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Self-Hosting Plausible Analytics: Privacy-First Website Tracking

Plausible is a lightweight, privacy-friendly analytics tool. No cookies, no consent banners, under 1 KB script size.

plausibleanalyticsprivacy

Why Plausible?


Privacy by Design

  • No cookies — no consent banners needed
  • No personal data collected
  • No cross-site tracking
  • GDPR, CCPA, and PECR compliant out of the box

    • Lightweight

  • Script size: less than 1 KB
  • Google Analytics script: 45 KB
  • Faster page loads, better Core Web Vitals

    • Simple

  • One page dashboard
  • No training needed
  • Answers the questions that actually matter

    • What You Can Track


    Traffic

  • Unique visitors
  • Page views
  • Bounce rate
  • Visit duration

    • Sources

  • Referral sources
  • UTM campaigns
  • Search queries

    • Pages

  • Top pages
  • Entry pages
  • Exit pages

    • Location

  • Country
  • Region
  • City

    • Technology

  • Browser
  • Operating system
  • Device type (desktop, mobile, tablet)

    • Custom Events

    Track specific actions: button clicks, form submissions, file downloads, outbound links.


    Self-Hosting vs Plausible Cloud


    Plausible Cloud: $9/month for 10K pageviews, scales with traffic

    Self-hosted: $5/month on TinyPod, unlimited pageviews


    For high-traffic sites, self-hosting saves significant money.


    Deployment


    1. Deploy Plausible on TinyPod

    2. Add your site in the dashboard

    3. Add the script tag to your website

    4. Start seeing data immediately


    Resources: 1 CPU, 512 MB RAM. Plausible uses ClickHouse for storage, which is very efficient.


    Integration


    Plausible works with:

  • WordPress (plugin)
  • Next.js (next-plausible package)
  • Hugo, Jekyll, Gatsby
  • Any website (simple script tag)

    • Replacing Google Analytics


    Plausible doesn't have every GA feature. It intentionally omits:

  • Individual user tracking
  • Demographic data
  • Interest categories
  • Remarketing audiences

    • If you need these, you need Google Analytics. If you need simple, accurate, privacy-respecting analytics, Plausible is better.