Plausible Analytics Self-Hosted Instaleation

Plausible Analytics is a lightweight, privacy-focused web analytics platform that provides insights into website traffic without tracking users or collecting personal data. Unlike Google Analytics, Plausible respects user privacy while offering essential analytics features. This guide covers Docker Compose deployment, ClickHouse database setup, domain configuration, and tracking script implementation.

Requisitos previos

Ensure you have:

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS or later
Root or sudo access
A registered domain name
Minimum 2GB RAM (4GB+ recommended)
20GB available disk space
Basic Linux administration knowledge

Update system:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Requisitos del sistema

Verifique las especificaciones del sistema:

Check OS version:

cat /etc/os-release
uname -m

Check available resources:

free -h
df -h

Docker Instaleation

Instale Docker and Docker Compose:

sudo apt install -y docker.io docker-compose

Add user to docker group:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

Verifique installation:

docker --version
docker-compose --version

Start Docker:

sudo systemctl start docker
sudo systemctl enable docker

ClickHouse Setup

Cree ClickHouse data directory:

sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/clickhouse
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/lib/clickhouse

Cree ClickHouse container:

docker run -d \
  --name clickhouse \
  --volume /var/lib/clickhouse:/var/lib/clickhouse \
  --publish 8123:8123 \
  --publish 9000:9000 \
  yandex/clickhouse-server:latest

Verifique ClickHouse is running:

docker ps | grep clickhouse

Test ClickHouse connection:

docker exec clickhouse curl -s http://localhost:8123/

Plausible Docker Implementement

Cree Plausible directory:

mkdir -p /opt/plausible
cd /opt/plausible

Generate secret key:

openssl rand -base64 64 > admin_key

Cree docker-compose.yml:

nano docker-compose.yml

Add configuration:

version: '3.3'

services:
  plausible:
    image: plausible/analytics:latest
    restart: always
    ports:
      - 8000:8000
    env_file:
      - plausible-conf.env
    depends_on:
      - clickhouse
      - postgres
    networks:
      - plausible

  postgres:
    image: postgres:13-alpine
    restart: always
    volumes:
      - /var/lib/postgresql:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: SecurePassword123!
    networks:
      - plausible

  clickhouse:
    image: yandex/clickhouse-server:latest
    restart: always
    volumes:
      - /var/lib/clickhouse:/var/lib/clickhouse
    ulimits:
      nofile:
        soft: 262144
        hard: 262144
    networks:
      - plausible

networks:
  plausible:
    driver: bridge

Cree plausible-conf.env:

nano plausible-conf.env

Add environment variables:

[email protected]
ADMIN_USER_NAME=admin
ADMIN_USER_PWD=SecurePassword123!
BASE_URL=https://analytics.example.com
SECRET_KEY_BASE=$(cat admin_key)
ENVIRONMENT_NAME=production
ENVIRONMENT_URL=https://analytics.example.com
LOG_LEVEL=warn
DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:SecurePassword123!@postgres:5432/plausible
CLICKHOUSE_DATABASE_URL=http://clickhouse:8123/plausible
CLICKHOUSE_QUERY_TIMEOUT=90

Start Plausible containers:

docker-compose up -d

Verifique containers are running:

docker-compose ps
docker-compose logs -f plausible

Cree tables in ClickHouse:

docker exec plausible plausible eval "Plausible.Repo.query_all(\"CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS raw_event_data (domain String, timestamp UInt32, user_id String, session_id String, hostname String, pathname String, referrer String, utm_source String, utm_medium String, utm_campaign String, utm_content String, utm_term String, country_code String, subdivision1_code String, city_geoname_id UInt32, screen_size String, operating_system String, operating_system_version String, browser String, browser_version String, converted UInt32) Engine = MergeTree PARTITION BY toYYYYMM(toDateTime(timestamp)) ORDER BY (domain, timestamp);\")"

Configuración de Nginx

Instale Nginx:

sudo apt install -y nginx

Cree Nginx configuration:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/plausible

Add configuration:

upstream plausible {
    server localhost:8000;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    server_name analytics.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
    server_name analytics.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/analytics.example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/analytics.example.com/privkey.pem;
    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
    ssl_ciphers HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5;

    client_max_body_size 50M;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://plausible;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        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;
    }
}

Enable site:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/plausible /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx

Configuración del certificado SSL

Instale Certbot:

sudo apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx

Obtain SSL certificate:

sudo certbot certonly --standalone -d analytics.example.com

Verifique certificate:

sudo openssl x509 -in /etc/letsencrypt/live/analytics.example.com/fullchain.pem -noout -dates

Configure auto-renewal:

sudo systemctl enable certbot.timer
sudo systemctl start certbot.timer

Admin Configuration

Access Plausible dashboard:

Navigate to https://analytics.example.com

Configure account settings:

Settings → Account
- Update account information
- Change password
Settings → API
- Generate API token for programmatic access

Cree website:

Click "Add website"
Enter domain name (example.com)
Get tracking script
Configure settings

Configure traffic goals:

Website Settings → Goals
Add goals for specific events (signups, conversions)

Tracking Script Setup

Add Plausible tracking script to your website:

<script defer data-domain="example.com" src="https://analytics.example.com/js/script.js"></script>

Add to website HTML head section before closing tag.

For WordPress, add to theme header.php:

<script defer data-domain="<?php echo $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']; ?>" src="https://analytics.example.com/js/script.js"></script>

Verifique tracking is working:

Add script to website
Visit your website
Check dashboard for pageviews
May take 1-2 minutes to appear

Configure event tracking (optional):

<script>
window.plausible = window.plausible || function() {
  (window.plausible.q = window.plausible.q || []).push(arguments)
};
</script>

<button onclick="plausible('Signup')">Sign up</button>

Backup Strategy

Cree backup script:

sudo nano /usr/local/bin/plausible-backup.sh

Add:

#!/bin/bash

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

mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

# Database backup
docker exec postgres pg_dump -U postgres plausible | gzip > "$BACKUP_DIR/plausible-db-$DATE.sql.gz"

# ClickHouse backup
docker exec clickhouse clickhouse-client --query "BACKUP DATABASE plausible TO File('/backups/plausible-ch-$DATE.tar.gz')"

# Keep only 30 days
find $BACKUP_DIR -type f -mtime +30 -delete

echo "Backup completed: $DATE"

Make executable:

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/plausible-backup.sh

Schedule daily backups:

sudo crontab -e