switchpoint

Analytics · 2026

Google Analytics·vs·PostHog

Two solid choices in analytics. Here's how they stack up on pricing, fit, and trade-offs — so you can decide in a minute.

Reviewed by Switchpoint Editors ·

Take on Google Analytics

GA4 isn't a worse Universal Analytics — it's a different product that solves a different problem (ML-driven attribution at scale). For 90% of small sites, that complexity is a tax with no benefit. Plausible or Fathom gives you the 5 numbers you actually look at, with a privacy story you can put on your homepage.

Take on PostHog

PostHog absorbed half the SaaS category into one platform — and the integration story actually works. The trap is treating it as 'free' because of the generous tier; for B-grade products it's, but at real product-led-growth scale the events bill becomes material. Set event budgets early.

Contender A

Google Analytics

Free web analytics from Google.

Best for

Sites that need free, deep web analytics tied to Google Ads.

Pricing

Free.

Pros

  • Free
  • Tight ad integration
  • Scales to enterprise

Trade-offs

  • GA4 is hard to learn
  • Sampling on big datasets
  • Privacy/GDPR friction

Contender B

PostHog

Product analytics, session replay, and feature flags.

Best for

Product teams who want the whole stack open source.

Pricing

Generous free tier, then usage-based.

Pros

  • Open source
  • Replay + flags included

Trade-offs

  • Heavier to set up

The matrix

Side-by-side

Best for

Google Analytics

Sites that need free, deep web analytics tied to Google Ads.

PostHog

Product teams who want the whole stack open source.

Pricing

Google Analytics

Free.

PostHog

Generous free tier, then usage-based.

Top strength

Google Analytics

Free

PostHog

Open source

Biggest trade-off

Google Analytics

GA4 is hard to learn

PostHog

Heavier to set up

The verdict

Which should you pick?

If…Pick Google Analytics

Sites that need free, deep web analytics tied to Google Ads.

If…Pick PostHog

Product teams who want the whole stack open source.

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