Heap vs PostHog

Heap suits marketing, product and data teams that change the site or app often and cannot plan every event in advance. If you forgot to track something, retroactive analysis lets you answer from history instead of waiting for the next release. It also suits people who do not write SQL, since segments, charts, dashboards and playbooks are built for non-technical users. Two cautions. Heap is now part of Contentsquare, so check the roadmap and how you would buy it. Capturing every interaction also means you must mask sensitive fields and check consent before you roll it out to all pages. Plans above the free one are priced by session volume, so know your numbers.

PostHog suits B2B product and engineering teams that ship software. You watch the funnel where new accounts drop off in onboarding, replay the session that explains it and roll out a fix behind a flag, all from the same data. Someone has to install the SDK and own the event plan, and messy tracking gives messy analytics. In return you get a free allowance on each product, so you can start with analytics and replay and add the rest later, plus SQL when the built-in reports run out. Run the cloud version unless you have a real reason not to, because self-hosting is work. Set billing limits early, since usage drives the cost.