PostHog: The Open-Source Analytics Tool That Wants to Steal Google Analytics’ Lunch
Tom Snyder
January 14, 2025
If the words "privacy-first" and "self-hosted" make your ears perk up, PostHog might just be the analytics tool of your dreams. Designed to let you track and analyze user behavior without third-party data sharing, it promises robust features and total ownership. But is this open-source darling ready to compete with giants like Google Analytics or Mixpanel?
Let’s break it down.
The Basics: What Is PostHog?
PostHog is an open-source analytics platform designed to help you understand user behavior across your web app or website.
It’s self-hosted, giving you complete control over your data, while offering features like heatmaps, session recordings, and event tracking – all without needing a separate data warehouse or vendor lock-in.
Purpose: Privacy-first, self-hosted analytics for product teams and marketers.
Who It’s For: Developers, marketers, and product managers who want deeper insights and more data control.
Pricing Overview: Free for self-hosting; paid plans start at $0.000225/event for their cloud-hosted option.
First Impressions
Onboarding: PostHog's setup isn’t as click-and-go as Google Analytics, especially if you’re self-hosting. But for those comfortable with Docker or Kubernetes, the documentation walks you through the process clearly.
Interface: A clean and intuitive design makes navigating analytics data a breeze. While not as flashy as some competitors, it gets the job done without feeling overwhelming.
Setup: If you’re self-hosting, expect to invest some time in the initial setup. For cloud-hosted users, onboarding is significantly faster.
Features Breakdown
Event-Based Analytics
What It Does: Tracks user interactions in real-time, helping you understand how users engage with your product.
How It Performs: Precise and highly customizable – ideal for product teams looking to tailor their data.
Session Recording
What It Does: Records user sessions so you can replay them to see exactly how users interact with your site.
How It Performs: Surprisingly smooth, though recordings may take up storage space quickly if self-hosted.
Heatmaps
What It Does: Visualizes where users are clicking, scrolling, and interacting on your site.
How It Performs: A bit basic compared to specialized heatmap tools, but it’s a nice bonus feature.
Custom Dashboards
What It Does: Lets you create tailored dashboards for tracking key metrics.
How It Performs: Flexible and easy to customize, though the visualizations could be more polished.
Pricing Deep Dive
Pricing Tiers
Self-Hosted (Free): Unlimited events, but you handle infrastructure.
Cloud Plan (Pay-As-You-Go): $0.000225 per event, with 1 million events free per month.
Scale Plan: Custom pricing for high-volume users with premium support.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
Open-source and privacy-first—your data stays yours.
Highly customizable for specific use cases.
Combines multiple tools (analytics, heatmaps, session recording) into one platform.
Free self-hosting option for budget-conscious users.
Cons:
Self-hosting requires technical know-how and server resources.
Not as user-friendly as plug-and-play tools like Google Analytics.
Some features, like heatmaps, are less advanced than standalone tools.
Who Should (and Shouldn’t) Use It
Should Use It:
Privacy-conscious marketers and developers.
Product teams looking for a highly customizable analytics solution.
Companies with the resources to self-host or handle custom setups.
Shouldn’t Use It:
Beginners or small teams with no technical expertise.
Projects that don’t generate enough traffic to justify a detailed analytics setup.
Alternatives to Consider
Google Analytics: Free and widely used, but comes with data-sharing concerns.
Mixpanel: Better for startups needing out-of-the-box event tracking but pricier.
Hotjar: Superior for heatmaps and session recordings but lacks robust analytics.
Final Verdict
PostHog is an impressive option for anyone who values privacy, flexibility, and control over their analytics data. While it’s not the easiest tool to set up, its rich features and open-source nature make it a standout choice for tech-savvy teams.
"PostHog feels less like a tool and more like a toolkit – it gives you everything you need to build the analytics solution your team deserves."
Check it out here.
