Swetrix vs PostHog: A Comprehensive Comparison

Swetrix and PostHog are both powerful, open-source analytics platforms, but they serve different philosophies and user bases.

PostHog describes itself as an "OS for product analytics." It is an incredibly feature-rich, all-in-one platform that includes session replay, feature flags, A/B testing, and a data warehouse. It is designed primarily for product teams and engineers who want to build custom queries, SQL dashboards, and deeply analyse every user interaction.

Swetrix is a lightweight, privacy-first web analytics solution. It focuses on simplicity, ease of use, and providing actionable insights without requiring you to be a data engineer. Swetrix is designed for marketers, developers, and business owners who want to understand their traffic and user behaviour immediately, without configuring complex dashboards or managing heavy infrastructure.

Here is a quick comparison to help you decide which one fits your needs.

Swetrix vs PostHog feature comparison

	Swetrix	PostHog
Core Features
Real-time Analytics
Custom Events
Page views
Live visitors count
UTM Tracking
Device stats (browser, OS, type)
Email Reports
Geolocation data	Full (Country, State, City)	Full (Country, State, City)
Advanced Features
Performance Monitoring (Web Vitals)
User Flow Analysis
Error Tracking
Alerts / Notifications
Geolocation map visualisation
Funnels
Segments
Custom dashboards
Multiple Domains per Site
Growth & Product
AI Chat
Goals
Experiments (A/B tests)
Feature flags
User Profiles
Revenue analytics
Session recordings
Heatmaps
SQL Access
CAPTCHA
Security & Access
Bot filtering
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
Role-based Access Control
Shared Dashboards
Organisations (Teams)
Privacy & Compliance
Cookie-less Tracking
Open Source		(Open Core)
Easy Self-hosting
EU data residency		(Optional)
Technical specifications
Script size	6 KB	>30 KB
API access
Bypass adblockers
Pricing & Support
Pricing Model	Predictable (Flat fee)	Usage-based
Entry price	$19.00	Free / Pay-as-you-go
Customer support

Simplicity vs. Complexity

This is the fundamental difference between the two platforms.

PostHog is built for power users. It offers immense flexibility - you can write SQL queries, build complex custom dashboards, and integrate with data warehouses. However, this power comes with a steep learning curve. Setting up meaningful reports often requires time, configuration, and maintenance. It is a tool built by developers for developers.

Swetrix is built for clarity. We believe that analytics should be accessible to everyone. Our dashboards are pre-configured to show you the most important metrics (visitors, sources, performance, errors) instantly. You don't need to build a dashboard to see your bounce rate or top referral sources; it's just there. If you want the data without the "work" of setting up a data product, Swetrix is the better choice.

Ease of Self-Hosting

While both platforms are open source, their self-hosting stories are vastly different.

Swetrix is designed to be lightweight and easy to deploy. You can get a fully functional Swetrix instance running on a modest VPS in about 5 minutes using Docker. It requires minimal resources and maintenance, making it realistic for individuals and small teams to self-host.

PostHog, on the other hand, is a complex distributed system. A production-ready PostHog instance requires managing ClickHouse, Kafka, Zookeeper, Redis, and Postgres. PostHog themselves have sunsetting support for Kubernetes for hobbyists because it is so difficult to maintain. Self-hosting PostHog is a serious infrastructure commitment, not a 5-minute task.

Privacy First vs. Product First

PostHog is a product analytics tool first. Its default mode uses cookies to track users across sessions and devices to build comprehensive user profiles. While it has cookie-less modes, its core value proposition relies on deep, invasive tracking to fuel features like session replay and feature flags.

Swetrix is privacy-first by design. We use cookie-less tracking methods that respect user privacy and GDPR/PECR compliance out of the box. We do not store personal data by default and anonymise IP addresses. We aim to give you the insights you need while respecting your users' privacy. Check out our data policy if you want to learn more.

Predictable vs. Usage-Based Pricing

PostHog uses a usage-based pricing model. While they offer a generous free tier, costs can become unpredictable as your product grows. A sudden spike in traffic or a spam bot attack can lead to a surprisingly high bill if you aren't careful with event limits.

Swetrix offers predictable, flat-rate pricing. You know exactly what you will pay each month, regardless of whether you have a busy week or a quiet one. We don't punish you for your success.

Independent vs. VC-Backed

PostHog is a large, VC-backed company (Y Combinator alum). This drives them to constantly expand into new verticals (Data Warehouse, CDP, etc.) to justify valuations, often increasing complexity.

Swetrix is an independent, bootstrapped project. We answer only to our users, not investors. Our roadmap is driven by what makes the best analytics experience, not what drives the most enterprise revenue. We are committed to remaining lean, open, and focused on our core mission.

Conclusion

If you are a large engineering team building a complex product and need a customisable data platform with SQL access, PostHog is the industry standard for a reason.

If you want a privacy-friendly, easy-to-use analytics tool that you can self-host in minutes or use via our cloud without worrying about complex setups or unpredictable bills, Swetrix is the better choice. We give you the insights you need - performance, traffic, errors, and flows - simplified.