Deploy Plausible

Simple, open source, lightweight and privacy-friendly web analytics alternative to Google Analytics.

⭐ 24.2k stars📜 GNU Affero General Public License v3.0🔴 Advanced⏱ ~20 minutes

A production-ready Plausible Analytics instance. Note that Plausible uses a two-database architecture:

PostgreSQL: Stores your users, sites, and metadata.
ClickHouse: A high-performance columnar database that stores the millions of raw events (pageviews) you’ll be collecting.

🌍 Geolocation Tip: To see where your visitors are coming from, you’ll need to download the free MaxMind GeoLite2 database after deployment and place it in the ./geoip folder.

Prerequisites

A server with Docker and Docker Compose installed (setup guide)
A domain name pointed to your server (optional but recommended)
Basic terminal access (SSH)

The Config

Create a directory for Plausible and add this docker-compose.yml:


# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
# 🚀 Created and distributed by The AltStack
# 🌍 https://thealtstack.com
# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
version: '3.8'
 
services:
  plausible:
    image: plausible/analytics:latest
    container_name: plausible
    restart: unless-stopped
    command: sh -c "sleep 10 && /entrypoint.sh db createdb && /entrypoint.sh db migrate && /entrypoint.sh run"
    depends_on:
      - plausible_db
      - plausible_events_db
      - mail
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
    environment:
      - BASE_URL=http://localhost:8000
      - SECRET_KEY_BASE=ChangeMeChangeMeChangeMeChangeMeChangeMeChangeMeChangeMeChangeMe
      - DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:postgres@plausible_db:5432/plausible_db
      - CLICKHOUSE_DATABASE_URL=http://plausible_events_db:8123/plausible_events_db
      - MAILER_EMAIL=admin@example.com
      - SMTP_HOST_ADDR=mail
      - SMTP_HOST_PORT=25
      - SMTP_USER_NAME=
      - SMTP_USER_PWD=
      - SMTP_SSL_Enabled=false
    volumes:
      - ./geoip:/geoip:ro
 
  plausible_db:
    image: postgres:14-alpine
    container_name: plausible_db
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - plausible_db_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres
      - POSTGRES_DB=plausible_db
 
  plausible_events_db:
    image: clickhouse/clickhouse-server:24.3.3.102-alpine
    container_name: plausible_events_db
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - plausible_events_data:/var/lib/clickhouse
      - ./clickhouse/clickhouse-config.xml:/etc/clickhouse-server/config.d/logging.xml:ro
      - ./clickhouse/clickhouse-user-config.xml:/etc/clickhouse-server/users.d/logging.xml:ro
    ulimits:
      nofile:
        soft: 262144
        hard: 262144
 
  mail:
    image: bytemark/smtp
    container_name: plausible_mail
    restart: unless-stopped
 
volumes:
  plausible_db_data:
  plausible_events_data:

Let’s Ship It


# Create a directory
mkdir -p /opt/plausible && cd /opt/plausible
 
# Create the docker-compose.yml (paste the config above)
nano docker-compose.yml
 
# Pull images and start
docker compose up -d
 
# Watch the logs
docker compose logs -f

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Required
`BASE_URL`	`http://localhost:8000`	No
`SECRET_KEY_BASE`	`ChangeMeChangeMeChangeMeChangeMeChangeMeChangeMeChangeMeChangeMe`	No
`DATABASE_URL`	`postgres://postgres:postgres@plausible_db:5432/plausible_db`	No
`CLICKHOUSE_DATABASE_URL`	`http://plausible_events_db:8123/plausible_events_db`	No
`MAILER_EMAIL`	`admin@example.com`	No
`SMTP_HOST_ADDR`	`mail`	No
`SMTP_HOST_PORT`	`25`	No
`SMTP_SSL_Enabled`	`false`	No
`POSTGRES_PASSWORD`	`postgres`	No
`POSTGRES_DB`	`plausible_db`	No

Post-Deployment Checklist

Service is accessible on the configured port
Admin account created (if applicable)
Reverse proxy configured (Caddy guide)
SSL/HTTPS working
Backup script set up (backup guide)
Uptime monitor added (Uptime Kuma)

The “I Broke It” Section

Container won’t start?


docker compose logs plausible | tail -50

Port already in use?


# Find what's using the port
lsof -i :PORT_NUMBER

Need to start fresh?


docker compose down -v  # ⚠️ This deletes volumes/data!
docker compose up -d