PostHog and Amplitude both capture iOS app events and build funnels, but they differ in SDK shape, free allowance and what else ships in the product. ActivationPal, which publishes this site, is an optional third choice for a fixed install-to-purchase funnel. Compared on 15 October 2026 from vendor pages. No affiliate links are used.
PostHog vs Amplitude at a glance
| Product | Best for | Platform | Price as stated by the source |
|---|
| ActivationPal | A fixed install-to-purchase funnel for mobile apps | Native Swift, Native Android, Flutter, React Native / Expo | First 10,000 events free; unlimited apps and members on every plan (pricing) |
| PostHog | Product analytics, session replay, feature flags and surveys in one tool | iOS, Android, Flutter, React Native and Kotlin Multiplatform SDKs (iOS docs) | First 1M analytics events free each month, then pay as you go; billing limits per product (source) |
| Amplitude | Product analytics with autocapture, session replay, experiments and in-app guides and surveys | iOS Swift SDK (docs); Android, React Native and Flutter SDKs in its docs navigation | Free: 2M events a month; Plus starts at $0 with the first 2M events free; Growth and Enterprise on custom event-based pricing (source) |
ActivationPal for mobile conversion analytics
ActivationPal answers one question: how many installs reach each onboarding step, the paywall and a purchase. It does not capture anything you did not instrument.
SDKs. Native Swift is one file with no dependencies, iOS 15+. Native Android is one Kotlin file for Android 5.0+. Flutter and React Native / Expo have their own SDKs. configure sends first_open and app_open automatically. The quickstart has the steps.
Instrumentation. Onboarding and paywall are one call each, with fixed event names:
ActivationPal.configure(app: "myapp", key: "ap_pk_YOUR_KEY")
ActivationPal.onboardingStep(0, id: "goal")
ActivationPal.onboardingCompleted()
ActivationPal.paywallShown("onboarding")
ActivationPal.paywallPlanSelected("yearly")
ActivationPal.paywallPurchased("yearly")
Funnel. It runs install, each onboarding step, completed, paywall shown, plan selected, purchased. Every stage counts unique devices from the install cohort, so no stage can exceed 100% of installs (events reference).
Revenue. Purchases, trials, renewals and refunds arrive through the RevenueCat webhook as rc_* events (RevenueCat setup). Superwall has its own webhook, with one revenue source per app. For what the revenue side shows, see subscription analytics.
Cost. The first 10,000 events are free, and apps and members are unlimited on every plan.
Limits. The funnel is fixed. Custom events appear in the Events card but do not enter it. There is no autocapture, no session replay and no web analytics, and it counts devices, not people. To check the arithmetic on your own numbers, use the funnel calculator. The homepage shows the dashboard.
SDK setup on iOS
PostHog installs through CocoaPods or Swift Package Manager. You build a PostHogConfig(projectToken:host:) with a US or EU host and pass it to PostHogSDK.shared.setup. Its docs say identifying users is required: call identify after login and reset on logout. Events queue on the device while it is offline, up to maxQueueSize, and the oldest event is dropped first when the queue is full. App Groups let a widget or extension share the identity of the main app. The SDK uses method swizzling for screen views and element interactions (PostHog iOS docs).
Amplitude installs through Swift Package Manager, CocoaPods or Carthage. You create Amplitude(configuration: Configuration(apiKey:, autocapture: [...])) and send a custom event as a BaseEvent through track. Events upload every 30 seconds or after 30 events by default, and flush() sends them immediately. The autocapture option set covers sessions, app lifecycles, screen views, element interactions, network requests and frustration interactions. From v1.10.0 the SDK can also update autocapture settings remotely, without an app update. Amplitude lists a Unified SDK for Swift as well (Amplitude iOS Swift SDK docs).
Event analysis and funnels
PostHog funnel steps can be sequential, strict order or any order. Conversion shows either overall, relative to the first step, or relative to the previous step. You can break results down by event properties, person properties and cohorts, exclude people who did an event between two steps, pick one of four attribution types for a breakdown and match only a user's first occurrence of an event. Steps are actions to perform, so repeating an event type requires the user to trigger it again (PostHog funnel docs).
Amplitude builds a funnel from a starting event and at least one more. You choose this order, any order or exact order, and you can exclude users who did a given event between steps. The segment you choose applies to the starting event. The A/B test funnel view and conversion drivers are Growth and Enterprise features (Amplitude funnel docs).
Integrations and revenue data
PostHog's pricing page lists Sources, billed by synced rows, and data pipelines, billed by events and rows (PostHog pricing).
Amplitude's pricing page lists unlimited sources and destinations on every plan, webhooks from Plus up, one-time audience syncs on every plan and scheduled syncs from Growth up (Amplitude pricing).
A subscription or RevenueCat integration for either tool was not confirmed from the pages used here, so check their integration lists if purchase data matters. ActivationPal reads the RevenueCat and Superwall webhooks and puts revenue beside the funnel.
Deployment and operating model
PostHog sends data to a US or EU cloud host set in the SDK config. Its pricing page also mentions an open source product under the MIT license. Events are retained for 1 year on a free plan and 7 years on a paid plan (PostHog pricing).
Amplitude lists an EU data center option on every plan, along with unlimited team members. Data access is 1 year on Free, 2 years on Plus and unlimited on Growth and Enterprise (Amplitude pricing).
Pricing as of 15 October 2026
PostHog prices each product on its own usage. The monthly free allowance covers 1M analytics events, 5K session recordings, 1M feature flag requests and 1,500 survey responses, and it resets every month. The free plan drops events over the limit. Pay-as-you-go charges for usage above the allowance, and billing limits can be set per product. There are no storage fees, and prices are in USD, excluding taxes (PostHog pricing).
Amplitude's Free plan covers 2M events a month and 10K monthly session replays. Plus starts at $0 with the first 2M events a month free and scales to 70M events. Growth and Enterprise are priced by event volume on request. Startups with under $10M in funding and fewer than 20 employees get one free year of Growth (Amplitude pricing).
ActivationPal's first 10,000 events are free, with unlimited apps and members on every plan (pricing).
How to choose
- PostHog if you want analytics, replay, flags and surveys in one product with a usage-based bill, or an open source option.
- Amplitude if you want autocapture options on the Swift SDK, an EU data center on every plan and experimentation in the same product.
- ActivationPal if the question is onboarding and paywall conversion in an iOS or Android app and you do not want to build reports.
For what a mobile funnel should show, read funnel analysis for mobile apps. For other pairings, see PostHog vs Mixpanel and Mixpanel vs Amplitude.