Plausible Analytics: Privacy-first Web Analytics You Can Actually Understand

Plausible Analytics is a lightweight, open-source alternative to Google Analytics built around privacy, simplicity, and speed. The core app lives in plausible/analytics and powers both the company’s managed cloud and a self-hosted Community Edition. It avoids cookies, minimizes footprint, and focuses the dashboard on the metrics most teams actually use.

plausible

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analytics

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

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GNU Affero General Public License v3.0

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Elixir

analyticschartsclickhousecloudelixir ...

The problem and the solution

Traditional analytics tools grew complex and ad-tech oriented, often collecting personal data and nudging sites toward consent banners and heavy pages. Plausible’s answer is a straight-shot analytics product: a small tracker, a readable dashboard, compliance with GDPR/CCPA/PECR by design, and the option to self-host for full data control. The README lays out that mission clearly and links to a live public demo.

Key features

• Privacy-first and cookie-free: Measure traffic without storing IPs or personal data; compliant with major privacy laws. See plausible.io/data-policy.
  
  
• Lightweight script: A tiny tracker keeps pages fast. You can also send events via the Events API.
  
  
• Clear dashboard, real-time: A single-page overview with top pages, sources, entry/exit pages, conversions, and simple funnels in the cloud tier. The code paths run through Phoenix routes such as lib/plausible_web/router.ex.

Why I like it

Two things stand out: first, the product feels refreshingly uncluttered with no report builders, just easy answers. 

Second, the architecture is pragmatic: Elixir/Phoenix for the app, PostgreSQL for app data, and ClickHouse for fast analytics queries. 

You can run it yourself with Docker, or use the paid cloud to skip ops and support ongoing open-source work. The team is transparent about what’s in the paid tier versus Community Edition, and why.

<!-- Basic pageview tracking (cloud) -->
<script defer data-domain="example.com" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script> Copy

// Custom event (works with self-host or cloud)
fetch("https://plausible.io/api/event", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    name: "Signup",
    url: "https://example.com/pricing",
    domain: "example.com"
  })
}); Copy

Under the hood

The repository is an Elixir/Phoenix app. The Dockerfile builds assets (React/Tailwind dashboard and the JavaScript tracker) and produces a release. 

Configuration is driven by environment variables in config/runtime.exs, which wires up PostgreSQL, ClickHouse, mailers, Sentry/OpenTelemetry, geolocation databases, and feature flags. 

ClickHouse is used via dedicated repos for ingestion and analytics queries, with batching and async insert tuning visible in Plausible.IngestRepo Copy and Plausible.ClickhouseRepo Copy settings inside runtime.exs.

The Phoenix router in lib/plausible_web/router.ex exposes internal pages and APIs (/api/v1/stats Copy, /api/v2/query Copy) and separates public endpoints from authenticated ones. 

On the query side, the lib/plausible/stats/query.ex module assembles time ranges, filters, comparisons, and imported data options before issuing ClickHouse reads. The combination (Elixir concurrency, ClickHouse columnar speed, and restrained scope) keeps the UX snappy even on larger sites.

Use cases

Plausible fits startups, content sites, documentation portals, and public institutions that care about privacy compliance and performance. Teams running static sites or SPAs appreciate the minimal script and simple event API. European organizations often choose it to avoid data export concerns and consent banners. Self-hosting is attractive for companies that need raw data access (via ClickHouse) or tighter network boundaries, see the self-hosting guide.

Community and contribution

The project is active and welcoming to contributors. Start with CONTRIBUTING.md and browse the changelog. There is a community-supported self-hosted forum via GitHub Discussions, and the team maintains an open feedback board and roadmap. In user discussions, fans call out the clean UI and low overhead; some self-hosters note the Community Edition’s lighter bot filtering and lack of premium features like marketing funnels which the team documents as an intentional sustainability trade-off (Hacker News, 2024).

Usage and license terms

The core is licensed under AGPLv3 (see LICENSE.md), which grants strong copyleft for network services. The JavaScript tracker itself is MIT-licensed (see tracker/LICENSE.md) to avoid AGPL concerns when you embed it on your site. For self-hosting, set BASE_URL Copy, SECRET_KEY_BASE Copy, and database URLs; runtime.exs documents many environment variables (ClickHouse, mail, HTTPS with ACME, geolocation, etc.).

Open source vs paid cloud

In the managed cloud you get continuous updates, advanced bot filtering, premium features (funnels, ecommerce revenue goals, Sites API), SLAs, and support. Community Edition is long-term release (about twice per year), community-supported, and omits certain premium features by design (see the table in the README and the CE overview). 

Many developers are happy to pay for the convenience and to fund development; others prefer self-hosting for control and raw data access via ClickHouse. External discussions often praise Plausible’s clarity and small footprint, with occasional requests for deeper attribution or multi-touch reporting.

About Plausible

Plausible Insights OU is an independent EU-based company. The team is vocal about privacy standards and sustainability for open source. Read more on the about page and across blog posts that dig into methodology and product choices.

Impact and what is next

Plausible has helped make “privacy-by-default analytics” mainstream. It offers a credible, simpler path off GA4 (especially for European sites) and a pragmatic self-hosted option for teams with data residency needs. Expect continued investment in accuracy (bot filtering, import fidelity) and developer surface area (stats APIs, exports) while keeping the core app intentionally lean.

Conclusion

If you want analytics that respects users, loads fast, and stays readable, Plausible is an excellent choice. Explore the repository, skim the README, and decide whether managed cloud or Community Edition fits your needs. Either way, you support a healthy open-source alternative in a space that needs one.