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Installation

PostHog offers two deployment options: PostHog Cloud (recommended) and self-hosted. Choose the option that best fits your needs. PostHog Cloud is the fastest and easiest way to get started. We handle all infrastructure, scaling, and updates for you.

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Benefits

  • No infrastructure to manage: We handle servers, scaling, and updates
  • Generous free tier: 1 million events per month included
  • Always up-to-date: Automatic updates with new features
  • 99.9% uptime SLA: For paid plans
  • EU and US regions: Choose where your data is stored

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Sign Up

Choose the region closest to your users:

PostHog Cloud US

Data stored in the United States

PostHog Cloud EU

Data stored in the European Union (Frankfurt)

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Getting Started with Cloud

1

Create your account

Sign up at app.posthog.com/signup (US) or eu.posthog.com/signup (EU)
2

Create your organization

Set up your organization and first project
3

Install a library

Follow the onboarding to install a PostHog SDK in your app
4

Verify installation

Send a test event to confirm everything is working
Once signed up, continue to the Quickstart guide to install a library.

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Self-Hosted

Deploy PostHog on your own infrastructure for complete control over your data.

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When to Self-Host

Consider self-hosting if you:
  • Need to keep all data on your own servers
  • Require air-gapped deployment
  • Have strict compliance requirements
  • Want to customize the PostHog codebase

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Requirements

Before deploying PostHog, ensure you have: Minimum Requirements:
  • 4 CPU cores
  • 8 GB RAM
  • 200 GB storage (grows with usage)
  • Docker and Docker Compose installed
  • A domain name (for SSL/HTTPS)
Recommended for Production:
  • 8+ CPU cores
  • 16+ GB RAM
  • SSD storage for better performance
  • Regular backups configured
  • Monitoring and alerting set up

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Docker Installation

The recommended way to self-host PostHog is with Docker Compose.
1

Install Docker

Install Docker and Docker Compose on your server:
# Ubuntu/Debian
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sh get-docker.sh

# Install Docker Compose
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install docker-compose-plugin
2

Clone the repository

Download PostHog’s deployment scripts:
git clone https://github.com/PostHog/posthog.git
cd posthog
3

Configure environment

Copy the example environment file and update settings:
cp .env.example .env
Edit .env to set:
  • POSTHOG_SECRET: A random secret key
  • DOMAIN: Your domain name
  • POSTHOG_DB_PASSWORD: Database password
4

Start PostHog

Launch all services with Docker Compose:
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml up -d
This will start:
  • PostgreSQL (data storage)
  • ClickHouse (analytics database)
  • Redis (caching)
  • PostHog application server
  • Worker processes
5

Set up SSL

Configure HTTPS with Let’s Encrypt:
./bin/setup-ssl.sh yourdomain.com
6

Create admin account

Access PostHog at https://yourdomain.com and create your admin account.

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Kubernetes Deployment

For larger deployments, use our Helm chart: 
helm repo add posthog https://posthog.github.io/charts-clickhouse/
helm repo update
helm install posthog posthog/posthog --set cloud=private
See the Kubernetes deployment guide for detailed instructions.

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Configuration

Key configuration options in your .env file: 
# Secret key (generate a random string)
POSTHOG_SECRET=your-secret-key-here

# Domain name
DOMAIN=posthog.yourdomain.com

# Database settings
POSTHOG_DB_PASSWORD=your-db-password
POSTHOG_POSTGRES_HOST=postgres
POSTHOG_POSTGRES_PORT=5432

# ClickHouse settings
CLICKHOUSE_HOST=clickhouse
CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD=your-clickhouse-password

# Redis
POSTHOG_REDIS_HOST=redis
POSTHOG_REDIS_PORT=6379

# Email (optional, for invites and notifications)
EMAIL_HOST=smtp.example.com
EMAIL_PORT=587
EMAIL_USE_TLS=true
EMAIL_HOST_USER=[email protected]
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD=email-password

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Verify Installation

After installation, verify PostHog is working:
1

Access the interface

Open PostHog in your browser:
  • Cloud: https://app.posthog.com or https://eu.posthog.com
  • Self-hosted: https://yourdomain.com
2

Check system status

Navigate to Settings → System status to verify all services are running.
3

Send a test event

Install a library and send a test event to confirm event ingestion:
posthog.capture('test_event', { property: 'value' })
4

Verify in activity

Go to Activity to see your test event appear (may take a few seconds).

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Next Steps

Install a library

Choose an SDK and integrate PostHog with your application

Quickstart guide

Follow our quickstart to capture your first events

Configure projects

Set up projects, teams, and data ingestion settings

Manage organizations

Manage organization members and access controls

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Troubleshooting

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Self-Hosted Issues

Services won’t start: 
# Check service logs
docker compose logs -f

# Restart services
docker compose restart
Out of memory errors:
  • Increase RAM allocation (minimum 8 GB recommended)
  • Reduce ClickHouse cache settings in docker-compose.yml
Events not appearing:
  • Check worker logs: docker compose logs worker
  • Verify ClickHouse is running: docker compose ps clickhouse
  • Check network connectivity between services
Database migration failures: 
# Run migrations manually
docker compose run web python manage.py migrate

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