In-depth: PostHog vs Plausible
Oct 01, 2024
On this page
- How is PostHog different?
- 1. We're free (forever)
- 2. We're more than just web analytics
- 3. We're multi-platform
- Web analytics
- Product analytics
- Platform
- Integrations
- Security, compliance, privacy
- Frequently asked questions
- How much do PostHog and Plausible cost?
- Does PostHog offer a free trial?
- Can I migrate from Google Analytics to PostHog?
- Isn't Plausible simpler than PostHog?
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 tracking and analyzing your website.
PostHog | Plausible | |
Pageviews Track visitors and their views | ✔ | ✔ |
Sessions Track unique sessions and their durations | ✔ | ✔ |
Traffic breakdown See where your visitors and conversions are coming from | ✔ | ✔ |
Conversions Track actions you want users to take | ✔ | ✔ |
Bounce rate See the percentage of users that leave after one pageview | ✔ | ✔ |
Entry and exit paths See the pages users first visit and the last ones before they leave | ✔ | ✔ |
Outbound clicks See the links that take users away | ✔ | ✔ |
UTM tracking Track marketing campaigns with UTM tags | ✔ | ✔ |
Cookieless tracking Track users without cookies | ✔ | ✔ |
Snippet install Install HTML snippet | ✔ | ✔ |
Script size Size of the script that runs on your site | 56.8 kb | <1 kB |
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.
PostHog | Plausible | |
Custom events Capture and analyze any type of event | ✔ | ✔ |
Custom properties Add more data to custom events or users | ✔ | Events only |
Autocapture Capture frontend clicks and events automatically | ✔ | ✖ |
Graphs and trends Build custom insights and visualizations | ✔ | ✖ |
Funnels Track users through a sequence of events | ✔ | Limited |
Retention Visualize which users stay, for how long | ✔ | ✖ |
Custom dashboards Build a custom dashboard of your own or use a template | ✔ | ✖ |
Cohorts Combine users based on properties and events for group analysis | ✔ | ✖ |
User profiles View user demographic data such as country, language, and device type | ✔ | ✖ |
Group analytics Track metrics at a company and account level | ✔ | ✖ |
Paths Track user flows and where they drop off | ✔ | ✖ |
SQL Query your data with SQL | ✔ | ✖ |
💡 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).
PostHog | Plausible | |
EU hosting Access and store your data in the EU | ✔ | ✔ |
Open source View code, comment on roadmap, and contribute | ✔ | ✔ |
Free collaboration Add unlimited teammates to your project | ✔ | ✖ |
Heatmaps Visualize where users click in your app or website | ✔ | ✖ |
Session replay Watch real users use your product, diagnose bugs | ✔ | ✖ |
Experiments Run A/B/n tests on new features, optimize conversion funnels | ✔ | ✖ |
Surveys Collect and analyze feedback, run NPS and PMF surveys | ✔ | ✖ |
Feature flags Roll out features safely, toggle features for cohorts or individuals | ✔ | ✖ |
Server-side SDKs Capture events and use features from Python, Node, and more | ✔ | ✖ |
Mobile SDKs Capture events and use features from Android, iOS, and more | ✔ | ✖ |
API Capture events, get stats, and make changes via API | ✔ | Partial |
💡 Good to know:
- 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.
- 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.
PostHog | Plausible | |
CSV exports Export your data as a CSV | ✔ | ✔ |
Warehouse exports Export data to warehouses like S3 and BigQuery for storage and analysis | ✔ | ✖ |
Data warehouse Query customer and product data together | ✔ | ✖ |
Warehouse import Import data from third-party sources like Postgres, S3, and GCS | ✔ | ✖ |
Slack Send events, reports, and anomalies to Slack | Events, reports | Reports, anomalies |
Send reports to email | ✔ | ✔ |
Google Search Console See search queries that sent traffic to your site | ✖ | ✔ |
Stripe Import charges, customers, invoices, subscriptions, and more | ✔ | ✖ |
Hubspot Import contacts, companies, deals, and more | ✔ | ✖ |
Zapier Trigger Zapier automations | ✔ | ✖ |
Zendesk Import organizations, tickets, users, and more | ✔ | ✖ |
Sentry Send and receive error data with Sentry | ✔ | ✖ |
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.
PostHog | Plausible | |
Data retention The length of time event data is retained | 7 years | 3 years |
Bot blocking Block scrapers, crawlers, and other unwanted traffic from stats | ✔ | ✔ |
Reverse proxy Avoid tracking blockers and capture more data | ✔ | ✔ |
HIPAA-ready Can be compliant with HIPAA | ✔ | ✖ |
GDPR-ready Can be compliant with GDPR | ✔ | ✔ |
Data anonymization Options to anonymize user data | ✔ | ✔ |
SOC 2 SOC 2 security certification | ✔ | ✖ |
2FA Enforce login with two-factor authentication | ✔ | ✔ |
SAML/SSO Use SAML or single sign-on authentication | Enterprise | ✖ |
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:
Feature | Free usage per month | Additional cost |
---|---|---|
Product analytics | 1 million events | From $0.00005/event |
Session replay | 5,000 recordings | From $0.005/recording |
Surveys | 250 responses | From $0.20/response |
Feature flags and A/B testing | 1 million API requests | From $0.0001/request |
Data warehouse | 1 million synced rows | From $0.000015/row |
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.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.
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