---

name: posthog-cost-tuning description: | Optimize PostHog costs through tier selection, sampling, and usage monitoring. Use when analyzing PostHog billing, reducing API costs, or implementing usage monitoring and budget alerts. Trigger with phrases like "posthog cost", "posthog billing", "reduce posthog costs", "posthog pricing", "posthog expensive", "posthog budget". allowed-tools: Read, Grep version: 1.0.0 license: MIT author: Jeremy Longshore jeremy@intentsolutions.io

PostHog Cost Tuning

Overview

Optimize PostHog costs through smart tier selection, sampling, and usage monitoring.

Prerequisites

• Access to PostHog billing dashboard
• Understanding of current usage patterns
• Database for usage tracking (optional)
• Alerting system configured (optional)

Pricing Tiers

Cost Estimation

Copyinterface UsageEstimate {
  requestsPerMonth: number;
  tier: string;
  estimatedCost: number;
  recommendation?: string;
}

function estimatePostHogCost(requestsPerMonth: number): UsageEstimate {
  if (requestsPerMonth <= 1000) {
    return { requestsPerMonth, tier: 'Free', estimatedCost: 0 };
  }

  if (requestsPerMonth <= 100000) {
    return { requestsPerMonth, tier: 'Pro', estimatedCost: 99 };
  }

  const proOverage = (requestsPerMonth - 100000) * 0.001;
  const proCost = 99 + proOverage;

  return {
    requestsPerMonth,
    tier: 'Pro (with overage)',
    estimatedCost: proCost,
    recommendation: proCost > 500
      ? 'Consider Enterprise tier for volume discounts'
      : undefined,
  };
}

Usage Monitoring

Copyclass PostHogUsageMonitor {
  private requestCount = 0;
  private bytesTransferred = 0;
  private alertThreshold: number;

  constructor(monthlyBudget: number) {
    this.alertThreshold = monthlyBudget * 0.8; // 80% warning
  }

  track(request: { bytes: number }) {
    this.requestCount++;
    this.bytesTransferred += request.bytes;

    if (this.estimatedCost() > this.alertThreshold) {
      this.sendAlert('Approaching PostHog budget limit');
    }
  }

  estimatedCost(): number {
    return estimatePostHogCost(this.requestCount).estimatedCost;
  }

  private sendAlert(message: string) {
    // Send to Slack, email, PagerDuty, etc.
  }
}

Cost Reduction Strategies

Step 1: Request Sampling

Copyfunction shouldSample(samplingRate = 0.1): boolean {
  return Math.random() < samplingRate;
}

// Use for non-critical telemetry
if (shouldSample(0.1)) { // 10% sample
  await posthogClient.trackEvent(event);
}

Step 2: Batching Requests

Copy// Instead of N individual calls
await Promise.all(ids.map(id => posthogClient.get(id)));

// Use batch endpoint (1 call)
await posthogClient.batchGet(ids);

Step 3: Caching (from P16)

• Cache frequently accessed data
• Use cache invalidation webhooks
• Set appropriate TTLs

Step 4: Compression

Copyconst client = new PostHogClient({
  compression: true, // Enable gzip
});

Budget Alerts

Copy# Set up billing alerts in PostHog dashboard
# Or use API if available:
# Check PostHog documentation for billing APIs

Cost Dashboard Query

Copy-- If tracking usage in your database
SELECT
  DATE_TRUNC('day', created_at) as date,
  COUNT(*) as requests,
  SUM(response_bytes) as bytes,
  COUNT(*) * 0.001 as estimated_cost
FROM posthog_api_logs
WHERE created_at >= NOW() - INTERVAL '30 days'
GROUP BY 1
ORDER BY 1;

Instructions

Step 1: Analyze Current Usage

Review PostHog dashboard for usage patterns and costs.

Step 2: Select Optimal Tier

Use the cost estimation function to find the right tier.

Step 3: Implement Monitoring

Add usage tracking to catch budget overruns early.

Step 4: Apply Optimizations

Enable batching, caching, and sampling where appropriate.

Output

• Optimized tier selection
• Usage monitoring implemented
• Budget alerts configured
• Cost reduction strategies applied

Error Handling

Examples

Quick Cost Check

Copy// Estimate monthly cost for your usage
const estimate = estimatePostHogCost(yourMonthlyRequests);
console.log(`Tier: ${estimate.tier}, Cost: $${estimate.estimatedCost}`);
if (estimate.recommendation) {
  console.log(`💡 ${estimate.recommendation}`);
}

Resources

• PostHog Pricing
• PostHog Billing Dashboard

Next Steps

For architecture patterns, see posthog-reference-architecture.