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

Pick Countly if

• Fits if you track mobile apps and want your data on your own server
• Works for teams that want the choice of self-hosted or hosted

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you want the full platform: Flex starts at $175 a month
• Skip it if you don't want to run a server, as Lite is self-hosted
• Watch out: Adaptivity, Intelligence and the uptime SLA are paid add-ons on Flex
• Watch out: Enterprise has no published price and bills yearly

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

Countly

• Flex is billed by monthly active users rather than seats; the page gives only a $175 starting price and an estimator.
• On Flex, Adaptivity and Intelligence are paid add-ons, and the uptime SLA is an add-on.
• Enterprise has no published price and is billed annually per deployment.
• Lite is self-hosted with community support only and does not include the full platform, such as Cee, Drill and Journeys.

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.

Countly

Mobile, web and desktop analytics

SDKs for iOS, Android, JavaScript, macOS, Windows and Linux apps feed one data layer with real-time events, sessions and user profiles.

Engagement tools

The Adaptivity capability covers push notifications, in-app messages, journeys, A/B tests, surveys and hooks, acting on the same data.

Funnels, retention and flows

The Intelligence capability adds funnels, retention, flows, formulas, crash reporting and the Drill query tool.

Data control

Data can be masked, transformed and validated as it is collected, and the vendor says it has no default access to Flex or Enterprise data.

Cee AI agent and MCP

Cee is Countly's AI agent, part of the Intelligence add-on on Flex. Your own AI can also connect to Countly through MCP.

Choice of hosting

Run it on your own infrastructure, including air-gapped networks, or on Flex in the Google Cloud region you choose.

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.

Countly

• Countly Lite$0

  Open-source core you host yourself, with 20+ plugins including dashboards, profiles, crashes, funnels and retention.

• Countly Flex$175

  per month and up

  Dedicated private-cloud instance billed monthly by usage (MAU). Includes Advanced Analytics; Adaptivity and Intelligence are add-ons.

• Countly EnterpriseCustom

  Self-hosted or in your own cloud, priced per deployment and billed annually, with every capability and dedicated support.

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.

Countly

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.