In-depth: PostHog vs Plausible

Oct 01, 2024

How is PostHog different?

1. We're free (forever)

Our "ridiculously cheap" tier includes all of the features of PostHog for free with an allowance of 1M events per month. For Plausible, this would cost a minimum of $69/m.

Beyond PostHog's free tier, we try to be as cheap as possible and transparent. Want to know how much we'll charge? See our pricing calculator.

2. We're more than just web analytics

Web analytics is a core feature of PostHog, but we offer many more tools to help you analyze, test, observe, and deploy your site and app.

These include product analytics, session replay, surveys, experiments, feature flags, a data warehouse, and more.

3. We're multi-platform

Plausible is entirely focused on the web, whereas PostHog supports both web tracking and other platforms, like mobile, backend, and API.

This isn't limited to event capture and features either. Our data warehouse lets you import and query data from sources like Stripe, Hubspot, and Postgres, and our data pipelines let you send data to destinations like Slack, S3, or a custom HTTP webhook.

Web analytics

Both Plausible and PostHog are Google Analytics alternatives, so they're ideal for tracking and analyzing your website.

Product analytics

Teams rely on product analytics when they need more customization in both capturing and analyzing date. Although not a focus of Plausible, it does have offer some basic product analytics features for those that need them.

💡 Good to know: Many of Plausible's product analytics features, like custom properties and funnels, are on its more expensive "Business" plan. It's roughly twice the price of the Growth plan and includes up to 10 team members and priority support.

Platform

Beyond web analytics is where PostHog really shines. We provide all of the tools developers need to build a successful product (and they all work together).

💡 Good to know:

1. Plausible's API is limited to capturing events and querying aggregate metrics. PostHog's API provides capture, full SQL querying, feature flags, and CRUD operations for all metadata.
2. You can add unlimited teammates to your project in PostHog. Plausible limits you to 3 on their growth plan and 10 on their business plan. For more than that, you need a custom enterprise plan.

Integrations

Although Plausible has some integrations with other tools, it mostly stands on its own. PostHog has many more features for importing data from other sources as well as sending it to other destinations.

Security, compliance, privacy

Plausible prides itself on being privacy-friendly, but PostHog stands toe-to-toe with it in terms of features. On top of that, PostHog includes many of the features enterprises need for compliance.

Frequently asked questions

How much do PostHog and Plausible cost?

Plausible is a monthly subscription based on usage. Plans start at $9/m for 10k events. Its Business plan unlocks more team members, custom properties, funnels, and more for a minimum of $10/m more.

PostHog is entirely usage-based. Its free tier includes:

Basically, we aim to give you the tools you want for as cheap as possible. We split out the products, and features like group analytics and pipelines within products, to do this.

Does PostHog offer a free trial?

Plausible offers a free trial, but PostHog doesn't, what gives?

Instead of a free trial, PostHog offers a free forever tier as long as you stay under the free limits. You don't even need a credit card, but adding one unlocks all the features (we have billing limits you can use too).

Can I migrate from Google Analytics to PostHog?

Yes, see our Google Analytics to PostHog migration guide for more details.

Isn't Plausible simpler than PostHog?

Although PostHog has many more features than Plausible, it isn't necessarily more complicated. Our web analytics dashboard is similar to Plausible's:

Our install snippet is also only a couple of lines:

<script>
    !function(t,e){var o,n,p,r;e.__SV||(window.posthog=e,e._i=[],e.init=function(i,s,a){function g(t,e){var o=e.split(".");2==o.length&&(t=t[o[0]],e=o[1]),t[e]=function(){t.push([e].concat(Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments,0)))}}(p=t.createElement("script")).type="text/javascript",p.crossOrigin="anonymous",p.async=!0,p.src=s.api_host+"/static/array.js",(r=t.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]).parentNode.insertBefore(p,r);var u=e;for(void 0!==a?u=e[a]=[]:a="posthog",u.people=u.people||[],u.toString=function(t){var e="posthog";return"posthog"!==a&&(e+="."+a),t||(e+=" (stub)"),e},u.people.toString=function(){return u.toString(1)+".people (stub)"},o="capture identify alias people.set people.set_once set_config register register_once unregister opt_out_capturing has_opted_out_capturing opt_in_capturing reset isFeatureEnabled onFeatureFlags getFeatureFlag getFeatureFlagPayload reloadFeatureFlags group updateEarlyAccessFeatureEnrollment getEarlyAccessFeatures getActiveMatchingSurveys getSurveys getNextSurveyStep onSessionId".split(" "),n=0;n<o.length;n++)g(u,o[n]);e._i.push([i,s,a])},e.__SV=1)}(document,window.posthog||[]);
    posthog.init('<ph_project_api_key>', {api_host: 'https://us.i.posthog.com', person_profiles: 'identified_only'})
</script>

Our users range from individual indie hackers to YC-backed startups to massive enterprises.

Can I migrate from Plausible?

Yes. See our Plausible to PostHog migration guide for more.

Ready to find out more?