Self-host Plausible Analytics Community Edition on a VPS

Steps

1. step 1

   Open only SSH and HTTPS

   Enable the firewall before exposing anything. Port 80 is needed for the certificate challenge and the redirect to HTTPS.

   bashcopy

   sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y ufw
   sudo ufw allow 22/tcp
   sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
   sudo ufw allow 443/tcp
   sudo ufw --force enable

2. step 2

   Install Docker

   Log in to the VPS as your sudo user and install Docker Engine with the official convenience script, then allow your user to run it.

   bashcopy

   curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sudo sh
   sudo usermod -aG docker "$USER"
   newgrp docker
   docker compose version

3. step 3

   Get the Community Edition files

   Clone the official repository. Its README names the current release branch — check it out so you run a released version.

   bashcopy

   git clone https://github.com/plausible/community-edition plausible-ce
   cd plausible-ce
   git branch -r   # pick the latest release branch from the README, then:
   # git checkout <release-branch>

4. step 4

   Configure the base URL and secret

   Create the .env file with your domain and a random secret, and let Plausible serve HTTPS itself on ports 80/443.

   bashcopy

   touch .env
   echo "BASE_URL=https://stats.example.com" >> .env
   echo "SECRET_KEY_BASE=$(openssl rand -base64 48)" >> .env
   echo "HTTP_PORT=80" >> .env
   echo "HTTPS_PORT=443" >> .env
   cat > compose.override.yml <<'EOF'
   services:
     plausible:
       ports:
         - 80:80
         - 443:443
   EOF

5. step 5

   Start it

   Start the stack, wait for the certificate, then open your domain and register the first (admin) account.

   bashcopy

   docker compose up -d
   docker compose logs -f plausible

Official documentation

• Plausible Community Edition