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Marketing · head to head

Postmark vs Umami

Postmark logo

Postmark

Marketing

No hidden fees, no guesswork. Just the features you need, at a price that makes sense

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Umami logo

Umami

Marketing

Open source, cookie-free web analytics you can self-host for the cost of a database

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Umami has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Postmark free tier caps at 100 emails per month with no overages allowed; Umami there is no cohort analysis, retention curve, session replay or multi-touch attribution, so a marketing team that needs to justify channel spend will still buy a second tool and Umami becomes a supplementary dashboard.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Postmark and Umami actually diverge.

Attributes where Postmark and Umami differ
AttributePostmarkUmami
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelUnknownPer month by event count
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebWeb, Linux

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Marketing).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Postmark

Nothing recorded that Umami does not also cover.

Only in Umami

  • Cookie-free tracking
  • Self-hosting
  • Small tracking script
  • Custom events
  • Funnels and goals
  • Multi-site and teams
  • Public dashboards
  • API access

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Postmark

  • Sending password reset emails with industry-leading delivery speednot Umami
  • Processing inbound email replies into JSON objects for applicationsnot Umami
  • Tracking failed email deliveries and suppressing invalid addressesnot Umami
  • Separating transactional emails from marketing emails with message streamsnot Umami

Umami

  • A developer who wants traffic numbers on a personal or client site without adding a consent bannernot Postmark
  • An organisation whose legal or procurement team has ruled out sending visitor data to a US advertising companynot Postmark
  • A high-traffic site where hosted analytics priced by pageview band has become expensive and self-hosting removes the ceiling entirelynot Postmark
  • A team that wants analytics data in a database they already control so they can query and join it themselvesnot Postmark

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Postmark

  • Free tier caps at 100 emails per month with no overages allowed
  • Basic plan ($15/mo) includes 10,000 emails then charges $1.80 per 1,000 extra; Pro and Platform tiers have their own lower per-1,000 overage rates ($1.30 and $1.20), so cost scales per email beyond the included volume
  • Custom high-volume pricing above the published tiers requires contacting sales

Umami

  • There is no cohort analysis, retention curve, session replay or multi-touch attribution, so a marketing team that needs to justify channel spend will still buy a second tool and Umami becomes a supplementary dashboard.
  • Self-hosting is only free in licence terms; you own the database, the upgrades, the backups and the query performance at scale, and a busy site's events table grows quickly enough to need real attention.
  • Because it stores no persistent identifier, it cannot follow a user across devices or sessions in any meaningful way, which makes returning-visitor and lifetime-value questions unanswerable by design rather than by omission.
  • Cloud overage is billed per event beyond the plan allowance, so a traffic spike or a badly instrumented custom event can produce a bill materially above the $20 or $200 headline before anyone notices.
  • It is maintained by a small team, so the pace of new capability is modest and enterprise expectations such as SSO, granular role permissions and formal support agreements are limited compared with commercial analytics vendors.

Pricing, plan by plan

Postmark

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Postmark review.

Umami

Free
  • Self-hostedFree
    • MIT licensed, no licence fee
    • No event limit imposed by the software
    • Unlimited websites and users
  • Cloud HobbyFree
    • Up to 100,000 events per month
    • 3 websites
    • 6 months data retention
  • Cloud Pro$20/month
    • Up to 1,000,000 events per month
    • Unlimited websites
    • Unlimited team members
  • Cloud Business$200/month
    • Up to 10,000,000 events per month
    • All Pro features
    • Higher volume overage rate

Which should you pick?

Choose Postmark if

Nothing in the data separates Postmark from Umami on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Postmark review

Choose Umami if

  • You need cookie-free tracking.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux.
  • You also want self-hosting.
Umami review

Questions people ask

Is Postmark or Umami better?
Neither clearly leads. Postmark starts at On request and Umami at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Postmark or Umami?
Umami has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Postmark and Free for Umami.
Does Postmark or Umami run on more platforms?
Postmark runs on Web. Umami runs on Web, Linux.
Can I use Umami for free?
Yes. Umami has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Postmark starts at On request.
What is Postmark best used for?
Postmark is most often used for sending password reset emails with industry-leading delivery speed, processing inbound email replies into json objects for applications, tracking failed email deliveries and suppressing invalid addresses, separating transactional emails from marketing emails with message streams. Of those, sending password reset emails with industry-leading delivery speed and processing inbound email replies into json objects for applications are not what Umami is typically brought in for.
What can Postmark do that Umami cannot?
Umami covers Cookie-free tracking, Self-hosting, Small tracking script, Custom events.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Postmark: What is the cheapest paid plan for Postmark email sending?

Postmark Basic plan is $15/month for 10,000 emails, with overages at $1.80 per 1,000 additional emails. Free tier limited to 100/month. No annual billing discount available. Source: https://www.postmarkapp.com/pricing

Source
Umami: Is Umami really free?

Self-hosted, yes; it is MIT licensed with no event cap. You pay for the server and database. Umami Cloud has a free tier at 100,000 events a month and paid tiers from $20.

Postmark: How are Postmark email overages calculated?

Overages are calculated at month-end and billed with your next plan cost. Basic tier overages: $1.80 per 1,000; Pro: $1.30 per 1,000; Platform: $1.20 per 1,000. Unused monthly emails do not carry over. Source: https://www.postmarkapp.com/pricing

Source
Umami: Do I need a cookie consent banner?

For Umami analytics specifically, generally no, because it sets no cookies and stores no personal data. Other tags on your site may still require one.

Postmark: What payment methods does Postmark accept?

Postmark accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners Club, and JCB. No PayPal or purchase orders accepted. Bootstrapped startups can request a $75 account credit. Source: https://www.postmarkapp.com/pricing

Source
Umami: Can it replace Google Analytics?

For traffic, referrers and event counts, yes. For attribution modelling, audiences and advertising integration, no.

Postmark: Can I get a dedicated IP on Postmark without high volume?

No. Postmark dedicated IPs require minimum 300,000 emails per month and start at $50/month. Alternative: use Postmark's shared infrastructure included in all tiers. Source: https://www.postmarkapp.com/pricing

Source
Umami: What does it need to run?

A container and a PostgreSQL or MySQL database. Most people deploy it on infrastructure they already pay for.

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