Amplitude vs Heap (2026): Which Analytics Tool Fits?

Key Takeaways

Amplitude: Overview

Amplitude was founded in 2012 and became one of the dominant product analytics platforms through deep investment in behavioral analytics, experimentation, and predictive machine learning. The platform's core model is manual event tracking: engineering teams instrument specific events in their application code, and those events flow into Amplitude for analysis. This approach requires more upfront work than Heap's autocapture but produces cleaner, more governed data.

In April 2026, Amplitude launched a unified platform suite that includes Analytics, Guides and Surveys, Feature Experiment, Web Experiment, Activation, AI Feedback, AI Assistant, and Session Replay. This expansion positions Amplitude as an end-to-end product platform, not just an analytics tool.

The standout differentiator is Predictive Cohorts: Amplitude's machine learning models score every user on their likelihood to perform a target action — convert, upgrade, or churn. Teams can target these cohorts with personalized experiences, messaging, or feature rollouts without waiting for the behavior to actually happen. No comparable feature exists in Heap.

Amplitude Pricing (2026)

• Starter (Free): Up to 10,000 MTUs and 2 million events per month. Unlimited seats. Core analytics features.
• Plus: $49 per month (annual billing). Up to 300,000 MTUs or 25 million events. Unlimited seats. Advanced analytics.
• Growth: Custom pricing. Unlimited MTUs, custom event volume, full experimentation suite, advanced governance.
• Enterprise: Custom pricing. SSO, group permissions, dedicated support, complex data governance. Multi-year commitments (2–3 years) typically yield 15–30% discounts.

Amplitude Strengths

• Predictive Cohorts use ML to identify users likely to convert or churn before they do
• Comprehensive platform suite: analytics, session replay, experimentation, guides, surveys, activation
• Strong enterprise data governance and management tools
• Published entry-level pricing ($49/month Plus plan)
• Deep cohort analysis and behavioral segmentation capabilities
• AI Feedback and AI Assistant for automated insight generation

Amplitude Weaknesses

• Manual event tracking model creates instrumentation debt if tracking plan is not maintained
• Cannot analyze events retroactively that were not tracked — missed instrumentation means permanent data gaps
• Cost escalates quickly as event volume grows on paid plans
• Data warehouse export is an Enterprise add-on, not available on lower tiers
• Complex governance tools require dedicated analytics ownership to maintain

Heap: Overview

Heap was founded in 2013 to solve the instrumentation problem. The core insight: every time a product team has a new question about user behavior, they typically discover they did not track the relevant event. Heap's answer is to capture everything and let teams define what is meaningful after the fact.

This autocapture model, combined with the visual event editor, makes Heap's behavioral data accessible to non-technical product managers who would otherwise depend on engineering to add tracking code before any analysis can begin. The visual editor allows PMs to click through their product in a Heap-powered overlay and tag events directly, then immediately access historical data for that event going back to Heap's installation date.

Illuminate, Heap's AI anomaly detection layer, provides proactive surfacing of behavioral changes that teams did not know to look for. It alerts on conversion drops, unexpected segment behaviors, and engagement anomalies — replacing the analyst function for teams that do not have dedicated data science resources.

Heap Pricing (2026)

• Free: Core analytics, up to 10,000 sessions, 6 months data history.
• Growth: Custom quote. Includes Illuminate, unlimited users and reports, 12 months data history. Typical entry approximately $3,600 per year, scaling with MTU volume.
• Pro: Custom quote. Adds account analytics, engagement matrix, report alerts.
• Premier: Custom quote for enterprises. Full platform plus professional services.

All paid Heap tiers require a sales conversation. Watch for MTU overage fees, session replay add-on costs, and annual price escalation clauses.

Heap Strengths

• Full autocapture eliminates instrumentation debt permanently
• Retroactive event analysis on complete historical data
• Visual event editor for non-technical self-service analytics
• Illuminate AI for proactive anomaly detection without analyst involvement
• Managed ETL to Snowflake, BigQuery, and Redshift as a first-class feature
• Account analytics for B2B use cases (Pro+)

Heap Weaknesses

• No predictive cohorts or ML-powered user scoring
• No published pricing — requires sales engagement for all paid tiers
• No feature flags, A/B testing, or surveys
• Autocapture data volumes require governance policies to prevent noise
• No self-hosting option
• Weaker enterprise-grade governance and data management than Amplitude

Feature-by-Feature Comparison

Use Case Recommendations

Choose Amplitude if:

• You need predictive cohorts and ML-powered user scoring to run proactive retention or conversion campaigns
• Enterprise data governance, tracking taxonomy management, and data quality are critical requirements
• Experimentation (A/B testing, feature experiments, web experiments) is a core workflow alongside analytics
• You are at a stage where the analytics function has dedicated ownership and can maintain a tracking plan
• You want a published entry-level price point without a sales conversation ($49/month Plus)

Choose Heap if:

• Engineering bandwidth for instrumentation is limited and retroactive analysis is frequently needed
• Non-technical product managers need to define and analyze events without writing code
• Proactive anomaly detection (Illuminate) would reduce the need for a dedicated analyst
• Managed data warehouse ETL is a first-class requirement for your analytics infrastructure
• You frequently discover gaps in your tracking plan and need to backfill historical analysis