Data Sovereignty: Where your analytics data is stored

An often overlooked aspect of analytics privacy, is where you store your analytics data. This is a decision that will vary between organisations and may depend on where your business or customers are primarily located. Several laws have been enacted that require you to host users’ personal data in their own countries. If you want to collect lots of personal data, then it might make sense to host in an environment that you control. Below is a brief description of how and where data is stored dependent on which version of Matomo you use.

Matomo Cloud

Matomo data stored in the cloud edition is hosted in Frankfurt, Germany with strict adherence to privacy policies. You can also configure your Matomo settings to maximise privacy so that no personal data is maintained on our servers.

Matomo On-Premises

Self-hosting Matomo provides you with full control and allows you to choose the country and location to store analytics data. This can help you comply with data sovereignty laws which require you to host data about users in their home country. When self-hosting, you are still recommended to store as little data as required. Additionally, as you are responsible for the server management, you will also need to ensure your hosting solution is well secured.  

Matomo for WordPress

This offers a similar model to Matomo On-Premises, but the data will be stored wherever the server that hosts your WordPress database is stored. If you are using Matomo in a way that collects and processes personal data, you should ensure you are aware of the country your website is hosted in, and that their data protection laws are adequate.