, you may not need an analyst.
Try both for two weeks.
You do not have to replace Umami to try GrainQL. Both scripts are cookieless and run on the same page without getting in each other's way.
- 1
Add the GrainQL tag next to Umami.
Paste one script tag in the head or add it through GTM. It takes about two minutes. Leave the Umami script and your dashboards exactly as they are.
- 2
Ask Neo about a drop you know.
Take a dip you already see in an Umami funnel. Ask Neo why it happened. Compare the answer and the recordings with what you worked out by hand.
- 3
Decide on day 14.
If Neo found a leak your Umami reports did not explain, keep both or move over. If it only repeated what you knew, stay on Umami.
Get the side-by-side test plan.
One page on running GrainQL next to Umami: what to install, what to compare, how to decide.
Questions.
Yes. Umami added session replay in v3.1.0 and click and scroll heatmaps in v3.2.0, both in 2026. They work on self-hosted installs. On Umami Cloud they are part of the Business plan, from $200 a month. GrainQL includes both on every plan, from $29 a month.
Keep Umami. Ask Neo one question.
Add the GrainQL tag next to Umami and ask Neo about your last drop. The trial is 14 days with no credit card.