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Alex Spinov
Alex Spinov

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PostHog Has a Free Product Analytics Suite — Analytics, Session Replay, Feature Flags, and A/B Testing

#posthog #analytics #opensource #webdev

PostHog Has a Free Product Analytics Suite — Analytics, Session Replay, Feature Flags, and A/B Testing

Most analytics tools do one thing well. PostHog does everything — product analytics, session recordings, feature flags, A/B tests, and surveys. All open-source, all in one platform.

Free Tier (Ridiculously Generous)

  • 1M events/month — product analytics
  • 5K session recordings/month
  • 1M feature flag requests/month
  • 1M survey responses/month
  • Unlimited team members
  • Self-host option (unlimited everything)

Quick Start: JavaScript 

import posthog from 'posthog-js';

posthog.init('your-project-key', {
  api_host: 'https://app.posthog.com'
});

// Identify user
posthog.identify('user-123', {
  email: 'jane@example.com',
  plan: 'premium',
  company: 'Acme Inc'
});

// Track events
posthog.capture('feature_used', {
  feature: 'export_csv',
  rows: 15000,
  format: 'csv'
});

posthog.capture('purchase_completed', {
  revenue: 49.99,
  plan: 'premium'
});
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Feature Flags 

// Check feature flag
if (posthog.isFeatureEnabled('new-checkout')) {
  showNewCheckout();
} else {
  showOldCheckout();
}

// Get flag payload (multivariate)
const variant = posthog.getFeatureFlagPayload('onboarding-experiment');
// Returns: { flow: 'simplified', steps: 3 }
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Session Recordings

PostHog automatically records user sessions — you see exactly what users see:

  • Mouse movements, clicks, scrolls
  • Page transitions
  • Console errors
  • Network requests

Filter recordings by: user properties, events performed, errors encountered, or specific pages visited.

Self-Hosting 

# Docker Compose (full PostHog stack)
git clone https://github.com/PostHog/posthog.git
cd posthog
docker compose -f docker-compose.hobby.yml up -d

# Runs: PostHog, ClickHouse, Kafka, PostgreSQL, Redis
# Access: http://localhost:8000
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Why PostHog Over Mixpanel/Amplitude

  • Open-source — audit the code, self-host if you want
  • Session replay included — no separate Hotjar/FullStory subscription
  • Feature flags included — no separate LaunchDarkly subscription
  • EU hosting available for GDPR compliance
  • No vendor lock-in — export all your data anytime

The Bottom Line

PostHog replaces 4-5 separate tools with one open-source platform. 1M free events plus session recordings, feature flags, and surveys — it's the most complete free analytics offering available.

Need to collect product usage data, monitor competitor analytics, or build automated user research pipelines? I create custom solutions.

📧 Email me: spinov001@gmail.com
🔧 My tools: Apify Store

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