Getting GDPR-compliant analytics for France used to mean working through a detailed checklist, tweaking buried settings, and hoping you hadn’t missed anything.

Matomo’s new 1-Click CNIL compliance feature handles that automatically, so you can focus on your data, not your configuration.

The new feature helps you assess your current setup against CNIL consent exemption conditions, apply supported settings in one click, and see clearly what still needs your attention.

Reminder: you need to comply with CNIL requirements as soon as your audience includes people in France, even if your organisation isn’t French.

Why this matters

For many teams, the hard part isn’t choosing a privacy-first analytics platform. The hard part is configuring it correctly, documenting it clearly, and reducing the back and forth between marketing, implementation, and compliance team.

That changes with today’s release. Instead of reviewing settings one by one across different parts of Matomo, the 1-Click CNIL compliance feature reduces that friction at every stage:

• Fewer back-and-forths between marketing, development and privacy teams during setup.
• Less risk of misconfiguration, because the platform enforces the required settings rather than relying on a checklist.
• Easier to review for stakeholders and DPOs, with a clear compliance status per site and a self-assessment document built in.
• Faster to deploy across multiple sites, without repeating the same manual process each time.

This is especially useful for teams that need a faster and clearer path to a CNIL-aligned setup, without relying on scattered documentation or repeated manual reviews.

It’s also relevant if you’re evaluating Matomo against alternatives. CNIL compliance has historically required external setup support or a specialist. It no longer does.

What 1-Click CNIL compliance does

The feature lives at Administration > Privacy > Compliance. Select a site from the dropdown and Matomo runs a full assessment of your current configuration against CNIL requirements.

Each setting is assigned one of three statuses:

• Compliant: your current configuration meets the requirement.
• Non-compliant: the setting needs to be changed, and Matomo can apply it automatically.
• Unknown: Matomo cannot verify this from within the platform. It requires a manual step on your end.

Once you’ve reviewed the results, enable “Enforce compliance where possible” and click Save. Matomo applies all supported settings in one go. The compliance page also links directly to the knowledge base and to the self-assessment document, which CNIL now requires analytics providers to make available to their customers.

What changes when you enable it

When CNIL mode is enforced, Matomo applies a restricted configuration for the selected site or app. That can include:

This is what makes the feature useful in practice. It does not just tell you what the requirements are. It helps you apply the supported settings in one place and makes the remaining gaps visible.

What still requires a manual step

This is worth reading before you enable the feature:

The opt-out mechanism is not configured automatically. CNIL requires that visitors can object to audience measurement, and this must be embedded in your privacy policy as an iframe or link. The compliance page flags this with an “Unknown” status. The configuration guide walks you through the setup.

Any settings marked Unknown in your assessment also need manual review. Matomo cannot verify them from within the platform, and CNIL compliance cannot be confirmed until they are addressed.

Custom goals and events you create must stay within the three categories of events permitted by CNIL: presence on a page, use of a feature, and page performance statistics. Anything outside that scope falls outside the exemption.

Finally, this feature supports the compliance process. It does not replace legal review. If you operate in a regulated sector or manage compliance across multiple jurisdictions, your legal or privacy team should validate your configuration.

Where to start

It’s already available for superusers in Privacy > Compliance. The feature is live now on Matomo Cloud and available on Matomo On-Premise with version 5.9.0.

If you want to use Matomo in a way that may qualify for CNIL consent exemption when properly configured, start here:

• go to Administration > Privacy > Compliance
• select the relevant site
• review the assessment results
• enable Enforce compliance where possible
• complete the remaining manual steps, especially opt-out setup
• review the detailed self-assessment and knowledge base guidance for the full scope and restrictions 

The full configuration guide and self-assessment document are available in our knowledge base:

• our English configuration guide
• our French configuration guide
• our technical documentation for 1-Click CNIL Compliance, with the CNIL self-assessment
• our opt-out setup guide

These resources explain the detailed conditions, scope limitations, and remaining manual actions required for your setup.

Analytics that are easier to review, easier to configure, and easier to trust

Privacy-conscious analytics should not require a maze of manual checks.

With 1-Click CNIL Compliance, Matomo gives your team a more direct way to assess its setup, apply supported CNIL-aligned settings, and document what still needs to be done.

It is a practical step toward analytics that are easier to configure, easier to review internally, and easier to operationalise across teams.

Learn more about this new feature here: How do I configure Matomo without tracking consent for French visitors (CNIL exemption)?

Wellington, 18 March 2026 – Matomo, the world’s leading privacy-first and ethical open-source analytics platform, announced the release of Matomo 5.8.0, the latest version of its web-analytics platform bringing new capabilities to enhance analytics insights in the age of AI. With this release, Matomo introduces AI chatbot tracking, a new report within its AI Assistant tracking capabilities. This report helps organisations understand how AI chatbots interact with their websites. Combined with the existing AI Agents report, it provides a clearer view on how AI tools access and analyse website content.

AI chatbots are redefining web analytics

Nowadays, companies face a new challenge: distinguishing between human visitors and interactions generated by AI chatbots. Without this differentiation, web analytics data becomes increasingly unreliable, affecting executive decision-making.

AI web traffic is not limited to a single type of interaction. It includes AI agents, which can autonomously browse or perform actions on websites, AI chatbots, which access and analyse website content to generate responses within their interfaces; and AI referrals, where users visit a website after clicking on links suggested by AI tools.

Matomo users can identify AI referrals directly in their acquisition reports, helping them understand how AI platforms influence website traffic and search visibility.

With its AI Assistants solution, Matomo offers dedicated tracking for AI chatbots and AI agents, providing businesses with a clearer picture of how AI interactions impact website traffic. This prevents AI interactions from distorting marketing attribution, traffic metrics, and conversion reporting.

“Without visibility into AI-driven traffic, analytics data becomes less reliable and less actionable. This challenge affects every team that relies on website data, from marketing to leadership. It’s crucial to be able to distinguish between human visitors and AI assistants in order to make informed business decisions,” said Matthieu Aubry, CPO and Co-founder of Matomo.

This release is part of Matomo’s broader strategy to position itself as a leader in AI-driven web analytics. Build on privacy-first foundation, Matomo enables organisations to understand both AI and human engagement on their websites while remaining fully compliant with data protection regulations. This privacy-led-by-design approach ensures that analytics insights remain accurate, trustworthy, and align with modern data expectations.

Privacy-first analytics built for the age of AI

As AI chatbots and automated agents increasingly interact with websites, many analytics tools struggle to interpret this traffic because they rely heavily on cookies and user identifiers, mechanisms that AI systems often reject or bypass. Built on first-party data and transparent measurement, Matomo’s privacy-first architecture allows organisations to detect and analyse these interactions more reliably. This provides clearer visibility into how AI systems access, read, and engage with website content

“As a privacy-first analytics platform, Matomo is independent from third-party cookies and invasive tracking, which is totally adapted to the requirements of the AI era. This release reinforces our human-first analytics approach, enabling our clients to accurately detect AI traffic while maintaining trustworthy web analytics results,” said Adam Taylor, CEO of Matomo.

About Matomo:

Matomo is a leading web analytics platform that helps organisations understand their audience and gives them full control over their data. More than 1.4 million websites in over 190 countries use Matomo to improve digital experiences and make confident decisions. 

Available on-premise or in the cloud, Matomo combines powerful analytics with data ownership, flexibility, and privacy through its open-source foundation. 

More information: Matomo.org

Media contact

Elise Duchateau
Head of Marketing and Communications
Matomo (InnoCraft Ltd.)
marketing@matomo.org

Context switching kills productivity. Every time someone asks “what were last week’s numbers?” you leave Teams, open Matomo, find the right report, export it, and paste it back into the conversation. Multiply that by every stakeholder request, every Monday morning check-in, every campaign review.

Analytics live in dashboards. Decisions happen in Microsoft Teams. Between the two, insights get delayed, diluted, or ignored.

That fragmented workflow ends today. The Matomo integration for Microsoft Teams bridges that gap by bringing trusted analytics directly into the place where teams already collaborate, align, and decide.

Bring Matomo into Microsoft Teams

The new Matomo plugin for Microsoft Teams delivers your analytics directly into channels and chats. Schedule reports to arrive automatically. Get alerts when metrics move. Keep insights anchored in the conversations where decisions happen.

No additional cost. No complex setup. Just smarter reporting.

What this means for your team

For marketing teams: Campaign performance lands in your channel directly. No one has to ask, no one has to pull. The data is there before the meeting starts.

For analysts: Stop being the human API between Matomo and everyone who needs numbers. Automate the routine reports so you can focus on the analysis that actually requires your expertise.

For leadership: Dashboards delivered as clean PDFs, on schedule, to the channels you’re already checking. Stay informed without learning another tool.

For IT and compliance: The plugin generates reports from your Matomo instance and sends them directly to Teams. No third-party processing, no new data flows to audit.

How it works in practice

Instead of asking teams to “go check the analytics”, Matomo brings selected insights into the conversation itself.

This is not about flooding channels with metrics. The Matomo Microsoft Teams plugin focuses on signal over volume. Insights are delivered intentionally, supporting discussions instead of interrupting them.

This makes it especially useful for:

• recurring performance reviews
• campaign and conversion discussions
• leadership updates
• cross-functional alignment

Analytics become a tool for clarity, not another source of distraction.

Picture this: your ecommerce team has a channel called “Weekly Performance”. Every Monday at 8am, a PDF summary of last week’s conversions, revenue, and top-performing pages appears automatically. The team discusses what they see, makes decisions, moves on.

Or this: your paid media specialist sets an alert for when cost-per-acquisition exceeds a threshold. When it triggers, Teams notifies the channel immediately. The team investigates before the budget bleeds further.

Or this: your CEO wants a monthly overview without logging into anything. A scheduled report arrives in their executive channel as a formatted PDF. Done.

These aren’t hypothetical scenarios. They’re the daily reality for teams already using Matomo’s integration capabilities.

Analytics stop being a separate task and become a shared reference point.

Setting up takes minutes, not meetings

1. Install the plugin from the Matomo Marketplace (free for On-Premise, and already pre-installed for Cloud users)
2. Authenticate with your Microsoft Teams workspace
3. Choose which reports go where, and when
4. That’s it!

The whole process takes less time than your average stand-up. No IT tickets, no procurement cycles, no training sessions.

For more information on how to install it for On-Premise, read our How to integrate MS Teams and Matomo page (already pre-installed for Cloud users).

Built for how organisations actually work

Microsoft Teams is often used by larger, more structured organisations. The Matomo integration reflects that reality.

Scheduling flexibility: Daily, weekly, or monthly delivery. Match your reporting rhythm, not ours.

Format options: PDF for executives who want something polished. CSV for analysts who want raw data. Your choice.

Full report coverage: Works with all standard Matomo reports plus premium features like Funnels, Cohorts, and Custom Reports.

Permission-aware: The plugin respects your existing Matomo user permissions. People only see what they’re supposed to see.

Alert-ready: Combine with Matomo’s Custom Alerts to push notifications when metrics cross thresholds you define.

Common questions about MS Teams Integration

Q: Does this replace our current reporting workflow?
A: It can, or it can supplement it. Most teams start by automating their most-requested reports, then expand from there.

Q: We’re on Matomo On-Premise. Does this work for us?
A: Yes. The plugin works with Cloud, On-Premise, and Matomo for WordPress installations.

Q: What about data residency?
A: Your data stays where it is. Reports are generated within your Matomo instance and delivered to Teams. Nothing passes through external servers.

Q: Is there a limit on channels or reports?
A: No artificial limits. Send as many reports to as many channels as your workflow requires.

Q: Why is this free?
A: Because we believe analytics should be accessible where work happens. This plugin extends Matomo’s value without adding cost.

Your team is already in Teams. Your data should be too.

Every hour spent manually sharing reports is an hour not spent acting on insights. Every buried dashboard is a missed opportunity.

Bring Matomo into Microsoft Teams today and reduce the gap between insight and action.

Install it today and see what your reporting workflow looks like when the data comes to you.

Today, consumers are more aware of their online privacy rights, leading to an extensive use of ad blockers and stricter cookie policies. Organisations are facing some noteworthy challenges with this trend, including:

• Limited data collection, which makes it harder to understand user behaviour and deliver personalised ads that resonate with customers
• Rising compliance costs as businesses adapt to new regulations, straining resources and budgets.
• Growing customer scepticism in data practices, affecting brand reputation.
• Maintaining transparency and fostering trust with customers through clear communication about data practices.

Server-side tracking can help resolve these problems. This article will cover server-side tracking, how it works, implementation methods and its benefits.

What is server-side tracking? 

Server-side tracking refers to a method where user data is collected directly by a server rather than through a user’s browser.

The key advantage of server-side tracking is that data collection, processing, and storage occur directly on the website’s server.

For example, when a visitor interacts with any website, the server captures that activity through the backend system, allowing for greater data control and security. 

Client-side tracking vs. server-side tracking 

There are two methods to collect user data: client-side and server-side. 

Let’s understand their differences. 

Client-side tracking: Convenience with caveats

Client-side tracking embeds JavaScript tags, pixels or other scripts directly into a website’s code. When a user interacts with the site, these tags fire, collecting data from their browser. This information might include page views, button clicks, form submissions and other user actions. 

The collected data is then sent directly to third-party analytics platforms like Google Analytics or Adobe Analytics, or internal teams can also analyse it.

This method is relatively easy to implement. That’s because marketers can often deploy these tags without needing extensive developer support, enabling quick adjustments and A/B testing. 

However, there are some challenges. 

Ad blockers and browser privacy settings, such as Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP), restrict the ability of third-party tags to collect data. 

This results in data gaps and inaccuracies skewing analytics reports and potentially leading to misguided business decisions. 

Reliance on numerous JavaScript tags can also negatively impact website performance, slowing down page load times and affecting user experience. This is especially true on mobile devices where processing power and network speeds are often limited.

Now, let’s see how server-side tracking changes this.

Server-side tracking: Control and reliability

Server-side tracking shifts the burden of data collection from the user’s browser to a server controlled by the business. 

Instead of relying on JavaScript tags firing directly from the user’s device, user interactions are first sent to the business’s own server. Here, the data can be processed, enriched, and analysed. 

This method provides numerous advantages, including enhanced control over data integrity, improved privacy, and more, which we discuss in the next section.

Benefits of server-side tracking 

Server-side tracking offers a compelling alternative to traditional client-side methods, providing numerous business advantages. Let’s take a look at them.

Improved data accuracy

This method reduces inaccuracies caused by ad blockers or cookie restrictions by bypassing browser limitations. As a result, the data collected is more reliable, leading to better analytics and marketing attribution.

Data minimisation

Data minimisation is a fundamental principle in data protection. It emphasises that organisations should collect only data that is strictly needed for a specific purpose. 

In server-side tracking, this translates into collecting just the essential data points and discarding anything extra before the data is sent to analytics platforms. It helps organisations avoid accumulating excessive personal information, reducing the risk of data breaches and misuse.

For example, consider a scenario where a user purchases a product on an e-commerce website. 

With client-side tracking scripts, the system might inadvertently collect a range of data, including the user’s IP address, browser type, operating system and even details about other websites they have visited. 

However, for conversions, the organisation only needs to know the purchase amount, product IDs, user IDS, and timestamps. 

Server-side tracking filters unnecessary information. This reduces the privacy impact and simplifies data analysis and storage.

Cross-device tracking capabilities

Server-side tracking provides a unified view of customer behaviour regardless of the device they use, allowing for more personalised and targeted marketing campaigns. 

In-depth event tracking

Server-side tracking helps businesses track events that occur outside their websites, such as payment confirmations. Companies gain insights into the entire customer journey, from initial interaction to final purchase, optimising every touchpoint. 

Enhanced privacy compliance

With increasing regulations like GDPR and CCPA, businesses can better manage user consent and data handling practices through server-side solutions. 

Server-side setups make honouring user consent easier. If a user opts out, server-side logic can exclude their data from all outgoing analytics calls in one central place. 

Server-side methods reassure users and regulators that data is collected and secured with minimal risk. 

In sectors like government and banking, this level of control is often a non-negotiable part of their duty of care. 

Extended cookie lifetime

Traditional website tracking faces growing obstacles as modern browsers prioritise user privacy. Initiatives like Safari’s ITP block third-party cookies and also constrain the use of first-party cookies. 

Other browsers, such as Firefox and Brave, are implementing similar methods, while Chrome is beginning to phase out third-party cookies. Retargeting and cross-site analytics, which rely on these cookies, encounter significant challenges.

Server-side tracking overcomes this by allowing businesses to collect data over a longer duration. 

When a website’s server directly sets a cookie, that cookie often lasts longer than cookies created by JavaScript code running inside the browser. This lets websites get around some of the limits browsers put on tracking and allows them to remember a visitor when they return to the site later, which gives better customer insights. Plus, server-side tracking typically classifies cookies as first-party data, which is less susceptible to blocking by browsers and ad blockers.

Server-side tracking: Responsibilities and considerations

While server-side tracking delivers powerful capabilities, remember that it also brings increased responsibility. Companies must remain vigilant in upholding privacy regulations and user consent. It’s up to the organisation to make sure the server follows user consent, for example, not sending data if someone has opted out.

Server-side setups introduce technical complexity, which can potentially lead to data errors that are more difficult to identify and resolve. Therefore, monitoring processes and quality assurance practices are essential for data integrity. 

How does server-side tracking work? 

When a user interacts with a website (e.g., clicking a button), this action triggers an event. The event could be anything from a page view to a form submission.

The backend system captures relevant details such as the event type, user ID and timestamp. This information helps in understanding user behaviour and creating meaningful analytics.

The captured data is processed directly on the organisation’s server, allowing for immediate validation. For example, organisations can add additional context or filter out irrelevant information.

Instead of sending data to third-party endpoints, the organisation stores everything in its own database or data warehouse. This ensures full control over data privacy and security.

Organisations can perform their own analysis using tools like SQL or Python. To visualise data, custom dashboards and reports can be created using self-hosted analytics tools. This way, businesses can present complex data in a clear and actionable manner.

How to implement server-side tracking?

Server-side tracking can work in four common ways, each offering a different blend of control, flexibility and complexity.

1. Server-side tag management

In this method, organisations use platforms like Google Tag Manager Server-Side to manage tracking tags on the server, often using containers to isolate and manage different tagging environments. 

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This approach offers a balance between control and ease of use. It allows for the deployment and management of tags without modifying the application code, which is particularly useful for marketers who want to adjust tracking configurations quickly.

2. Direct server-to-server tracking via APIs

This method involves sharing information between two servers without affecting the user’s browser or device. 

A unique identifier is generated and stored on a server when a user interacts with an ad or webpage. 

If a user takes some action, like making a purchase, the unique identifier is sent from the advertiser’s server directly to the platform’s server (Google or Facebook) via an API. 

It requires more development effort but is ideal for organisations needing fine-grained data control.

3. Using analytics platforms with built-in server SDKs

Another way is to employ analytics platforms like Matomo that provide SDKs for various programming languages to instrument the server-side code. 

This eases integration with the platform’s analytics features and is a good choice for organisations primarily using a single analytics platform and want to use its server-side capabilities.

4. Hybrid approaches

Finally, organisations can also combine client- and server-side tracking to capture different data types and maximise accuracy. 

This method involves client-side scripts for specific interactions (like UI events) and server-side tracking for more sensitive or critical data (like transactions). 

While these are general approaches, dedicated analytics platforms can also be helpful. Matomo, for example, facilitates server-side tracking through two specific methods.

Using server logs

Matomo can import existing web server logs, such as Apache or Nginx, that capture each request. Every page view or resource load becomes a data point. 

Matomo’s log processing script reads log files, importing millions of hits. This removes the need to add code to the site, making it suitable for basic page analytics (like the URL) without client-side scripts, particularly on security-sensitive sites.

Using the Matomo tracking API (Server-side SDKs)

This method integrates application code with calls to Matomo’s API. For example, when a user performs a specific action, the server sends a request to Matomo.php, the tracking endpoint, which includes details like the user ID and action. 

Matomo offers SDKs in PHP, Java C#, and community SDKs to simplify these calls. These allow tracking of not just page views but custom events such as downloads and transactions from the backend, functioning similarly to Google’s Measurement Protocol but sending data to the Matomo instance. 

Data privacy, regulations and Matomo

As privacy concerns grow and regulations like GDPR and CCPA become more stringent, businesses must adopt data collection methods that respect user consent and data protection rights. 

Server-side tracking allows organisations to collect first-party data directly from their servers, which is generally considered more compliant with privacy regulations.

Matomo is a popular open-source web analytics platform that is committed to privacy. It gives organisations 100% data ownership and control, and no data is sent to third parties by default.

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Matomo is a full-featured analytics platform with dashboards and segmentation comparable to Google Analytics. It can self-host and provides DoNotTrack settings and the ability to anonymise IP addresses.

Governments and organisations requiring data sovereignty, such as the EU Commission and the Swiss government, choose Matomo for web analytics due to its strong compliance posture.

Balancing data collection and user privacy

Ad blockers and other restrictions prevent data from being accurate. Server-side tracking helps get data on the server and makes it more reliable while respecting user privacy. Matomo supports server-side tracking, and over one million websites use Matomo to optimise their data strategies. 

Get started today by trying Matomo for free for 21 days, no credit card required.

What’s a consent manager platform?

A Consent Management Platform (CMP) is a tool that helps websites collect, manage, and store user consent for data tracking and cookies in compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA. A CMP allows users to choose which types of data they want to share, ensuring transparency and respecting their privacy preferences. By integrating a CMP with Matomo, organisations can make sure that analytics tracking occurs only after obtaining explicit user consent.

Remember, you can configure Matomo to remain fully GDPR compliant, without requiring user consent.

Why consent management matters

With privacy regulations reshaping data collection practices daily, organisations need to ensure that analytics data is gathered only after users have explicitly given their consent. Integrating Matomo with a Consent Management Platform helps you:

• Strengthen regulatory compliance
• Enhance user trust through transparency
• Clearly document consent choices
• Simplify privacy management

By making consent management seamless, you can maintain compliance while delivering a privacy-first experience to your users.

Introducing our CMP integration options

We’ve carefully curated integrations with leading Consent Management Platforms that work seamlessly with Matomo Analytics and Matomo Tag Manager. Our supported platforms include:

Supported consent management platforms

• Osano – Comprehensive consent management with global regulation support
• Cookiebot – Advanced cookie consent and compliance automation
• CookieYes – User-friendly consent management solution
• Tarte au Citron – Open-source consent management tool
• Klaro – Privacy-focused consent management system
• OneTrust – Enterprise-grade privacy management platform
• Complianz for WordPress – Specialised WordPress consent solution

Each platform provides unique features and compliance options, allowing you to select the best fit for your privacy needs.

Getting started with simplified implementation

Ready to enhance your privacy compliance? We’ve made the integration process straightforward, so you can set up a privacy-compliant analytics environment in just a few steps. Here’s how to begin:

1. Explore our new CMP category on the Integrations page
2. Select and implement the CMP that best suits your needs
3. Check our implementation guides for step-by-step instructions
4. Configure your consent management settings in Matomo
5. Start collecting analytics data with proper consent management

Moving Forward

As privacy regulations evolve and user expectations around data protection grow, proper consent management is more important than ever. With Matomo’s new CMP integrations, you can ensure compliance while maintaining full control over your analytics data.

Visit our Integrations page and our Implementation guides today to explore these privacy-enhancing solutions and take the next step in your privacy-first analytics journey.

With our privacy-first approach, we’ve known for some time that we would eventually need a new way to provide this important opt-out functionality that would work most reliably in the myriad of contexts our users rely on it for.

Embedding the opt-out form

Matomo 4.12.0 introduces an improved opt-out. This provides two new options for embedding the opt-out on your website, either using the Matomo tracker code or as self-contained code.

As with the iFrame method, the built-in opt-out code can be styled in Matomo to match your website, and provides a snippet which you can add to your website to show the opt-out feature to your users.

Find out how to customise the opt-out form.

Customising the opt-out form

What does this mean for existing opt-out forms?

Although it is no longer possible to generate new iFrame embed code using the Matomo UI, the underlying opt-out feature is still fully supported and any existing iFrame opt-out form code embedded in websites will still work as before. It is recommended to migrate to one of the new opt-out form options as browser support for the iFrame opt-out will continue to decrease.

To read more in depth information about the new opt-out functionality please refer to our new developer documentation for tracking opt-out.