In short
PostHog is an all-in-one toolkit for software teams: session replay sits beside product analytics, feature flags, experiments, surveys, error tracking and heatmaps. Its cloud gives 5,000 website recordings a month free, keeps data in the US or the EU (Frankfurt), and its open-source version can be run on your own servers. Faintrail does only session replay, for owners and marketers: each visit plays beside a plain-words log, typed text is never recorded, email addresses, phone and card numbers on the page are hidden, and you choose the EU, the UK or the US. Faintrail can't be self-hosted yet.
PostHog session replay and Faintrail side by side
| Faintrail | PostHog session replay | |
|---|---|---|
| What you see | Each visit replayed beside a plain-words log; rage clicks, unanswered clicks, unsent forms and errors marked for you | Replay with clicks, console logs and network requests, on websites and mobile apps; heatmaps, analytics, surveys and experiments are other PostHog products |
| Privacy defaults | Typed text never recorded; email addresses, phone and card numbers on the page hidden; pages you mark private left out; sets no cookies, though in "record unless they say no" mode it keeps a visit number in the browser's storage, which privacy rules can treat like a cookie | On websites, form fields are masked by default and "general text is not masked by default". Its website script sets a cross-domain cookie by default |
| Where data is kept | Hosted by Faintrail in the EU, the UK or the US: you choose | PostHog Cloud in the US or the EU (Frankfurt), or its open-source version on your own server (MIT licence, "officially unsupported") |
| AI | Download up to 100 visits as one text file for the assistant you already use. Nothing is sent to an AI automatically | PostHog AI can summarise recordings in its in-app chat; Replay Vision has AI watch recordings and turn them into data; recordings readable over MCP |
| How long visits are kept | Replays 30 days and logs 90 days by default, up to a year if you choose | Up to 30 days on the free plan, 90 days pay-as-you-go, a year on Boost and Scale, five years on Enterprise |
| Price | Not set yet | First 5,000 website and 2,500 mobile recordings a month free, no credit card. Then from $0.0050 per website recording, falling to $0.0015 with volume |
| Set-up | One small script, pasted in once. Nothing to host | A website snippet (PostHog's recommended way) or a code package; running it yourself needs a server of at least 4 CPUs and 16 GB of memory |
Prices in US dollars, as PostHog shows them. Sources, checked 15 November 2026: Session replay pricing; PostHog pricing; Replay privacy controls; Replay data retention; Data storage; Self-host; JavaScript library; Replay Vision.
Why teams choose Faintrail
- One job, in plain words. PostHog is built for software teams who want analytics, flags, experiments and replay together. Faintrail is a list of visits you can open, filter and read, so an owner or marketer can use it without learning a toolkit.
- Read a visit like a story. Every visit has a plain-words log, such as Opened /pricing or Clicked button "Pay £89" ⚠ unanswered click, with the problems marked. You can skim a visit in seconds and watch only the moment that matters.
- Personal details on the page are hidden from the start. Both tools keep form fields out by default. PostHog leaves other page text visible unless someone changes a setting; Faintrail hides email addresses, phone and card numbers shown on any page, and sets no cookies (in "record unless they say no" mode it keeps a visit number in the browser's storage, which privacy rules can treat like one).
- Keep visits in the UK, if that's where you work. PostHog Cloud offers the US or the EU. Faintrail offers the EU, the UK or the US, and never sells or shares your visitors' data.
- Use the AI you already trust. PostHog's AI works inside PostHog. Faintrail gives you the visits as a text file for the assistant your business already uses, and you can read exactly what it was given.
When PostHog is the better choice
Choose PostHog if you want product analytics, feature flags, experiments, surveys and heatmaps in the same tool as your recordings, or if you record mobile apps. It's also the better choice if you must run everything on your own servers and have developers to look after it, since its open-source version is free to self-host (unsupported by PostHog), and Faintrail can't be self-hosted yet. And its free allowance is generous today: 5,000 website recordings a month, with low prices beyond that. Faintrail has no prices yet.
Switching from PostHog session replay
- Add Faintrail beside PostHog. Both scripts can run at once. You can keep PostHog for analytics and experiments, and turn its recordings off later if you no longer need them.
- Set what to record. Choose your private pages, the pages always recorded and how many visitors to record (one in ten to start with). PostHog's masking settings don't carry over.
- Compare a week of visits. Check that Faintrail shows you what you opened PostHog's replays for.
- Keep what you need. Recordings stay in PostHog; Faintrail can't import them. PostHog lets you export a recording to a file that PostHog can read back later.
Questions people ask
Is PostHog free?
PostHog has a free plan with monthly allowances for each product, and no credit card is needed. For session replay that's the first 5,000 website recordings and 2,500 mobile recordings a month; after that, website recordings start at $0.0050 each. Faintrail has no prices yet.
Is PostHog GDPR compliant?
That depends on how it's set up on your site as much as on the tool. PostHog offers a cloud in the EU, hosted in Frankfurt, and recommends it if you need "robust GDPR compliance". We don't judge another company's compliance. Faintrail is designed to collect less: no typed text, personal details on the page hidden, and data kept in the EU, the UK or the US, as you choose.
Does PostHog session replay record what users type?
On websites, PostHog masks form fields by default, but its documentation says "general text is not masked by default", so names and other details shown on a page appear in the replay unless a developer changes a setting. Faintrail never records typed text, and hides email addresses, phone and card numbers shown on any page. Other text on ordinary pages does appear in Faintrail's replays too, so mark pages private if they show personal details.
Is PostHog open source? Can I self-host it?
Yes. PostHog offers a free Docker version under the MIT licence that you run yourself; PostHog calls it "officially unsupported", and paid features are cloud-only. Faintrail is hosted for you and can't be run on your own servers yet. If you need that, contact us.
Can I keep PostHog and use Faintrail for recordings?
Yes. They're separate scripts, so you can keep PostHog's analytics and experiments and read visits in Faintrail.
Is there a PostHog alternative in the EU?
PostHog itself offers an EU cloud in Frankfurt. If you'd rather keep visits in the UK, or want a tool that does only session replay, Faintrail lets you choose the EU, the UK or the US.
