For developers using Umami—an increasingly popular open-source web analytics platform—one of the challenges is enriching data without switching tools or compromising control over data privacy. Many developers want to track UTM parameters, user sessions, and funnel paths, but Umami’s minimalist nature means they need compatible add-ons or external tools that seamlessly extend functionality without replacing the core analytics engine.
TL;DR
If you’re using Umami for web analytics but need more comprehensive tracking without migrating to heavier tools like Google Analytics, you’re in the right place. Below are five of the best tools developers use to enrich tracking capabilities such as UTM tagging, session monitoring, and funnel analytics—without swapping out Umami. These tools work alongside Umami, ensuring your metrics remain lightweight, private, and accurate. Bonus: Most of these integrate smoothly with minimal code changes.
Why Developers Want More from Umami
Umami offers clean, privacy-first analytics, making it a go-to for developers and companies that prioritize data simplicity and compliance with regulations like GDPR. But the limitation comes when businesses need:
- Detailed session tracking — to understand how users navigate the site
- UTM parameter monitoring — crucial for marketing attribution
- Funnel-based behavior analysis — to optimize conversion rates
While Umami doesn’t natively support these functions, the tools below help bridge that gap.
Top 5 Data Enrichment Tools Compatible with Umami
1. Segment (Now part of Twilio)
Segment is a customer data platform (CDP) that collects, transforms, and routes customer data to multiple tools (including Umami-compatible systems). Developers appreciate how easily it plugs into websites and routes UTM parameters and event data to external databases or analytics tools without interfering with Umami.
Key Features:
- Captures UTM parameters, sessions, and pageviews
- Supports funnel construction via data destinations
- Integrates with Umami indirectly using public APIs
Use Segment as a “data forwarding” hub while Umami serves as your visualization layer. Additionally, you don’t need to commit to all of Segment’s platform—just use the event tracking snippet and customize based on what Umami can read from the data layer.
2. PostHog
PostHog is a product analytics tool designed for developers who want full control over their data infrastructure. Though it’s a more robust analytics toolkit than Umami, developers can use PostHog for session replays and funnel analysis, while continuing to use Umami for high-level stats and performance metrics.
How it works with Umami: Developers embed PostHog’s JS snippet to collect granular session data, while keeping Umami in place for visits, bounce rate, and traffic sources. You can even correlate user behavior in PostHog with UTM-tagged traffic sources tracked in Umami.
Best For:
- Engineering teams who value open-source tools
- Heavy user-tracking needs like form abandonment, rage clicks, etc.
3. Snowplow
Snowplow is not your average plug-and-play analytics script; it’s a behavioral data platform geared toward teams who want to build their own analytics pipeline. Because of this, it pairs exceptionally well with Umami when you want to send highly customized UTM, session, and funnel data into your stack (like to a Redshift or BigQuery database) but still use Umami for simple dashboards.
Developer benefits include:
- Capture and enrich UTM parameters at the event level
- Build granular event schemas and match user journeys
- Send processed data back into Umami via script extensions or APIs
Expect a bit more setup time than other tools—but the control is unmatched.
4. RudderStack
RudderStack is an open-source alternative to Segment, offering similar functionality with a developer-first twist. It’s designed to route data from your website or apps to destinations like warehouses, dashboards, or even Umami-supported data layers.
Main strengths:
- Processes UTM tags, user traits, and custom events
- Enables real-time session tracking with delay-free ingestion
- Fine-grained control over where enriched data gets sent
Boxed in terms of budget? RudderStack’s self-hosted version is free, meaning you can enrich your Umami setup significantly without incurring hefty SaaS costs.
5. Jitsu
Jitsu is a real-time data collection service that makes it easy to transform browser events into structured database entries. With Jitsu, developers can instantly log UTM parameters, capture full session timelines, and define funnel steps—all without moving away from Umami.
Best Use Cases with Umami:
- Track UTM parameters across sessions, storing them in a warehouse
- Define and visualize funnel segments through Postgres or ClickHouse
- Push augmented event data into Umami’s API or a custom dashboard
Jitsu excels at being the “capture sidekick” to Umami’s “insight dashboard.” With just a tag added to your front-end, you open yourself up to deep analytics while keeping your privacy-focused core intact.
Combining Tools for the Best Outcome
In most modern dev stacks, no one-size-fits-all solution exists. That’s why many developers use Umami as a baseline tracking layer and enrich data with one of the above tools depending on specific needs. Here’s a sample setup used by real engineering teams:
- Use Umami for traffic, pageviews, referrers, and basic conversions.
- Add Segment or RudderStack to capture events and user metadata.
- Feed enriched data from Snowplow or Jitsu into a warehouse like BigQuery.
- Optional: Use PostHog or a custom dashboard to visualize complex funnels and retention cohorts.
This combination gives you a full picture without the need to adopt invasive or heavy-duty SaaS tools.
Things to Consider Before Choosing
While these tools provide robust capabilities, your selection should come down to:
- Complexity tolerance: Tools like Snowplow and Jitsu require more setup than Segment.
- Privacy needs: Data sovereignty and GDPR compliance are easier with self-hosted tools.
- Metrics vs Behavior: Umami is great for high-level trends; use enrichment for detailed behavior.
Every Umami user tends to weigh the ease of use against the depth of metrics. That equation determines the best enrichment path forward.
Final Thoughts
Umami gives you just enough to get started with privacy-respecting analytics. But in today’s data-driven world, marketing teams, growth hackers, and product managers demand a bit more. Using the five tools discussed above, developers can expand their site’s analytics power without abandoning the simplicity and reliability that Umami brings.
Whether you go with Segment for event routing, PostHog for visualization, or Jitsu for real-time capture, the synergy between these tools and Umami means you can keep your lightweight platform and enrich it organically—without compromise.
