GrainQL vs PostHogPostHog is a toolbox. GrainQL is an analyst.

Name: GrainQL
Price: 29 USD
Author: GrainQL

PostHog suits engineering teams who build their own analysis and ship behind flags. GrainQL suits the founder or marketer who wants to ask why and get the cause.

Start free trial Explore the live demo

14 days free. No card. Runs next to PostHog.

Pick PostHog if

You have engineers who want analytics, flags, experiments and SQL in one place, and you like a free plan.

You ship behind feature flags and test changes with experiments
Someone on the team is happy writing SQL against raw events
You are small enough to stay inside the free monthly allowances

Pick GrainQL if

You run growth or marketing with no data team, and you want the cause of a drop without building the query.

The person asking the question will never write a query
You want to hear about a drop before you think to look for it
You want a bill that follows visitors, not events and recordings

Both tools have features. Three things decide it.

The question comes from marketing.

Signups dropped this week. The person who noticed runs the ad account. They have never opened a query editor and do not plan to.

In PostHog

PostHog AI answers plain-English questions, builds the insight and writes the SQL. It sits inside a deep toolbox that an engineer usually sets up and maintains.

In GrainQL

Kai is the front door of GrainQL. Ask in plain words and get a first answer in about 3 seconds, with the cause named and the session recordings attached.

Nobody asked the question yet.

A form broke on Saturday. Nobody looked at a dashboard until Monday. Two days of visitors hit the same dead end.

In PostHog

PostHog can alert you with thresholds or anomaly detection. Someone first has to save the insight and set the alert on it.

In GrainQL

Kai sends a daily digest and flags drops and spikes without being asked. One customer found 700+ form interactions and zero submissions in 4 minutes.

The bill follows a different number.

A campaign lands and traffic doubles for a week. You want to know what that does to the invoice before it arrives.

In PostHog

PostHog bills each product by usage: events, recordings, flag requests, AI credits. The free allowances are generous. Past them, the total moves with volume.

In GrainQL

GrainQL bills by monthly visitors, with unlimited events per visitor and no overages. Kai, replay and heatmaps are on every plan.

The live demo runs on real data. Ask Kai a question and see what comes back.

Ask Kai on the live demo

Row by row.

What each tool ships today, including the rows PostHog wins. Checked against PostHog’s own site in October 2026.

Feature

PostHog

GrainQL

Finding the cause

Ask questions in plain words

PostHog

PostHog AI

GrainQL

Kai

Multi-step investigation report

PostHog

Research mode, closed beta

GrainQL

Deep Investigation

Alerts on drops and spikes

PostHog

Set per saved insight

GrainQL

Kai flags them unasked

SQL on raw event data

PostHog

Yes

GrainQL

Query API

Seeing the evidence

Session replay

PostHog

Yes

GrainQL

On every plan

Heatmaps

PostHog

Yes

GrainQL

Click and scroll

Funnels

PostHog

Yes

GrainQL

Tracks, every path mapped

Track a click without code

PostHog

Toolbar

GrainQL

Visual picker

Shipping and testing

Feature flags

PostHog

Yes

GrainQL

Remote Config only

A/B tests and experiments

PostHog

Yes

GrainQL

Surveys

PostHog

Yes

GrainQL

Data warehouse

PostHog

Yes

GrainQL

Setup and data

Open source

PostHog

MIT license

GrainQL

Self-hosting

PostHog

Free, officially unsupported

GrainQL

Enterprise private deployment

EU hosting

PostHog

Frankfurt

GrainQL

Finland

Cookieless tracking

PostHog

Opt-in mode you configure

GrainQL

By default

What it costs.

PostHog

Free every month: 1 million events, 5,000 recordings and 1 million flag requests. Past that, each product bills by usage, from $0.00005 per event.

GrainQL

From $29 a month for 50,000 monthly visitors. Billed by visitors, with unlimited events per visitor. Every feature is on every plan.

See every plan

For a small site PostHog costs nothing and GrainQL starts at $29. Pick GrainQL for the analyst, not for the lower bill.

Where PostHog is the better pick.

If one of these is your situation, stay where you are. We would rather tell you now than after a trial.

Your engineers want one toolbox.

Flags, experiments, surveys, error tracking and a data warehouse sit next to the analytics. GrainQL has none of those. If you ship behind flags, PostHog is the right home.

You need a real free plan.

PostHog is free every month up to 1 million events and 5,000 recordings. GrainQL has a 14-day trial and no free plan.

You want open source and SQL.

PostHog is MIT licensed and gives you SQL on your raw events. GrainQL is closed source, and self-hosting exists only as an Enterprise private deployment.

None of those is you.

Then see what Kai finds on your own traffic. One tag, about two minutes, and PostHog keeps running.

Start free trial

You do not have to switch. Run both.

The two scripts run on the same page without conflict. A common split: engineering keeps PostHog for flags and experiments, and marketing runs GrainQL beside it.

Add the GrainQL tag next to PostHog.

One script tag in the head, or through GTM. About two minutes. Leave PostHog, your flags and your experiments exactly as they are.

Ask both the same question.

Take one real drop from the last two weeks. Ask PostHog AI and ask Kai. Compare how fast a non-engineer gets to a cause they can act on.

Decide who uses what.

At day 14, check who opened each tool. If marketing only opened GrainQL, keep both. If engineers covered it all in PostHog, stay there.

Free checklist

The side-by-side test plan.

One page for running GrainQL next to PostHog: what to install, what to compare, and how to call it after 14 days.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

Questions buyers ask.

Can I run GrainQL and PostHog at the same time?

Yes. The GrainQL tag is one script in the head or in GTM, and it runs next to the PostHog snippet. A sensible split is PostHog for flags, experiments and SQL, and GrainQL for marketing and growth.

PostHog already has PostHog AI. How is Kai different?

PostHog AI is real. It queries your data, writes SQL, builds insights and finds replays, and its Research mode is in closed beta. Kai is the main way to use GrainQL, built for people who never write a query. Kai also sends a daily digest and attaches recordings to each answer.

Is GrainQL cheaper than PostHog?

Often not. PostHog is free each month up to 1 million events and 5,000 recordings, then bills each product by usage. GrainQL starts at $29 a month for 50,000 visitors with no free plan. GrainQL bills by visitors, so extra events per visitor do not change the price.

What does PostHog have that GrainQL lacks?

Feature flags, A/B testing and experiments, surveys, a data warehouse, an open source codebase and a free plan. GrainQL is also a younger product with a smaller community and fewer integrations.

Do I have to migrate my PostHog data to try GrainQL?

No. GrainQL starts collecting from the moment you add the tag, and your PostHog history stays in PostHog. Nothing has to be removed or moved to run the 14-day trial.

Where does each tool store data?

PostHog Cloud EU is hosted in Frankfurt, and PostHog also offers a US cloud and self-hosting. GrainQL is hosted in Finland and is cookieless by default. PostHog supports cookieless tracking as a mode you switch on.

Comparing something else

GrainQL vs Google Analytics GrainQL vs Hotjar GrainQL vs Microsoft Clarity GrainQL vs Mixpanel GrainQL vs Amplitude GrainQL vs Fullstory GrainQL vs Plausible GrainQL vs Umami GrainQL vs Rybbit All comparisons

Keep PostHog. Add the analyst.

Start the 14-day trial with no credit card, paste one tag next to PostHog, and ask Kai about your last drop.

Start free trial Explore the live demo