Product analytics stack
For PMs, founders, or growth folks stacking 3 analytics tools when one platform covers events, sessions, and funnels.
- Selection
- 3 tools
- Target budget
- Free free plans
- Profile
- Structuring business stage
Which tool does what?
All-in-one platform
PostHog
Generous free tier, events + session replay + feature flags + A/B in one place.Simple web analytics
Plausible Analytics
Add only if you want a lightweight public dashboard for your marketing site.Business dashboard
Metabase
If you have a real SQL database, much better than stacking analytics SaaS.
Why these tools together?
PostHog has a 1 million events per month limit on the free tier, which seems comfortable until you realize that page views + clicks + custom events add up quickly. A product with 300 active MAU can hit 500,000 events/month if everything is tracked without discrimination. Configuring sampling on non-critical events from the start (or enabling recording only on critical flows: onboarding, upgrade, churn) prevents discovering the overage at the wrong moment. The rule: 3 events max at launch: activation (first moment of value), D7 retention, and the event that precedes churn.
A good fit if…
Early-stage SaaS, growth tracking, light A/B testing, session replay, funnels.
Look elsewhere if…
You have a dedicated data team and strict GDPR constraints on the DPO side.
What should you budget?
The target budget is the recommended starting envelope. The list price adds up each core tool's first paid plan. Optional tools are not included.
What to watch out for
Paying for Mixpanel + Hotjar + LogRocket + GA Premium when one open-source platform covers 90% of the need.
Questions to ask yourself
Did you define your 3 to 5 critical events before instrumenting?
No → you will end up with 50 custom events of which 45 you never look at. The only events that matter at early-stage: activation, D7 retention, the event before churn. Start only with those.
Do you look at your analytics more than once a week?
No → you are paying for reassurance, not for action. Set up 3 metrics max on a dashboard + one alert on anomalies (drop >20%). More frequent = noise, not signal.
Do you have a SQL database and want custom analyses?
Yes → open-source Metabase deployed on a VPS (€10-15/month) is structurally superior to any analytics SaaS for custom SQL queries. PostHog SQL Insights covers intermediate cases.
