Cost as event volume grows
Same per-event rates as above, monthly events varied across a representative range. Watch where PostHog's step-down starts beating Mixpanel's flat rate, and where Amplitude's editable quote-rate would need to land to stay competitive.
| Events / mo | PostHog | Mixpanel | Amplitude* | Cheapest |
|---|
Three different event-billing shapes for the same job
PostHog bills free tier (1M events) + min(billable, tier-1 ceiling β free) Γ tier-1 rate + max(0, events β tier-1 ceiling) Γ tier-2 rate β a genuine step-down structure where the marginal cost of each extra event actually falls as you send more (roughly $0.00005/event from 1M-2M, dropping to about $0.0000343/event beyond 2M). Mixpanel's Growth plan is far simpler and far less forgiving at scale: max(0, events β 1M free) Γ flat rate, with that flat rate sitting around $0.00028/event regardless of whether you're sending 2M or 200M events a month β no built-in discount as volume grows on the published self-serve tier. Amplitude gives the largest free allowance (2M events) but doesn't publish a self-serve per-event rate at all past that point; Plus-plan usage is priced into a custom contracted rate, and overages above your contracted volume are billed at roughly a 1.2x multiplier on that rate β so any number you plug in here for Amplitude is a stand-in for whatever your actual quote turns out to be.
The practical effect: at low volume (under ~1-2M events/month) all three are often free, so the free-tier size matters more than the billing shape. Past that point PostHog's step-down usually wins on raw event math, while Mixpanel's flat rate can get punishing fast at high volume β but Mixpanel and Amplitude both bundle more session-replay and experimentation allowance into their free/entry tiers than PostHog's analytics-only free tier, so the "cheapest" vendor for events isn't automatically the cheapest vendor for your whole analytics stack. Run your real monthly event count through the calculator above instead of comparing headline free-tier numbers.
How this calculator works
The PostHog vs Mixpanel vs Amplitude Cost Calculator compares three product-analytics event-billing shapes at your monthly event volume: PostHog steps its per-event rate down in two tiers after a free allowance, Mixpanel charges one flat overage rate on every event past its free tier, and Amplitude gives the biggest free tier but prices everything beyond it into a custom contracted rate rather than a published self-serve number. PostHog's cost is min(billable events, tier-1 ceiling β free) Γ tier-1 rate + max(0, events β tier-1 ceiling) Γ tier-2 rate; Mixpanel is max(0, events β free) Γ flat rate; Amplitude is max(0, events β free) Γ representative rate (edit this to your actual quote once you have one). The comparison table below sweeps a representative range of monthly event volumes so you can see exactly where each vendor's ranking flips.
These are representative pricing shapes based on typical published rates as of 2026 (PostHog β$0.00005/event from 1M-2M events then β$0.0000343/event beyond; Mixpanel Growth β$0.00028/event flat past 1M free events; Amplitude Plus gives 2M free events then negotiates a custom rate, with overages roughly 1.2x that contracted rate) β not live vendor quotes. Actual pricing varies by contract term, annual vs monthly billing, bundled features (session replay, feature flags, experimentation) and negotiated enterprise terms. Always confirm current pricing directly with each vendor before budgeting.
Frequently asked questions
Is PostHog cheaper than Mixpanel for product analytics?
Usually yes past the first few million events, because PostHog steps its per-event rate down as volume grows (about $0.00005/event from 1M-2M events, then roughly $0.0000343/event beyond that), while Mixpanel's Growth plan charges a flat ~$0.00028/event on every event past its 1M free tier with no built-in step-down. At 12M events/month PostHog runs about $393 versus roughly $3,080 on Mixpanel Growth β but Mixpanel's larger built-in free tier and bundled session replay can still make it competitive at low volume. Both figures are representative published rates, not live quotes β confirm current pricing with each vendor.
Why doesn't Amplitude publish a per-event overage rate like PostHog and Mixpanel?
Amplitude's self-serve Plus plan gives 2 million events free, then usage above that is priced into a custom contracted rate that Amplitude negotiates per account rather than publishing a flat per-event number β and overages above your contracted volume are billed at roughly a 1.2x multiplier on that contracted rate. That makes Amplitude the hardest of the three to model without an actual quote; this calculator uses an editable representative rate so you can plug in your own quoted number once you have one.
What is PostHog's step-down event pricing exactly?
PostHog gives the first 1,000,000 analytics events free every month. Events from 1M up to 2M are billed at roughly $0.00005 each, and every event beyond 2M drops to roughly $0.0000343 each. So a month with 12M events costs about $50 for the 1M-2M tier plus $343 for the remaining 10M, totaling around $393 β a genuine step-down structure, not a flat per-event rate.
Which product analytics tool is cheapest overall β PostHog, Mixpanel or Amplitude?
There is no universal answer because each vendor metres and prices events differently: PostHog's per-event rate steps down as volume grows, Mixpanel charges one flat overage rate regardless of scale, and Amplitude hides its post-free-tier rate behind a custom quote. At low volume (under ~2M events/month) the generous free tiers of all three often mean $0 either way. At high volume, PostHog's step-down usually wins on raw event cost, though Mixpanel and Amplitude bundle different amounts of session replay, feature flags and experimentation that can offset the difference. Run your own event volume through the calculator above instead of trusting a headline free-tier number.