[Video] Matomo On-Premise Tips & Tricks


Matomocamp video tips and tricks

TRANSCRIPT: Today’s session is titled « Matomo Tips and Tricks ». I’ve included a variety of tips, some for everyday users and others for Matomo administrators and those managing the setup.

Categories covered:

  1. UI Tips
  2. Performance Tips
  3. Useful CLI Commands
  4. Free Plugins Not Installed by Default

At the end, we’ll have a Q&A session. Please drop your questions in the dedicated chat room at chat.matomocamp.org. I’ve asked the moderator to pick a few good ones to answer live, but feel free to repeat yours if needed.
UI Tips

Zen Mode

Zen Mode gives you an uninterrupted view of your Matomo dashboard or reports. It’s ideal for display on dedicated screens or embedded via an iFrame. It hides the top and side menus for a clean look.

To activate:

  1. Click the small toggle button at the top of the page.
  2. Or simply press Z on your keyboard (my preferred shortcut).

Search Shortcut

Use the F key to access the search bar. This allows quick switching between websites and segments, or searching user guides and FAQs on Matomo – The Google Analytics alternative that protects your data —without using your mouse.

Themes

Themes allow you to customise the look and layout of the Matomo UI. There are several pre-made themes like Modern, Minimalist, and Dark. Others change only fonts or visuals.

You can:

  1. Visit themes.matomo.org.
  2. Or go to Administration (gear icon) → Platform → Marketplace → Themes in your Matomo instance.

Custom themes can be uploaded as zip files. With basic CSS or LESS knowledge, you can fully customise a theme. JavaScript can also be included.

Performance Tips

Disable Browser Archiving and Use a Cron Job

Browser archiving processes reports on-the-fly, which slows things down, especially with large datasets. Disabling it and running the core:archive command via a crontab improves performance significantly.

Browser archiving still occurs in some cases:

  • For date range reports
  • For real-time (non-preprocessed) segments

Limit Segment Processing Timeframe

By default, segments are processed « from the beginning of time ». This can significantly slow down performance for Matomo instances with years of data.

To improve this:

  1. Use a config file setting to limit how far back segments are processed.
  2. Example values include processing only the last 93 days or since the segment creation date.

CLI Tips (Command Line Interface)

Matomo’s console script provides many powerful commands.

Useful Commands:

  • core:invalidate-report-data – Invalidate data for specific date ranges, segments, or plugins.
  • core:archive --force-date-range=YYYY-MM-DD,YYYY-MM-DD – Reprocess only a defined range.
  • Many plugins have their own commands. Use console --list to see all available commands.
  • Use --help with any command to see available options.

The CLI is more precise than the Invalidate Reports plugin, which operates like a sledgehammer, less targeted.

Free Plugins (Not Installed by Default)

Queued Tracking Plugin

Improves performance and stability by queuing tracking requests and processing them in batches. This reduces database load and handles traffic spikes more efficiently.

Tracking Spam Prevention

Prevents spam visits using options like:

  • Blocking cloud provider requests
  • Blocking headless browsers
  • Limiting actions per visit
  • Excluding or including specific countries
  • Marketing Campaigns Reporting

Enhances the built-in campaigns report by supporting all standard parameters used in ad platforms. No need to rely solely on Matomo-specific parameters.

Log Viewer

For administrators. View application logs directly in the UI without SSH access.

Custom Alerts

Receive email or SMS alerts based on traffic thresholds or changes. For SMS, activate the built-in Mobile Messaging plugin.

IP2Company Plugin

Identifies visits from known company IP ranges. Great for B2B sites and targeting specific organisations.
All these plugins are available at plugins.matomo.org or via your instance’s Marketplace.