A PostHog alternative for teams who want answers, not another platform.
PostHog is an open-source suite: analytics, replay, flags, experiments, surveys and error tracking. Trace does one job. It finds what frustrates visitors, ranks it, hands the fix to your coding agent, and checks the result, without recordings or cookies.
Keep PostHog if you need
- Feature flags and A/B experiments in the same tool
- Session replay, surveys and a data warehouse
- SQL over raw events
Choose Trace if you want
- A short ranked list instead of dashboards to build
- No recordings and no cookies by default, hosted in the EU
- A supported self-host: one binary with SQLite or Postgres
Side by side
| PostHog | Trace | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Many products in one platform | One job: find, fix, verify |
| Frustration | Rage clicks via autocapture, plus replay | Rage and dead clicks per element, ranked |
| Browser errors | Error tracking product | Errors and failed requests, with visits broken |
| Cookies | By default; optional cookieless mode | None by default |
| Coding agents | MCP server | MCP server built for the loop: problem, fix, verdict |
| Did it work? | Through an experiment you set up | A verdict 14 days after each release, no setup |
| Self-host | Free hobby deploy (MIT), unsupported; Cloud recommended at scale | One binary, no limits |
PostHog details from its public documentation, checked 29 October 2026. Spot something out of date? Tell us.
Moving from PostHog: what maps to what
If you use PostHog mainly for product analytics and replay, here is where each piece lands.
| In PostHog | In Trace |
|---|---|
posthog.capture() | trace.track() |
| Insights: funnels, retention | Funnels and retention in trace.json |
| Rage clicks in replays | Problems ranked by visits affected |
| Feature flags, experiments | No equivalent. Keep PostHog for these. |
Run them side by side for a month
Add the Trace tag next to PostHog. It adds 8.4 KB and does its work when the browser is idle.
Compare Trace's top problems with what your PostHog dashboards show. Ship one with /trace:fix.
Read the verdict on what you shipped. Keep what still earns its place. Flags and experiments can stay in PostHog.
Questions from PostHog users
Both are open source. Why switch?
You may not need to. Trace is smaller, records no sessions, and closes the loop from problem to verified fix.
Can I self-host on a small server?
Yes. Trace is one binary; SQLite is enough to start.
Does Trace do feature flags?
No, and it won't. It reads your releases and judges them.
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