Plausible Analytics vs PostHog
Side-by-side comparison of features, pricing, and ratings
At a glance
| Dimension | Plausible Analytics | PostHog |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Privacy-conscious founders and bloggers needing a simple, cookieless dashboard for traffic and goals — no event-level analytics needed. | Product teams that want to consolidate analytics, session replay, feature flags, and experiments into one platform with self-hosting optional. |
| Pricing | Paid tiers from $9/mo (10K pageviews), with a free self-hosted open-source option. No free cloud tier. | Freemium: free cloud tier up to 1M events/mo, then usage-based. Self-hosted free. Teams plan $450/mo + usage. |
| Setup complexity | Simple — drop a <1KB script into your site; no consent banner needed. Dashboard ready in minutes. | Medium — autocapture works out of the box, but full value requires event instrumentation and feature flag setup. |
| Strongest differentiator | Cookieless, privacy-first by design — fully GDPR/CCPA/PECR compliant without a banner. | Integrated suite (analytics + replay + flags + experiments + LLM observability) in one open-source platform. |
| Target users | Marketing/content teams, indie founders, EU businesses avoiding GA4 legal complexity. | Product managers, engineers, data teams at startups to mid-market companies needing deep product insights. |
| Not for | Product teams needing event-level analytics, funnels beyond basic, or ad-attribution analysis. | Marketing teams focusing on ad attribution or non-technical teams without engineering support for event instrumentation. |
Plausible Analytics vs PostHog: for privacy-focused traffic analytics and simple goal tracking, Plausible wins due to its cookieless compliance and minimal setup. For product teams needing consolidated analytics, session replay, and experiments, PostHog is the clear winner because it replaces multiple tools (Mixpanel, Hotjar, LaunchDarkly) in one open-source platform with a generous free tier.
Privacy-friendly, open-source web analytics that's simple, lightweight, and cookieless.
Visit WebsiteOpen-source product analytics, session replay, feature flags, experiments, and LLM observability in one platform.
Visit WebsiteFeature-by-feature
Core Capabilities: Plausible vs PostHog
Plausible focuses on website traffic analytics — visitors, pageviews, bounce rate, sources, top pages, countries, devices — all on a single-page dashboard. It automatically tracks scroll depth and monitors AI traffic from ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude. PostHog offers product analytics with events, funnels, retention, paths, and lifecycle, plus session replay with console and network logs. PostHog also includes feature flags, A/B testing, surveys, heatmaps, error tracking, and LLM observability. PostHog wins for depth of product insights, while Plausible wins for simplicity and privacy-first design.
AI/Model Approach: Plausible vs PostHog
Plausible’s AI feature is narrow: it automatically detects and reports traffic from AI tools (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude) in the dashboard. It does not offer LLM observability or model evaluation. PostHog includes LLM observability as an integrated feature — prompt traces, cost tracking, evals — for teams building AI products. PostHog also allows correlation of LLM usage with user events. PostHog is the clear choice for AI product teams; Plausible only handles AI referral tracking.
Integrations & Ecosystem: Plausible vs PostHog
Plausible integrates with WordPress, Webflow, Ghost, Slack, Google Search Console, Zapier, Cloudflare, and has an API. PostHog integrates with Slack, Segment, Stripe, Salesforce, HubSpot, Vercel, Snowflake, BigQuery, Braze, Customer.io, Sendgrid, and more via webhooks and Zapier. PostHog also functions as a CDP with realtime transformations and streaming. PostHog wins on integration breadth, especially for syncing product data to CRM and data warehouses.
Performance & Scale: Plausible vs PostHog
Plausible’s script is under 1KB, making it extremely lightweight; the dashboard updates every 30 seconds. It can handle up to thousands of sites on paid tiers. PostHog can scale to millions of events per month via ClickHouse-based architecture. Self-hosted PostHog requires significant infrastructure for high volume, whereas Plausible self-hosted is much lighter. Plausible wins for ease of performance; PostHog wins for scale and flexibility for large event volumes.
Developer Experience & Workflow: Plausible vs PostHog
Plausible offers codeless goal tracking and a simple JavaScript snippet. Developers can self-host on their own infrastructure with minimal maintenance. PostHog offers autocapture, Hog functions for custom event processing, a deep API, and SQL access for data warehouse queries. The learning curve is higher but rewards with powerful customization. PostHog wins for developer power and flexibility; Plausible wins for quick setup and low maintenance.
Pricing compared
Plausible pricing (2026)
Plausible’s pricing is based on monthly pageviews. The Growth plan starts at $9/mo for 10K pageviews, supporting up to 50 sites, core analytics, email reports, and goals. The Business plan at $19/mo (10K pageviews) adds funnels, ecommerce revenue, API access, and priority support. Enterprise tiers are custom-priced for high-volume needs. A free self-hosted option is available for those who want full data control and no recurring cost, but it requires managing your own infrastructure.
PostHog pricing (2026)
PostHog offers a free cloud tier with 1M events/mo, 5K session recordings/mo, and 1M feature flag requests/mo — enough for many small startups. Beyond that, usage is pay-as-you-go. The Teams plan costs $450/mo + usage and adds SSO/SAML, role-based access, audit logs, and priority support. Self-hosting is free and open-source. No enterprise plan is listed; large-scale customers negotiate custom terms.
Value-per-dollar: Plausible vs PostHog
For simple traffic analytics, Plausible’s $9/mo Growth plan is cheaper than PostHog’s usage costs if you exceed the free tier. However, PostHog’s free cloud tier can cover many small sites indefinitely if under 1M events. PostHog delivers more features per dollar for product teams — combining analytics, replay, flags, and experiments in one bill. Plausible is better value for content sites and privacy-focused projects. As of 2026, both offer free self-hosting, making them attractive for data sovereignty.
Who should pick which
- Indie SaaS founder wanting simple traffic analytics without a cookie bannerPick: Plausible Analytics
Plausible is cookieless by default, requires no consent banner, and the Growth plan at $9/mo is cost-effective for low traffic.
- Startup product team needing analytics, session replay, and A/B testing in one platformPick: PostHog
PostHog replaces Mixpanel, Hotjar, and LaunchDarkly — the free cloud tier supports up to 1M events/mo before billing.
- EU-based blog owner concerned about GDPR compliancePick: Plausible Analytics
Plausible is GDPR/CCPA/PECR compliant without a cookie banner, and can be self-hosted for full data control.
- AI product team needing LLM observability alongside product analyticsPick: PostHog
PostHog offers integrated LLM observability (prompt traces, costs, evals) with product events, not available in Plausible.
- Open-source-first team wanting full-stack control on own infrastructurePick: PostHog
Both are open-source, but PostHog provides a broader suite (analytics, replay, flags) that can scale with ClickHouse.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main difference between Plausible and PostHog?
Plausible is a privacy-focused web analytics tool for traffic and goals, while PostHog is a product analytics platform with session replay, feature flags, and experimentation. Plausible prioritizes simplicity and compliance; PostHog prioritizes depth and consolidation.
Is there a free tier for Plausible?
Plausible does not offer a free cloud tier. It has a free, open-source self-hosted option that you run on your own server.
Is there a free tier for PostHog?
Yes, PostHog offers a free cloud tier with 1 million events, 5,000 session recordings, and 1 million feature flag requests per month, at no cost.
Can I self-host both Plausible and PostHog?
Yes, both are open-source and can be self-hosted. Plausible is lightweight and easy to run; PostHog requires more infrastructure (ClickHouse) for high event volumes.
Which tool is better for GDPR compliance without a cookie banner?
Plausible is specifically designed to be cookieless and compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and PECR without needing a consent banner. PostHog uses cookies for some features, which may require a banner.
Can I track funnels and conversions with PostHog?
Yes, PostHog includes advanced funnel analysis, retention, and path analysis as core features. Plausible offers funnel analysis only on the Business tier ($19/mo+).
Which tool integrates with Google Search Console?
Plausible has a native Google Search Console integration. PostHog does not, but you can use the API or webhooks to pull data into a data warehouse.
Is PostHog suitable for non-technical marketing teams?
PostHog requires engineering support for instrumentation and setup. Plausible is more accessible to non-technical users due to its simple tag and ready-to-use dashboard.
Can I migrate from PostHog to Plausible?
There is no direct migration path from PostHog to Plausible, as data models differ (events vs pageviews). You would need to re-instrument with Plausible's script and historical data cannot be transferred.
Which tool is better for a SaaS product with under 10,000 monthly active users?
PostHog's free cloud tier likely covers that volume comfortably, providing analytics, session replay, and A/B testing. Plausible would cost $9/mo but lacks product-level insights.
Last reviewed: May 12, 2026