Both cookieless, both lightweight, both well-loved. One is hosted with a generous free tier and SEO tools; the other is open-source and self-hosted. Here is the honest comparison.
BYOViral — cloud-hosted, cookieless, free plan (100 visitor logs/site, 30+ SEO tools, weekly email reports, public Traffic Proof Badge). One <script> tag, 60-second install.
Umami — MIT-licensed open-source cookieless analytics. Self-host on Vercel/Netlify/Docker. Umami Cloud paid tier exists ($20/mo for Pro). Excellent UI, mature codebase, beloved by developers.
| Feature | BYOViral | Umami |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 100 visitor logs/site, no credit card, cloud-hosted | Free if self-hosted (you run the server). Umami Cloud free tier is limited. |
| Hosting | Cloud (BYOViral) | Self-hosted (Vercel/Netlify/Docker) or Umami Cloud (paid) |
| Setup time | ~60 seconds (one script tag) | ~30 minutes for self-host, ~5 minutes for Umami Cloud |
| Cookieless by default | Yes | Yes |
| GDPR banner required | No | No |
| Real-time pageviews | Sub-second | Real-time |
| Custom events | Yes | Yes |
| Public Traffic Proof Badge | Yes (optional) | No |
| Network-wide Global Stats | Yes (proprietary data) | No |
| Built-in SEO tools | 30+ free | No |
| Data ownership | Cloud (you own the data, BYOViral hosts it) | 100% yours when self-hosted |
| Paid tier | Premium $5/mo, Ultra $9/mo (USD) | Umami Cloud Pro from $20/mo |
You do not want to run a server. You want analytics live within a minute. You value the public Traffic Proof Badge and Global Stats network data. You want SEO tools bundled in. You like a free tier that does not require credit card.
You are a developer comfortable with Node.js + Postgres. You want full control of where your analytics data physically lives. You contribute to (or want to fork) the open-source code. You prefer the MIT license over a SaaS contract.