Matomo plugins: buy once or subscribe?

Published 9 October 2026 Lire en français

Two ways to pay for a plugin

Matomo On-Premise is free software that you install on your own server. Many extra features come as plugins, and paid plugins are sold in one of two ways. In both cases the plugin runs on your server; what differs is what you pay for, and for how long.

One-time license

You pay once and may use the version you bought with no end date. Updates are included for a defined scope, such as a period or a major version. Support may be included or sold apart.

Subscription

You pay every month or every year. Access to the plugin, its updates and often support last as long as you keep paying.

Total cost over three years: an example

The figures below are illustrative arithmetic. The one-time price is ours (Heatlens, €299 per Matomo edition, excl. VAT). The monthly fees are hypothetical round numbers, not the price of any real product.

To find the break-even point, divide the one-time price by the monthly fee. €299 ÷ €25 is about 12 months; €299 ÷ €15 is about 20 months. After that, every month of subscription costs more than owning the license.

If a new Matomo major version comes out during those three years and you move to it, add the next edition at 50% of the price, €149.50. The one-time total becomes €448.50, still half the €900 of the €25 example.

Cost is not only money. A subscription is one more renewal to track, one more invoice to approve each month and one more supplier review each year.

Updates

With a subscription, updates come as long as you pay. With a one-time license, the question is which updates the price covers, and for how long. Ask the vendor in writing.

At Ownalytics, updates are free for the Matomo edition you bought: every update of Heatlens for Matomo 5, for example. The Heatlens support policy commits to updates and support for each edition for at least three years after the end of life of the Matomo major version it is built for, as announced by the Matomo project.

Matomo major-version upgrades

A major Matomo release, such as 5 to 6, can change what plugins rely on, so plugins often need real work to follow. With a subscription, that work is paid for in the fee whether or not you upgrade. With a license per edition, you pay when you choose to upgrade; at Ownalytics, 50% of the price. If you stay on Matomo 5, your Heatlens for Matomo 5 license keeps working.

Support

Subscriptions often bundle support. One-time licenses may include basic support and sell faster support as an option, so you only pay for it if you need it.

An Ownalytics license includes best-effort support on French business days for as long as the edition is maintained. Priority Support is optional, at €99 per year: a first response from a person within 4 hours, at any time, plus hands-on help with installing the plugin and upgrading Matomo.

What happens when you stop paying

This is where the two models differ most for software that runs on your own server. Before you buy any plugin, ask:

• Does the plugin keep working if the subscription ends, or does it switch off?
• Does it check its license on the vendor's server? If that server is down or gone, what happens?
• Can you still read the reports for data you collected while you were paying?
• Can you export that data in an open format?

Your data sits in your own Matomo database either way, but data you can't display is of little use. With a perpetual license, the plugin keeps working as long as your Matomo version supports it. Heatlens makes no connection to our servers at all: no license check, no update check, no usage reporting, and it works without internet access.

When a subscription can make sense

• A short project. If you need a feature for three months during a redesign and will remove it afterwards, paying monthly can cost less.
• A service with running costs. When the vendor processes data on its own servers or delivers new content regularly, a recurring fee matches a recurring cost.
• Budget rules. Some organisations find small operating expenses easier to approve than a one-off purchase.
• Support you always need. If you want guaranteed response times every month, a bundle may suit you, though an optional support plan does the same.

For a plugin that runs inside your own Matomo and stores data in your own database, none of these usually applies. The vendor has no servers to run for you.

How Ownalytics sells

Every Ownalytics plugin is sold on the same terms, printed in full in why pay once:

• You pay once per Matomo edition, and the license is perpetual.
• Updates are free within the edition; the next edition costs 50% of the price.
• One Matomo instance plus one staging copy, with unlimited websites of your own. Agencies pay €10 once per client website.
• Priority Support is optional, at €99 per year.
• Businesses only, prices excl. VAT, and a 14-day refund if the plugin does not work on a setup that meets its requirements.

Today that means Heatlens, click, mouse-movement and scroll-depth heatmaps for Matomo 5.14.1+ and 6, at €299 once per edition. Pricing and editions are on the Heatlens site.

Questions