Softwr

Software · head to head

PagerDuty vs PostHog

PagerDuty logo

PagerDuty

Software

Real-time operations for real-time business

From
$21/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
PostHog logo

PostHog

Software

The single platform to analyze, test, observe, and deploy new features

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only PostHog has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: PagerDuty aIOps, status pages, and live call routing are expensive add-ons not included in base plans, significantly increasing total cost; PostHog the free tier covers 1M events, 5K web session recordings and 2.5K mobile recordings per month before usage-based billing starts
  • They diverge on capability: PagerDuty covers Incident response, PostHog covers Product analytics.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which PagerDuty and PostHog actually diverge.

Attributes where PagerDuty and PostHog differ
AttributePagerDutyPostHog
Starting price$21/monthFree
Pricing modelUnknownusage-based
Free tierNoYes
Founded20092020

Identical on both: platforms (Web, Ios, Android, Api), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in PagerDuty

  • Incident response
  • On-call management
  • Alert grouping
  • Escalation policies
  • Mobile incident management
  • Postmortems
  • Status pages
  • Event intelligence

Only in PostHog

  • Product analytics
  • Session recording
  • Feature flags
  • A/B testing
  • Heatmaps
  • SQL access
  • Data warehouse
  • Apps platform

Both cover

  • Slack
  • Microsoft Teams
  • SOC2
  • HIPAA
  • GDPR

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

PagerDuty

  • Incident managementnot PostHog
  • On-call schedulingnot PostHog
  • Real-time alertingnot PostHog
  • Service reliabilitynot PostHog
  • Digital operationsnot PostHog

PostHog

  • Product analyticsnot PagerDuty
  • Feature experimentationnot PagerDuty
  • User behavior trackingnot PagerDuty
  • A/B testingnot PagerDuty
  • Debug production issuesnot PagerDuty

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

PagerDuty

  • AIOps, status pages, and live call routing are expensive add-ons not included in base plans, significantly increasing total cost
  • Complex escalation policies require workarounds for scheduling patterns beyond basic weekly rotations
  • 5-user minimum requirement forces costs even for small teams, with forced Business tier upgrades adding $12,000+ annually for larger teams

PostHog

  • The free tier covers 1M events, 5K web session recordings and 2.5K mobile recordings per month before usage-based billing starts
  • Accounts without a card on file are limited to 1 project; adding one raises it to 6
  • Data retention is 1 year until a card is added, which extends it to 7 years
  • Support is community-only until the account is on a paid plan
  • Error tracking is capped at 100K exceptions and surveys at 1500 responses per month on the free tier

Pricing, plan by plan

PagerDuty

$21/month

No published plan breakdown. See the PagerDuty review.

PostHog

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 1M events/month
    • 5K sessions/month
    • Unlimited users
  • Paid$undefined/month
    • $0.00031/event
    • $0.005/session
    • Advanced permissions
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • SAML SSO
    • Advanced security
    • Dedicated support

Which should you pick?

Choose PagerDuty if

  • You need incident response.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
  • You also want on-call management.
PagerDuty review

Choose PostHog if

  • You need product analytics.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
  • You also want session recording.
PostHog review

Questions people ask

Is PagerDuty or PostHog better?
Neither clearly leads. PagerDuty starts at $21/month and PostHog at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, PagerDuty or PostHog?
PostHog has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $21/month for PagerDuty and Free for PostHog.
Does PagerDuty or PostHog run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, Ios, Android, Api, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use PostHog for free?
Yes. PostHog has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. PagerDuty starts at $21/month.
What is PagerDuty best used for?
PagerDuty is most often used for incident management, on-call scheduling, real-time alerting, service reliability. Of those, incident management and on-call scheduling are not what PostHog is typically brought in for.
What can PagerDuty do that PostHog cannot?
PagerDuty covers Incident response, On-call management, Alert grouping, Escalation policies. PostHog covers Product analytics, Session recording, Feature flags, A/B testing. Both handle Slack, Microsoft Teams, SOC2, HIPAA.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

PagerDuty: What is the minimum cost to use PagerDuty?

PagerDuty requires a minimum of 5 users per account. The Professional plan starts at $21 per user per month ($105/month minimum), with annual billing providing 16% discount.

Source
PagerDuty: What integrations does PagerDuty support?

PagerDuty integrates with 750+ monitoring, ticketing, and collaboration tools including Datadog, Slack, Jira, ServiceNow, New Relic, and Nagios.

Source
PagerDuty: How much does AIOps cost in PagerDuty?

AIOps Intelligence is sold separately as an add-on starting at $699 per month, and is not included in any of the base plans.

Source
ShareXLinkedInRedditWhatsAppEmail

Related pages

More on PagerDuty

More on PostHog

Keep looking

Other head to heads