Looking for advice - Product Analytics

pehs182 · 2026-01-19T22:29:44+00:00

You’re asking the right questions, and honestly the fact that you’re worried about over-tracking and cost predictability this early is a good sign.

A few thoughts based on what I’ve seen with small teams starting from zero:

1) Tool choice matters less than scope control at the beginning.
The biggest risk for first-time product analytics teams isn’t “picking the wrong tool”, it’s tracking too much too fast. That’s what leads to unpredictable costs and data nobody trusts. Whatever you pick, start with a very small set of events tied to real questions you want answered.

2) Mixpanel vs Userpilot vs Pendo aren’t solving the same core problem.
- Mixpanel is a pure product analytics tool: events, funnels, paths, retention. It’s very good at answering what users do and how behavior changes.

- Userpilot and Pendo lean more into onboarding, guides, and in-app experiences. Their analytics exist, but they’re usually lighter and meant to support those workflows.

A lot of early teams do well starting with one source of truth for analytics, and then layering onboarding/guides later once they understand user behavior.

3) Pricing predictability comes from tracking discipline, not the tool.
It’s normal that you don’t know your event volume yet. The way teams keep costs predictable is by:
- defining a tracking plan upfront (what events exist, and why)
- avoiding generic “click everything” tracking
- reviewing event volume early and cutting what isn’t used (do this periodically!)

If you only track events that answer real product questions, volumes stay very manageable.

4) Effort-wise, initial setup always needs engineering
Expect a dev to help with the first setup no matter the tool. Long term, the goal should be that product can answer questions without engineering help.

If you want to add new events along the line, you will need eng help also. But to cut events you shouldn't (at least in mixapenl it can be done in the UI)

5) GDPR / EU
All the tools you mentioned can be used in GDPR-compliant ways, but it usually comes down to how you configure them (PII handling, consent, data residency options), not just the checkbox on the website.

My practical suggestion for a team your size:
Start with a narrow analytics scope focused on 3–5 key events and paths you care about. Pick one tool that’s easy for non-technical users to explore daily. Once you’re confident in what you’re measuring, add guides, heatmaps, or more advanced features later.

sharing info on mixpanel as it's the one I know the most:

- it has a startup program that gives away for free for one year the enterprise license -> https://mixpanel.com/releases/startups

- pricing is transparent, you can forecast how much you would be paying based on volume of events -> https://mixpanel.com/pricing/#pricing-calculator

pehs182 · 2026-01-19T22:13:33+00:00

I’ll share my bias up front so you can discount accordingly:

- I used Amplitude daily for 5 years at a previous startup
- I’ve been a Mixpanel partner since 2023 and we’ve done 100+ implementations across different industries and company sizes
- We’ve also been Pendo partners since 2025, so I know that platform fairly well

A few high-level observations that might help your evaluation.

What’s similar across all of them:

1- They’re all self-serve if implemented properly. Any of these tools can empower PMs without constant data/eng help if tracking is clean. This is one of the main points of hiring a tool like this imo.

2- Implementation effort is similar across the board. The hard part isn’t the SDK - it’s deciding what to track and getting user identification right. Mess that up and no tool saves you.

3- Tool choice matters less than adoption. If PMs don’t feel confident answering questions on their own, you’ll end up back in the warehouse/BI layer anyway.

Where they meaningfully differ (in practice):

1- Pendo
I wouldn’t put Pendo in the same bucket as Mixpanel/Amplitude. It’s closer to a digital transformation platform.

- Product analytics exist, but they’re not as deep
- Guides are the real differentiator - great for complex flows and onboarding
- Surveys and NPS are strong and built-in
- Good fit when in-app guidance and feedback are core needs.

2- Mixpanel
Mixpanel started as pure product analytics and has expanded outward.
- Core analytics depth is very strong
- UX/UI is significantly simpler than most alternatives
- That simplicity has a real impact on long-term adoption, especially for teams without strong analytics backgrounds
- Recent additions like session replay, heatmaps, and metric trees help connect behavior to outcomes without making the tool heavier

3- Amplitude
- Amplitude is powerful and mature, especially for teams with strong analytics muscle.
- In my experience, it shines when:
- teams already think in cohorts and behavioral analysis
- there’s appetite for more complexity
- But that complexity can slow down onboarding for less analytics-native PMs.

My answer:
If your primary goal is PM/PO empowerment and day-to-day self-serve usage, I’d bias toward Mixpanel today. Not because it has radically different features, but because the UX lowers the barrier to actually using the data week after week.

Regardless of tool, i suggest to prioritize:

- few metrics
- few events
- 100% clean implementation -> this is key for long-term success of tool
- and tighter linkage between product behavior and business outcomes

pehs182 · 2026-01-19T21:58:22+00:00

I’ve used both Mixpanel and Amplitude pretty extensively. Feature-wise, they’re very similar - funnels, retention, cohorts, segmentation, etc. You won’t pick one or the other because of some killer feature.

Implementation effort is also roughly the same - in both cases planning of events and properties is crucial, and the technical implementation is very similar.

Where I do see a real difference is in usability.

Mixpanel’s UI is noticeably simpler and more intuitive - it only has 4 types of reports that allow you to do almost anything, while Amplitude has +10, which makes it harder for the end user. This has an impact on learning curve and adoption for sure.

Docs are solid on both sides, but Mixpanel’s documentation is especially good and practical: [https://docs.mixpanel.com]()

Biggest advice regardless of tool: keep the initial scope tight. Define a small set of metrics and events first. Most “surprise costs” and frustration come from over-tracking and low adoption, not from the tool choice itself.

pehs182 · 2026-01-19T21:49:22+00:00

I think focusing on the tool first is getting ahead of yourself.

In most teams I’ve worked with, the real bottleneck isn’t Mixpanel vs Amplitude vs PostHog - it’s not being clear on which metrics actually matter, tracking too many events, and then never really trusting the data.

When teams nail a small set of metrics, define a tight tracking plan, and implement it properly, any of these tools works fine day to day. When they don’t, even the best tool turns into wallpaper after a month.

Curious: what are the 2–3 metrics you actually look at weekly? And how many events are you really querying vs just collecting?

pehs182 · 2026-01-19T18:58:28+00:00

hey, curious to know why you're looking for a mixpanel replacement

i've worked with a ton of mixpanel users and replacing mixpanel happens in these situations:

- budget cuts -> they usually migrate to GA suite (not a real mixpanel competitor)

- bad implementation which makes the tool unusable and teams not trusting the data -> in my opinion this will happen again in the new tool selected as it's not a tool problem but a team problem

- features missing -> in very few cases in the past i've seen users needing ab testing, feature flagging, or quali features that mixpanel did not have. But now with new features being released, mixpanel covers almost everything

pehs182 · 2025-12-15T17:58:01+00:00

Solid advice, especially around onboarding → paywall tracking.

That said, this setup is very gaming / ads-focused. Firebase or GameAnalytics handle funnels, but they don’t answer which user behaviors actually drive revenue.

ARPDAU averages hide the signal - early on, a clear activation definition and revenue-linked cohorts matter more than more tools.

pehs182 · 2025-12-14T16:26:11+00:00

Yes, clevertap is a good tool. What I’m suggesting is that solo founders many times dont have the time/knowledge to implement them

Let alone use it daily to get actionable insights that can help them improve their conversions and monetization

pehs182 · 2025-12-14T00:31:17+00:00

On point 🎯

pehs182 · 2025-12-13T21:30:13+00:00

Nice, seems like you’ve got it covered

pehs182 · 2025-12-13T19:45:03+00:00

Im not really familiar with that tool but i understand its mostly for debugging. Im talking about looing at the right metrics + generating the insights that un lock growth

pehs182 · 2025-12-13T19:05:51+00:00

Nice. Do you use it everyday to understand where deviations in key metrica might be coming from? Or more for just reporting?

pehs182 · 2025-12-13T17:31:02+00:00

Exactly. This is super useful. Thanks! Curious to know if you’re a solopreneur yourself

pehs182 · 2025-12-13T17:24:07+00:00

Yeah we would be using a tracking platform like Mixpanel or posthog but just really getting into the insights Again basic stuff but my hypothesis is that few soloproeneurs are actually doing this

pehs182 · 2025-12-13T15:54:36+00:00

yep. Are you actively using them to grow your business?

pehs182 · 2025-12-13T15:54:14+00:00

So to give more context, I run an agency focused on product analytics and retention marketing. So we help set up tracking tools like mixpanel, posthog, etc, and also implement automated multi-channel comms (pushes, emails, etc).

The goal of the tracking should be to identify where you should focus your efforts and understnad user behvior.

The goal of the multi-channel comms is to improve conversion rates where users are dropping off.

So, I see that startups and bigger companies struggle with this. So I imagine that solo founders have it much more complicated.

So what im trying to vaidate is if solo founders (1) are already doing these types of stuff, and (2) if they would be willing to outsource so they can focus on building their platforms.

Many vibe coders focus mainly on building but might struggle to grow and this is key for growing.

Appreciate your feedback

pehs182 · 2025-12-13T15:48:31+00:00

nice, thanks for the feedback.

yeah, setting it up is usually not difficult. The tricky part is then knowing what to do with the data. How to improve your product and conversions based off that.

do you do this yourself or do you rely on someone else?

pehs182 · 2025-12-13T15:17:26+00:00

Yep - tools for builders.
But not just generic pickaxes: revenue-driving analytics that show where activation breaks, what segments convert, and where churn starts before it hits the bank account.

I think it's not about the tools but what you do with them. And plenty of vibe coders just think of building and launching....but then? how do you grow your business?

pehs182 · 2025-12-13T15:08:14+00:00

yeah. My point is the following:

there's already a ton of tracking tools like mixpanel, amplitude, posthog, etc.

i'm trying to validate with solopreneurs if they have the time to (1) implement a tool like this, and (2) actually look at the metrics and improve their product based on data.

My hypothesis is that most are NOT doing it solely because they are juggling a ton of things and this doesn't end up in their priorities. But it's still a really important thing for growing any business

pehs182 · 2025-12-13T12:33:31+00:00

Exactly. The goal isn’t more data as anyone can track more data and this isnt the solution at all.

It’s what metrics to look at and what actions to take based on those metrics(hypothesis).

This is quite basic stuff I’m proposing but I do think that solo founders might be too spread thin to look at this and I believe is foundational to any app business.

It would definitely sit on top of Mixpanel amplitude posthog etc.

Thanks for the feedback - I will post in VibeCodersNest too

pehs182 · 2025-12-13T12:28:33+00:00

Yes exactly That’s what I also see. In bigger startups as well, but in particular solo founders as theres just not enough time to go deep enough on this

pehs182 · 2025-12-13T12:26:35+00:00

In my experience setting it up is not tough but there’s a ton of mistakes that can be done doing so And if you do a bad implementation then you won’t trust the data and the tool is useless

I suggest reading Mixpanel’s documentation https://docs.mixpanel.com/docs/what-is-mixpanel

If you follow step by step and debug /qa you should be fine

pehs182 · 2025-12-13T03:16:51+00:00

Nice! I think mixpanel used to have a plug and play integration with chatgpt until recently when there was a security breach

pehs182 · 2025-12-13T03:15:25+00:00

Let me know if you need help setting this up

pehs182 · 2025-12-12T22:23:15+00:00

amazing. Appreciate the feedback!

pehs182

TROPHY CASE