Why is PostHog so in vogue?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43477205

by PranaFlux • 1 year ago

10 10 1 year ago

news.ycombinator.com

I've noticed lately that a LOT of sites are using PostHog. Until now, I've never seen that many websites use it. Is there a reason why or is it just the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon?

Why PostHog and not Mixpanel, Amplitude and alike?

andrewfromx• 1 year ago

it's all open source!! https://github.com/posthog

ssalka• 1 year ago

A few things come to mind:

1. Posthog is the new kid on the block, so I think there is some level of belief that this newer version of what we already had will be better somehow. In line somewhat with your idea that this could be just a perception, and perhaps not a permanent shift.

2. The fact that it is built by a smaller team that doesn't need to define the product analytics category from scratch likely means product iteration will go faster, i.e. more features/fixes more often, and perhaps a more exciting roadmap. Posthog can stand on the shoulders of giants without being weighed down by all the tech debt that got the industry where it is today.

3. Posthog's pricing is much more up-front about what you'll be charged for; Amplitude & Mixpanel lean a bit more into the "contact us" flow aimed at enterprise orgs.

4. Posthog is open source, so if you wanted to, you could start with their hosted service and perhaps one day move to on-prem if your organization prefers that.

PranaFlux3• 1 year ago

Thanks for the detailed points! The new hot stuff basically

datadrivenangel• 1 year ago

Mixpanel and Amplitude are very expensive!

Also, PostHog was originally more web analytics (google analytics) than product analytics (MixPanel), which is a subtle distinction but changes the economics.

coronapl2• 1 year ago

Mixpanel user here! Actually, a few weeks ago Mixpanel updated their pricing plan and now it is way more affordable. I assume that is related to the recent success of PostHog. Nevertheless, PostHog seems to be a super attractive alternative as it offers way more features: surveys, product tours, error tracking and more.

PranaFlux3• 1 year ago

Have you considered moving over to PostHog given this disparity in features or for your usecase Mixpanel is suitable (especially now with the price reduction)

coronapl2• 1 year ago

Even with the price reduction, I am still considering PostHog. I think it makes sense to leverage many of the features that PostHog is offering instead of using Mixpanel + a separate product for handling surveys or feature flags. What makes feel skeptical is the migration effort. I need to do some research about this.

csomar• 1 year ago

https://mixpanel.com/releases/session-replay/

Because I need to "Request Demo" just to access session replay? PostHog gives you that for free. I don't need to fill any forms.

XCSme• 1 year ago

They are good at branding/marketing. They have a big team of awesome people (90ppl): https://posthog.com/people

They write a lot of blog posts, which usually tend to go viral on HN.

At the moment they provide a generous free tier too, so many people can get started without paying anything.

They also open-source most of their code: https://github.com/posthog

They raised a lot of money ~$39M

So, I would say that compared to other companies, they got more popular because of:

   * modern marketing tactics
   * huge funding
   * still in growing phase, so they are focused on growth more than profits (phase in which most companies are at their best, as they try to give more than they take)
   * newer product
   * good timing (a lot of people are switching away from GA, which had a huge monopoly over web analytics).

Why is PostHog so in vogue?

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