To get started with Posthog Session Replay, you'll need to:
PostHog features a robust framework of data pipelines (formerly known as apps or plugins). These pipelines allow you to intercept event streams—including session replay metadata—and mirror them to secondary destinations in real time. You can stream your product data concurrently to: Data lakes (Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery) Stream processing platforms (Apache Kafka, Amazon Kinesis) Alternative database clusters 2. Utilizing PostHog's Object Storage Destinations
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Second, and perhaps more importantly, is data portability. In a proprietary tool, a session replay is often a blob of unreadable, proprietary binary data that can only be decoded by the vendor’s specific player. PostHog treats session replay data as a first-class citizen in an open ecosystem. The event data that powers the replay—clicks, key presses, mouse movements, and network requests—is stored in a structured, accessible format. This allows engineering teams to export this data, integrate it with their own data warehouses, or feed it into machine learning models. It transforms the replay from a mere viewing experience into a dataset that can be analyzed programmatically.
Once active, PostHog streams these JSON blobs to your destination bucket in real time or batches. Method 2: Programmatic Export via the PostHog REST API posthog session replay portable
| Feature | PostHog | FullStory | Hotjar | LogRocket | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | ✅ (Open Source) | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Raw JSON Export | ✅ (Native) | ❌ (API limited) | ❌ (CSV only metadata) | ✅ (Paid add-on) | | Offline Player | ✅ (NPM package) | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Data Warehouse Destination | ✅ (Native) | ✅ (Expensive) | ❌ | ✅ (Via API) | | Vendor Lock-in Risk | Zero | Extreme | High | Moderate |
Incremental JSON packets tracking exactly what changed, such as text inputs, window resizing, or CSS style changes.
This implementation provides:
A baseline blueprint of the DOM structure at the start of the recording. To get started with Posthog Session Replay, you'll
: Generate a public link to share a specific replay with anyone outside your organization.
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Related search suggestions are helpful for refining requirements; see terms below.
For industries like healthcare (HIPAA), finance (PCI-DSS), and government, sending raw user interaction data to a third-party cloud is a compliance nightmare. A portable PostHog setup allows you to keep all session recording files inside your private infrastructure, isolated networks, or strictly regulated geographical boundaries. 2. Offline Capability for Desktop and Mobile Apps The event data that powers the replay—clicks, key
A quick note on legal compliance. Portability sounds amazing, but with great power comes great responsibility.
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PostHog is built on an open-source foundation, which gives it a significant edge in portability compared to closed-box competitors. You can access replay data through several avenues: