How to Deploy Your Own Analytics Suite in Under 10 Minutes

Google Analytics is free. It's also a surveillance engine that:

Sells your visitor data to advertisers
Triggers GDPR cookie consent nightmares
Slows page load by 423ms on average
Gets blocked by 42% of users running adblockers

You're paying with your users' privacy. And getting incomplete data in return.

Why Self-Hosted Analytics Win

Privacy-focused analytics tools like Plausible and Umami collect only what matters:

Page views and referrers
Geographic distribution (country-level, not IP tracking)
Device types and browsers
Goal conversions

What they DON'T track:

Personal identifiable information
Cross-site visitor behavior
Individually fingerprinted users
Third-party cookie data

GDPR compliance without consent banners. No data shared with ad networks. Complete ownership.

The 10-Minute Deployment

We'll deploy Plausible Analytics using Docker Compose. Total setup time: 8-12 minutes.

Prerequisites

You need:

A VPS with 2GB RAM (DigitalOcean, Hetzner, or Vultr)
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
A domain name with DNS access
10 minutes

Step 1: Server Setup (2 minutes)

SSH into your VPS:

ssh root@your-server-ip

Update packages and install Docker:

apt update && apt upgrade -y
apt install -y docker.io docker-compose git
systemctl enable --now docker

Step 2: Clone Plausible Hosting (1 minute)

Plausible provides official Docker Compose files:

cd /opt
git clone https://github.com/plausible/hosting
cd hosting

Step 3: Configure Environment (3 minutes)

Generate secret keys:

openssl rand -base64 64 | tr -d '\n' ; echo

Copy the output. Edit plausible-conf.env:

nano plausible-conf.env

Set these critical variables:

BASE_URL=https://analytics.yourdomain.com
SECRET_KEY_BASE=your-generated-secret-here
ADMIN_USER_EMAIL=you@yourdomain.com
ADMIN_USER_NAME=YourName
ADMIN_USER_PWD=strong-password-here

Save and exit (Ctrl+X, Y, Enter).

💡 Pro Tip: Don't want to manage the server yourself? You can deploy [Tool Name] with one click on Elestio or DigitalOcean. You get the power of open-source with the convenience of SaaS. [Button: Deploy Now with $5 Credit]

Configuring reverse proxies, SSL certificates, and database backups can derail quick deployments. If you want production-ready Plausible with automated backups and CDN integration already configured, managed platforms handle the infrastructure complexity.

Step 4: Launch Services (2 minutes)

Start the full stack:

docker-compose up -d

Docker will download images and start:

Plausible application server
PostgreSQL database
ClickHouse analytics database
GeoIP lookup service

Verify everything is running:

docker-compose ps

You should see 4 services with "Up" status.

Step 5: Configure DNS and SSL (2 minutes)

Point your domain to the server:

DNS A Record:

analytics.yourdomain.com → your-server-ip

Install Nginx and Certbot for SSL:

apt install -y nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx

Create Nginx config:

nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/plausible

Add this configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name analytics.yourdomain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8000;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    }
}

Enable the site:

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/plausible /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
nginx -t && systemctl reload nginx

Get free SSL certificate:

certbot --nginx -d analytics.yourdomain.com

Certbot automatically configures HTTPS redirection.

Step 6: Access Dashboard (1 minute)

Visit https://analytics.yourdomain.com

Plausible generates a tracking script:

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

Add this to your website's <head> section. You're done.

Tracking Your First Metrics

Within 60 seconds, you'll see:

Real-time dashboard showing:

Current active visitors
Page views in last 30 minutes
Top pages
Referrer sources
Geographic distribution

Historical data:

Daily, weekly, monthly trends
Bounce rates
Visit duration
Goal conversions

All without cookies. All without Google.

Alternative: Umami (Even Lighter)

If 2GB RAM is too much, Umami runs on 1GB:

cd /opt
git clone https://github.com/umami-software/umami.git
cd umami

Edit docker-compose.yml to set a database password.

Launch:

docker-compose up -d

Default login: admin / umami

Umami offers:

SQL-based analytics (no ClickHouse overhead)
Event tracking with custom properties
Shareable public dashboards
Team collaboration features

Both tools track the same privacy-respecting metrics. Plausible has better UX. Umami is more developer-friendly.

Cost Comparison

Google Analytics:

Monetary cost: $0
Privacy cost: Complete visitor surveillance
Performance cost: 423ms page load delay
Compliance cost: Complex GDPR consent flows

Plausible Cloud:

$9/month for 10,000 page views
$19/month for 100,000 page views
Privacy-respecting, but still SaaS

Self-Hosted Plausible:

VPS: $12/month (2GB RAM Hetzner)
Scales to 1M+ page views on same server
5-year cost: $720 vs $1,140 (Plausible Cloud) vs $0 (Google)

Beyond year 2, self-hosting saves money while maintaining privacy.

Advanced Configuration

Custom Event Tracking

Track button clicks, form submissions, or custom goals:

<button onclick="plausible('Download', {props: {file: 'whitepaper.pdf'}})">
  Download Whitepaper
</button>

Events appear in your dashboard under "Goal Conversions."

API Access

Plausible exposes a REST API for programmatic access:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  https://analytics.yourdomain.com/api/v1/stats/aggregate?site_id=yourdomain.com

Build custom reports, send data to data warehouses, or create Slack notifications.

Data Retention Customization

Edit plausible-conf.env:

# Keep data for 5 years instead of default 2
DATA_RETENTION_DAYS=1825

Restart services:

docker-compose down && docker-compose up -d

Backup Strategy

Critical data lives in two places:

PostgreSQL (user accounts, site configs):

docker exec plausible_db pg_dump -U plausible > backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

ClickHouse (analytics events):

docker exec plausible_events_db clickhouse-client --query="BACKUP DATABASE plausible_events_db TO '/backups/'"

Automate with cron (runs daily at 2 AM):

0 2 * * * cd /opt/hosting && ./backup.sh

Store backups in S3-compatible storage (Wasabi, Backblaze B2) for $5/TB/month.

Monitoring and Maintenance

Check resource usage:

docker stats

Typical resource consumption (100K page views/day):

CPU: 15-25%
RAM: 1.2GB
Disk I/O: Minimal (ClickHouse is efficient)

Update Plausible quarterly:

cd /opt/hosting
git pull
docker-compose down
docker-compose pull
docker-compose up -d

Migrating from Google Analytics

Plausible doesn't import GA historical data (privacy design choice). But you can run parallel for 30 days:

Keep GA script on site
Add Plausible script
Compare metrics for validation
Remove GA script when confident

Most teams find Plausible's simpler metrics more actionable than GA's 300+ dimensions.

Privacy Compliance Without Lawyers

Self-hosted analytics makes GDPR/CCPA compliance trivial:

No cookie consent required: Plausible doesn't use cookies. No banner needed.

No data processing agreements: You're the data processor. No third-party DPAs.

Right to be forgotten: You control the database. Deletion requests are DELETE FROM queries.

Data residency: Host in EU, US, or wherever your compliance requires.

Legal reviewed our tools directory compliance guides. Self-hosting eliminates 90% of privacy lawyer billable hours.

When to Use SaaS Analytics

Self-hosting isn't always optimal:

Use Plausible Cloud if:

You have no server management capability
Traffic is under 100K views/month (SaaS is cheaper)
You need enterprise SSO integrations

Use Google Analytics if:

You run ads and need Google Ads integration
You require cross-domain tracking
You don't care about privacy (not recommended)

Most companies fall into the self-hosting sweet spot: moderate traffic, privacy-conscious users, basic DevOps skills.

The Exit-Saas Perspective

Analytics shouldn't require surveillance. Metrics shouldn't compromise privacy. Insights shouldn't enrich ad networks.

Self-hosted analytics gives you:

Data sovereignty: Your visitors' behavior stays on your servers
Cost control: No per-page-view pricing surprises
Privacy credibility: No "we share data with Google" asterisks
Performance: No third-party script delays

10 minutes to deploy. Lifetime of ownership.

Visit our tools directory for Docker Compose files, backup scripts, and Nginx configs for Plausible, Umami, and Matomo.

Your data. Your infrastructure. Your metrics.

The best time to escape Google's analytics monopoly was 10 years ago. The second best time is the next 10 minutes.