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Marketing · head to head

Umami vs Violentmonkey

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
Violentmonkey logo

Violentmonkey

Browser Extensions

Open source userscript manager

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Violentmonkey smaller script ecosystem compared to Tampermonkey which has larger user base and more available scripts
  • They diverge on capability: Umami covers Cookie-free tracking, Violentmonkey covers Userscript support.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Umami and Violentmonkey actually diverge.

Attributes where Umami and Violentmonkey differ
AttributeUmamiViolentmonkey
Pricing modelPer month by event countUnknown
PlatformsWeb, LinuxChrome, Firefox, Edge
CategoryMarketingBrowser Extensions
FoundedUnknown2013

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 Umami

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

Only in Violentmonkey

  • Userscript support
  • Clean interface
  • Cloud sync
  • Script editor
  • Chrome support
  • Firefox support
  • Edge support
  • Opera support

What people use each for

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

Umami

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

Violentmonkey

  • Run open-source userscripts to customize or automate web pagesnot Umami
  • Import scripts compatible with Greasemonkey and Tampermonkey formatsnot Umami
  • Sync scripts and settings across browsers via Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, or WebDAVnot Umami
  • Batch import/export scripts as zip filesnot Umami

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Violentmonkey

  • Smaller script ecosystem compared to Tampermonkey which has larger user base and more available scripts
  • Less marketing and visibility results in lower adoption compared to more widely-known alternatives
  • Community maintenance model means slower feature development compared to commercial alternatives

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Violentmonkey

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Violentmonkey review.

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Violentmonkey if

  • You need userscript support.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Chrome, Firefox, Edge.
  • You also want clean interface.
Violentmonkey review

Questions people ask

Is Umami or Violentmonkey better?
Neither clearly leads. Umami starts at Free and Violentmonkey at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Umami or Violentmonkey?
Umami starts at Free and Violentmonkey at Free.
Does Umami or Violentmonkey run on more platforms?
Umami runs on Web, Linux. Violentmonkey runs on Chrome, Firefox, Edge.
Can I use Umami for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Umami best used for?
Umami is most often used for a developer who wants traffic numbers on a personal or client site without adding a consent banner, an organisation whose legal or procurement team has ruled out sending visitor data to a us advertising company, a high-traffic site where hosted analytics priced by pageview band has become expensive and self-hosting removes the ceiling entirely, a team that wants analytics data in a database they already control so they can query and join it themselves. Of those, a developer who wants traffic numbers on a personal or client site without adding a consent banner and an organisation whose legal or procurement team has ruled out sending visitor data to a us advertising company are not what Violentmonkey is typically brought in for.
What can Umami do that Violentmonkey cannot?
Umami covers Cookie-free tracking, Self-hosting, Small tracking script, Custom events. Violentmonkey covers Userscript support, Clean interface, Cloud sync, Script editor.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Violentmonkey: Is Violentmonkey open-source?

Yes. Violentmonkey is fully open-source and available on GitHub, making it free to use and community-maintained unlike Tampermonkey which has a larger proprietary ecosystem.

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.

Violentmonkey: What browsers does Violentmonkey support?

Violentmonkey works on browsers with WebExtensions support, including Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and other Chromium-based browsers.

Source
Umami: Can it replace Google Analytics?

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

Violentmonkey: How does Violentmonkey compare to Tampermonkey in performance?

Community benchmarks show Violentmonkey uses about 15 to 30 percent less RAM on Chrome compared to Tampermonkey when managing many open tabs.

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.

Violentmonkey: What is the current version of Violentmonkey?

Violentmonkey reached version 2.46.0 as of July 31, 2026, with active ongoing development and regular updates to the open-source project.

Source
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