How to Self-Host Matomo Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative)

Matomo is an open-source web analytics platform and the most popular self-hosted alternative to Google Analytics. Because the data stays on your server, it's easier to comply with GDPR - and you own 100% of your data.

OpenPanel installs and configures Matomo in one click.

Requirements​

• OpenPanel Community or Enterprise - the Matomo module must be enabled for your hosting plan.
• A domain or subdomain for the dashboard, e.g. analytics.example.com.
• MySQL or MariaDB (Matomo doesn't support PostgreSQL).

Install Matomo​

1. Add analytics.example.com in OpenPanel → Domains (Add a new domain).
2. Go to OpenPanel → Websites → Install App and click Install Matomo.
3. Choose the Matomo version (Latest), the domain, and the admin login, email and password.
4. Optionally expand Database settings - the name, user and password are generated for you.
5. Start the installation.

OpenPanel downloads Matomo, creates the database, and completes Matomo's setup wizard for you - no browser wizard needed.

Open https://analytics.example.com, or click Login as Admin on the app's manage page.

Track Your Websites​

1. In Matomo, go to Administration → Websites → Manage and add each website you want to track.
2. Open Administration → Websites → Tracking Code and copy the JavaScript snippet.
3. Paste it before </head> on every page of the tracked website.
   • For WordPress, use the official Connect Matomo plugin or paste the code in your theme's header.

You'll see visits in the Matomo dashboard within a few seconds.

Set Up Report Archiving (Recommended)​

By default, Matomo builds reports when someone opens the dashboard, which gets slow on busy sites. Switch to cron-based archiving:

1. In Matomo, go to Administration → System → General settings and set Archive reports when viewed from the browser to No.
2. In OpenPanel → Cron Jobs, create a job:
   • Container: the domain's PHP container, e.g. php-fpm-8.3
   • Schedule: Hourly
   • Command:

php /var/www/html/analytics.example.com/console core:archive --url=https://analytics.example.com/

See Cron Jobs.

Managing Matomo​

Matomo appears in OpenPanel → Websites → Sites. Its manage page has:

• Login as Admin - one-click login to the dashboard.
• Cache - runs core:clear-caches.
• Update - checks for a new release and updates it, including the database schema.
• Backups - full or partial backups and restores.
• Clone - copies Matomo to another domain, updating trusted_hosts automatically.
• Logs - Matomo's own log files.

More: Matomo in OpenPanel.

Tips​

• Exclude your own visits: in Administration → Websites → Manage, add your IP address to the excluded IPs.
• Privacy: in Administration → Privacy, enable IP anonymization and respect Do Not Track to reduce the need for cookie banners.
• Disk usage grows with traffic - check it now and then in Disk Usage.

Related​

• View visitor statistics (GoAccess)
• Self-host n8n
• All installable apps