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+# Self-Hosting Fathom Analytics with DigitalOcean
+
+2021-02-02
+
+Since my previous post walked through the process of setting up <a href="/fathom-analytics-netlify">Fathom PRO on Netlify</a>, I figured it made sense to create a similar tutorial for the "Lite" variation, self-hosted on DigitalOcean.
+
+Please note that while I think the PRO version of <a target="_blank" href="https://usefathom.com/ref/DKHJVX">Fathom Analytics</a> is truly great, for my small, niche blog it seemed overkill compared to self-hosting. Switching over from $14/mo to $5/mo while retaining most of the same functionality was a no-brainer. Choose the option that best suits your needs (or in the case - budget &amp; bandwidth).
+
+With that cleared up - let's get into it!
+
+## Prerequisites
+
+1. One or more website(s) where you would like to include analytics
+2. <a target="_blank" href="https://m.do.co/c/74b3fd11c07a">DigitalOcean account</a> (**this link will give you a $100 credit!**)
+3. Positive attitude and passion for privacy-respecting analytics!
+
+## Create a Droplet
+
+Once your DigitalOcean account is setup, navigate to the <a target="_blank" href="https://marketplace.digitalocean.com">Marketplace</a> and search for `Fathom Analytics`. Then click the `Create Fathom Analytics Droplet`.
+
+From here you'll be brought to a page that allows you to customize the specifications of your new droplet. If you're a smaller traffic site (personal blog, etc) selecting the **$5/month** Basic Shared CPU option is your best bet.
+
+<figure>
+    <img src="/public/images/fathom-create-droplet-details.webp" alt="Fathom Droplet Details">
+    <figcaption>Creating the new droplet (<a href="/public/images/fathom-create-droplet-details.webp">direct link to image</a>)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+Select the data-center region based on where most of your traffic originates from. I would suggest enabling `IPv6` and setting up your authentication via SSH instead of a regular password system. Adding backups is entirely at your own discretion.
+
+Once you're ready, click **Create Droplet**.
+
+## Enter the Matrix (not really)
+
+Once DigitalOcean finishes spinning up your new droplet, open a terminal and connect to it by entering:
+
+
+    ssh root@YOUR_DROPLET_IP
+
+
+If you setup your login via SSH everything should work as-is. If you went the password route, you'll given a prompt to enter it.
+
+Now that you're connected, Fathom will guide you through a simple configuration setup. It's fairly straightforward and painless. Once complete, move to the next step.
+
+## Domains
+
+You'll most likely want to host this instance on your own domain or subdomain - instead of connecting directly via the droplet's `IP`. Head over to your **Networking** page in the sidebar of DigitalOcean and add your custom domain.
+
+Then, click on that newly added domain - we need to add some new records. You're going to add two new `A` records to this domain:
+
+<table>
+    <thead>
+        <tr>
+            <th>Type</th>
+            <th>Hostname</th>
+            <th>Value</th>
+        </tr>
+    </thead>
+    <tbody>
+        <tr>
+            <td>A</td>
+            <td>@</td>
+            <td>YOUR_DROPLET_IP</td>
+        </tr>
+        <tr>
+            <td>A</td>
+            <td>www</td>
+            <td>YOUR_DROPLET_IP</td>
+        </tr>
+    </tbody>
+</table>
+
+The last thing you need to do is set your nameservers to point to DigitalOcean:
+
+
+    ns1.digitalocean.com
+    ns2.digitalocean.com
+    ns3.digitalocean.com
+
+
+Give it some time to propagate and you'll be in business!
+
+## SSL FTW
+
+There is hardly a good reason not to practice security on the web, so setting up your new analytics to be served over `HTTPS` is just the smart thing to do. Did I mention that this is completely free as well? See - no excuses.
+
+In order to get a free SSL certificate setup, you'll need to install `certbot`. While connected to your droplet, enter the following:
+
+
+    sudo apt-get install python-certbot-nginx
+
+
+Once installed, enter the following to setup SSL (remember to swap out the domain with your own):
+
+
+    certbot --nginx -d your-cool-domain.com
+
+
+Follow the steps (it's very quick and easy) and you'll have `HTTPS` setup in a jiffy!
+
+## The Final Lap
+
+The last thing to do is login to your newly self-hosted Fathom instance, add your site you wish to track, grab the generated tracking code and then slap that badboy on whatever pages you need to track!
+
+Congrats! You're now officially running your own set of analytics tools. You should be happy about what you've accomplished and proud for respecting your users' privacy!