Aptabase vs PostHog (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Aptabase if

• Fits if you ship an app and want counts of events without user tracking
• Works for developers who want an open-source tool

Look elsewhere if

• Tight if you need MAU or retention, as it cannot report user-level metrics
• Watch out: past your tier, analytics pause until you upgrade or the next month starts
• Watch out: plans do not change automatically
• Not for you if you go above 50,000,000 events a month, as that needs a custom plan

Pick PostHog if

• Fits if you're a startup that wants analytics, replays and flags within the free allowance
• Works for developers who want to go from a broken session to the error behind it

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you just want simple visitor counts without learning a whole toolkit
• Pricey if you need SSO or a HIPAA BAA, which take Boost at $250 a month on top of usage; SAML takes Scale at $750
• Not for you if you want a fixed monthly bill, as everything past the free allowance is metered
• Tight if you stay free, with 1 project, recordings kept a month and events dropped past the limits
• Watch out: self-hosted PostHog is officially unsupported, with no tagged releases or paid support

Aptabase

• Without a user identifier, it cannot report user-level metrics such as monthly active users or retention, per the vendor's FAQ.
• If you exceed your tier's limit, analytics pause until you upgrade or the next month starts; there are no overage fees.
• Plans do not change automatically; you move to the next tier yourself.
• More than 50,000,000 events a month needs a custom plan by email.

PostHog

• Usage is metered per product, so the monthly bill moves with traffic; billing limits can be set for each product to cap it.
• SSO enforcement, a HIPAA BAA and unlimited projects need the $250-a-month Boost package on top of usage; SAML sign-in needs Scale at $750.
• The free plan keeps recordings for 1 month and data for 1 year, allows 1 project, and drops events past its limits.
• Self-hosted PostHog is officially unsupported and has no tagged releases; PostHog recommends always running the latest image.

Aptabase

Anonymous by design

No device identifiers, cookies, fingerprinting or long-term user identification; the only link between events is a daily identifier derived from a salted hash that rotates every 24 hours.

Event tracking

Every call to the SDK's track function is one event. Nothing is tracked automatically.

Live view and session timeline

Data updates in real time, with a live view dashboard and a per-session timeline.

17 SDKs

Includes Swift, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Electron, Tauri, .NET MAUI, web apps, browser extensions, Unity, Unreal Engine, Godot, Python and C++.

Data residency choice

Store data in the EU (Germany) or the US (Virginia), or host your own servers.

Export and data ownership

Export to CSV at any time. The vendor says it does not sell or use your data.

PostHog

Product and web analytics

Funnels, trends, retention, user paths and a web analytics dashboard, built from events. The first 1M events a month are free.

Session replay

Recordings of real visits to see where people get stuck, linked to funnels and errors. 5,000 recordings a month are free; recordings are kept 90 days on pay-as-you-go.

Feature flags and experiments

Roll features out to chosen users and run A/B tests, billed together by flag requests, with 1M requests free each month.

Surveys

In-app surveys with 1,500 free responses a month, and white-labeled surveys on the Boost package.

Error tracking and logs

Captures exceptions (100K free a month) and ingests logs (10 GB free), so you can go from a replay to the error behind it.

Data warehouse and pipelines

Syncs data in from Stripe, HubSpot, Salesforce, Postgres and others, and sends events out to tools such as Braze and Klaviyo.

Aptabase

• Free$0

  Up to 20,000 events a month, with unlimited apps and the full dashboard.

• 200K events$10

  per month for up to 200,000 events, billed monthly

  The same features as every other plan; the price follows the event tier.

• 1M events$20

  per month for up to 1,000,000 events, billed monthly

  Same features, a higher monthly event limit.

• 2M events$40

  per month for up to 2,000,000 events, billed monthly

  Same features, a higher monthly event limit.

• 5M events$75

  per month for up to 5,000,000 events, billed monthly

  Tiers continue at $140 for 10M, $240 for 20M, $300 for 30M and $450 for 50M events a month.

PostHog

• Free$0

  Full free allowance on every product, unlimited team members, 1 project, community support. Usage stops at the limits, so no surprise bill.

• Pay-as-you-go$0

  plus usage above the monthly free allowance

  No base fee. Analytics from $0.00005 an event and replays from $0.005 a recording, cheaper at volume. 6 projects, 7-year data, email support.

• Boost$250

  per month, plus usage

  Platform package: unlimited projects, SSO enforcement, 2FA enforcement, white labeling, HIPAA BAA and 12 months of replay retention.

• Scale$750

  per month, plus usage

  Everything in Boost plus SAML and OIDC sign-in, approval workflows, real-time alerts and priority support with an 8-hour target.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Sold through sales: role-based access, a dedicated account manager, training, and up to 5 years of replay retention.

• Self-hosted (hobby deploy)$0

  MIT-licensed Docker Compose deployment you host yourself. Officially unsupported, with no paid support plan.

Aptabase

No public discounts listed.

PostHog

• Startups

  $50,000 in credits for early-stage startups

  Companies under 2 years old that have raised less than $5M get $50,000 of PostHog credit for 12 months, plus partner perks. A company email domain is required.

• Nonprofit

  Discount for nonprofits

  PostHog says it gives nonprofits a discount in most cases: create an account, then contact sales with details of the organization.