Links checked 2026-10-14
Self-hosting Matomo On-Premise
The self-hosted route instead of Google Analytics.
Uploading it and clicking through the installer is easy. Running it well — archiving, performance, upgrades — is a maintenance job with documentation the project expects you to read.
What it is
A full analytics platform rather than a small tracker: goals, funnels, custom reports, segmenting, a plugin marketplace and log analytics. It is a PHP application over MySQL, and the project publishes separate guides for installing it, securing it, speeding it up and keeping it updated. Matomo's own guide says the on-premise edition remains free to download, with paid support plans alongside it.
What you actually need
This is the reader's own hardware and configuration, not a price. We describe what a job needs; we do not put a figure on what self-hosting costs, because that depends on the provider, the term and the disk you choose.
- The server
- Any host that runs PHP will run the core application. Beyond that, the project's guides have dedicated pages for performance and for scaling past a single server, which tells you where the work appears.
- How it installs
- The PHP application, uploaded and run through its installer, or the published Docker image.
- Data store
- MySQL or MariaDB.
- What grows
- The database grows with visits and with the reports that get archived. Log analytics adds another data source on top.
Before it is safe to expose
- The PHP extensions the project's requirements page lists
- A cron job that archives reports, which is the step people forget and then wonder why the dashboard is slow
- Access control in front of the install while you set it up, then a hardening pass on the guide's checklist
The trade-offs, specifically for Matomo On-Premise
- It is a PHP application over MySQL, so database maintenance and report archiving become part of the routine rather than something a vendor does.
- The project publishes separate guides for securing, updating, troubleshooting and improving performance. That guide set is a fair picture of the surface area.
- Report archiving through cron is a recurring job with its own failure modes, and a dashboard that stops updating is usually this.
- Plugins from the marketplace are licences you hold and update yourself, per install.
And the six things you own from now on
These are true of every tool in this section, including Matomo On-Premise. They are also the reason to decide against self-hosting, which is a legitimate decision.
- You own the updates. Security releases have to be applied by you, on your schedule, and a project that stops publishing releases becomes your problem to notice.
- You own the backups, and a backup is not a backup until you have restored from it once.
- You own the uptime. There is no status page to watch and no support line to call when it stops answering.
- You own the security patches, the TLS certificate, the reverse proxy and the firewall in front of it.
- You are the on-call rota. The failure mode nobody plans for is being the only person who knows how the thing was set up.
- The hardware has a running cost and a lifetime. Disks fail, and the replacement is on you.
What you give up
- The managed hosting, upgrades and security work the cloud edition includes
- A vendor to call when a report query gets heavy
What you gain
- Complete ownership of the analytics data, with no third-party processor in the path
- The ability to extend the reports and install plugins yourself
Elsewhere in the index
The box it runs on
Any host that runs PHP will run the core application. Beyond that, the project's guides have dedicated pages for performance and for scaling past a single server, which tells you where the work appears. That machine is the purchase this page is really about, and it is the one number we will not invent for you: the right size depends on the provider, the term and the disk, so check it on the provider's own page.
Hostinger
Hostinger's VPS product is the closest fit to a self-hosted application: its own page advertises root access, Docker and NVMe storage, with data centres in several regions.
See Hostinger's plansRead Hostinger's published pricing ↗DigitalOcean
Virtual machines billed as you use them, with separate volumes, snapshots and object storage for the parts you want to keep outside the server.
See DigitalOcean's plansRead DigitalOcean's published pricing ↗Hetzner
Cloud instances and dedicated servers with rates published per instance size, so the cost of a bigger box is visible before you move.
See Hetzner's plansRead Hetzner's published pricing ↗What to check before you buy
- A virtual machine you have root on, not a website plan with a control panel bolted on top.
- Snapshots or automated backups, and where those backups are stored.
- Block storage or object storage for the data that will outgrow the server's own disk.
- What the monthly rate renews at, rather than the first-term rate on the signup page.
- Where the data centre is, if the data has a jurisdiction attached to it.
The “See plans” links go through our own /go/ redirect and some are affiliate links, which pay us if you sign up. The descriptions and trade-offs on this page are written from the project's own documentation and are unaffected. The plain pricing link under each provider is not an affiliate link. See our disclosure.
Frequently asked questions about self-hosting Matomo On-Premise
Answers restate the notes on this page or point at the project's own documentation. Self-hosting moves work to you rather than removing it, and these answers say so.
What is Matomo On-Premise?
A full analytics platform rather than a small tracker: goals, funnels, custom reports, segmenting, a plugin marketplace and log analytics. We cover it as a replacement for Google Analytics.
What do you need to run Matomo On-Premise yourself?
The PHP application, uploaded and run through its installer, or the published Docker image. The requirements table on this page lists the server, the data store, what grows and what else to arrange first. Setup steps are at Matomo's on-premise guide.
How hard is Matomo On-Premise to run yourself?
We rate it Moderate. Uploading it and clicking through the installer is easy. Running it well — archiving, performance, upgrades — is a maintenance job with documentation the project expects you to read.
What are the trade-offs of self-hosting Matomo On-Premise?
Our notes list these costs. It is a PHP application over MySQL, so database maintenance and report archiving become part of the routine rather than something a vendor does. The project publishes separate guides for securing, updating, troubleshooting and improving performance. That guide set is a fair picture of the surface area.
What do you give up by running Matomo On-Premise yourself?
You take on what Google Analytics used to do for you. The managed hosting, upgrades and security work the cloud edition includes. A vendor to call when a report query gets heavy. Self-hosting moves that work to you rather than removing it.
What do you gain by running Matomo On-Premise yourself?
Our notes list these. Complete ownership of the analytics data, with no third-party processor in the path. The ability to extend the reports and install plugins yourself.