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Nonprofits · head to head

Tendenci vs Umami

Tendenci logo

Tendenci

Nonprofits

Open-source association management system for nonprofits

From
Free
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

  • Each has a real cost: Tendenci self-hosting is a real operational commitment, and organisations without technical capacity should not treat the free licence as a free system; 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.
  • They diverge on capability: Tendenci covers Open-source licence, Umami covers Cookie-free tracking.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Tendenci and Umami actually diverge.

Attributes where Tendenci and Umami differ
AttributeTendenciUmami
Pricing modelOpen source, with paid hosting availablePer month by event count
PlatformsWeb, Linux, Self-hosted, CloudWeb, Linux
CategoryNonprofitsMarketing

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Tendenci

  • Open-source licence
  • Membership management
  • Events and registration
  • Donations
  • Content-managed website
  • Email

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.

Tendenci

  • Nonprofits whose boards require member and donor data to stay under their own controlnot Umami
  • Organisations with data residency obligations a hosted platform cannot satisfynot Umami
  • Groups with technical capacity wanting to avoid per-member subscription costs at scalenot Umami
  • Associations needing to customise workflows beyond what a proprietary platform allowsnot Umami

Umami

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

Where each one falls short

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

Tendenci

  • Self-hosting is a real operational commitment, and organisations without technical capacity should not treat the free licence as a free system
  • The community is small compared with mainstream open-source projects, so answers are harder to find and contributors are few
  • The interface is dated against the commercial association platforms and this is the most common user complaint
  • Fewer integrations than commercial competitors, and building them is a development task rather than a configuration one
  • Feature depth in events and continuing education is behind the specialist commercial systems

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

Tendenci

Free
  • Self-hostedFree
    • Full source code
    • No per-member licence
    • Community support
  • Managed hosting$undefined/month
    • Hosted and maintained
    • Updates applied
    • Support included

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 Tendenci if

  • You need open-source licence.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Cloud.
  • You also want membership management.
Tendenci 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 Tendenci or Umami better?
Neither clearly leads. Tendenci starts at Free and Umami at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Tendenci or Umami?
Tendenci starts at Free and Umami at Free.
Does Tendenci or Umami run on more platforms?
Tendenci runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Cloud. Umami runs on Web, Linux.
Can I use Tendenci for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Tendenci best used for?
Tendenci is most often used for nonprofits whose boards require member and donor data to stay under their own control, organisations with data residency obligations a hosted platform cannot satisfy, groups with technical capacity wanting to avoid per-member subscription costs at scale, associations needing to customise workflows beyond what a proprietary platform allows. Of those, nonprofits whose boards require member and donor data to stay under their own control and organisations with data residency obligations a hosted platform cannot satisfy are not what Umami is typically brought in for.
What can Tendenci do that Umami cannot?
Tendenci covers Open-source licence, Membership management, Events and registration, Donations. Umami covers Cookie-free tracking, Self-hosting, Small tracking script, Custom events.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Tendenci: Is Tendenci really free?

The software is, under an open-source licence with no per-member fee. Running it is not: hosting, updates, backups and security are the organisation responsibility unless managed hosting is purchased.

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.

Tendenci: Who should choose it?

Organisations with a genuine requirement to control their own data, and the technical capacity to act on it. Choosing it purely to avoid subscription cost usually ends badly.

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.

Tendenci: Can I move my data out?

Yes, entirely. That is the point. Data lives in a PostgreSQL database you control, and there is no vendor holding it.

Umami: Can it replace Google Analytics?

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

Tendenci: How does it compare to Wild Apricot?

Wild Apricot is easier, better supported and better looking. Tendenci is the answer when data ownership is a requirement rather than a preference.

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.

Tendenci: Is it actively maintained?

It is developed openly on GitHub with a small team and community. Check recent commit activity before committing, as with any small open-source project.

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