Compare · PostHog
Best PostHog alternative.
PostHog bundles many products with separate meters. Pieowl does one job: product and web analytics your AI assistant can query. Flat prices, no cookies, and every feature on every plan.
- No cookies
- Flat prices on the page
- Every feature on every plan
- Ask your AI assistant via MCP
Pieowl vs PostHog: Which is right for you?
Pieowl if…
- 1You want analytics without feature flags, surveys or error tracking
- 2You want no cookies by default
- 3You want one flat price instead of a meter per product
PostHog if…
- 1You want feature flags, experiments, surveys and error tracking in one place
- 2You want a free tier with 1M events and 5K recordings a month
- 3You need SOC 2 Type 2 or a HIPAA BAA
PostHog is an all-in-one platform for developers. Pieowl focuses on analytics and answers.
Why consider Pieowl over PostHog?
PostHog is a huge toolbox. Besides analytics and session replay, it has feature flags, experiments, surveys, error tracking, a data warehouse, logs and AI tools. Its free tier is very generous: 1M events, 5K recordings and more every month, with no card.
That breadth has a cost in complexity. Each product has its own meter and billing limit, and the free plan keeps data for one year on one project. If you only need analytics, you may be paying attention to many products you never use.
Hosting differs too. PostHog offers a self-hosted hobby deploy, but it says that version is officially unsupported and that all paid-plan features are Cloud-only. Pieowl has no self-hosted option: it is cloud only, hosted in the EU.
Pieowl also sets no cookies by default. posthog-js uses localStorage plus a cookie unless you change it. If you need feature flags, experiments, surveys or error tracking, PostHog is the stronger choice. If you want focused analytics your AI assistant can query, Pieowl is simpler.
Key differences at a glance
How Pieowl and PostHog compare on the points teams ask about most. PostHog details checked October 2026.
| Feature | Pieowl | PostHog |
|---|---|---|
| Key differences | ||
| Focus | Product and web analytics | All-in-one developer platform |
| Free tier | None; 14-day free trial, no card | 1M events and 5K recordings a month |
| Cookies | None | localStorage plus cookie by default |
| Self-hosting | No (cloud only) | Hobby deploy, officially unsupported |
| Pricing shape | One flat price by events | Usage-based, per product |
| Analytics | ||
| Web analytics overview | Yes | Yes |
| Custom events | Yes | Yes |
| Funnels | Yes | Yes |
| Retention | Yes | Yes |
| Cohorts | Yes | Yes |
| User paths | Yes | Yes |
| Replay and AI | ||
| Session replayPostHog's free tier includes 5K recordings a month | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server for AI assistants | Yes | Yes |
| Where PostHog does more | ||
| Feature flags | No | Yes |
| Experiments | No | Yes |
| Surveys | No | Yes |
| Error tracking | No | Yes |
| Built-in data warehouse | No | Yes |
| SQL queries | No | Yes |
| Autocapture | Page views, outgoing links and tagged clicks | Page views, clicks and form submissions |
| Privacy and hosting | ||
| No cookies by defaultposthog-js defaults to localStorage plus a cookie | Yes | No |
| EU cloudPostHog offers US (Virginia) or EU (Frankfurt) | Yes | Yes |
| SOC 2 Type 2 | No | Yes |
| Integrations and data | ||
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Raw data export | API, S3 or Google Cloud Storage | Data pipelines |
Technical comparison
For developers, here is how setup and data handling differ.
| Feature | Pieowl | PostHog |
|---|---|---|
| Tracking script | About 3 KB gzipped; replay add-on loads only if you turn it on | posthog-js |
| SDKs |
|
|
| Browser storage | No cookies | localStorage plus cookie by default; memory option |
| Self-hosted deployment | No (cloud only) | Docker Compose hobby deploy, MIT license, officially unsupported |
| Regions | EU cloud | US (Virginia) or EU (Frankfurt) |
Pricing comparison
PostHog has a large free tier and its paid usage is metered per product. Pieowl has flat plans with every feature included. Checked October 2026.
Pieowl
Event-based, prices on the page- 14-day free trial, no card needed.
- Starter: from $9/month for 10K events, $19 for 100K and $69 for 1M.
- Growth: twice the Starter price, for up to 30 sites and 30 team members.
- Over 10M events a month: talk to us.
- Pay yearly and get 2 months free.
- Paid plans come with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
PostHog
Usage-based, per product- Free every month: 1M analytics events, 5K recordings, 1M feature flag requests, 100K exceptions, 1,500 survey responses and 500 PostHog AI credits, with no card.
- The free plan has 1 project and 1 year of data retention.
- After the free tier, analytics costs $0.00005 per event, and each product has its own billing limit.
- Pay-as-you-go adds 6 projects and 7 years of retention.
- Checked October 2026.
Migrating from PostHog to Pieowl
Both tools track named events with properties, so moving your analytics is mostly a rename.
- 01Add the Pieowl script or SDK
Add the Pieowl script tag or an SDK such as @pieowl/web. Page views and outgoing links are tracked for you.
- 02Rename your tracking calls
posthog.capture('signup', props) becomes pieowl.track('signup', props). Most event names can stay the same.
- 03Identify users
Replace posthog.identify(id) with pieowl.identify({ profileId: id }) after login.
- 04Turn on replay and rebuild reports
If you use replay, turn it on in Settings → Site. Then recreate your funnels, retention charts and dashboards. Or ask your AI assistant to run them for you over MCP.
- 05Keep what Pieowl does not replace
If you use PostHog feature flags, experiments, surveys or error tracking, keep a tool for those. Then run both for a short time and compare numbers.
Effort: Easy
Estimated time: 1-4 hours; longer if you also replace flags or surveysSDK compatibility
Both use event names with properties and an identify call. capture becomes track.Historical data
There is no ready-made PostHog importer. If you export raw events, you can send them to Pieowl's bulk import API, but you will need to map the fields yourself.
Where Pieowl is a better fit than PostHog
Pieowl suits teams that want analytics, not a platform to manage.
Teams that only need analytics
Get funnels, retention, cohorts, replay and revenue without feature flags, surveys or error tracking you will not use.
Privacy-first products
Pieowl sets no cookies and does not store IP addresses, with no setup needed.
Non-technical teammates
Anyone can ask their AI assistant a question in plain English over MCP. No SQL needed.
Simple budgeting
One flat price by events: Starter is $19/mo for 100K or $69/mo for 1M. No meter per product.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about switching from PostHog to Pieowl.
Is Pieowl free?
No. Pieowl has a 14-day free trial with every feature and no card, then Starter starts at $9/mo for 10K events. PostHog has a free tier of 1M events and 5K recordings a month.
Why switch from PostHog to Pieowl?
Teams switch for a simpler tool, one flat price, no cookies by default, and every feature on every plan.
What will I lose by leaving PostHog?
Feature flags, experiments, surveys, error tracking, SQL queries and the built-in data warehouse. If you use these, you need other tools or should stay with PostHog.
How do cookies compare?
posthog-js uses localStorage plus a cookie by default, and you can switch it to memory-only storage. Pieowl sets no cookies at all.
Can I self-host PostHog?
PostHog offers a Docker Compose hobby deploy under the MIT license. It says self-hosted deployments are officially unsupported and that paid-plan features are Cloud-only. Pieowl has no self-hosted option; it is cloud only, hosted in the EU.
Does Pieowl have AI like PostHog AI?
Yes. Pieowl has an MCP server, so your own AI assistant, like Claude or Cursor, can answer questions about funnels, retention and reports. It is on every plan.
Does Pieowl have autocapture?
Partly. Pieowl tracks page views, outgoing links and clicks on elements you tag. PostHog's autocapture also records clicks and form submissions without tags.
Which is better for startups?
If you want many products for free, PostHog. If you want focused analytics that anyone on the team can query from their AI assistant, at a flat price, Pieowl.
Keep reading
Ready to make the switch?
14-day free trial, no card needed. Then from $9 a month for 10K events.