PostHog vs Umami Comparison 2026
PostHog bundles product analytics with session replay, feature flags and surveys, billed by usage with the first million events a month free on every plan. Umami is a simple, open source pageview counter that can be self-hosted for nothing beyond your own server, with a free Hobby cloud plan and Pro at $20 a month for a million events. PostHog is the deeper suite for a product team. Umami is the one you can run yourself for the cost of a server, if page views without cookies are all you need.
At a glance
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
PostHog | Umami | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Not listed | From $20 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing (they differ) | Usage-based | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | 14 days |
| API | Yes |
PostHog
Product analytics billed by the event
PostHog bundles product analytics, session replay, feature flags and surveys and bills each of them by usage rather than by seat, so a team of ten costs the same as a team of one at the same volume. The first million events each month cost nothing, and that allowance survives an upgrade. Billing limits can be set per product, which is the guard against a viral week arriving as an invoice. The event rates are quoted to five decimal places, so working out a monthly figure takes arithmetic rather than reading.
Our note
Set the billing limits on day one rather than after the first spike, because usage pricing is only comfortable when it has a ceiling you chose. If all you need is page views and referrers, Plausible or Fathom will answer that for a flat fee and far less setup.
Umami
Open source site analytics with no cookie banner
Umami counts visits without cookies or personal data, which is what keeps a consent banner off the front of a site nobody came to for a consent banner. The whole thing is open source, so it can be self-hosted for nothing on hardware you already pay for, and the cloud plan exists for people who would rather not. Events are the billing unit above the free tier. The dashboard is deliberately one screen.
Why people weigh these two
- Umami instead of PostHog
- Umami is open source site analytics with no cookie banner, from $20 with a free tier.
- PostHog instead of Umami
- PostHog bills by the event with a free tier, for behaviour rather than page counts.
Which one should you pick
Choose PostHog if session replay, feature flags and surveys matter alongside analytics, and your team's size would make a per-seat tool expensive: everything is billed by usage, so a team of ten costs what a team of one costs at the same volume. The first million events a month are free on every plan, including after upgrading. Its own listing is candid that if page views and referrers are genuinely all you need, a flatter tool costs less setup.
Choose Umami if you already run a server and want the option to self-host for nothing, with no cookies and no consent banner needed to count a visit: the open source licence is free, and the cloud Hobby plan is free too, for six months of retention. Pro is $20 a month for a million events, with overage priced simply at $0.00003 each rather than in bands. There is no session replay, feature flags or surveys here; Umami counts visits and stops there, on purpose.
Common questions
- Can I self-host Umami the way I cannot self-host PostHog here?
- Yes, Umami's listing states self-hosting the open source version costs nothing beyond your own server. PostHog's pricing in this listing is entirely usage-based on its hosted service, with no self-hosting cost given.
- Which is cheaper, PostHog or Umami?
- Both can be free for modest use: PostHog's first million events a month cost nothing, and Umami's Hobby cloud plan or self-hosted option also cost nothing. Beyond the free tier, Umami's overage is a simple flat rate per event, while PostHog's rates fall through five volume bands and take more arithmetic to predict.
- Does Umami do session replay or feature flags like PostHog?
- No, its listing describes a single-screen dashboard for counting visits without cookies, nothing closer to replay or flags. PostHog bundles session replay, feature flags and surveys alongside analytics, each billed by its own usage.
- Which one needs less setup for a simple pageview count?
- Umami, deliberately: the dashboard is one screen and the whole point is counting visits without configuration. PostHog's own listing admits it is more setup than needed if page views and referrers are genuinely all you are after.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.