OpenReplay vs PostHog (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, we pick PostHog: it is second in our ranking of website and product analytics tools, and it grades higher too, 3.2 against 2.4.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
PostHog grades higher on value for money, the free plan and features. They get the same grade on ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
OpenReplay
Open-source session replay and product analytics you can self-host
PostHog
Open-source product analytics with replays, flags and surveys
Which one is for you
Pick OpenReplay if
- Fits if you're a developer who wants replays next to errors and network logs
- Works for a team that must keep recordings on its own servers
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're staying free: 1,000 sessions a month and data kept for 7 days
- Pricey if you want Dedicated, at $199 a month before you pick a bigger VM
- Watch out: self-hosting means you handle storage, scaling and upgrades, and the open-source edition is listed for low traffic
- Watch out: Serverless costs $5.95 per 1,000 sessions a month, so busy sites climb quickly
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
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAOpenReplayFair | 3.2GPAPostHogVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CDedicated starts at $199 a month, billed hourly, and Serverless is $5.95 per 1,000 sessions. That's around the top quarter of analytics prices. | AA site with 10,000 visitors a month fits in the free 1M events and 5,000 recordings, so the figure is $0. There's no base fee after that, just usage from $0.00005 an event. Boost, at $250 a month, is only for SSO, HIPAA and more projects. |
| Free plan and trial | CFree cloud plan: 1,000 sessions a month, 2 users, 1 project and 7-day retention. The open-source edition is free but you host it, and the Dedicated trial is 7 days. | BNo card and no time limit: 1M events, 5,000 recordings, 1M flag requests and 1,500 survey responses every month, with unlimited members. Usage stops at the limit, so no surprise bill. You get 1 project, and recordings are kept a month. |
| Features | BSession replay with network and console tools, product analytics, co-browsing, bug reports, data residency, an API and MCP server. | AAnalytics, web analytics, replays, flags, A/B tests, surveys, error tracking, logs and a data warehouse with pipelines in and out. Graded against Amplitude, Mixpanel and Heap, it covers the whole job, and none of them bundles errors, logs and a warehouse too. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You add the tracker to your app, or set up a server for self-hosting. | CNo rating on record. The cloud version is a snippet and a sign-up, but there are a lot of products to learn and events to plan. The free self-hosted version is a Docker deploy PostHog doesn't officially support, which is a developer's job. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with Sentry, Datadog, Jira and GitHub links and an API. | BWeb only, so it can't reach an A. It pulls data in from Stripe, HubSpot, Salesforce and Postgres, sends events out to Braze, Klaviyo and others, and works with Snowflake, BigQuery and Zendesk. |
| Best for | session replay you can host yourself | a whole product toolkit on one free allowance |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: OpenReplay and PostHog. How we grade
Where they differ
- PostHog also covers surveys and a/B testing.
At a glance
| OpenReplay | PostHog | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $199 per month for a Dedicated instance, billed hourly | $0.00005 per analytics event past the free 1M (pay-as-you-go) |
| Free plan | Free cloud plan: 1,000 sessions a month, 2 users, 1 project and 7-day data retention; the open-source edition is free to self-host. | Monthly allowance that resets: 1M analytics events, 5,000 recordings, 1M flag requests, 1,500 survey responses, 100K exceptions. Unlimited members, 1 project, 1-year retention. |
| Free trial | 7-day trial of the Dedicated plan, no credit card required | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | OpenReplay | PostHog |
| Price read from | openreplay.com | posthog.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Worth knowing
OpenReplay
- The free cloud plan stops at 1,000 sessions a month and keeps data 7 days.
- Serverless is billed at $5.95 per 1,000 sessions a month, with 30-day retention and unlimited users and projects.
- Self-hosting means you manage storage, scaling and upgrades; the open-source edition is listed for low traffic.
- Dedicated has no published cap on users or recordings, but its price rises with the VM size you choose.
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.
Key features
OpenReplay
- Session replay with developer tools
- Replays are paired with DevTools data such as network calls and backend logs pulled in from monitoring tools.
- Product analytics
- Funnels, heatmaps, journey analysis and web analytics sit alongside the replays, with mobile app support listed as well.
- Co-browsing and bug reports
- Co-browsing lets support staff view a customer's session live, and the Spot tool records bug reports for developers.
- Three ways to deploy
- Self-host the open-source edition, run a Dedicated instance in OpenReplay's cloud or yours, or use the usage-based Serverless cloud.
- Data residency
- The Dedicated plan lists 50 regions across AWS, GCP and Azure, plus bring-your-own-cloud, so data can stay in a chosen location.
- API and MCP server
- A REST API fetches sessions, users and events, and an MCP server is listed in the plan comparison. AI Agents are marked coming soon.
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.
Plans
OpenReplay
Free$0
On OpenReplay's cloud: up to 1,000 sessions a month, all core features, 2 users, 1 project, 7-day retention.
Open-Source$0
Free to self-host on your own infrastructure, with self-managed storage and community support through GitHub and Slack.
Dedicated$199
per month for a managed instance, billed hourly ($0.276/hr)
Dedicated VM managed by OpenReplay, with no limits on users, recordings or retention; the price is for the smallest size.
EnterpriseCustom
Self-hosted at scale with SAML and SCIM, audit trail, dedicated support and volume pricing on a multi-year contract.
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.
Ways to pay less
OpenReplay
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.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, OpenReplay or PostHog?
As of Nov 12, 2026, OpenReplay starts at $199 per month for a Dedicated instance, billed hourly, and PostHog starts at $0.00005 per analytics event past the free 1M (pay-as-you-go).
Which has a free plan, OpenReplay or PostHog?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both OpenReplay and PostHog have a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.