Events data retention
Contents
This page covers the events retention periods available on each plan, how to set yours, and how deletion works.
Other data hosted in PostHog may have different data retention processes:
- Session recordings
- AI events
- Logs
- Data warehouse tables, which keep all of their rows
- Person profiles and properties, which are stored until you delete them
Self-hosted instances are not subject to events retention and keep events until you delete them.
Events retention by plan
| Plan | Retention period |
|---|---|
| Free plan | 1 year |
| Paid plans | Up to 7 years |
How retention works
Retention applies to every project on PostHog Cloud, and it affects any events that are stored in our events table. This includes autocapture events, pageviews, custom events, exceptions, survey responses, web vitals, and more.
When an event's timestamp goes past your retention period, it is considered expired. Expired events may be deleted at any point, and we can't restore deleted events.
Events are not automatically deleted as soon as they expire
We may hold onto expired events for one of two reasons:
- Not all customers are aware that their retention period has ended, and we want to give them time to extend it
- We delete events in batches, so there is a delay between when an event expires and when it is deleted
If you need more specificity around when your events will be deleted, please contact support.
Migrated events may expire as soon as they are uploaded
Because retention uses each event's timestamp, events you bring in through a migration with a timestamp that is already older than your retention period expire as soon as they arrive. They may be deleted, even though you just migrated them. Please consider your retention period when you are migrating data to PostHog.
How to customize your retention period
For customers on paid plans, retention periods can be adjusted in your organization's settings. You may also set a project-level override if you would like a project to have a retention period that is shorter or longer than your organization's retention period.
Customizable data retention is not available on the Free plan. All projects on the Free plan have a 1-year retention period.
To set your organization's retention period
Go to Settings > Organization > General > Events retention. This retention period applies to every project that does not have a project override.
To set a project override
Go to Settings > Project > Product analytics > Events retention. This retention period overrides your organization's retention period.
If you remove a project override, the project uses your organization's retention period.
If you shorten your retention period, it applies to all of your historical events, not just events ingested after your retention period is changed. This means that a large batch of historical events may be deleted at any point after your retention period is changed.
Who can change the retention period
Only organization admins and owners can change your retention period. Project admins and members can view it but not change it. PostHog asks you to confirm before it saves a change.
FAQ
Which events does retention apply to?
Retention applies to every event in the events table, including error tracking exceptions, feature flag evaluations, survey responses, and MCP analytics events.
Does the events retention period apply to person profiles?
No. Person profiles and their properties are stored until you delete them. To remove them, use the data deletion tools.
What happens to my retention period if I move to the Free plan?
Your retention period changes to 1 year, the only period the Free plan offers.
When are expired events deleted?
Expired events may be deleted at any point, and once they are deleted, they can't be restored. However, we do not automatically delete events as soon as they expire, so they may be stored longer than your retention period. If you need more specificity around when your events will be deleted, please contact support.
If I extend my retention period, will I get my events back?
Any expired events that are still in our database are kept when you extend your retention period. Events that have already been deleted can't be restored.
Other ways to manage your data
Use the data deletion tools if you are looking to:
- Delete a person, along with their events and recordings
- Delete a project or an organization to remove all of its events
You can also send events to your own storage with a batch export. Batch exports can only export events PostHog still has, so set one up before your events expire.