Comparison Ads (Part 1) (Art Request)

[andyvan-ph]

As part of #223, I want to test running some comparative ads against Hotjar, Mixpanel, Amplitude and LaunchDarkly.

We're going to try a few different approaches here, including some that are more meme-y and fun, but also ones that are more info dense. This is about the latter.

What I'm looking for:

• A 1:1 aspect ad with a comparison table + space for an eye-catching headline / strapline / quote
• Minimum res 1,200 x 1,200
• Some kind of fun visual theme. I know we've explored a beat em' up / kungfu dojo type vibe in the past.
• Feedback from everyone on tables / copy ideas etc. The below is a starting point.
• I fully recognise some of the headlines are not great. Please share better ones!

Hotjar

	Hotjar	PostHog
5k free recordings every month	No	Yes
Replaces Mixpanel and Amplitude	No	Yes
Built-in A/B testing	No	Yes
Mobile app recording	No	Yes
Single source of truth	No	Yes

Headline options:

• Find out why xx% of Y Combinator startups choose PostHog
• The cheaper, all-in-one alternative to Hotjar

Mixpanel

	Mixpanel	PostHog
1m free events every month	No	Yes
A/B testing and feature flags	No	Yes
Run NPS and user surveys	No	Yes
Totally transparent pricing	No	Yes
Replace many tools with one	No	Yes

Headline options:

• xx% of Y Combinator startups that choose PostHog over Mixpanel
• “From customer support to content writers; engineers to marketers, everyone uses PostHog. We do everything from debugging support issues to measuring site traffic in PostHog.” – AssemblyAI
• "PostHog is our favorite tool; it’s the single source of truth for us." – Webshare

Amplitude

	Amplitude	PostHog
1 million free events every month	No	Yes
5,000 free recordings every month	No	Yes
Totally transparent pricing	No	Yes
No minimum annual commitments	No	Yes
Replace all your tools with one	No	Yes

Headline options:

• xx% of Y Combinator startups choose PostHog over Amplitude
• The all-in-one alternative that won't break your wallet

LaunchDarkly

	LaunchDarkly	PostHog
Unlimited seats	No	Yes
Simple, usage-based pricing	No	Yes
Built-in product analytics	No	Yes
Session replay, heatmaps & surveys	No	Yes
Single source of truth	No	Yes

Headline options:

• xx% of Y Combinator startups choose PostHog

[andyvan-ph]

Tagging @lottiecoxon @corywatilo for thoughts on art / mock-ups.

Tagging @ivanagas @charlescook-ph @joethreepwood @Lior539 @jtemperton for thoughts on copy / feedback on everything.

[charlescook-ph]

I think going for something where the competitor is all 'No' and we are all 'Yes' is a bit BS-y. Also the quotes could be more fun if they are Twitter ones that literally compare us to those competitors (even if it is a random person) - they usually have a bit more personality?

[andyvan-ph]

I'm not massively attached to the quotes tbh, but I think this is worth trying.

It's an easy to understand format where we can explain very clearly how we're different. I think viewers are adult enough to accept this isn't an in-depth comparison, so long as the things we're saying are actually true, which they are.

One alternative I considered was something along the lines of "Reasons people switched to PostHog" – similar sort of concept but without the No / Yes dynamic.

[corywatilo]

Would Hey be designing these or do you want these done in-house? (Totally fine letting them run with it and critiquing from there, if so.)

[ivanagas]

Instead of us having a check and them having an X for all of the points, what if we both had checks for 4/5 points and we use the last one/two as the big differentiator(s) like all-in-one, low pricings, free tier, built for engineers, etc. This would play better to our strengths while being less "BS-y".

[andyvan-ph]

Would Hey be designing these or do you want these done in-house? (Totally fine letting them run with it and critiquing from there, if so.)

I figured you and/or Lottie might want first dibs, but this works for me.

[andyvan-ph]

Instead of us having a check and them having an X for all of the points, what if we both had checks for 4/5 points and we use the last one/two as the big differentiator(s) like all-in-one, low pricings, free tier, built for engineers, etc. This would play better to our strengths while being less "BS-y".

I'll play around with this and report back.

[lottiecoxon]

[andyvan-ph]

Love this approach. Some notes:

• I think we'd need to tweak the scaling / size of the text on the checklist. I just checked what it looked like on my phone and I think the main points are too small to be easily legible on a mobile screen.

• Would be good to play around with a bolder background colors than our standard light mode, or even a dark mode version.

[andyvan-ph]

@ivanagas @charlescook-ph – your takes on these alternatives:

	Hotjar	PostHog
Session replay and heatmaps	Yes	Yes
Surveys & user feedback	Yes	Yes
5k free replays every month	No	Yes
Bulit-in A/B testing	No	Yes
Replaces Mixpanel, Amplitude & GA4	No	Yes

	Mixpanel	PostHog
Product analytics	Yes	Yes
Dashboards and notebooks	Yes	Yes
Feature flags and A/B testing	No	Yes
100% transparent and cheap pricing	No	Yes
Replace multiple tools with one	No	Yes

	Amplitude	PostHog
Product analytics	Yes	Yes
Session replays	Yes	Yes
Feature flags and A/B testing	Yes	Yes
Generous free tier	No	Yes
No minimum annual commitment	No	Yes

	LaunchDarkly	PostHog
Feature flags	Yes	Yes
A/B testing	Yes	Yes
Built-in analytics	No	Yes
Simple, transparent pricing	No	Yes
Replaces Mixpanel, Amplitude & GA4	No	Yes

[ivanagas]

• Could talk amount of free replays for Hotjar vs PostHog (35/day vs 5k/month)
• We should avoid comparing Amplitude and us for flags and replays, I think it would draw more attention to them
• Amplitude doesn't seem to have a free tier at all, saying "generous free tier" makes it seem like only the "generous" part is different
• As a viewer, I wouldn't really know what "Single source of truth" means

[lottiecoxon]

I tried making the notebook bigger so the writing is more legible + experimented with colours, thoughts?

[andyvan-ph]

Another revision @charlescook-ph @ivanagas.

FYI, I think we'll do a specific targeting on the ones that lead with YC stat to target smaller / younger companies on LinkedIn. Hotjar targeting can be wider.

The cheaper, all-in-one alternative to Hotjar

	Hotjar	PostHog
Session replay and heatmaps	Yes	Yes
Surveys & user feedback	Yes	Yes
5k free replays every month	No	Yes
Bulit-in A/B testing	No	Yes
Replaces Mixpanel, Amplitude & GA4	No	Yes

Combined replay and heatmaps so we can include the 5k free replays.

xx% of Y Combinator startups choose PostHog over Mixpanel

	Mixpanel	PostHog
Product analytics	Yes	Yes
Dashboards and notebooks	Yes	Yes
Feature flags and A/B testing	No	Yes
100% transparent and cheap pricing	No	Yes
Replace multiple tools with one	No	Yes

No change. I think this works as is.

xx% of Y Combinator startups choose PostHog over Amplitude

	Amplitude	PostHog
Product analytics	Yes	Yes
Behaviorial cohorts	Yes	Yes
Custom events & formulas	Yes	Yes
100% transparent and cheap pricing	No	Yes
No minimum annual commitment	No	Yes

xx% of Y Combinator startups choose PostHog over Amplitude

	LaunchDarkly	PostHog
Feature flags	Yes	Yes
A/B testing	Yes	Yes
Built-in analytics	No	Yes
Simple, transparent pricing	No	Yes
Replaces Mixpanel, Amplitude & GA4	No	Yes

[andyvan-ph]

I tried making the notebook bigger so the writing is more legible + experimented with colours, thoughts?

These look great @lottiecoxon. We should add our logo somewhere, but this concept looks good to me. Thoughts @corywatilo?

[andyvan-ph]

@lottiecoxon @corywatilo did you guys get any further with these?

[lottiecoxon]

Developed it to this point- awaiting feedback from Cory in Figma

[andyvan-ph]

@lottiecoxon this looks good to me. One small note:

• We need the product names as well as / instead of the logos on the checklist. I like the arrow pointing bit, but it makes less sense if our name doesn't appear there.

[lottiecoxon]

been back and forth with Cory alot on this one - so have changed a bunch of things - hope this works

[andyvan-ph]

Honestly, this feels like a step backwards. Angle on the comparison is jarring / hard to read, and feels like we're trying to cram in too many words.

In terms of clarity of messaging, Lottie's original concept is still the strongest. I liked the second quite a bit. A few tweaks to that could definitely work.

[lottiecoxon]

okay post insightful call with Andy I have reworked old design

[andyvan-ph]

Couple more notes:

• Maybe shift the Hotjar column to the left a little so it appears centered under 'Hotjar'?
• Could we play with highlighting some of the items in the list – e.g. "5k free replays", "A/B testing" and "Replaces Mixpanel"?

[lottiecoxon]

[andyvan-ph]

Ok, can we try a version where all the ones where Hotjar has 'x' are highlighted – i.e. highlight the whole item, not just specific words.

[lottiecoxon]

[andyvan-ph]

@lottiecoxon what do you think about the highlighting? I think it works, but open to dissenting opinions.

[lottiecoxon]

it draws the eye onto the most important parts - I'd say yes to the one above

[andyvan-ph]

sorry to be tedious, but could we try one more version where it's underlined instead of highlighted?

[lottiecoxon]

the title or the text or both?

[lottiecoxon]

[lottiecoxon]

[andyvan-ph]

Lovely, thanks

[corywatilo]

What happened to the drafts we were working on that did a rev on this style?

[lottiecoxon]

I showed Andy -but he felt that for what he was after was more similar to an earlier version of the design hence the roll back

[andyvan-ph]

*Bold text denotes highlighted text in headline

The cheaper, all-in-one alternative to Hotjar

	Hotjar	PostHog
Session replay & Heatmaps	Yes	Yes
Surveys & user feedback	Yes	Yes
5k free replays every month	No	Yes
Bulit-in A/B testing	No	Yes
Replaces Mixpanel, Amplitude & GA4	No	Yes

The cheaper, all-in-one alternative to Mixpanel

	Mixpanel	PostHog
Product & Web analytics	Yes	Yes
Web & Mobile replays	No	Yes
Feature flags & Experiments	No	Yes
User surveys & Feedback	No	Yes
Replaces Hotjar, GA4 & LaunchDarkly	No	Yes

The cheaper, all-in-one alternative to Amplitude

	Amplitude	PostHog
Product analytics	Yes	Yes
Session replay	Yes	Yes
User surveys	No	Yes
Generous free tier	No	Yes
No minimum annual commitment	No	Yes

The cheaper, all-in-one alternative to LaunchDarkly

	LaunchDarkly	PostHog
Feature flags	Yes	Yes
Experiments	Yes	Yes
Product & Web analytics	No	Yes
Session replay & Heatmaps	No	Yes
Replaces Mixpanel, Amplitude & GA4	No	Yes

The cheaper, all-in-one alternative to Heap

	Hotjar	PostHog
Product analytics	Yes	Yes
Session replay & Heatmaps	Yes	Yes
Feature flags & Experiments	No	Yes
User surveys & Feedback	No	Yes
Replaces Hotjar, Mixpanel & LaunchDarkly	No	Yes

[lottiecoxon]

As requested- but ran into some issues:

• are we highlighting all the sections that our opposition has an X next to, if so this can get a bit noisy
• colours for backgrounds should vary but unsure which colours to go for as the colours on the website align with specific products but with these comparison ads feature multiple product mentions - so I'm stuck here @corywatilo any ideas?
• some of the ads are a bit wordy

![hotjar](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/2cd4c180-6b9a-4a94-ab6d-

9f33d4cd7a72)

[corywatilo]

I left some comments on this artboard

For background colors, it should match whichever product we're highlighting. Since LD is known for FF, use the green we use there. If we're talking about a product analytics competitor, we'd want to use blue.

[lottiecoxon]