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Learn How to Install Plausible CE on Almalinux VPS! This article provides a guide to install Plausible CE on AlmaLinux VPS using Docker Compose, then puts it behind Nginx with HTTPS from Let’s Encrypt. What is Plausible CE? Plausible CE stands for Plausible Community Edition. It is the free, self-hosted version of Plausible Analytics, a privacy-focused alternative to Google Analytics. Instead of sending your website analytics data to a third-party analytics provider, you install Plausible CE on AlmaLinux VPS or server and keep the data under your control. Plausible describes CE as the free, self-hosted, AGPL-licensed release of Plausible Analytics. Their managed cloud service is the paid hosted version, while CE is for users who want to run and maintain it themselves. In practical terms, Plausible CE gives you: Website traffic analytics Page views, visitors, referrers, countries, devices, browsers, and operating systems Goal and event tracking A lightweight tracking script Cookie-free analytics A cleaner, simpler dashboard than Google Analytics Full self-hosting control It is commonly used by website owners, agencies, SaaS companies, privacy-focused businesses, and hosting providers that want analytics without the heavier tracking model of traditional ad-tech platforms. A typical Plausible CE deployment runs with: Plausible application PostgreSQL database ClickHouse analytics/event database Docker Compose Reverse proxy such as Nginx, Caddy, or Traefik The official Plausible CE repository notes that Docker and Docker Compose are required, ClickHouse requires SSE 4.2 or NEON CPU support, and at least 2 GB RAM is recommended. The main difference is: Plausible Cloud hosted and maintained by Plausible Plausible CE installed, hosted, updated, secured, and backed up by you So, Plausible CE is best understood as a self-hosted, privacy-friendly web analytics platform for people who want Google Analytics-style insight without giving up control of their analytics data. Plausible CE’s current official community setup is Docker-based. Its repo lists Docker and Docker Compose as prerequisites, requires a CPU with SSE 4.2 or NEON support because of ClickHouse, and recommends at least 2 GB RAM. The current quick-start branch shown by the Plausible CE repo is v3.2.1. Assumptions used below: Plausible domain: analytics.example.com Server OS: AlmaLinux 9 or AlmaLinux 10 Public ports: 80 and 443 handled by Nginx Plausible internal port: 8000, bound only to 127.0.0.1 Install directory: /opt/plausible-ce Replace analytics.example.com with your real domain. Install Plausible CE on AlmaLinux VPS with Nginx Reverse Proxy To install Plausible CE on AlmaLinux VPS with Nginx reverse proxy, follow the steps below: Point DNS to your VPS Create an A record: analytics.example.com -> YOUR_SERVER_IPV4 Optional IPv6: analytics.example.com -> YOUR_SERVER_IPV6 Wait until DNS resolves: dig +short analytics.example.com or: ping analytics.example.com Do not continue with Let’s Encrypt until the domain points to the VPS. Update AlmaLinux SSH into your VPS as root or a sudo user: ssh root@YOUR_SERVER_IP Update packages: dnf update -y dnf install -y curl wget git nano unzip tar dnf-plugins-core openssl Reboot if the kernel was updated: reboot Reconnect after reboot. Set the hostname Optional but recommended: hostnamectl set-hostname analytics.example.com Verify: hostnamectl Install Docker Engine and Docker Compose plugin Docker’s official CentOS/RHEL-family instructions recommend installing from Docker’s RPM repository and installing docker-ce, docker-ce-cli, containerd.io, docker-buildx-plugin, and docker-compose-plugin. Remove conflicting container packages if present: dnf remove -y podman buildah runc Add Docker’s repo: dnf config-manager --add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo Install Docker: dnf install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin Enable and start Docker: systemctl enable --now docker Verify: docker --version docker compose version systemctl status docker --no-pager Test Docker: docker run --rm hello-world Install Nginx and Certbot dnf install -y epel-release dnf install -y nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx Enable Nginx: systemctl enable --now nginx Verify: nginx -v systemctl status nginx --no-pager Configure the firewall If firewalld is enabled: systemctl enable --now firewalld firewall-cmd --permanent --add-servicehttp firewall-cmd --permanent --add-servicehttps firewall-cmd --reload firewall-cmd --list-all Do not expose Plausible’s internal port 8000 publicly. Handle SELinux for Nginx reverse proxying On AlmaLinux, SELinux is usually enabled. Nginx may be blocked from proxying to a local backend unless this boolean is enabled: setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect 1 Verify SELinux status: getenforce Clone Plausible CE Create the install directory: mkdir -p /opt cd /opt Clone the current Plausible CE branch shown in the official quick start: git clone -b v3.2.1 --single-branch https://github.com/plausible/community-edition plausible-ce cd /opt/plausible-ce The official quick start uses this same clone pattern, then creates a .env file with BASE_URL and SECRET_KEY_BASE. Check files: ls -la You should see files like: compose.yml clickhouse/ README.md LICENSE Create the Plausible environment file Create .env: cd /opt/plausible-ce nano .env Add: BASE_URLhttps://analytics.example.com SECRET_KEY_BASEREPLACE_WITH_GENERATED_SECRET HTTP_PORT8000 Generate a secure secret: openssl rand -base64 48 Paste the generated value into .env. Example: BASE_URLhttps://analytics.example.com SECRET_KEY_BASEQ6c5xHhV7oYx7q9Z7REPLACE_THIS_WITH_YOUR_REAL_GENERATED_VALUE HTTP_PORT8000 BASE_URL and SECRET_KEY_BASE are required. Plausible’s configuration page says BASE_URL has no default, and SECRET_KEY_BASE must be at least 64 bytes; it also shows generating it with openssl rand -base64 48. Set safe permissions: chmod 600 .env Create a Docker Compose override for localhost-only access By default, this guide puts Nginx in front of Plausible. So Plausible should listen only on localhost, not directly on the public internet. Create: nano compose.override.yml Add: services: plausible: ports: - "127.0.0.1:8000:8000" This means: Host 127.0.0.1:8000 -> Plausible container port 8000 Do not use: - "0.0.0.0:8000:8000" unless you intentionally want the app exposed directly. Start Plausible CE From /opt/plausible-ce: docker compose pull docker compose up -d Check running containers: docker compose ps Check logs: docker compose logs -f You should eventually see the Plausible app start successfully. Test locally from the server: curl -I http://127.0.0.1:8000 Expected result should include an HTTP response from Plausible, commonly 200, 302, or similar. Create the Nginx reverse proxy config Create an Nginx server block: nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/plausible.conf Add: server { listen 80; listen :80; server_name analytics.example.com; access_log /var/log/nginx/plausible.access.log; error_log /var/log/nginx/plausible.error.log; location / { proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000; proxy_http_version 1.1; proxy_set_header Host $host; proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host; proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade; proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade"; proxy_read_timeout 60s; proxy_send_timeout 60s; } } Test Nginx: nginx -t Reload: systemctl reload nginx Visit: http://analytics.example.com At this stage HTTP should work. Install Let’s Encrypt SSL Run Certbot: certbot --nginx -d analytics.example.com Choose the redirect-to-HTTPS option when prompted. Test renewal: certbot renew --dry-run Check the generated HTTPS config: nginx -t systemctl reload nginx Visit: https://analytics.example.com Create your first Plausible user Register Plausible CE account Open: https://analytics.example.com Create the first admin user through the web interface. After creating the first user, I recommend disabling open registration. Edit .env: cd /opt/plausible-ce nano .env Add: DISABLE_REGISTRATIONtrue Restart Plausible: docker compose up -d Plausible CE’s configuration docs list DISABLE_REGISTRATION as an available registration control with values including true, false, and invite_only. Configure email sending Plausible can run without email, but password resets, invites, email verification, and reports need SMTP or an email provider. Add SMTP-related values to .env. Example: MAILER_EMAILanalytics@example.com SMTP_HOST_ADDRsmtp.example.com SMTP_HOST_PORT587 SMTP_USER_NAMEanalytics@example.com SMTP_USER_PWDYOUR_SMTP_PASSWORD SMTP_HOST_SSL_ENABLEDfalse SMTP_RETRIES2 Then restart: docker compose up -d Check logs: docker compose logs -f plausible Plausible CE docs state that transactional emails such as account activation and password reset are sent through SMTP by default, with other services such as Postmark, Mailgun, Mandrill, or SendGrid also supported. Add your first website in Plausible Add Website in Plausible Inside the Plausible dashboard: Click Add website. Enter your site domain, for example: example.com Copy the tracking script. Add it before on your website. The snippet will look similar to: window.plausiblewindow.plausible||function(){(plausible.qplausible.q||).push(arguments)},plausible.initplausible.init||function(i){plausible.oi||{}}; plausible.init() Then visit your website and confirm real-time traffic appears in Plausible. Optional: proxy the tracking script through your main website domain This is different from the Nginx reverse proxy used to host Plausible itself. Example: Plausible dashboard: https://analytics.example.com Main website: https://example.com Proxied script: https://example.com/js/script.js Proxied event endpoint: https://example.com/api/event Plausible’s Nginx proxy guide describes proxying the script and event endpoint through your own domain, with locations for /js/script.js and /api/event. On your main website’s Nginx config, add: location /js/script.js { proxy_pass https://analytics.example.com/js/script.js; proxy_set_header Host analytics.example.com; proxy_buffering on; } location /api/event { proxy_pass https://analytics.example.com/api/event; proxy_set_header Host analytics.example.com; proxy_buffering on; proxy_http_version 1.1; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host; } Then change your tracking code to: For custom events, use the proxied endpoint if needed. Useful management commands Go to the install directory first: cd /opt/plausible-ce Start: docker compose up -d Stop: docker compose down Restart: docker compose restart View status: docker compose ps View logs: docker compose logs -f View only Plausible logs: docker compose logs -f plausible Pull updated images: docker compose pull docker compose up -d Backups Plausible CE uses PostgreSQL for user/config data and ClickHouse for analytics events. Its configuration docs state that PostgreSQL stores user data and ClickHouse stores analytics data. Create a backup directory: mkdir -p /opt/backups/plausible chmod 700 /opt/backups/plausible Back up PostgreSQL cd /opt/plausible-ce docker compose exec -T plausible_db pg_dump -U postgres plausible_db > /opt/backups/plausible/plausible_db_$(date +%F).sql Back up Docker volumes List volumes: docker volume ls | grep plausible Create a compressed backup of Plausible-related volumes: cd /opt/plausible-ce docker run --rm \ -v plausible-ce_db-data:/volume/db-data:ro \ -v plausible-ce_event-data:/volume/event-data:ro \ -v /opt/backups/plausible:/backup \ alpine \ tar czf /backup/plausible_volumes_$(date +%F).tar.gz -C /volume . Volume names may differ. Confirm them with: docker volume ls Set up automatic backup cron Create a script: nano /usr/local/sbin/backup-plausible.sh Add: #!/bin/bash set -euo pipefail BACKUP_DIR"/opt/backups/plausible" APP_DIR"/opt/plausible-ce" DATE"$(date +%F-%H%M%S)" mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR" cd "$APP_DIR" docker compose exec -T plausible_db pg_dump -U postgres plausible_db > "$BACKUP_DIR/plausible_db_$DATE.sql" docker run --rm \ -v plausible-ce_db-data:/volume/db-data:ro \ -v plausible-ce_event-data:/volume/event-data:ro \ -v "$BACKUP_DIR":/backup \ alpine \ tar czf "/backup/plausible_volumes_$DATE.tar.gz" -C /volume . find "$BACKUP_DIR" -type f -mtime +14 -delete Make executable: chmod +x /usr/local/sbin/backup-plausible.sh Test: /usr/local/sbin/backup-plausible.sh ls -lh /opt/backups/plausible Create cron: crontab -e Add: 15 2 * * * /usr/local/sbin/backup-plausible.sh >/var/log/plausible-backup.log 2>&1 Update Plausible CE Check the Plausible CE GitHub releases before upgrading. Basic update process: cd /opt/plausible-ce docker compose down git fetch --tags git checkout vNEW_VERSION docker compose pull docker compose up -d docker compose logs -f Always back up before upgrading: /usr/local/sbin/backup-plausible.sh Harden the installation Recommended production settings: chmod 600 /opt/plausible-ce/.env chown -R root:root /opt/plausible-ce Make sure Plausible is not publicly exposed: ss -tulpn | grep 8000 You want to see something like: 127.0.0.1:8000 not: 0.0.0.0:8000 Check open firewall services: firewall-cmd --list-services Expected: http https ssh Consider restricting SSH to your IP and using SSH keys. Troubleshooting Nginx returns 502 Bad Gateway Check Plausible: cd /opt/plausible-ce docker compose ps docker compose logs --tail100 plausible curl -I http://127.0.0.1:8000 Check Nginx errors: tail -f /var/log/nginx/plausible.error.log If SELinux is enforcing, run: setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect 1 Certbot fails Check DNS: dig +short analytics.example.com Check ports: firewall-cmd --list-services Check Nginx config: nginx -t Retry: certbot --nginx -d analytics.example.com Plausible says the domain or URL is wrong Verify .env: cat /opt/plausible-ce/.env Make sure: BASE_URLhttps://analytics.example.com Then restart: cd /opt/plausible-ce docker compose up -d Containers keep restarting View logs: cd /opt/plausible-ce docker compose logs -f Common causes: Invalid SECRET_KEY_BASE Wrong BASE_URL Not enough RAM ClickHouse startup failure Bad compose.override.yml indentation Final verification checklist Run: curl -I https://analytics.example.com docker compose -f /opt/plausible-ce/compose.yml -f /opt/plausible-ce/compose.override.yml ps certbot certificates Confirm: https://analytics.example.com loads First admin user exists Registration is disabled Tracking script is installed on your site Real-time visits appear in Plausible Backups are working Certbot dry-run succeeds Plausible port 8000 is bound only to 127.0.0.1 Conclusion You now know how to install Plausible CE on AlmaLinux VPS.

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