PostHog vs RudderStack
Self-host pick — both replace Amplitude (Product analytics / event tracking / funnels).
Both PostHog and RudderStack self-host as a replacement for Amplitude (Product analytics / event tracking / funnels). Pick PostHog if you want a MIT-licensed codebase (MIT); pick RudderStack for AGPL (AGPL-3.0). Both run in roughly the same cost bracket — $20-40 vps — clickhouse + postgres + kafka + redis + the app; demanding stack but absorbs serious event volume vs $15 vps for the server; storage is wherever you route events (bigquery / snowflake / your own postgres).
| PostHogopen-source | RudderStackopen-source | |
|---|---|---|
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Setup time | 20min docker-compose (the official `hobby` deploy is one command) | 30min docker-compose (rudder-server + Postgres + transformer + control plane) |
| Monthly cost | $20-40 VPS — ClickHouse + Postgres + Kafka + Redis + the app; demanding stack but absorbs serious event volume. | $15 VPS for the server; storage is wherever you route events (BigQuery / Snowflake / your own Postgres). |
| GitHub | PostHog/posthog | rudderlabs/rudder-server |
| Replaces | Amplitude + 2 other | Amplitude |
Good fit for
PostHog
Teams whose Amplitude use is funnel + retention + feature flags — PostHog matches that surface and adds session replay and surveys.
Weak at:Heavy resource footprint vs. lighter analytics tools; ClickHouse is excellent but adds an ops surface most small teams don't have.
RudderStack
Teams that want a CDP shape — events fan out to many tools — and are happy doing analysis in a separate BI layer.
Weak at:Not an analytics tool by itself; you still need Metabase / Superset / a warehouse to do funnels. Higher overall stack count.
In a terminal? npx -y github:SolvoHQ/os-alt-cli amplitude prints Amplitude's self-host options including both —
how the CLI works →
FAQ
Which is easier to self-host, PostHog or RudderStack?
PostHog: 20min docker-compose (the official `hobby` deploy is one command). RudderStack: 30min docker-compose (rudder-server + Postgres + transformer + control plane).
What does each cost to run?
PostHog: $20-40 VPS — ClickHouse + Postgres + Kafka + Redis + the app; demanding stack but absorbs serious event volume.. RudderStack: $15 VPS for the server; storage is wherever you route events (BigQuery / Snowflake / your own Postgres).. Both projects are free and open source.
Do PostHog and RudderStack replace the same SaaS?
Yes — both are open-source alternatives to Amplitude.