# Plausible Analytics

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/plausible-analytics/171793
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [November 30, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plausible-analytics/171793 "2020-11-30T20:37:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![hellekin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/hellekin/32/51636_2.png) [@hellekin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/hellekin)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plausible-analytics/171793/1 "2020-11-30T20:37:16Z")

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[Plausible Analytics](https://plausible.io/) propose a privacy-by-default open-source analytics platform.

I did not test it yet but I suppose it could work with a theme component like [Matomo Analytics](https://meta.discourse.org/t/script-to-enable-matomo-analytics-on-discourse/33090).

So I’m curious about two things:

1. if anyone here uses this (especially in combination with Discourse) – I know I could ask on [Plausible Discourse](https://plausible.discourse.group) as well, but a simple search yields no answer there…
2. If the Discourse [@team](https://meta.discourse.org/groups/team) is willing to accomodate site settings to allow for alternatives to Google Analytics (same goes for authentication, BTW): for the rest of us who do not accept to use Google, there are a few alternatives that would sit right there where Google is taking a lot of room in the Site Settings.

I understand there are constraints of market and such, but once in a while, it’s good to enable alternatives simply by allowing their presence as _first-class citizens_ (oh, how this expression is already problematic…)

Thank you! 🙂

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### Author: ![justin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/justin/32/157614_2.png) [@justin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/justin)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plausible-analytics/171793/2 "2020-11-30T21:50:25Z")

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This looks like a really interesting solution.

Can also self-host, too! [https://docs.plausible.io/self-hosting/](https://docs.plausible.io/self-hosting/) Business model looks pretty familiar 😉

As a person who values the Internet to be more privacy-friendly, I’d love to see something like this as an option in Discourse core. I don’t know if Plausible Analytics would be the right choice for that, and @codinghorror is the one to make that call if we add this as a feature.

That being said, a theme component is _always_ an option to start with.

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### Author: ![Falco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/falco/32/179432_2.png) [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2020, 9:51pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plausible-analytics/171793/3 "2020-11-30T21:51:08Z")

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Since all it needs is a single line script

```plaintext
<script async defer data-domain="domain.com"
 src="https://plausible.io/js/plausible.js"</script>

```

it makes a lot of sense to be the simplest theme component ever.

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### Author: ![justin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/justin/32/157614_2.png) [@justin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/justin)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2020, 9:52pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plausible-analytics/171793/4 "2020-11-30T21:52:29Z")

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If I get some spare cycles in the next couple of weeks, I’d like to take a crack at setting this up and writing the theme component. @hellekin I’ll let you know what happens!

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### Author: ![pfaffman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/pfaffman/32/120154_2.png) [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2020, 10:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plausible-analytics/171793/6 "2020-11-30T22:28:29Z")

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Ooh. That does look cool! I think it might be possible to add some nginx magic to `app.yml` to have the existing Discourse nginx be the reverse proxy.

I too will see if I can spend some time on this in the next couple weeks.

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### Author: ![hellekin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/hellekin/32/51636_2.png) [@hellekin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/hellekin)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2020, 10:30pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plausible-analytics/171793/7 "2020-11-30T22:30:09Z")

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What I really appreciate in the Plausible approach, beyond the AGPL license, is the minimalist approach. Where Matomo is trying to reproduce its proprietary competitor, Plausible recognized that it stands on a whole different playground where the incentive of surveillance and maximizing data capture is not relevant. From there Plausible can cut down the crap and deliver a lean version of what useful analytics can do with a minimum of resources.

It reminds me a bit of Nginx vs. Apache, where the former came to the world with 80% of what Apache could do, and because of this choice, rapidly became a game changer. The comparison ends here, but it’s important to realize, especially among the younger generation of developers, that aiming for less is often a great decision. (tip: [Basecamp — Books we’ve written](https://basecamp.com/books))

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### Author: ![Luxapodular](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/luxapodular/32/80912_2.png) [@Luxapodular](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Luxapodular)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2020, 7:02pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plausible-analytics/171793/8 "2020-12-14T19:02:11Z")

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Hey Folks, I’m bumping this up as a +1! Wondering if there’s anything I can do to help this move along.

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### Author: ![justin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/justin/32/157614_2.png) [@justin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/justin)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2020, 11:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plausible-analytics/171793/9 "2020-12-14T23:11:46Z")

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@falco was correct – supporting Plausible Analytics on Discourse is _suuuuuuper easy_.

> [@Add Plausible Analytics or Fathom tracking to Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/add-plausible-analytics-tracking-to-discourse/173310):
>
> [Plausible Analytics](https://plausible.io/) First, add your domain to your Plausible Analytics instance and grab your tracking code. It should look something like this: \<script async defer data-domain="community.example.com" src="https://plausible.example.com/js/plausible.js"\>\</script\> Create a new theme component from Admin \> Customize \> Themes. Then paste the tracking code in the \</head\> section. Click Save. Make sure to add this to all available themes so you can track analytics across all users! That…

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### Author: ![justin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/justin/32/157614_2.png) [@justin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/justin)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2020, 11:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/plausible-analytics/171793/10 "2020-12-14T23:11:50Z")

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