Hotjar vs PostHog — Pricing, Plans, and Verified Costs (2026)
Hotjar starts at $39/mo. PostHog starts at Free. PostHog is $39/mo cheaper on the entry tier than Hotjar.
How pricing works
These two tools don't price the same way, so the headline numbers below aren't directly comparable until you plug in your own volume.
- Hotjar (Freemium) — Hotjar bills on a fixed plan from $39/mo, so the listed price is what you pay regardless of volume.
- PostHog (Per Usage) — PostHog bills purely on usage — Free up to 1M events/mo, then usage-based. There is no fixed per-seat fee, so the monthly cost depends entirely on how much you consume.
Per-minute, per-credit and per-token rates exclude any downstream model, speech or telephony costs unless the vendor states otherwise.
Session replay + heatmap analytics acquired by Contentsquare in 2021 for $500M. Positioned as the alternative to FullStory and Microsoft Clarity (free) for product and marketing teams. Distinctive for its combined qualitative + quantitative approach — heatmaps, recordings, feedback polls, surveys in one platform. Priced $32-$171/mo across four tiers. Real cost bloat comes from session capacity — high-traffic sites hit overages fast.
Open-source product analytics + feature flags + session replay + surveys, positioned as the all-in-one alternative to Mixpanel + LaunchDarkly + FullStory + Typeform. Distinctive for self-hostable free tier (unlimited events on your infra) and its "we're the open-source everything" positioning. Cloud priced free-$450+/mo based on events + recordings. Popular with technical founders who don't want to stitch 4 tools together and prefer OSS over vendor lock-in.
All plans compared
| Tier role | Plan | Hotjar monthly | Hotjar annual | PostHog monthly | PostHog annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free / starter | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Entry paid | Observe Plus / Boost add-on | $39 | $32 | $250 | — |
| Pro / power | Observe Scale / Scale add-on | $213 | $171 | $750 | — |
| Teams | Observe Business / — | $99 | $80 | — | — |
| Enterprise | — / Enterprise add-on | — | — | $2000 | Custom |
Tier names differ across vendors. Rows are aligned by tier role, not name. Full tier structures on each tool's page.
What each is best for
Hotjar is worth it if… product/marketing teams (5-100) that want session recordings + heatmaps + on-site surveys — the qualitative data behind why users behave the way they do. Observe covers session-based analytics; Ask adds surveys; Engage adds interviews.
PostHog is worth it if… product/growth teams that want product analytics + session replay + feature flags + A/B testing + surveys in one open-source platform — particularly if you value self-host option and pay-as-you-go pricing. Free tier includes 1M events + 5K replays/mo; pay-as-you-go beyond; add-ons for SSO/security/data warehouse.
Bottom line: Choose based on how you want to pay — Hotjar is freemium, PostHog is per usage.
Choose Hotjar over PostHog if…
Choose Hotjar if…
- You want fixed-price predictability (freemium, from $39/mo).
- You match the profile Hotjar is built for: product/marketing teams (5-100) that want session recordings + heatmaps + on-site surveys — the qualitative data behind why users behave the way they do.
- You need a general-purpose analytics & data option rather than a vertical-specific one.
Choose PostHog if…
- You want to pay only for actual usage (per usage, a free entry tier).
- You match the profile PostHog is built for: product/growth teams that want product analytics + session replay + feature flags + A/B testing + surveys in one open-source platform — particularly if you value self-host option and pay-as-you-go pricing.
- You need a general-purpose analytics & data option rather than a vertical-specific one.
At a glance
| Hotjar | PostHog | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Entry price | $39/mo | Free |
| Enterprise available | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Per Usage |
| Last verified | September 12, 2026 | September 12, 2026 |
| Full pricing | View full pricing | View full pricing |
Pricing last verified September 12, 2026. Tracked daily.