Heap vs Northbeam in 2026: Product behavior analytics vs marketing attribution and media mix modeling
These two tools rarely compete for the same budget line. Heap explains what users do inside your product; Northbeam explains which ad channel got them there in the first place.
Heap
Northbeam- Heap autocaptures every in-product interaction from a single script tag and lets you define new events retroactively; Northbeam tracks ad spend and conversions across channels using a first-party pixel plus media mix modeling.
- Heap has a free tier capped at 10,000 monthly sessions. Northbeam has no free tier or self-serve plan; every tier on its pricing page requires contacting sales.
- Northbeam runs both multi-touch attribution and media mix modeling in the same platform, including channels with no user-level tracking like streaming and podcast ads. Heap has no attribution modeling for paid media at all.
- Heap Illuminate automatically surfaces which in-product behaviors correlate with conversion and retention. Northbeam has no equivalent for in-product behavior, only for ad channel contribution to revenue.
- Heap is used by 10,000+ companies and is best suited to SaaS and digital product teams. Northbeam targets DTC and ecommerce brands spending roughly $50k or more per month on paid social and search.
- Session replay and heatmaps are Contentsquare add-ons on Heap Pro and Premier. Northbeam has no session replay or heatmap capability since it operates one layer up, at the channel and campaign level.
Heap and Northbeam both sell into the analytics budget, but they answer different questions for different teams. Heap autocaptures every click, pageview, and form submission inside your product so SaaS teams can define funnels and retention charts retroactively, even for events nobody thought to track six months ago. Northbeam is built for DTC and ecommerce brands spending real budget across Meta, Google, and TikTok, combining multi-touch attribution with media mix modeling to correct for the double-counting that platform-native ROAS reporting produces. Heap has a genuine free tier; Northbeam has no self-serve option at all and requires a sales conversation before you see a number. The right choice depends on whether the question you are trying to answer is "what are users doing in my product" or "which ad channel is actually driving revenue."
The tools at a glance
Heap
Autocapture product analytics that records every user interaction automatically, so you never miss data from before you knew what to track.
Heap is a product analytics platform built around autocapture: a single script records every click, pageview, and form interaction from day one, with no event taxonomy planning required in advance. Teams define events retroactively from that complete history, which removes the common problem of realizing a metric matters only after the tracking gap has already happened.
Heap Illuminate applies automated data science to the behavioral dataset to surface which user actions most correlate with conversion and retention, without an analyst needing to hypothesize a funnel first. Following the Contentsquare acquisition, Heap users also get access to session replay, heatmaps, and the Sense AI assistant as part of a broader experience intelligence suite.
The catch is pricing transparency: only the Free tier has a published price. Growth, Pro, and Premier all require a sales conversation, which makes it harder to budget for Heap without first talking to their team.
| Feature | Free $0 | Growth Contact sales | Pro Contact sales | Premier Contact sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly sessions | Up to 10k | Custom | Custom | Custom |
| Autocapture and retroactive events | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sense AI assistant | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Session replay / heatmaps | No | No | Add-on | Add-on |
| Data warehouse sync | No | No | Add-on | Yes |
Northbeam
Multi-touch attribution and media mix modeling platform for DTC and ecommerce brands managing spend across paid social, search, and streaming channels.
Northbeam corrects for a specific problem: platform-native attribution in Meta Ads Manager, Google Ads, and TikTok Ads each take credit for the same conversion, inflating reported ROAS across the board. Northbeam replaces that with a first-party pixel and server-side tracking, then layers multi-touch attribution models (first-touch, last-touch, linear, time-decay, data-driven) on top so brands can compare attribution philosophies rather than being locked into whichever model a single ad platform prefers.
Its media mix modeling runs on a near-real-time refresh cycle rather than the weekly or monthly cadence typical of legacy MMM providers, and it covers channels that have no user-level tracking at all, like streaming ads and podcast sponsorships. A budget scenario planner turns those outputs into "what happens if we shift 20% of Meta spend to TikTok" projections rather than leaving attribution as a purely historical report.
There is no self-serve tier. Growth, Scale, and Enterprise are all quote-based, and onboarding involves pixel implementation and data connector setup that takes real engineering time before the first attribution numbers appear.
| Feature | Growth Contact sales | Scale Contact sales | Enterprise Contact sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-touch attribution | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Media mix modeling | No | Yes | Yes |
| Budget scenario planning | No | Yes | Yes |
| Data refresh cadence | Daily | Near real-time | Near real-time |
| BI connector | No | Yes | Yes |
Head-to-head feature comparison
| Feature | Heap | Northbeam |
|---|---|---|
| Primary use case | In-product user behavior analytics | Ad channel attribution and budget planning |
| Autocapture / no-code event tracking | Yes | No |
| Retroactive event definition | Yes | No |
| Multi-touch attribution for ad spend | No | Yes |
| Media mix modeling | No | Yes (Scale and above) |
| Session replay / heatmaps | Add-on (Contentsquare) | No |
| Automated insight surfacing | Yes (Heap Illuminate) | No |
| Data warehouse sync | Add-on / Premier only | No |
| BI connector | No | Yes (Scale and above) |
| API access | No | No |
| Free tier | Yes (10k sessions/mo) | No |
| Starting price | $0 | Custom (sales-led) |
Which should you choose?
HeapNorthbeamHeapNorthbeamHeapNorthbeamHeap and Northbeam sit on different sides of the funnel. Heap tells you what happens after someone is already using your product; Northbeam tells you which channel and touchpoint got them to show up in the first place. A DTC brand with a mobile app could plausibly run both at once without overlap, since neither replaces what the other measures.
Bottom line
Start on Heap's free tier if the question is behavioral: what are users doing, where do they drop off, what predicts retention. Go straight to a Northbeam sales conversation if the question is about ad spend: which channel is actually driving revenue once you remove platform-reported double-counting. Do not expect either tool to answer the other one's question; that is not a limitation, it is the correct scope for each.
Frequently asked questions
Is Heap or Northbeam better for a DTC brand with its own app?
Most DTC brands with an app end up needing both, not one or the other. Northbeam explains which ad channel drove the install or first purchase; Heap explains what the user does inside the app afterward, including retention and repeat purchase behavior. Neither tool covers the other's layer.
Does Northbeam replace Google Analytics or Heap for product analytics?
No. Northbeam has no in-product event tracking, funnel analysis, or session-level behavioral data. It is scoped entirely to ad spend attribution and media mix modeling across paid channels. Any product analytics need still requires a separate tool like Heap, Mixpanel, or Amplitude.
Can I try Heap or Northbeam without talking to sales first?
Heap has a genuine free tier capped at 10,000 monthly sessions that requires no sales conversation. Northbeam has no self-serve option at any tier; every plan, including its entry-level Growth tier, is quote-based and requires a demo before you see pricing.
How long does it take to see data after setting up Northbeam?
Northbeam onboarding typically takes two to four weeks for full pixel implementation, ad platform connections, and historical data import needed to calibrate the media mix models. Heap, by contrast, starts capturing behavioral data the moment the script tag is added, with no onboarding period required.
Is Heap worth it for a company with a small paid ad budget?
Yes, since Heap has nothing to do with ad spend measurement. Its value is entirely in understanding product usage, so it applies equally to a bootstrapped SaaS product with no ad budget and an enterprise app with a large one. Northbeam only makes sense once monthly ad spend is high enough, generally around $50k or more, to generate the data volume its attribution models need.