The Complete Migration Guide Without Losing Data

You’ve got years of insight stored in Google Analytics. And you’re ready for a cleaner, privacy‑friendly way to track what matters, without cookies, pop‑ups for consent on every page view, or a heavy script slowing down your site. That’s exactly where Umami excels. But it presents a common challenge: how to migrate without erasing years of valuable data?

Let’s understand why this article matters to you (and your team).

Marketers, SEOs, and site owners usually want the same things:

• Keep the history you’ve built in GA4 so you can answer “What happened last quarter?”
• Keep reporting moving during the switch, so weekly and monthly updates don’t stall.
• Keep pages fast and private with a light script and cookieless tracking
• Keep decision‑making simple: page performance, sources, campaigns, events, and conversions without a maze of menus

If that sounds like you, you’re in the right place. And yes, you can do it with a few careful steps and a short overlap period.

Why Are More Teams Choosing Umami Over GA4?

GA4 can answer very advanced questions. But it can also make simple questions feel slow and difficult to interpret.

Common challenges

A steep learning curve for non‑analysts

• Sampling and thresholds that blur small‑site and mid‑market data
• Consent flows that block analytics on a chunk of visits
• A heavy script that doesn’t help Core Web Vitals
• Event history limits that are easy to overlook

What teams really need?

• A clean dashboard
• Plain‑spoken events and goals
• Real‑time data that’s easy to trust
• Cookieless tracking that keeps privacy simple
• A lighter script that keeps pages fast

Umami’s Core Features (And What It Intentionally Excludes)

The immediate benefits

• Cookie‑free tracking by default, with no personal identifiers
• A tidy dashboard: top pages, sources, countries, devices, events, and campaigns
• Real‑time visitors and events you can watch during a launch
• A small script that is compatible with PageSpeed and search
• Easy event and goal setup using data attributes or a tiny JS call

What Umami doesn’t try to be:

• It doesn’t stitch users across devices
• It doesn’t build ad audiences inside the analytics tool
• It doesn’t push heavy, model‑based attribution

For many sites, that’s not a loss. It’s a relief: less noise, faster answers, clearer decisions.

A Step-by-Step Migration Plan

The process is like moving apartments. For a short time, you hold the keys to both… You move the things you care about. Then you return the old keys and keep a tidy album of photos.

1. Get Umami running alongside GA4

• Add your website to the Umami dashboard
• Place the script in your global layout (header, footer, or template head)
• Publish, open your site in a private window or using a VPN, and click around
• Check live data in Umami to confirm everything’s flowing

2. Map your events and create your goals

• List the GA4 conversions you actually use: lead form, signup, demo request, purchase
• Name your Umami events in clear lowercase: form_submit, signup_complete, demo_request, purchase_complete
• Track the outcome, not just the click: form_submit should fire after a successful submission
• Create goals that match those events; you can also use URL rules for simple thank‑you pages

3. Standardize your campaign tags

• Keep UTMs lowercase and short:
  • medium = email, cpc, social;
  • source = google, linkedin, newsletter;
  • campaign = spring_sale_2025
• Use content or terms for placement details or creative names
• Save a one‑page guide in a shared folder and paste the link in your team chat

4. Compare, correct, and switch

• Compare total visits, top pages, top sources, and conversions
• Expect mild gaps; focus on rankings and patterns
• Fix missing events, SPA route change tracking, or messy UTMs
• Update your consent banner and privacy policy once GA4 is removed
• Store exports and archive old dashboards for reference

Preserve Your GA4 History Without Importing It

Umami and GA4 have different foundations, so that you won’t import GA4 directly. However, you can maintain a solid archive and use it whenever you need to review historical data.

What to export from GA4

• Monthly summaries: users, sessions, top pages, and top sources (CSV + PDF)
• Conversions by channel and campaign for the past 6–12 months
• Landing pages with sessions and conversion rate (handy for SEO and paid)
• Campaign performance: UTMs with sessions, engaged sessions, and conversions
• A short note with big changes: launches, outages, promos

Additional valuable exports

Name your files with YYYY‑MM so they sort cleanly. Put them in shared folders your team already uses. The goal is to create a useful, accessible archive, not a digital attic you never visit.

Critical GA4 Checks Before You Migrate

• By default, GA4 retains user-level event data for 2 months, and you can manually extend it to a maximum of 14 months in the standard (free) tier. Set it to the max while you still can
• Aggregated views in the interface may last longer, but row‑level history won’t
• Confirm you have admin access for exports; fix ownership issues before you switch.

Practical Steps To Install Umami

• Add your site in the Umami dashboard to get your website ID and script link
• Paste the snippet in your head tag; async and defer are recommended
• If you use WordPress, add it to header.php or through your theme settings
• If you use Next.js, add it to your app layout or document head
• For single‑page apps, call a pageview on route change
• Use a custom script domain when available (for example, analytics.yoursite.com) to reduce blockers

Setting Clear Event and Goal Patterns

Event names that stay clear

• cta_click (use a property like button_text for context)
• form_submit (track the success state)
• signup_complete
• demo_request
• add_to_cart
• checkout_start
• purchase_complete (include value and currency if you sell in more than one)

How to send events the easy way

• You can add a data attribute to a button: data‑umami‑event=”form_submit”
• For dynamic tracking, call a small JS function: umami.track(‘event_name’, { property: ‘value’ })

Goals that match your funnel

• Create a goal for each core event above
• For pages with a simple thank‑you URL, use URL‑based goals

UTMs that don’t break reporting

• Lowercase for all fields
• Short lists for source and medium
• A standard format for campaign names: spring_sale_2025 or weekly_newsletter_2025_12_10
• Use content/term for creative variations or placement

Comparing Data During the Overlap Period

It’s normal for GA4 and Umami to show slightly different counts. You’re looking for consistency across rankings and a fair gap range.

Reasonable tolerances

• Total visits within 10–15% is common
• Top pages and sources should match by order, even if counts differ
• Conversions within a fair range; large gaps usually mean a missing event or a blocked GA4 tag

Common causes for discrepancies

• The snippet isn’t on all templates: add it to the global layout
• SPA route changes don’t send pageviews: hook into your router
• Consent blocks GA4 but not Umami: expect higher counts in Umami; that’s fine
• UTM case issues: standardize to lowercase
• Custom script domain typo or missing certificate: fix the URL and SSL

Updating Your Consent and Privacy Policy

Because Umami is cookie‑free and aggregates data, your consent can be simplified.

• If analytics cookies were the main reason for your banner, you can reduce that once GA4 is gone.
• Keep consent for any ad, chat, or testing tools that use cookies
• Update your privacy policy to say that analytics are cookie‑free and aggregated
• State whether you self‑host or use a host, and the region where data is stored
• Keep a short record of tools, access, and data location; legal teams love clarity

If you’d like a host that provides a server in different global locations and fast setup, we are a safe place to start.

How to Effectively Onboard Your Team?

Change is accepted when people can actually see what’s happening, without asking for a special login.

• Share a link with leadership so they can check headline numbers
• Give your marketers full access so they can add events, create goals, and tag campaigns
• Add a one‑page UTM guide to your shared folder; link it in Slack or Teams
• Two simple habits that pay off:
  • Save a monthly snapshot with top pages, top sources, conversions, and notes on launches
  • Keep a small log of campaign launches and site changes; a basic doc is enough

Real-World Use Cases for Different Teams

• Content team

  They check top landing pages and newsletter signups each Monday. If a topic spikes, they plan follow‑ups and promotion around that thread. Umami’s real‑time view helps them catch a link from a big site and feature it while it’s hot.

• Marketing team

  They track cta_click on pricing, signup_complete, and demo_request. Every Friday, they look at the channel mix. They notice LinkedIn drives clicks but email drives signups that convert, so they tune copy for each audience. Simple, quick, actionable.

• Small ecommerce brand

  They send a purchase_complete event with the value and currency. They watch product pages with high views but low purchases and update images or copy. Clear numbers make minor fixes obvious.

• Agency managing many sites

  They add each client to Umami with the same naming for events and goals. Reports are easy to repeat, and read‑only links keep clients informed without constant access requests.

Common Questions & Concerns About Switching

• “Will we lose data?”

  You’ll lose user‑level identity stitching and ad audiences inside analytics. You won’t lose page performance, sources, events, goals, or clear campaign reads. If your day-to-day responsibilities include content, SEO, and revenue or pipeline tracking, you’ll likely gain speed and clarity.

• “How do we handle funnels?”

  Track each step as an event: view_product → add_to_cart → checkout_start → purchase_complete. Compare counts by step. If you want visuals later, you can export and build in a BI tool.

• “Is real‑time fast enough?”

  Yes. You’ll see visitors and events within seconds, handy for launches and significant backlinks.

• “Will ad blockers cause trouble?”

  A custom script domain is very helpful. Because Umami is light and can run on your own subdomain, it blends in better than a giant third‑party tag.

• “Can we track multiple sites and subdomains?”

  Yes. Add each property. Keep events and goals organized so data doesn’t get mixed up.

• “Does this help SEO?”

  Of course, a small script is good news for performance. Fewer consent hurdles for analytics means a fuller view of traffic, which helps you read SEO changes with fewer blind spots.

Quick Wins You Can Show To Your Boss or Clients

• Faster pages with a smaller analytics script
• Fewer blocked hits and a clearer read on campaign results
• Less time searching for the right report and more time implementing improvements.
• A simpler privacy story that’s easier to explain to legal and customers

To achieve these wins with a reliable hosting partner, explore our Umami VPS plans.

The 30‑Minute Checklist

• Create your site in Umami and copy the snippet
• Add the snippet to your global head; publish
• Open your site in a private window; confirm real‑time data
• For SPAs, add a pageview call on route change
• Create goals for form_submit, signup_complete, demo_request, purchase_complete
• Add data attributes to key CTAs and forms for event tracking
• Standardize UTMs (lowercase, short lists); share a one‑page guide
• Filter internal visits and any spammy referrers you know
• Export GA4 monthly summaries and campaign reports; store them by YYYY‑MM
• Run both tools for 2–4 weeks; compare, correct, then remove GA4

When Umami might not be the only tool you need

If your team relies on identity graphs, cross‑device linking, or ad audiences built inside analytics, you may keep GA4 for that slice while using Umami for day‑to‑day site analytics. Another path is pairing Umami with a data warehouse and a BI tool for advanced analysis. Most teams don’t need both, but it’s good to know when to choose one.

A Short Note Summarizing Everything

We’re moving our website analytics to Umami for a lighter, cookie‑free setup that’s easier to read and better for site speed. We’ll keep GA4 for 2–4 weeks while we export history and compare numbers. Our core conversions will be tracked as clear events and goals. After the overlap, we’ll remove GA4, update the consent banner, and keep a monthly snapshot. This gives us fast, privacy‑friendly analytics without losing our historical story.

Launch Umami Today Without Complex Server Management

For a smooth setup, AccuWeb Hosting offers Umami-ready VPS plans. You get a clean deployment path, support when you need it, and over 15 global server location choices that meet your legal requirements. It’s the quickest way to get cookieless analytics running on a solid host.

Ultimately, analytics should feel like a car’s dashboard, providing you with the essential information you need to move forward, not a cockpit full of switches you never use. Move your history into a tidy folder, light up a fast cookieless tracker, and keep your site moving, clean, quick, and respectful of your visitors.

(Visited 2 times, 2 visits today)