Links checked 2026-10-14
Self-hosting Plausible Community Edition
The self-hosted route instead of Google Analytics.
The install is a compose file, but ClickHouse makes this more than a container-and-database job. Budget time for the first upgrade, not the first install.
What it is
The self-hosted release of Plausible: a cookie-free analytics dashboard with a small tracking script. It is the same codebase as the company's hosted product, published as a free Community Edition that the hosted subscriptions fund.
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
- Two data stores run on one box: PostgreSQL and ClickHouse. The project's own getting-started guide asks for a CPU with the SSE 4.2 or NEON instruction set, which ClickHouse requires, and recommends at least 2 GB of memory so the two do not run out of it.
- How it installs
- Docker and Docker Compose, following the community edition repository: a compose file, an environment file with BASE_URL and SECRET_KEY_BASE, and an optional override for the ports.
- Data store
- PostgreSQL and ClickHouse, both part of the compose stack.
- What grows
- ClickHouse holds the event data and grows with traffic. The guide's point about memory is really a point about this store.
Before it is safe to expose
- A DNS record for the domain you set as BASE_URL, because the compose file requests a Let's Encrypt certificate for it
- A SECRET_KEY_BASE of the length the guide specifies
- Someone who will read the release notes before upgrading, because both stores have their own upgrade path
The trade-offs, specifically for Plausible Community Edition
- ClickHouse is a second database with its own memory behaviour. The project's guide leads with the requirement because memory is the failure mode.
- The company's own self-hosting page is blunt about the division of labour: installation, maintenance, upgrades, server capacity, uptime, backup, security, stability and dashboard speed are described as the operator's responsibility. That is you.
- The Community Edition is not a stripped trial, but it is funded by the hosted subscriptions, and the work those subscribers pay for — backups, security, maintenance — is work you now do.
- Analytics queries hit ClickHouse directly, so dashboard speed on a large dataset is a hardware decision you make rather than a vendor's problem.
And the six things you own from now on
These are true of every tool in this section, including Plausible Community Edition. 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 hosted product's managed certificates, CDN and backups
- Someone else keeping the dashboard fast as the dataset grows
- A support channel
What you gain
- Page-view data never leaves your server
- No cookie banner for the default tracker
- No subscription to the vendor for the Community Edition
Elsewhere in the index
The box it runs on
Two data stores run on one box: PostgreSQL and ClickHouse. The project's own getting-started guide asks for a CPU with the SSE 4.2 or NEON instruction set, which ClickHouse requires, and recommends at least 2 GB of memory so the two do not run out of it. 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 Plausible Community Edition
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 Plausible Community Edition?
The self-hosted release of Plausible: a cookie-free analytics dashboard with a small tracking script. We cover it as a replacement for Google Analytics.
What do you need to run Plausible Community Edition yourself?
Docker and Docker Compose, following the community edition repository: a compose file, an environment file with BASE_URL and SECRET_KEY_BASE, and an optional override for the ports. The requirements table on this page lists the server, the data store, what grows and what else to arrange first. Setup steps are at Plausible's self-hosting page.
How hard is Plausible Community Edition to run yourself?
We rate it Moderate. The install is a compose file, but ClickHouse makes this more than a container-and-database job. Budget time for the first upgrade, not the first install.
What are the trade-offs of self-hosting Plausible Community Edition?
Our notes list these costs. ClickHouse is a second database with its own memory behaviour. The project's guide leads with the requirement because memory is the failure mode. The company's own self-hosting page is blunt about the division of labour: installation, maintenance, upgrades, server capacity, uptime, backup, security, stability and dashboard speed are described as the operator's responsibility. That is you.
What do you give up by running Plausible Community Edition yourself?
You take on what Google Analytics used to do for you. The hosted product's managed certificates, CDN and backups. Someone else keeping the dashboard fast as the dataset grows. Self-hosting moves that work to you rather than removing it.
What do you gain by running Plausible Community Edition yourself?
Our notes list these. Page-view data never leaves your server. No cookie banner for the default tracker.