Looker Studio
Umami
| Feature | Looker Studio | Umami |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $9/mo | Free / from $9/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.2 / 5 | 4.5 / 5 |
| Best For | marketers, analysts, google-ads-users, small-businesses | indie-developers, privacy-focused-sites, bloggers, small-businesses |
| Founded | 2016 | 2020 |
| Dashboards | ✓ | ✗ |
| Data Connectors | ✓ | ✗ |
| Visualizations | ✓ | ✗ |
| Sharing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Templates | ✓ | ✗ |
| Calculated Fields | ✓ | ✗ |
| Page Views | ✗ | ✓ |
| Custom Events | ✗ | ✓ |
| Realtime Dashboard | ✗ | ✓ |
| Utm Tracking | ✗ | ✓ |
| Multi Site | ✗ | ✓ |
| Api | ✗ | ✓ |
| Teams | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Looker Studio Pros
- Free
- Google data integration
- Shareable dashboards
- Many connectors
✗ Looker Studio Cons
- Can be slow
- Limited data blending
- Basic compared to paid tools
✓ Umami Pros
- Completely open-source and self-hostable for free
- Beautiful, clean dashboard interface
- No cookies required (GDPR/CCPA compliant by default)
- Lightweight script (under 2KB) does not slow sites
✗ Umami Cons
- Limited advanced analytics features
- No conversion funnel or cohort analysis
- Self-hosting requires database management
The Verdict
Looker Studio is built for marketers and analysts, with a focus on dashboards and data-connectors. Umami targets indie developers and privacy focused sites and leads with page-views and custom-events.
Both tools come in at similar price points ($9/mo for Looker Studio, $9/mo for Umami), so pricing won't make the decision for you.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Feature-wise, Umami offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while Looker Studio takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
Both tools are a solid fit for small businesses — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
Bottom line: Umami has a slight overall edge — but if free matters most to you, Looker Studio may still be the right call.