Beam vs PostHog
PostHog is a powerful open-source product analytics platform built for engineering and product teams. It does a lot — session replay, feature flags, A/B testing, funnels, heatmaps, and more. Beam does one thing well: lightweight, cookie-free web analytics that deploys in 5 minutes and requires zero ongoing maintenance.
| Feature | Beam | Competitor |
|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | Web traffic analytics | Full product analytics suite |
| Pricing (hosted) | Free / $5/mo Pro | Free up to 1M events, then usage-based |
| Open source | Tracking script only (MIT) | Fully open source (MIT) |
| Cookies used | None | Yes (for user tracking) |
| GDPR compliant | Yes — no consent needed | Requires consent banner for EU visitors |
| Setup time | < 5 minutes (one script tag) | 30–60 minutes (SDK config, events, properties) |
| Infrastructure required | None — fully managed | Managed cloud or self-hosted server |
| Session replay | No | Yes |
| Feature flags | No | Yes |
| A/B testing | No | Yes |
| Funnels | No | Yes |
| Heatmaps | No | Yes |
| Custom events | Yes | Yes |
| Script size | < 2 KB | ~70 KB (full SDK) |
| Free tier (hosted) | 1 site, 50K pv/mo | 1M events/mo (card required) |
Where PostHog Has the Edge
PostHog is one of the most feature-complete product analytics platforms available. If your team needs to understand how users interact with your product — not just how many arrived — PostHog delivers. Session replay lets you watch real user sessions. Feature flags let you gate new features by user segment. A/B testing integrates directly with your analytics data. Funnels show you where users drop off in multi-step flows.
PostHog's open-source MIT license also means you can self-host the entire stack for complete data ownership — useful if regulatory requirements demand it. The 1M events/month free tier is generous for early-stage products, and the community and documentation are excellent.
Where Beam Has the Edge
PostHog's power comes with complexity. Installing PostHog correctly takes planning: you need to decide which events to track, configure user identification, set up properties, and instrument your codebase. That setup overhead is worthwhile for teams building SaaS products, but it's significant overhead for content sites, blogs, and marketing pages that just need reliable traffic data.
Beam is the opposite: one script tag, five minutes, done. There's nothing to configure. Pageviews, referrers, countries, devices, and browsers flow automatically. No cookies means no consent banner required under GDPR, PECR, or CCPA — a meaningful UX and compliance advantage.
PostHog's SDK is also roughly 70 KB — necessary for its feature set, but noticeably heavier than Beam's sub-2 KB script. For performance-sensitive sites, script weight matters.
Which Should You Choose?
Choose PostHog if: you're building a product and need feature flags, A/B testing, session replay, or funnel analysis. PostHog is purpose-built for product teams who want to understand how users interact with their app — not just how they arrived.
Choose Beam if: you want privacy-first web traffic analytics without cookies, consent banners, or a complex SDK. Beam works for any site — blogs, marketing pages, Shopify stores, content sites — and takes 5 minutes to install. It's also worth noting these tools aren't mutually exclusive: some teams use Beam for cookieless traffic data alongside PostHog for product analytics.
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