Skip to content

Join the Seedly owners community →

Analytics

PostHog Privacy and Pricing

Consent, self-hosting, the PostHog dashboard and pricing

Written by 3 min read1 activity
Sprout, your presenter

Sprout presents

Consent, self-hosting, the dashboard and pricing. Collecting data responsibly is the professional thing to do, and also the legally sensible thing.Consent, self-hosting, the dashboard and pricing. Collecting data responsibly is the professional thing to do, and also the legally sensible thing.

Sprout offers a tray with a green button and a terracotta button at a garden gate
Ask before you track and always offer a way out

Privacy Considerations#

Analytics brings up privacy questions. PostHog handles them well.

I'm a broken record about compliance. TCPA texting violations run $500 to $1,500 PER MESSAGE, so I treat privacy rules as non-negotiable everywhere.

Ask people before you track them. PostHog makes it easy to keep tracking off until someone says yes. You start it opted out, then flip it on when they click "Accept" on your cookie banner. The init call below replaces the one in your instrumentation-client.js file, it just adds one extra setting.

// Start with tracking OFF
posthog.init(process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_PROJECT_TOKEN, {
  api_host: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_POSTHOG_HOST,
  defaults: '2026-05-30',
  opt_out_capturing_by_default: true
})
 
// Later, when the user makes a choice on your banner
if (userConsented) {
  posthog.opt_in_capturing()
} else {
  posthog.opt_out_capturing()
}

Self-Hosting#

Unlike some analytics tools, PostHog is open source and can run on your own servers, so your data never leaves your control (you know I love that). Fair warning though. PostHog calls self-hosting "officially unsupported," it's meant for smaller volumes, and the paid features are Cloud-only. For most folks the easier privacy move is PostHog Cloud with the EU or US region, whichever fits where your users are.

No Personal Data Required#

You can track behavior without tracking personally identifiable information. You can spot patterns without knowing who each person is.

The PostHog Dashboard#

PostHog's dashboard lets you do a lot.

  • View events. See every tracked event and how often it happens
  • Build charts. Visualize data over time
  • Create funnels. Analyze how people flow through your app
  • Watch recordings. See exactly what people do
  • Manage flags. Control feature rollouts
  • Set up alerts. Get a heads up when your numbers change

Pricing#

Sprout carries a chest of charts into his own cabin and locks the door
Self hosting keeps your analytics data in your control

PostHog has a generous free tier, and you don't need a credit card for it. As of October 2026, here's what you get free every month.

  • Product analytics. First 1 million events
  • Session replay. First 5,000 recordings
  • Feature flags. First 1 million flag requests
  • Paid plan. $0 base price. You keep the free tier and only pay for what you use above it

Prices change, so check PostHog's pricing page for the current numbers before you plan around them.

Most apps can ride the free tier for a LONG time.

TL;DR#

  • Analytics helps you see how people actually use your app
  • PostHog is a developer-friendly, privacy-conscious analytics platform
  • Track events (actions), page views, and user identities
  • Session recordings show you exactly what people experience
  • Funnels show where people drop off in multi-step processes
  • Feature flags let you roll out new features a lil at a time
  • Always respect privacy and give people a way to opt out

This lesson ends with a short activity.