Plausible vs PostHog
Is it time to switch? We break down the differences so you can stop bleeding money.
Choose PostHog.
If you want to own your data, save money, and avoid vendor lock-in, PostHog is more popular among developers.
What Actually Matters
No fluff — just the differences that affect your decision
Both open source, different licenses: Plausible uses AGPL-3.0, PostHog uses Other. Check the fine print if you're building commercial.
Both can run on your own metal with Docker. Full data ownership, no cloud dependency. We have deploy guides for each.
PostHog leads at 40.3k stars vs 29.4k, but both have solid communities. You won't be alone with either choice.
Plausible is built in Elixir, PostHog in Python. Matters if you want to contribute, extend, or debug internals.
Need GDPR compliance? Self-host. Need plug-and-play funnels? Go managed. Both work — it's a tradeoff, not a contest.
Plausible
Simple, open source, lightweight and privacy-friendly web analytics alternative to Google Analytics.
Why Choose Plausible
- ✓Fully GDPR compliant with no cookies required
- ✓Lightweight script under 1KB — zero impact on page speed
- ✓Clean dashboard that shows what matters, nothing more
Drawbacks
- ×Limited advanced features
PostHog
🦔 PostHog is an all-in-one developer platform for building successful products. We offer product analytics, web analytics, session replay, error tracking, feature flags, experimentation, surveys, data warehouse, a CDP, and an AI product assistant to help debug your code, ship features faster, and keep all your usage and customer data in one stack.
Why Choose PostHog
- ✓Session recording with heatmaps and click tracking
- ✓Built-in feature flags, A/B testing, and surveys
- ✓Warehouse-native — query your data with SQL
Drawbacks
- ×Complex to self-host
Related Comparisons
Explore alternatives for other tools in Analytics
