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Plausible’s real-time analytics give you instant visibility into current activity on your website. See who’s on your site right now, what they’re viewing, and where they’re coming from—all updating live.

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Real-time Dashboard

The real-time view shows you what’s happening on your site at this very moment:

Current Visitors

Number of people on your site right now (last 5 minutes)

Active Pages

Pages being viewed in real-time

Live Sources

Where current visitors are coming from

Current Locations

Geographic distribution of active visitors

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Current Visitors Metric

The “Current Visitors” counter shows unique visitors active in the last 5 minutes:

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How It Works

1

Time Window

Looks back 5 minutes from the current moment:
Current Time: 14:30:00
Window: 14:25:00 to 14:30:00
2

Unique Identification

Counts unique visitors using the same privacy-friendly hashing method as regular analytics:
  • IP address + User Agent + Domain
  • Hashed for anonymity
  • No cookies or persistent identifiers
3

Live Updates

The counter refreshes automatically:
  • Updates every few seconds
  • Smooth number transitions
  • Real-time accuracy
The 5-minute window ensures you see genuinely active visitors while filtering out those who may have left your site.

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Real-time Data Points

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Pages Being Viewed

See exactly which pages are active right now:
  • Page URL
  • Number of current viewers
  • Ranked by current activity
  • Live updates as visitors navigate

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Traffic Sources

Understand where your real-time traffic comes from:
  • Direct - Visitors typing your URL or using bookmarks
  • Search - Incoming from search engines
  • Referrals - Traffic from other websites
  • Social - Visitors from social media platforms
  • Campaigns - UTM-tagged marketing campaigns

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Geographic Distribution

See where in the world your current visitors are located:
  • Country breakdown
  • City information
  • Updated as new visitors arrive

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Device Information

Real-time device and browser data:
  • Desktop vs Mobile vs Tablet
  • Browser types
  • Operating systems

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Use Cases

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Content Publishing

Monitor new post performance: 
Publish blog post at 2:00 PM
↓
Check real-time dashboard
↓  
See immediate traffic spike
↓
Observe which sections readers visit

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Marketing Campaigns

Track campaign launches:
  • Send email newsletter
  • Watch real-time traffic increase
  • See which links get clicked
  • Monitor conversion goals in real-time

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Live Events

During webinars or product launches:
  • Monitor attendance via website traffic
  • Track registration page activity
  • See geographic distribution of interest
  • Observe navigation patterns

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Website Changes

After deploying updates:
  • Verify traffic continues normally
  • Check that new pages load
  • Monitor for unusual patterns
  • Spot issues immediately

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Accessing Real-time Data

Multiple ways to view real-time analytics:

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Dashboard View

  1. Top Bar Indicator
    • Current visitors displayed prominently
    • Always visible regardless of date range
    • Click to see detailed breakdown
  2. Real-time Panel
    • Dedicated section for live data
    • Detailed breakdowns
    • Refreshes automatically

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Date Range Selection

Select “Real-time” from the date picker:
  • Filters entire dashboard to last 30 minutes
  • All metrics show only current activity
  • Continuous updates
While the “Current Visitors” counter shows the last 5 minutes, selecting “Real-time” as a date range displays the last 30 minutes of data for more context while still updating live.

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Performance Considerations

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Update Frequency

Real-time data updates:
  • Current Visitors: Every 5-10 seconds
  • Page Views: Every 10-15 seconds
  • Other Metrics: Every 15-30 seconds

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Database Queries

Real-time queries are optimized for speed: 
# Source: lib/plausible/stats/current_visitors.ex
- Queries last 5 minutes of data only
- Filters out engagement events
- Counts unique user IDs efficiently
- Returns results in milliseconds
Even on high-traffic sites, real-time queries are lightning-fast thanks to ClickHouse’s columnar database design.

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Privacy and Real-time Data

Real-time analytics maintain Plausible’s privacy standards:
  • No Individual Tracking: You see aggregate counts, not individual visitors
  • Anonymous Data: No personally identifiable information
  • No Session Recording: Just statistics, no behavior recording
  • Same Privacy Model: Uses identical hashing method as historical data
Real-time data shows you patterns and trends, not individual user actions. You cannot see what a specific person is doing on your site.

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Integration with Other Features

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Goals in Real-time

Track goal completions as they happen:
  • See conversions as they occur
  • Monitor campaign performance live
  • Track real-time revenue (Business plan)
  • Verify goal triggers are working

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Filters and Real-time

Apply filters to real-time data:
  • Filter by traffic source
  • Focus on specific pages
  • Geographic filtering
  • Device type filtering

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Segments and Real-time

Apply saved segments to real-time view:
  • Monitor specific audience segments
  • Track segment behavior live
  • Compare segment activity

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Limitations

Real-time analytics has some constraints:

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Time Resolution

  • Minimum window is 5 minutes for current visitors
  • Cannot view second-by-second data
  • Some aggregation inherent in the system

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Data Completeness

  • Very recent events may take a few seconds to appear
  • High-traffic sites may see slight delays
  • Not intended for mission-critical real-time applications

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Historical Comparison

  • Real-time view focuses on now
  • Historical trends shown separately
  • Comparison mode not available for real-time

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Troubleshooting

  • Verify your site has recent traffic
  • Check that tracking script is installed correctly
  • Ensure you’re not blocking analytics (ad blocker, privacy mode)
  • Wait 5 minutes after first pageview
  • Remember it shows last 5 minutes only
  • Visitors must be actively browsing (not idle)
  • Check for script installation issues
  • Verify no filters are applied
  • Refresh your browser
  • Check internet connection
  • Verify no browser extensions blocking updates
  • Try a different browser
  • Small delays (5-10 seconds) are normal
  • High traffic can cause slight buffering
  • Network latency affects update speed
  • Database load during peak times

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Best Practices

Use for Validation

Verify that campaigns, events, and goals are triggering correctly.

Monitor Launches

Watch real-time during product launches or major announcements.

Spot Issues Early

Catch problems immediately after deploying changes.

Understand Patterns

Learn when your audience is most active.

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Technical Details

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Query Implementation

The current visitors query: 
-- Simplified view of the real-time query
SELECT uniq(user_id) as current_visitors
FROM events_v2
WHERE site_id = ?
  AND timestamp >= now() - INTERVAL 5 MINUTE
  AND name != 'engagement'

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Event Filtering

Real-time excludes certain events:
  • Engagement events (used for time on page calculation)
  • System events
  • Non-user-generated events

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Caching Strategy

Real-time data uses minimal caching:
  • Most queries hit the database directly
  • Brief caching (5-10 seconds) to prevent overload
  • Balance between freshness and performance

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API Access

Access real-time data programmatically: 
GET /api/v1/stats/realtime/visitors
Use cases:
  • Custom dashboards
  • Alert systems
  • Integration with other tools
  • Automated monitoring

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Next Steps

Dashboard Overview

Explore the full analytics dashboard

Goals Setup

Track real-time conversions

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