Comparison · 8 min · 3 citations
PostHog vs Mixpanel vs Amplitude Pricing 2026: Cost Compared
PostHog vs Mixpanel vs Amplitude pricing 2026: all three now bill per event, with 1M, 1M and 2M events a month free. Where the paid tiers start.
At micro-SaaS scale all three are usually free: PostHog and Mixpanel each include 1M events a month[1][2], and Amplitude's Free plan includes 2M[3]. Most small products never exceed those allowances, so the real cost is often zero on any of them.
Past the free tier, all three now bill by event volume. Mixpanel's Growth plan starts at $100 a month for 1.5M events on yearly billing[2]; Amplitude's Plus starts at $0 and scales with events up to 70M[3]; PostHog is usage-based with a per-event rate that depends on volume[1]. Estimate your monthly events, then compare.
PostHog, Mixpanel, and Amplitude are the three product-analytics tools a micro-SaaS founder weighs most, and at small scale they are all free, so the question is less "which is cheapest now" and more "what will the bill look like when I grow." This article anchors on the free tiers that cover most small products, shows where each paid tier starts, puts analytics in the context of a real stack, and ends with decision guidance.
1. The free tiers most micro-SaaS never exceed
Free allowances read from each vendor's pricing page on October 18, 2026:
| Tool | Free allowance | Billing unit | Bundled on free |
|---|---|---|---|
| PostHog[1] | 1M events/mo | Per event | Session replay (5K recordings), feature flags (1M requests), surveys |
| Mixpanel[2] | 1M events/mo | Per event | Core funnels, retention |
| Amplitude[3] | 2M events/mo | Per event | Product analytics, 10K session replays, feature flags |
The structural point: 1 million events a month is more than most micro-SaaS products generate. For a product with a few hundred to a few thousand users, all three are realistically free, and the choice is about features and how each scales, not today's bill. PostHog bundles replay, flags and surveys on one free account; Mixpanel's draw is mature funnel and retention reporting; Amplitude's free allowance is the largest of the three.
2. One billing unit now: the event
All three now price on the same denominator, the tracked event: every click, pageview or custom action you instrument. Amplitude, which used to bill by monthly tracked users, prices its Free, Plus, Growth and Enterprise plans on event volume[3].
- What drives the bill: how chatty your instrumentation is, multiplied by your active users. A product that fires many custom events per session burns through an allowance fast even with few users.
- What keeps it down: tracking the events you analyse, not every interaction. Trimming autocapture and noisy events usually moves the bill more than switching vendors.
Because the unit is now the same, the comparison is simpler than it used to be: estimate your monthly events, check which free tier covers them, and price the first paid tier on each.
3. Where the paid tiers start
Past the free tier, the published pricing:
| Tool | Paid model | Published price points |
|---|---|---|
| PostHog[1] | Usage-based past the free million | Per-event rate by volume, shown in its pricing calculator |
| Mixpanel[2] | Growth: 1M events included, tiers by volume | 1.5M events $100/mo, 5M $438, 10M $840, 20M $1,635 (yearly billing); monthly billing about 40% more |
| Amplitude[3] | Plus: first 2M events free, scales with events | Starts at $0, up to 70M events; Growth and Enterprise custom |
Mixpanel is the one that prints its tiers: at 1.5 million events a month the Growth plan is $100 on yearly billing and $140 on monthly, and the price per extra event falls as volume rises (5 million events is $438 a month, 10 million $840). Amplitude's Plus plan has no floor and bills as you grow, which suits a product near its free limit. PostHog's per-event rate also falls with volume. Growth and Enterprise tiers on Mixpanel and Amplitude are custom-priced and add governance and advanced features.
4. Where analytics sits in a real stack
For a micro-SaaS, the more useful question than "which analytics tool is cheapest" is usually "where does my real cost actually go", because analytics is typically free at this scale. The AI Stack Cost Calculator projects the whole stack across user-growth tiers and names the dominant driver, so you can see whether analytics is even worth optimizing yet. The run below prices a representative early solo stack:
Show the recompute-verified inputs and outputs
| hosting_index | 1 |
|---|---|
| database_index | 1 |
| auth_index | 0 |
| ai_model_index | 1 |
| avg_input_tokens | 500 |
| avg_output_tokens | 600 |
| api_calls_per_user_per_day | 5 |
| email_index | 1 |
| monitoring_index | 1 |
| domain_cost_yearly | 15 |
| other_monthly_costs | 10 |
| tiers › row 1 › users | 100 |
|---|---|
| tiers › row 1 › hosting | 20 |
| tiers › row 1 › database | 25 |
| tiers › row 1 › auth | 0 |
| tiers › row 1 › ai api | 46.13 |
| tiers › row 1 › email | 20 |
| tiers › row 1 › monitoring | 0 |
| tiers › row 1 › domain | 1.25 |
| tiers › row 1 › other | 10 |
| tiers › row 1 › total | 122.38 |
| tiers › row 1 › cost per user | 1.22 |
| tiers › row 2 › users | 1000 |
| tiers › row 2 › hosting | 20 |
| tiers › row 2 › database | 25 |
| tiers › row 2 › auth | 0 |
| tiers › row 2 › ai api | 461.25 |
| tiers › row 2 › email | 20 |
| tiers › row 2 › monitoring | 0 |
| tiers › row 2 › domain | 1.25 |
| tiers › row 2 › other | 10 |
| tiers › row 2 › total | 537.5 |
| tiers › row 2 › cost per user | 0.54 |
| tiers › row 3 › users | 10000 |
| tiers › row 3 › hosting | 20 |
| tiers › row 3 › database | 25 |
| tiers › row 3 › auth | 0 |
| tiers › row 3 › ai api | 4612.5 |
| tiers › row 3 › email | 20 |
| tiers › row 3 › monitoring | 0 |
| tiers › row 3 › domain | 1.25 |
| tiers › row 3 › other | 10 |
| tiers › row 3 › total | 4688.75 |
| tiers › row 3 › cost per user | 0.47 |
| tiers › row 4 › users | 100000 |
| tiers › row 4 › hosting | 20 |
| tiers › row 4 › database | 25 |
| tiers › row 4 › auth | 1025 |
| tiers › row 4 › ai api | 46125 |
| tiers › row 4 › email | 120 |
| tiers › row 4 › monitoring | 0 |
| tiers › row 4 › domain | 1.25 |
| tiers › row 4 › other | 10 |
| tiers › row 4 › total | 47326.25 |
| tiers › row 4 › cost per user | 0.47 |
| dominant driver | AI API |
| dominant driver percent | 98.37 |
| insight | AI API is 98.37% of your costs at 10K users. Consider caching responses, using a cheaper model for common queries, or batching requests. |
| selected › users | 1000 |
| selected › hosting | 20 |
| selected › database | 25 |
| selected › auth | 0 |
| selected › ai api | 461.25 |
| selected › email | 20 |
| selected › monitoring | 0 |
| selected › domain | 1.25 |
| selected › other | 10 |
| selected › total | 537.5 |
| selected › cost per user | 0.54 |
| selected driver | AI API |
| selected driver percent | 85.81 |
| selected insight | AI API is 85.81% of your costs at 1K users. Consider caching responses, using a cheaper model for common queries, or batching requests. |
Computed live at build time.
The engine returns the per-tier breakdown and flags the dominant driver. The read for the analytics decision: at the user counts where PostHog, Mixpanel, and Amplitude are all free, analytics contributes nothing to the bill, and the AI API and hosting dominate. So choose analytics on fit, not on a cost you are not yet paying, and revisit only when you approach a free-tier ceiling. The full cross-tool roundup is in best analytics tools for micro-SaaS.
5. Decision guidance
- Want one free tool covering analytics, replay, and flags: PostHog (1M events, 5K recordings and 1M flag requests free).
- Want mature funnels and retention reporting: Mixpanel (1M events free; Growth from $100/mo for 1.5M on yearly billing).
- Want the largest free allowance: Amplitude (2M events free, then Plus from $0 as you grow).
- Near a free limit: trim noisy events first; it usually saves more than switching tools.
Re-check each vendor's pricing page before committing; usage-based analytics rates and free-tier limits change. Estimate your monthly events before choosing.
All pricing figures checked against the official pricing pages on 2026-10-18.
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheapest for product analytics in 2026: PostHog, Mixpanel, or Amplitude?
At micro-SaaS scale they are usually all free. PostHog and Mixpanel each include 1 million events a month at no cost, and Amplitude's Free plan includes 2 million, checked on each vendor's pricing page on October 18, 2026. Most small products never exceed those allowances. Past them, all three bill by event volume: Mixpanel's Growth plan starts at $100 a month for 1.5 million events on yearly billing, Amplitude's Plus plan starts at $0 and scales with events, and PostHog's usage-based rate depends on volume. Estimate your monthly events, then price each.
Does Amplitude still charge per monthly tracked user?
No. Amplitude's current plans are priced on event volume: the Free plan includes 2 million events a month, Plus starts at $0 with the first 2 million events free and scales up to 70 million events, and Growth and Enterprise are custom event-based plans. Amplitude still uses monthly tracked users as an analytics concept, but the bill follows events, like PostHog and Mixpanel.
Does PostHog or Mixpanel have the better free tier?
Both give 1 million product-analytics events a month free, so on the headline allowance they tie, and Amplitude's 2 million is larger. The difference is what else the free tier bundles. PostHog's free tier includes 5,000 session recordings, 1 million feature-flag requests and surveys on the same account, which makes it more of an all-in-one free product suite. Mixpanel's free plan focuses on core product analytics with mature funnel and retention reporting.
References
Sources
Primary sources only. No vendor-marketing blogs or aggregated secondary claims.
- 1 PostHog — Pricing (free every month: 1M analytics events, 5K session recordings, 1M feature-flag requests, surveys; usage-based beyond) — accessed 2026-10-18
- 2 Mixpanel — Pricing (Free up to 1M events/mo; Growth from $100/mo for 1.5M events billed yearly, $140 monthly) — accessed 2026-10-18
- 3 Amplitude — Pricing (Free 2M events/mo; Plus starts at $0 with the first 2M events free, up to 70M events; Growth and Enterprise custom, event-based) — accessed 2026-10-18
The 4 vendor figures on this page, each with its source and the date it was checked, are also in the vendor price reference, where every figure has its own link.
Tools referenced in this article