head to head · open source
PostHog vs Countly
PostHog has 40,600 GitHub stars, 3,579 forks, 5,637 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Countly has 5,925 stars, 985 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped yesterday. PostHog leads on adoption by 585% (40,600 vs 5,925 stars). PostHog is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; Countly is written in JavaScript under a custom or non-standard licence. PostHog has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Countly 17%. PostHog was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (analytics, feature-flags), 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 | Countly | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 5.9K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.6K | ⑂ 985 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick PostHog if
- You weight community size — 41K 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 Countly if
- You want the Countly feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and Countly fits your workflow better
About PostHog
Docs Community Roadmap Why PostHog? Changelog Bug reports PostHog is the open source platform for building self driving products PostHog provides every tool you need to build a successful product, and captures all the context agents need to proactively diagnose problems, uncover opportunities, and ship fixes: Self driving mode: Turn signals in your product data (errors, rage clicks, failed queries, and more) into researched reports and pull requests you review and merge. Product analytics: Autocapture or manually instrument event based analytics to understand user behavior and analyze data with visualization or…
read the full PostHog overview →
About Countly
🔗 Quick links Countly Website Countly Server installation guide Countly SDKs, download and documentation links Countly Community on Discord User Guides for Countly features 🌟 What is Countly? Countly is a privacy first, AI ready analytics and customer engagement platform built for organizations that require full data ownership and deployment flexibility . Unlike traditional SaaS only analytics tools, Countly can be deployed on premises or in a private cloud , giving you complete control over your data, infrastructure, compliance, and security. Teams use Countly to: Understand user behavior across mobile, web…
read the full Countly overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is PostHog or Countly more popular?
PostHog has 40,600 GitHub stars and Countly has 5,925. PostHog has the larger community by that measure.
Are PostHog and Countly free?
Neither PostHog nor Countly declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between PostHog and Countly?
PostHog is written in Python and Countly in JavaScript. 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 Countly?
Choose PostHog if you want the larger community (40,600 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Countly if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.