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Intermediate Estimated time: 4 min Category: Monitoring Published 💡 Prerequisites

Plausible Analytics Self-Hosted

Created: 2026-01-25
Last updated: 2026-01-25

🎯 Introduction

Plausible Analytics is a lightweight, open source and privacy-friendly alternative to Google Analytics. It uses no cookies, is GDPR-compliant and can be self-hosted.

🚀 Key Features

  • ✅ Cookie-free: No consent banner required
  • ✅ GDPR/PECR compliant: Meets European privacy regulations
  • ✅ Lightweight: ~1KB script (vs 45KB for Google Analytics)
  • ✅ Open Source: Source available on GitHub
  • ✅ Self-hosted: Full control over your data
  • ✅ Simple: Clean, minimalist dashboard

📦 Deploying with Docker

docker-compose.yml

version: "3.8"

services:
  plausible_db:
    image: postgres:15-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - plausible-db-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres
      - POSTGRES_DB=plausible

  plausible_events_db:
    image: clickhouse/clickhouse-server:23.11-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - plausible-event-data:/var/lib/clickhouse
      - ./clickhouse/clickhouse-config.xml:/etc/clickhouse-server/config.d/logging.xml:ro
      - ./clickhouse/clickhouse-user-config.xml:/etc/clickhouse-server/users.d/logging.xml:ro
    ulimits:
      nofile:
        soft: 262144
        hard: 262144

  plausible:
    image: plausible/analytics:v2.0
    restart: unless-stopped
    command: sh -c "sleep 10 && /entrypoint.sh db createdb && /entrypoint.sh db migrate && /entrypoint.sh run"
    depends_on:
      - plausible_db
      - plausible_events_db
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
    environment:
      - BASE_URL=https://analytics.frikiteam.es
      - SECRET_KEY_BASE=your-secret-key-here  # Generate with: openssl rand -base64 64
      - TOTP_VAULT_KEY=your-totp-key-here     # Generate with: openssl rand -base64 32
      - DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:postgres@plausible_db:5432/plausible
      - CLICKHOUSE_DATABASE_URL=http://plausible_events_db:8123/plausible_events_db
      - DISABLE_REGISTRATION=true  # Disable after the first sign-up
      - MAILER_EMAIL=noreply@frikiteam.es
      - SMTP_HOST_ADDR=smtp.yourdomain.com
      - SMTP_HOST_PORT=587

volumes:
  plausible-db-data:
  plausible-event-data:

ClickHouse configuration files

clickhouse/clickhouse-config.xml: 

<clickhouse>
    <logger>
        <level>warning</level>
        <console>true</console>
    </logger>

    <!-- Disables query logging -->
    <query_thread_log remove="remove"/>
    <query_log remove="remove"/>
    <text_log remove="remove"/>
    <trace_log remove="remove"/>
    <metric_log remove="remove"/>
    <asynchronous_metric_log remove="remove"/>
    <session_log remove="remove"/>
    <part_log remove="remove"/>
</clickhouse>

clickhouse/clickhouse-user-config.xml: 

<clickhouse>
    <profiles>
        <default>
            <log_queries>0</log_queries>
            <log_query_threads>0</log_query_threads>
        </default>
    </profiles>
</clickhouse>

🔧 Initial Setup

1. Generate secret keys

# SECRET_KEY_BASE
openssl rand -base64 64

# TOTP_VAULT_KEY
openssl rand -base64 32

2. Deploy the services

cd /path/to/plausible
docker-compose up -d

3. Create the first user

Go to http://localhost:8000/register and create your account. Then set DISABLE_REGISTRATION=true and restart:

docker-compose down
docker-compose up -d

🌐 Integrating with MkDocs Material

Add to mkdocs.yml

extra:
  analytics:
    provider: custom
    # Plausible self-hosted

extra_javascript:
  - https://analytics.frikiteam.es/js/script.js

extra:
  analytics:
    feedback:
      title: Was this page helpful?
      ratings:
        - icon: material/emoticon-happy-outline
          name: Yes, very helpful
          data: 1
          note: >-
            Thanks! It helps us improve.
        - icon: material/emoticon-sad-outline
          name: Could be improved
          data: 0
          note: >-
            Thanks for your feedback. We'll work on improving it.

Configure the domain in Plausible

  1. Log in to your Plausible instance
  2. Add a new site: docs.frikiteam.es
  3. Copy the tracking script
  4. Set up custom goals (optional)

📊 Available Metrics

Out of the box

  • Unique visitors: Per day/week/month
  • Page views: Total and per page
  • Visit duration: Average time
  • Bounce rate: Percentage of single-page visits
  • Traffic sources: Direct, referral, search engines
  • Geographic location: Country (without storing the specific IP)
  • Devices: Desktop, tablet, mobile
  • Browsers and OS: Basic statistics

Custom events

You can track specific events:

// In your JavaScript
plausible('Download', {props: {document: 'kubernetes-cheatsheet.pdf'}})
plausible('Signup', {props: {method: 'email'}})

🔒 Privacy and GDPR

Why is it GDPR-compliant?

  1. No cookies: Only localStorage to avoid double counting (optional)
  2. Anonymised IP: Hashed IP with daily rotation
  3. No personal data: Individual users are never tracked
  4. No cross-site tracking: No fingerprinting
  5. Data residency: Your data stays on your server
# In docker-compose.yml
environment:
  - IP_GEOLOCATION=false  # Turn off geolocation if you don't need it
  - DISABLE_AUTH=false    # Keep authentication enabled
  - LOG_FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS=true

🛡️ Reverse Proxy with Nginx

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name analytics.frikiteam.es;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/analytics.frikiteam.es/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/analytics.frikiteam.es/privkey.pem;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8000;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

📈 Backups

Daily backup script

#!/bin/bash
# /usr/local/bin/backup-plausible.sh

BACKUP_DIR="/backups/plausible"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

# PostgreSQL backup
docker exec plausible_plausible_db_1 pg_dump -U postgres plausible > \
  "$BACKUP_DIR/plausible_db_$DATE.sql"

# ClickHouse backup (optional, event data)
# docker exec plausible_plausible_events_db_1 clickhouse-client --query \
#   "BACKUP DATABASE plausible_events_db TO Disk('backups', '$DATE.zip')"

# Keep the last 30 days
find "$BACKUP_DIR" -name "*.sql" -mtime +30 -delete

echo "Backup completed: $DATE"

Crontab

# Daily backup at 3 AM
0 3 * * * /usr/local/bin/backup-plausible.sh >> /var/log/plausible-backup.log 2>&1

🔍 Alternatives

If Plausible doesn't fit your needs:

Umami

Matomo

  • Pros: Feature-rich, similar to GA
  • Cons: Heavier, more complex
  • Repo: matomo-org/matomo

GoatCounter

📚 References

🎓 Best Practices

  1. Update regularly: docker-compose pull && docker-compose up -d
  2. Watch resource usage: ClickHouse can consume a fair amount of RAM
  3. Set up alerts: For service outages
  4. Check the logs: docker-compose logs -f plausible
  5. Protect access: Use strong passwords and 2FA