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Plausible on Edge, analytics without the banner

Plausible Community Edition, ClickHouse and Postgres on one VM. The tracking script loads from 988 CDN locations, visitor data stays on your infrastructure, and pageviews never change the VM price.
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Why Plausible on Edge

Privacy-first analytics on infrastructure you own

Real privacy, your own data, and no pricing tier that moves when a post does well.

  • No cookies, no personal data

    Plausible sets no cookies and stores no personal data. Self-hosted, visitor data never leaves your VM.

  • Elixir, Postgres, ClickHouse

    The Community Edition compose file runs all three on one VM. Move ClickHouse to its own VM over a private network when it grows.

  • Script from the CDN

    script.js caches in 988 locations on your own subdomain. No third-party domain in anyone's request list.

  • Query your own data

    ClickHouse sits on your VM. Query it directly, export to your BI tool or feed your own pipeline.

  • Reports over your SMTP

    Point Plausible at Postmark, Mailgun or SES for weekly email reports and password resets.

  • No per-pageview pricing

    Plausible Cloud prices by monthly pageviews. On Edge, a traffic spike doesn't move you up a tier.

Reference architecture

How Plausible maps to Edge

Plausible CE ships as a Docker Compose project. One VM runs the app and both databases; the CDN serves the script and passes events through.
  • Compute

    Runs Plausible CE, ClickHouse and Postgres with Docker Compose on one VM.

  • CDN

    Serves script.js worldwide from your subdomain and passes event posts to the VM.

  • Storage

    Holds ClickHouse and Postgres backups, off the VM and egress-free.

  • DNS

    Anycast DNS for analytics.acme.com.

  • Shield

    Scores sign-ups and form posts on the sites you track, keeping bots out of your goals.

Deploy

Plausible CE in five steps

The official Community Edition repository, a two-line .env and a CDN domain. Pin a release tag for production.
  1. 01

    Create a Docker VM and a backup bucket

    Plausible needs ClickHouse, so start with at least 4 GiB of memory.

    shell
    $ edge compute create --name analytics --size s-2vcpu-4gb \
    --image ubuntu-24 --region london --script docker
$ edge storage create plausible-backups
  2. 02

    Clone Community Edition

    The repository holds the compose file and ClickHouse config. Check out the latest release tag.

    shell
    $ ssh root@<vm-ip>
$ git clone https://github.com/plausible/community-edition plausible-ce
$ cd plausible-ce
  3. 03

    Configure it

    BASE_URL is the public address the CDN will serve. The SMTP lines are optional but make weekly reports work.

    .env
    BASE_URL=https://analytics.acme.com
SECRET_KEY_BASE=<openssl rand -base64 48>
HTTP_PORT=8000

MAILER_EMAIL=reports@acme.com
SMTP_HOST_ADDR=smtp.postmarkapp.com
SMTP_HOST_PORT=587
SMTP_USER_NAME=<smtp-token>
SMTP_USER_PWD=<smtp-token>
  4. 04

    Start it and put the CDN in front

    Publish port 8000 on localhost in compose.override.yml and proxy :443 to it; the CDN handles the public certificate.

    shell
    $ docker compose up -d
$ edge cdn create --name analytics
$ edge cdn domains add cdn-a1b2c3 \
    --domain analytics.acme.com \
    --origin https://<vm-ip>
  5. 05

    Add the script to your sites

    Add each site in the Plausible dashboard, then drop this into its <head>.

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

Prefer to hand it off? Give the job to your AI agent or have our engineers do it.

What it costs

A million pageviews, one flat VM

Hosted analytics moves you up a tier as traffic grows. On Edge the VM price is fixed; only CDN requests past the free tier add a few cents.
  • Pageviews don't change the VM price
  • CDN requests: $0.25 per million after 500k free
  • No cookie banner to build or maintain
  • Zero egress on dashboards, exports and backups
See compute pricing

Estimated monthly bill on Edge

~1M pageviews a month across several sites

USD
  • Compute$19.24Standard VM · 2 vCPU · 4 GiB · 80 GB NVMe
  • CDN$0.30~1.7M requests (events + script), first 500k free, then $0.25/M
  • Storage$0.1515 GB of nightly backups, first 5 GB free
  • DNS$0.00Zone and records for analytics.acme.com
  • Egress$0.00
Total$19.69

Indicative monthly cost · ~1M pageviews a month

  • Plausible Cloud Business~$59/mo
  • Fathom Pro~$54/mo
  • Edge (Standard VM + CDN)~$20/mo

Competitor figures are indicative, based on public pricing. The Edge figure is the bill above.

FAQ

Plausible on Edge, answered

Something else? Ask an engineer.
How does this compare to Plausible Cloud?
Same core software, and you control the host. You get predictable bills, data residency and direct ClickHouse access. Community Edition is released less often and leaves out a few paid Cloud features, such as funnels and revenue goals.
Will I need a cookie consent banner?
Plausible is designed to work without one. It sets no cookies, doesn't track individuals across sites and stores no personal data. Check with your own adviser for your jurisdiction.
How far will one VM go?
Most sites stay on one VM for a long time. When ClickHouse needs more room, give it a dedicated VM on a private network (free, same region) and point Plausible at it.
Can I bring my Google Analytics history?
Yes. Community Edition can import Google Analytics data once you add Google API credentials, and it also accepts CSV imports.
How do I back it up?
Run clickhouse-backup against the plausible-backups bucket at https://storage.edge.network, and add a nightly pg_dump of Postgres to the same bucket.

Drop-in services

Add these without touching the stack

Shield is one server-side check and Assist is one script tag. Both work alongside whatever you already run.

Self-hosted apps

Other stacks on Edge

All 38 stacks

Stand up Plausible

Start free. Move off Google Analytics, or run one instance for every site you look after.

Deploy a VMTalk to an engineer

Free tiers hard-cap. Nothing bills until you add a card.