Analytics
Is Matomo Cloud GDPR compliant?
Matomo Cloud may only run after the visitor has agreed. It is not strictly necessary for the website to work, so loading it on arrival, before any choice, is the single most common way sites get this wrong.
- Category
- Analytics
- Needs consent
- Yes
- Leaves the EEA
- No
- Can be self-hosted
- Yes
- Recognised by
- matomo.cloud
- Typical cookies
- _pk_id, _pk_ses
What does Matomo Cloud do?
Analytics hosted in the EU, and self-hostable, which removes the third-country question. It still sets identifiers by default, so it needs consent unless you switch on its cookieless mode.
Does Matomo Cloud need consent?
Yes. Matomo Cloud is Analytics, which is never strictly necessary for a website to function. Under ePrivacy Article 5(3), and its national transpositions, storing or reading anything on the device for that purpose requires consent first, and that consent has to be as easy to refuse as it is to give.
ePrivacy Art. 5(3) · TDDDG § 25 (DE) · TKG 2021 § 165(3) (AT) · GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)
Does Matomo Cloud send data outside the EEA?
No. Matomo Cloud keeps processing inside the EEA, which removes the third-country question entirely. You still have to name it as a recipient in your privacy policy.
What can I use instead of Matomo Cloud?
| Needs consent | Leaves the EEA | Can be self-hosted | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matomo Cloud | Yes | No | Yes |
| Plausible Analytics | No | No | Yes |
How do we detect Matomo Cloud?
We load your page in a real browser as a first-time visitor who clicks nothing, then look at what it contacted. Matomo Cloud is recognised by requests to matomo.cloud, and we report whether it merely loaded or actually sent data, and whether it set a cookie before any choice was made.
Check your websiteThis describes the service as it is normally deployed. Your own configuration decides what actually happens, which is what a scan of your site shows. Not legal advice.