Where Does Self-Hosted Plausible Store Data?
Plausible self-hosted Docker volumes for Postgres and ClickHouse events, plus the env file that ties them together.
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Plausible splits state across containers. Postgres keeps sites, users, and settings in a volume like plausible-db-data. ClickHouse keeps raw pageviews in a volume like plausible-event-data. Both persist through named volumes, not the app container.
Settings come from a .env file with secrets, domain, and mail options. The compose file maps those volumes with prefixed names. Back up both volumes with the env file. Event data without the site database is just orphaned rows. Keep secrets from the env file safe.
Where Plausible stores this, by platform
plausible-db-data (Postgres volume)
Site and user database volume. Inspect for the host mountpoint since compose prefixes vary. Dump Postgres for portable backups instead of raw copies.
plausible-event-data (ClickHouse volume)
Raw analytics events volume for ClickHouse. Larger than the Postgres volume on busy sites. Back up with the db volume and .env for full restore.
Frequently asked questions
what do i back up for a Plausible move
Back up the Postgres and event volumes with the .env file. Postgres holds sites and users, ClickHouse holds pageviews. One without the other gives dashboards with no data or data with no sites.
where are Plausible volumes on the host
Run docker volume ls to list plausible volumes, then docker volume inspect for mountpoints. Names gain a compose prefix like plausible_plausible-db-data. The .env file holds the release and secrets.
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