PostHog vs Mixpanel for mobile conversion

PostHog and Mixpanel both collect iOS app events through an SDK, but PostHog bundles replay, flags and surveys while Mixpanel's SDK is built around explicit track calls. ActivationPal, which publishes this site, is an optional third choice for a fixed install-to-purchase funnel. Compared on 15 October 2026 from the vendors' own pages.

PostHog vs Mixpanel at a glance

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.

Mobile instrumentation

PostHog installs on iOS 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 flush when it is online again. App Groups let a widget or extension share the same identity as the main app. The SDK uses method swizzling for screen views and element interactions (PostHog iOS docs).

Mixpanel installs through Swift Package Manager (version 2.8.0 or above), CocoaPods or Carthage. You initialise with MixpanelOptions(token:) and Mixpanel.initialize(options:), then send each event with track(event:properties:). Events are batched and sent every 60 seconds by default and when the app moves to the background. You can set flushInterval, register super properties that ride on every event, and time an action with time(event:). A trackAutomaticEvents option for app lifecycle events is off by default and its docs do not recommend it. The /track endpoint only accepts events from the last 5 days (Mixpanel Swift docs).

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, and choose how a breakdown value is attributed. Steps are actions to perform, so repeating an event type requires the user to trigger it again (PostHog funnel docs).

Mixpanel's funnel documentation could not be read when this was compared, so its funnel features are not covered here.

Revenue data and subscriptions

PostHog's pricing page lists synced rows for Sources and a data pipelines allowance, but no subscription or RevenueCat integration. Mixpanel's Swift docs do not describe one either. A revenue integration for either tool was not confirmed from the pages used, so check their integration lists if purchase data matters.

ActivationPal takes it from the RevenueCat and Superwall webhooks and puts it beside the funnel. See subscription analytics.

Deployment and data location

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 (PostHog pricing).

Mixpanel projects with EU or India data residency must set serverURL in MixpanelOptions, or events sent to the wrong region are not ingested. The SDK also takes a proxyServerConfig, and serverURL takes precedence over it (Mixpanel Swift docs).

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. Events are retained for 1 year on a free plan and 7 years on a paid plan. Prices are in USD, excluding taxes (PostHog pricing).

Mixpanel's pricing page could not be read when this was written, so its plan limits are not stated. Check it before you decide.

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 and a free monthly allowance.
• Mixpanel if you prefer explicit track calls with control over flush timing, and EU or India data residency.
• 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 Mixpanel against another analytics tool, see Mixpanel vs Amplitude.