The short answer
PostHog and Mixpanel both do event based product analytics well, and both now include session replay, feature flags and experiments. The difference is in how they are packaged and billed.
PostHog is a set of many products behind one signup. Each product has its own free allowance every month and its own usage price above it. It also offers an MIT licensed open source product.
Mixpanel is an analytics platform first. Its plans are priced by the number of events you send, and replay, experiments and flags come inside those plans with allowances that grow by tier.
Neither is better for every team. The rest of this page lays out the facts from both vendors' own pricing pages so you can match them to how you work.
How we checked
Last checked October 21, 2026, on the PostHog pricing page, the Mixpanel pricing page, and each vendor's product pages. We only list what those pages state. Where one vendor's pricing page does not mention something, we say so rather than assume it is missing.
Pricing models
PostHog
PostHog says 97% of companies use it for free. Its free plan needs no card and includes, every month: 1M analytics events, 5K session recordings, 1M feature flag requests (experiments are billed with flags), 100K exceptions in error tracking, 1,500 survey responses and allowances for its data warehouse, logs and AI products. The free plan has 1 project and 1-year data retention, and usage stops at the free limits.
The pay-as-you-go plan keeps the same free tier and charges per unit above it. It adds 6 projects, 7-year data retention and billing limits on most products. Platform packages add SSO, audit logs, custom roles and project permissions, and annual plans and volume discounts are available through sales. PostHog also mentions discounts for startups and non-profits.
Mixpanel
Mixpanel prices by events, not by monthly tracked users. The Free plan covers up to 1M events per month with unlimited seats, 10K session replays, up to 10 feature flags and 2 years of data. Growth starts with the first 1M events free and goes up to 20M events per month. The pricing page lists, billed yearly, 100 USD per month for 1.5M events, 438 USD per month for 5M and 1,635 USD per month for 20M, with higher prices when billed monthly. Enterprise is custom.
Mixpanel's startup program gives the first year free to companies founded less than 5 years ago with up to 8M USD in total funding.
What that means in practice
PostHog's bill is the sum of each product you use, so turning on replay or error tracking adds its own line. Mixpanel's bill follows one main number, events per month, with allowances for replay and experiments that rise with the plan. Both start free, and both get more expensive as you grow.
Head to head
| PostHog | Mixpanel | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing unit | Per product usage (events, recordings, flag requests and more) | Events per month |
| Free analytics allowance | 1M events per month | 1M events per month |
| Free session replay | 5K recordings per month | 10K replays per month |
| Replay retention | 1 month free, 90 days on pay-as-you-go | 30 days on Free and Growth |
| Feature flags | 1M requests per month free | Up to 10 on Free, up to 50 on Growth |
| Experiments | Billed with feature flags | 1K experiment users per month on Free, 5K on Growth |
| Surveys | 1,500 responses per month free | Not on the pricing page |
| Error tracking | 100K exceptions per month free | Not on the pricing page |
| Data retention | 1 year free, 7 years on pay-as-you-go | 2 years by default, custom on Enterprise |
| Seats | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Group analytics | Not checked | Add-on on Growth and Enterprise |
| Warehouse | Data warehouse sources and destinations | Warehouse connectors |
| MCP server | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | MIT licensed product | Not offered on the pages we checked |
| Startup offer | Startup discounts | First year free for eligible startups |
| Enterprise path | Platform packages, annual plans | Enterprise plan through sales |
Which to choose by team type
Solo developers and side projects
Both free plans cover small products. PostHog's free plan stops at the limits instead of charging you, which makes it a safe default for a side project. Mixpanel's free plan gives more replays and longer data retention. If you mostly want analytics and replay, either works; if you also want error tracking and surveys, PostHog includes them.
Engineering led startups
PostHog fits teams where engineers own analytics and want flags, experiments, error tracking, logs and a warehouse from one vendor, with the option of open source. Its billing limits help keep a spike from becoming a surprise.
Product and growth teams with analysts
Mixpanel fits teams whose main job is analysis: funnels, metric trees and event exploration across web and mobile, with replay and experiments alongside. Its pricing follows one number, which makes budgeting simpler if your event volume is stable.
Funded startups under 5 years old
Check both startup offers. Mixpanel lists a free first year with conditions on age and funding, and PostHog mentions startup discounts.
Larger companies
Both have an enterprise path. PostHog sells platform packages with SSO, audit logs and roles. Mixpanel's Enterprise plan adds custom retention, custom replay and sales led pricing.
A third option for a specific profile
There is one profile neither tool is aimed at directly: a small team or a vibe coder who wants to know which features people use, where they drop off before converting and which leads and ad campaigns are worth the money, at a fixed price.
That is what Orwel does. It is an event analytics SDK with feature adoption, conversion funnels that count steps in any order, a lead score from 0 to 100 with intent signals, and cost per qualified lead for Google Ads and Meta Ads. An MCP server and an agent skill let AI agents install it and read real usage. It costs 49 USD per month, dropping 2 USD each paid month to 35 USD, or 420 USD per year, with no caps on leads or visitors under fair use. See Orwel pricing.
To be fair about it: Orwel has no session replay, heatmaps, A/B testing or feature flags, it is not open source and it has no free plan, only a 14-day trial. If you need any of those, pick PostHog or Mixpanel. More detail is on the PostHog alternative and Mixpanel alternative pages.