AddonPulse vs. PostHog
Compare the key features of AddonPulse and PostHog.
Why choose AddonPulse over PostHog?
 AddonPulse | PostHog | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform Focus | ||
| Dedicated Chrome Extension SDK | ||
| Manifest V3 compliant | ||
| Offline event queuing | ||
| Cross-platform tracking (Web + Extension) | ||
| Core Analytics Features | ||
| Simple dashboard | ||
| Real-time data | ||
| UTM tracking | ||
| Custom events | With attributes | With properties |
| Conversion goals | ||
| Autocapture | ||
| Advanced Features | ||
| Cross-platform Funnels | ||
| User journeys (Sankey) | ||
| Unified User profiles | ||
| Sessions tracking | ||
| Real-time globe view | ||
| SQL query interface | ||
| Privacy | ||
| Extension Store privacy compliant | ||
| Cookie-free web tracking | Optional | |
| GDPR compliant | ||
| Privacy-first by default | ||
| Performance & Technical | ||
| Client script size | < 10KB | ~60KB+ |
| API access | ||
| Bot filtering | ||
| Bypasses ad blockers | With proxy | |
| Data & Infrastructure | ||
| Data retention | 3-5+ years | 7 years |
| Team collaboration | ||
| Organization support | ||
Understanding the Key Differences
PostHog Is Amazing... For Traditional Web Apps
Let's be clear: PostHog is an incredibly powerful platform for standard web applications. They've built a comprehensive suite of product analytics tools. But when you try to use PostHog inside a Chrome Extension, the cracks show immediately. PostHog relies heavily on "autocapture" (recording every click and DOM change) and expects a persistent internet connection. AddonPulse takes a fundamentally different approach. We built a Manifest V3-compliant SDK from day one that handles offline queuing, background script sleeping, and secure cross-script messaging seamlessly.
Beautiful Simplicity vs Feature Overload
PostHog follows the "everything and the kitchen sink" philosophy. They have surveys, notebooks, data pipelines, and a dozen other features you have to navigate through just to see your daily active users. Their interface looks like a complex IDE. AddonPulse takes the opposite approach: we carefully selected the features that actually matter for extension developers and made them gorgeous. You can instantly see your landing page traffic, extension installs, and active usage all in one place without writing a single SQL query.
Extension Privacy vs Web Telemetry
Chrome Web Store reviewers are notorious for rejecting extensions that collect too much data. PostHog's default behavior is to collect massive amounts of telemetry, which can easily trigger privacy flags. AddonPulse is privacy-first by design. Our Extension SDK deliberately strips out sensitive data and pathnames before the event ever leaves the user's browser. We keep you compliant with Chrome's strict policies so you don't have to worry about your extension getting delisted.
Unifying the Journey
Tracking a user from your marketing website into your browser extension is notoriously difficult. AddonPulse was built specifically to solve this problem. With our cross-platform funnels and unified user profiles, you can finally see exactly which marketing campaigns (UTMs) are driving active, long-term extension users.
Predictable Pricing vs Billing Surprise
PostHog's pricing is a maze. Each product has its own pricing tier and usage limits. You might start with their free trial, but once you scale, the bills can be shocking because of how much data their autocapture collects. AddonPulse keeps it simple: pay for events, get everything included. Our pricing is transparent and predictable, so you can focus on growing your extension instead of managing your analytics budget.
Fast and Lightweight vs Heavy and Slow
PostHog's web script is over 60KB. If you load that inside your extension's popup or content scripts, you are eating up memory and slowing down the browser. AddonPulse's SDK is incredibly lightweight and optimized specifically for the constraints of browser extensions.