PostHog is an open-source, self-hostable platform for product development, offering integrated tools for analytics, session recording, feature flagging, A/B testing, error tracking, surveys, and LLM observability. It targets product managers, engineers, and data analysts seeking to understand user behavior, optimize features, and improve product performance. The primary benefit is a comprehensive, unified suite of tools that can be self-hosted or used via a generous free tier on their cloud offering.

How It Works

PostHog employs an event-based data model, allowing users to capture user interactions either automatically via a JavaScript snippet or through manual instrumentation with various SDKs. This data fuels its suite of tools, from detailed product analytics and session replays to sophisticated feature flagging and experimentation capabilities. The platform's advantage lies in its integrated nature, providing a single source of truth for product insights and development workflows, reducing the need for multiple disparate tools.

Quick Start & Requirements

• PostHog Cloud: Sign up at PostHog Cloud US or PostHog Cloud EU.
• Self-hosting (Hobby Deploy): bash /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/posthog/posthog/HEAD/bin/deploy-hobby)" (Requires Docker, ~4GB RAM).
• Setup: Install JavaScript snippet or SDKs for frontend, mobile, and backend.
• Documentation: Docs, Self-hosting Docs, Troubleshooting Guide.

Highlighted Details

• All-in-one platform: Product analytics, web analytics, session replays, feature flags, experiments, error tracking, surveys, data warehouse, data pipelines, and LLM observability.
• Generous free tier for cloud offering (1M events, 5k recordings, etc. per month).
• Supports a wide range of frontend, mobile, and backend SDKs and integrations.
• Open-sourced company handbook detailing strategy and processes.

Maintenance & Community

• Active development with numerous contributors.
• Community links: Community, Roadmap.

Licensing & Compatibility

• Core repository is MIT licensed.
• ee directory has a separate license (details in README).
• A fully FOSS version is available at posthog-foss.
• Compatible with commercial and closed-source applications.

Limitations & Caveats

Self-hosted hobby deployments are recommended for up to ~100k events/month; larger scale requires migration to PostHog Cloud. No customer support or guarantees are provided for open-source deployments.