Self-Host Plausible Analytics for Privacy-First Web Analytics — AI Workflow

Replace Google Analytics with self-hosted Plausible CE on a VPS — Docker Compose, Nginx SSL, custom events, and weekly email reports, all on your infrastructure.

The Problem

Google Analytics 4 is a privacy nightmare: GDPR consent banners required, data shipped to US servers, users tracked across the web. You want real traffic insights without selling your visitors' data to Google.

What You'll Build

Plausible Community Edition deployed on your VPS with Docker Compose
Nginx reverse proxy with Let's Encrypt SSL
Tracking script installed on your websites
Custom event tracking: button clicks, form conversions, purchases
Weekly email reports and Slack digest

Persona

Nina, SaaS founder — runs a B2B tool with 5,000 monthly visitors. Got a GDPR notice from a European customer. Wants real analytics without cookie banners and without paying $99/month to Plausible cloud.

Architecture

VPS (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM — ~$12/month)
│
├── Nginx (reverse proxy + SSL)
│   └── analytics.yoursite.com → Plausible :8000
│
└── Docker Compose
    ├── plausible (Elixir app)
    ├── plausible_db (PostgreSQL)
    ├── plausible_events_db (ClickHouse)
    └── mail (SMTP via Resend/Postmark)

Step 1: Server Setup

bash

# On your VPS (Ubuntu 22.04)
apt update && apt install -y docker.io docker-compose-plugin nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx

# Create app directory
mkdir -p /opt/plausible && cd /opt/plausible

Step 2: Docker Compose Configuration

yaml

# /opt/plausible/docker-compose.yml
version: "3.8"

services:
  plausible_db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    restart: always
    volumes:
      - db-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
      POSTGRES_DB: plausible_db

  plausible_events_db:
    image: clickhouse/clickhouse-server:24.3-alpine
    restart: always
    volumes:
      - event-data:/var/lib/clickhouse
      - ./clickhouse/logs.xml:/etc/clickhouse-server/config.d/logs.xml
      - ./clickhouse/ipv4.xml:/etc/clickhouse-server/config.d/ipv4.xml
    ulimits:
      nofile:
        soft: 262144
        hard: 262144

  plausible:
    image: ghcr.io/plausible/community-edition:v2
    restart: always
    command: sh -c "sleep 10 && /entrypoint.sh db createdb && /entrypoint.sh db migrate && /entrypoint.sh run"
    depends_on:
      - plausible_db
      - plausible_events_db
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:8000:8000"
    env_file:
      - plausible-conf.env

volumes:
  db-data:
  event-data:

bash

# /opt/plausible/plausible-conf.env
BASE_URL=https://analytics.yoursite.com
SECRET_KEY_BASE=<generate with: openssl rand -base64 64>
DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@plausible_db:5432/plausible_db
CLICKHOUSE_DATABASE_URL=http://plausible_events_db:8123/plausible_events_db

# Email (use Postmark/Resend/SES)
MAILER_ADAPTER=Bamboo.SMTPAdapter
SMTP_HOST_ADDR=smtp.postmarkapp.com
SMTP_HOST_PORT=587
SMTP_USER_NAME=your-postmark-token
SMTP_USER_PWD=your-postmark-token
MAILER_EMAIL=analytics@yoursite.com

# Optional: disable registration after first user
DISABLE_REGISTRATION=invite_only

bash

# ClickHouse config to suppress noise
mkdir -p clickhouse

cat > clickhouse/logs.xml << 'EOF'
<clickhouse><logger><level>warning</level></logger></clickhouse>
EOF

cat > clickhouse/ipv4.xml << 'EOF'
<clickhouse><listen_host>0.0.0.0</listen_host></clickhouse>
EOF

docker compose up -d

Step 3: Nginx + SSL

nginx

# /etc/nginx/sites-available/analytics
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name analytics.yoursite.com;
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name analytics.yoursite.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/analytics.yoursite.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/analytics.yoursite.com/privkey.pem;

    # Security headers
    add_header X-Frame-Options DENY;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
    add_header Referrer-Policy strict-origin-when-cross-origin;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto https;
    }
}

bash

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/analytics /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
certbot --nginx -d analytics.yoursite.com --non-interactive --agree-tos -m you@yoursite.com
nginx -t && systemctl reload nginx

Step 4: Add Tracking Script

html

<!-- Add to <head> of every page -->
<script
  defer
  data-domain="yoursite.com"
  src="https://analytics.yoursite.com/js/script.js"
></script>

For Next.js:

typescript

// app/layout.tsx
import Script from "next/script";

export default function RootLayout({ children }) {
  return (
    <html>
      <head>
        <Script
          defer
          data-domain="yoursite.com"
          src="https://analytics.yoursite.com/js/script.js"
          strategy="afterInteractive"
        />
      </head>
      <body>{children}</body>
    </html>
  );
}

Step 5: Custom Event Tracking

javascript

// Track custom events (no cookie, no PII)
// Plausible's script exposes window.plausible()

// Button click
document.getElementById("upgrade-btn").addEventListener("click", () => {
  window.plausible?.("Upgrade Clicked", { props: { plan: "pro" } });
});

// Form submission
document.getElementById("signup-form").addEventListener("submit", () => {
  window.plausible?.("Signup", { props: { source: "homepage" } });
});

// Purchase (e-commerce)
function trackPurchase(amount: number, plan: string) {
  window.plausible?.("Purchase", {
    props: { plan, revenue: { currency: "USD", amount } },
  });
}

Step 6: Slack Weekly Digest

bash

# cron: every Monday 9am
# 0 9 * * 1 /opt/plausible/weekly-digest.sh

#!/bin/bash
# Fetch stats via Plausible Stats API
STATS=$(curl -s "https://analytics.yoursite.com/api/v1/stats/aggregate?site_id=yoursite.com&period=7d&metrics=visitors,pageviews,bounce_rate,visit_duration" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${PLAUSIBLE_API_KEY}")

VISITORS=$(echo $STATS | jq -r '.results.visitors.value')
PAGEVIEWS=$(echo $STATS | jq -r '.results.pageviews.value')
BOUNCE=$(echo $STATS | jq -r '.results.bounce_rate.value')

curl -s -X POST "$SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"text\":\"📊 Last 7 days: *${VISITORS}* visitors | *${PAGEVIEWS}* pageviews | *${BOUNCE}%* bounce rate\"}"

What's Next

Funnel analysis: track multi-step conversion flows
Goal tracking: set conversion targets and monitor progress
Reverse proxy the script URL through your own domain (avoid ad blockers)
Connect to Grafana via the Stats API for custom dashboards