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PostHog vs Shaper
Short answer: Pick PostHog if you want unified product analytics with AI assistance; pick Shaper if you want SQL-driven embedded analytics. PostHog has a free plan; Shaper has a free plan, paid from $59/month.
PostHogProduct analytics, session replay and feature flags
ShaperOpen Source, Minimal Data Platform For Embedded AnalyticsWhich to pick
Pick PostHog if you want…
- Unified product analytics with AI assistance
- Product usage analytics
- Integrations with Stripe, GitHub or Google Ads (on PostHog's list, not Shaper's)
Pick Shaper if you want…
- SQL-driven embedded analytics
- Integrations with DuckDB, NATS or S3 (on Shaper's list, not PostHog's)
Side by side
- What it is
- PostHog:PostHog is an all-in-one product analytics platform with session replay, error tracking, feature flags and AI-driven insights.
- Shaper:Shaper is an open-source, SQL-driven data platform for building and embedding analytics dashboards.
- Best for
- PostHog:Unified product analytics with AI assistance
- Shaper:SQL-driven embedded analytics
- Who it’s for
- PostHog:Product teams and engineers who need analytics, monitoring and automated issue resolution.
- Shaper:Developers and product teams who need embeddable analytics with full data control.
- Pricing
- PostHog:Freemium
- Shaper:Freemium
- Starting price
- PostHog:—
- Shaper:$59/month (Standard)
- Free plan or trial
- PostHog:Free plan (Free)
- Shaper:—
- Plans
- PostHog:Free $0 · Pay-as-you-go $0 per month · Platform packages $0
- Shaper:Standard $59/month per month · Pro $249/month per month · Enterprise $799/month per month
- Open source
- PostHog:Yes, 40,071 GitHub stars
- Shaper:Yes, 1,251 GitHub stars
- Works with
- PostHog:Stripe, GitHub, Google Ads, Postgres, HubSpot, Zendesk, Linear, Slack
- Shaper:DuckDB, NATS, Postgres, S3, Google Sheets, React SDK, JWT, OIDC
PostHog features
- Product Analytics. Capture, store and query events with a free tier of 1 M events per month.
- Session Replay. Record user sessions (5 K free recordings) and surface dead clicks or crashes.
- Error Tracking. Collect exceptions and stack traces, grouped into actionable issues.
- Feature Flags & Experiments. Toggle features and run A/B tests with 1 M free flag requests per month.
- AI Observability. Ask natural-language questions; AI generates diagnostics and pull-request suggestions.
- Managed Data Warehouse. Store raw events, rows and logs; query via SQL or BI tools.
- Workflows & Inbox. Automated agents create PRs, prioritize findings and route tickets to GitHub, Zendesk, etc.
- Integrations. Ingest data from 120+ sources like Stripe, Postgres, HubSpot, Google Ads and more.
Shaper features
- Dynamic Dashboards. Create interactive dashboards with data filters, chart annotations and conditional sections using pure SQL.
- Full DuckDB Power. Query across multiple data sources, use extensions and pre-compute state as temporary tables.
- Embedded Analytics. Embed dashboards via JS/React SDKs and row-level security with per-user JWT tokens.
- Data Export & Reporting. Generate CSV/Excel downloads, PDFs and share password-protected links.
- BI as Code. Version dashboards in Git and automate creation with AI agents.
- Remote Data & Ingest API. Connect to Postgres, S3, Google Sheets and ingest real-time data via an HTTP API that infers schema.
- Task Scheduling. Define scheduled SQL tasks and receive Slack or email notifications.
- Simple Deployment. Run the whole platform in a single Docker container on your own infrastructure.
PostHog vs Shaper FAQ
What is the difference between PostHog and Shaper?+
PostHog: Provides product analytics, session replay and feature flags rather than SQL-driven dashboards.
Should I use PostHog or Shaper?+
Pick PostHog if you want unified product analytics with AI assistance, product usage analytics or integrations with Stripe, GitHub or Google Ads (on PostHog's list, not Shaper's). Pick Shaper if you want SQL-driven embedded analytics or integrations with DuckDB, NATS or S3 (on Shaper's list, not PostHog's).
Is PostHog or Shaper free?+
PostHog has a free plan and paid plans. Shaper has a free plan; paid plans start at $59/month (Standard).
Is PostHog or Shaper open source?+
Yes, both are open source: PostHog (PostHog/posthog on GitHub) and Shaper (taleshape-com/shaper on GitHub, MPL-2.0 license).
Do PostHog and Shaper integrate with the same tools?+
Partly. Both list Postgres. PostHog also lists Stripe, GitHub, Google Ads, HubSpot and 3 more; Shaper also lists DuckDB, NATS, S3, Google Sheets and 5 more.
On DevHunt
Based on each tool's website and DevHunt data. Details may change; check the official sites.