PostHog vs Google Analytics

by Gralio Mar 11, 2025

PostHog and Google Analytics offer distinct approaches to product analytics. PostHog emphasizes customization and data control through its open-source nature, while Google Analytics prioritizes ease of use and integration with the broader Google marketing suite. PostHog is better for development-focused teams seeking in-depth product insights, while Google Analytics suits marketing-oriented businesses focused on broader website and campaign performance.

At Gralio.ai we help to simplify your decision-making process by offering detailed, side-by-side software comparisons like this one, to help you confidently choose the tool that aligns with your business goals.

This comparison was created by analysing 3041 reviews and 60 websites, saving 17 hours, 23 minutes of reading.

PostHog

Website LinkedIn Twitter

Google Analytics

Website LinkedIn Twitter

About

PostHog is an all-in-one product development platform. It helps you understand user behavior, run A/B tests, and manage features. With tools like session recording and product analytics, PostHog helps you build better products. It's open-source, scalable for any size team, and offers a generous free tier.

Google Analytics is a free tool that gives you insights into your website and app users. Understand what content is popular, track your marketing campaigns, and see how people behave on your site. Use this data to improve your website, create better content, and make smarter marketing decisions.

Summary

Main difference

PostHog is a comprehensive, open-source product analytics platform ideal for teams prioritizing data control and customization. Google Analytics is a widely used, free analytics platform deeply integrated with the Google ecosystem, best suited for businesses seeking a user-friendly solution with broad marketing integrations.

Relative strengths of PostHog (compared to Google Analytics)

PostHog offers session recording and advanced product analytics features like autocapture and SQL access, providing deep insights into user behavior.
Being open-source, PostHog allows for self-hosting, extensive customization, and community-driven development.
PostHog's generous free tier makes it accessible for smaller businesses and allows for experimentation before committing to paid plans.

Relative weaknesses of PostHog (compared to Google Analytics)

PostHog's self-hosted version has limitations, and community support can be inconsistent.
Documentation can be fragmented, and the larger JS bundle size may impact website performance.
PostHog's integrations primarily focus on developer tools, lacking the extensive marketing integrations available with Google Analytics.

What companies are using PostHog and Google Analytics?

No data

Who is using PostHog and Google Analytics?

No data

Brendan Hufford

SaaS Marketing - Growth through Content, Community & SEO

Connor Gillivan

SEO expert; 7x Founder (Exit in 2019)

Rob Timmerman

Founder of a 20-year-old full-service digital agency

Who should use PostHog VS. Google Analytics

PostHog is an open-source product analytics platform ideal for startups and growing product teams. It offers session recording, feature flags, A/B testing, and product analytics. Users praise its easy setup and insightful session recordings, while some note areas for improvement in documentation and community support.

Google Analytics offers comprehensive website and app analytics to understand user behavior, track campaigns, and improve online performance. Users praise its detailed reports and integration with other Google products. However, some find GA4 less intuitive than the previous version and dislike the limited customer support. Ideal for businesses seeking data-driven insights to optimize their online presence.

Ideal for startups and growing product teams seeking an open-source, all-in-one product analytics platform.
Suitable for software development teams across various industries looking to improve product development.

Ideal for businesses of all sizes seeking in-depth website and app analytics.
Highly relevant for e-commerce, retail, marketing, and other data-driven industries.

PostHog and Google Analytics features

Supported

Partially supported

Not supported

Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need

Advanced Google Analytics reporting

Partially supported

PostHog integrates with Google Analytics 4 via Zapier, but does not support its advanced reporting.

Supported

Google Analytics, especially GA4, supports advanced reporting, custom reports, and API integration.
Session Replay

Supported

PostHog offers session replay with features like event timelines and console logs.

Partially supported

Google Analytics does not offer session replay natively but can integrate with other tools that do.
Product Analytics

Supported

PostHog supports product analytics, including autocapture and SQL access.

Supported

Google Analytics supports event tracking, funnels, cohorts via explorations, and SQL access via BigQuery.
Google Analytics integration

Partially supported

PostHog integrates with Google Analytics 4 via third-party tools like Zapier, RudderStack, and n8n.

Supported

Google Analytics has a wide range of integrations, including integrations with other Google products.
Conversion tracking

Supported

PostHog supports conversion tracking with funnels, dashboards and filtering.

Supported

Google Analytics 4 fully supports conversion tracking using events, allowing you to track actions like purchases and newsletter sign-ups.
User behavior tracking

Supported

PostHog supports user behavior tracking, including clicks, scrolls, mouse movements, and form submissions.

Supported

Google Analytics offers robust user behavior tracking, including clicks, form submissions, and events. While it doesn\'t inherently track mouse movements, additional configurations or tools can address this.

Qualities

Value and Pricing Transparency

No data

No data
Customer Service

No data

No data
Ease of Use

No data

No data
Reliability and Performance

No data

No data
Ease of Implementation

No data

No data
Scalability

No data

No data

PostHog and Google Analytics Pricing

PostHog offers usage-based pricing with a generous free tier that includes a monthly quota for each product. Users only pay for usage that exceeds the free tier limits. The platform offers various add-ons, including Teams, Person profiles, Group Analytics, and Data Pipelines. Discounts are available for startups and non-profits.

Plans

See full Pricing page

No data

We couldn't find a pricing page for Google Analytics.

PostHog and Google Analytics review insights

Users love

Easy to set up and integrate with websites.
Excellent session recording for understanding user behavior.
The generous free tier makes it accessible for various projects.
Open-source nature allows for self-hosting and customization.

Detailed and comprehensive website traffic data and reports.
Seamless integration with other Google products like Google Ads and Search Console.
User-friendly interface for basic analytics.
Wide range of metrics and customization options for creating reports.

Users dislike

The self-hosted version lacks some features, like multi-domain monitoring.
Documentation can have duplicate or outdated information.
Community support could be more responsive.
Large JS bundle size impacts website performance.

GA4 is very confusing to use and less intuitive compared to the previous version.
Real-time data is often delayed or inaccurate.
The transition from Universal Analytics to GA4 is difficult, with data discrepancies and loss of historical information.
Customer support is limited and unhelpful, often with slow response times.

PostHog and Google Analytics Ratings

G2

4.4/5

(525)
Glassdoor

5.0/5

(5)

G2

4.5/5

(2516)
Glassdoor

3.5/5

(2)

Company health

Employee growth

45% increase in the last year

69% increase in the last year

Web traffic

31% increase in the last quarter

2% decrease in the last quarter

Financing

March 2021 - $27M

July 2018 - $16M

How do PostHog's session recordings compare to Google Analytics' user behavior analysis?

PostHog offers session recordings that allow you to replay individual user sessions, providing a detailed view of how users interact with your product, including clicks, scrolls, and form interactions. Google Analytics, while offering robust user behavior analysis through metrics and events, doesn't provide the same level of granular detail with session replays like PostHog. Google Analytics focuses on aggregated data and trends, while PostHog's session recordings allow you to see the specific actions of individual users, which can be more helpful for identifying usability issues and understanding user behavior on a micro level.

Which product best integrates into a developer-centric workflow, PostHog or Google Analytics?

PostHog better integrates into a developer-centric workflow. Its open-source nature, focus on feature flags, session recording, and direct integration with product development tools makes it easier for developers to directly access and utilize the data within their existing workflows. While Google Analytics provides valuable marketing and website traffic data, its focus is less directly aligned with the iterative development process. PostHog's features are designed to help developers understand user behavior in the context of product features and releases.

What are the advantages of PostHog?

PostHog's advantages include its all-in-one platform approach combining product analytics, session recording, feature flags, and A/B testing. Its open-source nature allows for flexibility, customization, and self-hosting. The generous free tier makes it accessible to smaller teams and projects. Users praise its ease of setup and insightful session recordings.

What are the disadvantages of PostHog?

PostHog's self-hosted version lacks some features available in the cloud version. The documentation can be inconsistent, containing outdated or duplicated information. Community support, while present, isn't always as responsive as needed. Finally, a large Javascript bundle size can negatively impact website performance.

Alternatives to PostHog and Google Analytics

VWO Testing

VWO Testing is a comprehensive platform that helps businesses improve their websites and mobile apps through testing and personalization. It offers A/B testing, user behavior analysis tools (like heatmaps and session recordings), and personalization features. VWO is designed to be user-friendly, even for non-technical teams, and it integrates with various data sources. Trusted by major brands, VWO promises to help you optimize your digital experiences to increase conversions and deliver what your customers want.

Semrush

Semrush is an online visibility and marketing platform that helps businesses improve their online presence. It offers a wide range of tools for SEO, content marketing, competitor analysis, social media management, and paid advertising. With a massive database, Semrush provides insights into keywords, backlinks, website traffic, and competitor strategies, enabling businesses to make data-driven decisions to enhance their online visibility and achieve marketing goals. Many Fortune 500 companies utilize Semrush's comprehensive suite of digital marketing tools.

Amplitude Analytics

Amplitude Analytics is a digital analytics platform that helps businesses understand how people use their websites and mobile apps. It offers tools to track user behavior, visualize data, and run experiments to improve user engagement and retention. Amplitude is particularly useful for product and growth teams who need to make data-driven decisions about their digital products. Its strengths include real-time analytics, detailed behavioral insights, and the ability to track users across different platforms. Many well-known companies use Amplitude to optimize their digital products and drive business growth.

Swetrix

Swetrix is a privacy-focused website analytics tool designed for businesses of all sizes. It provides easy-to-understand data on website traffic, user behavior, and marketing campaign performance without using cookies. Swetrix stands out with its commitment to user privacy, open-source nature, and simple pricing based on website traffic. You can track metrics like website speed, user journeys, and even e-commerce data. Swetrix is a transparent alternative to traditional analytics platforms.

Mixpanel

Mixpanel is a tool that helps you understand how people use your website or app. It tracks user actions, like button clicks and page views, and presents the data in easy-to-understand reports. This helps you see what features are popular, identify areas for improvement, and ultimately make decisions that lead to a better user experience and increased customer satisfaction.

Matomo (Formerly Piwik)

Matomo is a web analytics platform that helps you understand your website traffic. Unlike some competitors, Matomo emphasizes data privacy and gives you complete control over your data. It offers features like heatmaps, session recordings, and conversion tracking to analyze visitor behavior. Available as a cloud-based service or a self-hosted platform, Matomo caters to various needs and budgets. You can import data from Google Analytics, making it a viable alternative. Matomo is a popular choice globally, trusted by organizations of all sizes, including government agencies and Fortune 500 companies.

Page co-authored by

Michal Kaczor

CEO at Gralio

Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs of any business and find solutions to its problems.

Tymon Terlikiewicz

CTO at Gralio

Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX, HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.

How are we doing?

Is this information helpful to you? Is there anything we are missing?

Did this help you select your product?

Other issues? Vote & Let us know