head to head · open source
PostHog vs Matomo
PostHog has 39,835 GitHub stars, 3,394 forks, 5,637 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Matomo has 21,880 stars, 2,896 forks, 2,578 open issues and last shipped yesterday. PostHog leads on adoption by 82% (39,835 vs 21,880 stars). PostHog is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; Matomo is written in PHP under GPL-3.0. PostHog has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Matomo 13%. PostHog was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (analytics), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| PostHog | Matomo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 22K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 2.9K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick PostHog if
- You weight community size — 40K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Matomo if
- You want the Matomo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and Matomo fits your workflow better
About PostHog
PostHog is an open source platform for building self driving products, combining product analytics, web analytics, session replay, feature flags, experiments, error tracking, logs, surveys, a data warehouse, data pipelines, AI observability, and workflows in a single system, aimed at product, engineering, and growth teams that want to own their product data rather than rent it.
read the full PostHog overview →
About Matomo
Matomo is an open source digital analytics platform for websites and apps, formerly known as Piwik. It lives in the PHP and MySQL web analytics ecosystem, and the provided description positions it as an open alternative to Google Analytics and Amplitude. The project lets an organization collect, visualise, and analyse visitor data from its own digital properties.
read the full Matomo overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is PostHog or Matomo more popular?
PostHog has 39,835 GitHub stars and Matomo has 21,880. PostHog has the larger community by that measure.
Are PostHog and Matomo free?
Both are open source. PostHog has no licence declared in this registry, and Matomo is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between PostHog and Matomo?
PostHog is written in Python and Matomo in PHP. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, PostHog or Matomo?
Choose PostHog if you want the larger community (39,835 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Matomo if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.