posthog-vs-amplitude.html

PostHog vs Amplitude — which analytics tool wins for your brief, in 2026

Two analytics platforms, side by side. PostHog is open-source product analytics. mixpanel + launchdarkly + hotjar in one self-hostable bundle. Amplitude is enterprise product analytics. mixpanel's biggest competitor — heavier, more enterprise-leaning. The verdict, the criteria, and the honest take below.

ALL ANALYTICS COMPARISONS →

Verdict in one paragraph

Open-source bundled product analytics vs enterprise product analytics. PostHog wins on cost, feature breadth (flags, replay, surveys in one tool), and self-host. Amplitude wins on enterprise sales motion, dashboard polish, and tracking-plan governance. For startups and product-led teams, PostHog. For enterprise with procurement requirements, Amplitude.

Score: PostHog 4 · Amplitude 2

Side by side

PostHog
Amplitude
Category
Product analytics
Product analytics
Pricing
Freemium
Freemium
Starts at
Free / $0
Free / $49
License
MIT
Proprietary
Created
2020
2012
Script size
~50KB
~60KB
Cookieless
No
No
Self-host
Yes
No

Decision criteria

  • Which is cheaper at small / mid scale?

    PostHog

    PostHog free tier covers 1M events. Amplitude free tier exists but PostHog's overall pricing is more generous.

  • Which has feature flags built in?

    PostHog

    PostHog ships flags, experiments, and surveys natively. Amplitude requires LaunchDarkly or similar.

  • Which has the more polished dashboard?

    Amplitude

    Amplitude's dashboard is more refined for enterprise reporting.

  • Which has the better enterprise sales motion?

    Amplitude

    Amplitude has SOC 2 / SSO / procurement-ready stack out of the box.

  • Which can be self-hosted?

    PostHog

    PostHog Kubernetes self-host is supported. Amplitude is cloud-only.

  • Which is the right default for a 2026 startup?

    PostHog

    Free tier + self-host option + bundled flags + replay. Hard to argue with for startups.

What PostHog is best for

  • Product teams who need funnels + feature flags + session replay in one tool
  • Startups who want PostHog Cloud free tier and the option to self-host later
  • Teams escaping Mixpanel / Amplitude pricing

Read the full PostHog entry: /analytics/posthog/

What Amplitude is best for

  • Enterprise teams that need SOC 2, SSO, and full enterprise compliance out of the box
  • Teams who tested Mixpanel and Amplitude side-by-side and preferred Amplitude's dashboard
  • Companies with tracking-plan governance needs (Iteratively integration)

Read the full Amplitude entry: /analytics/amplitude/

The tool choice is the easy half — the tracking plan is the hard one

The hard half is what events you track, who reads the dashboard, and how the privacy story holds up. The 30-min call is where you describe your product and your goals.