# Amplitude vs Heap (2026)

By Noah — last updated & pricing verified October 23, 2026.

> **Verdict:** Choose Amplitude if you want product analytics, session replay, and feature experimentation in one tool, with a free plan covering 2 million events a month and MCP access for AI coding assistants. Choose Heap if you want autocapture that records every interaction from one snippet, so non-technical staff can build funnels retroactively against historical data. The deciding factor is how events get tracked: Amplitude asks for upfront event-taxonomy planning and has a moderate learning curve, while Heap autocaptures everything and rates low.

**Choose Amplitude if:** You want session replay on the free plan, with 10,000 replays a month and no credit card required; You run A/B tests and want feature experimentation in the same tool as your funnels and retention charts; You want AI coding assistants like Claude and Cursor to query product data through MCP, included on Amplitude's free plan; You want a pay-as-you-go paid tier (Plus, up to 70 million events a month) before any sales conversation; Your engineers can plan an event taxonomy and instrument it with SDKs for TypeScript, Python, Go, Swift, or Kotlin

**Choose Heap if:** You want product managers to build funnels themselves without waiting on engineers to tag new events; You need historical data for events you define today, which Heap's autocapture provides retroactively; You need SSO on a free plan, since Amplitude holds SSO back until its custom-priced Growth tier; You want a low learning curve rather than Amplitude's moderate one; You plan to send behavioral data into a data warehouse through Heap's Premier tier

## At a glance

|  | Amplitude | Heap |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| License | Freemium | Freemium |
| Best for | product teams that need behavioral analytics, session replay, and lightweight experimentation in one tool, and prefer usage-based pricing tied to event volume over per-seat licensing | product teams that want non-technical staff to build and adjust event funnels retroactively, without waiting on engineering to instrument new tracking code |
| Ratings | Capterra 4.6/5 (68 reviews) | Capterra 4.5/5 (42 reviews) |

## Feature comparison

| Feature | Amplitude | Heap |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Starting price | Yes (free plan) | Yes (free plan) |
| Free tier limits | Yes (2 million events/month, no credit card required) | Yes (10,000 sessions/month, 6 months of data history) |
| Published paid pricing | Partial (Plus is pay-as-you-go by event volume; Growth and Enterprise by quote) | No (Growth, Pro, and Premier are custom session-based quotes) |
| Platforms | Yes (web) | Yes (web) |
| Hosting / license | No (proprietary freemium, cloud-hosted) | No (closed-source, cloud-hosted) |
| Event capture | Partial (events typically tagged by engineers up front) | Yes (autocapture from one snippet, events defined retroactively) |
| Session replay | Yes (10,000/month free, 20K on Growth, 50K on Enterprise) | Partial (add-on from Pro (custom pricing)) |
| Feature experimentation (A/B testing) | Yes (built in) | Unknown |
| AI analysis | Yes (AI agents and MCP connectivity on the free plan) | Yes (Sense AI natural-language queries from Growth) |
| SSO | Yes (from Growth (custom pricing)) | Yes (included on the free plan) |
| Data history | Yes (2-year retention from Plus) | Partial (6 months on the free plan) |
| Data warehouse integration | Unknown | Yes (from Premier (custom pricing)) |
| Install and SDKs | Yes (SDKs for TypeScript, Python, Go, Swift, Kotlin) | Yes (single JavaScript snippet) |
| Learning curve | Partial (moderate) | Yes (low) |
| Support | Unknown | Yes (email from Growth, dedicated success manager on Premier) |
| External rating | Yes (4.6/5 from 68 reviews (Capterra)) | Yes (4.5/5 from 42 reviews (Capterra)) |

## Amplitude vs Heap pricing: which costs less?

Neither Amplitude nor Heap publishes full paid rates, so the clearest comparison is the free tiers: Amplitude's free plan covers 2 million events a month, while Heap's covers 10,000 sessions a month with 6 months of history.

Amplitude bills on event volume. Its Plus tier is pay-as-you-go beyond the free 2 million events, up to 70 million events a month, and Growth and Enterprise are custom quotes. Heap bills on session volume, and Growth, Pro, and Premier all require a sales quote. The meters are not directly comparable: an Amplitude bill grows with instrumentation depth, while a Heap bill grows with traffic. Heap reviewers report costs climbing sharply as session volume scales, and Amplitude's listing warns that heavy instrumentation can push event volume, and cost, up faster than teams expect.

## Which is easier to use, Amplitude or Heap?

Heap is easier to use, with a low learning curve rating against Amplitude's moderate rating, because Heap's autocapture removes the need to design and tag events before analysis.

Heap records every click, page view, and form submission from a single JavaScript snippet, so a product manager can define a funnel step after the fact and see historical data for it immediately. Reviewers praise Heap's no-code event capture for letting non-technical team members build funnels themselves. Amplitude's setup and event-taxonomy design take more upfront planning, typically with engineers instrumenting events through SDKs for TypeScript, Python, Go, Swift, or Kotlin before the first useful chart appears.

## Which includes more on the free plan, Amplitude or Heap?

Amplitude's free plan includes more analysis features, with 10,000 monthly session replays, AI agents, and MCP connectivity, while Heap's free plan stands out for including SSO and unlimited enrichment sources.

Amplitude's paid tiers add heatmaps, alerts, and 20 behavioral cohorts on Plus, SSO and 20K monthly replays on Growth, and advanced RBAC with 50K replays on Enterprise. Amplitude also includes feature experimentation for A/B testing. Heap's paid tiers add Sense AI natural-language queries on Growth, account analytics and report alerts on Pro, and data warehouse integration with behavioral targeting on Premier. Heap sells session replay as an add-on starting at Pro rather than including it on the free plan.

## Can Heap replace Amplitude?

Heap can replace Amplitude for funnel and behavioral analysis, but teams that rely on Amplitude's built-in feature experimentation or MCP access for AI coding tools will not find either in Heap's listed plans.

Heap covers the core product-analytics job with funnels, journey maps, heatmaps, Heap Illuminate friction detection, and Sense AI queries, and autocapture makes historical data available for any newly defined event. Session replay costs extra as a Pro add-on. Heap is now part of Contentsquare, and its analytics and replay data feed into Contentsquare's broader digital experience platform; some long-time users report changed roadmap priorities since the acquisition.

## Strengths and weaknesses

### Amplitude

- Pro: Free tier covers 2 million events/month with no credit card required, generous compared to many analytics competitors.
- Pro: Session replay and feature experimentation are built in, reducing the need for separate tools.
- Pro: Native MCP support lets AI coding assistants query product analytics data directly.
- Pro: SDKs across TypeScript, Python, Go, Swift, and Kotlin cover most product stacks.
- Con: Growth and Enterprise pricing is not published; both require a sales conversation to get a quote.
- Con: Usage-based pricing means costs can rise with instrumentation depth, not just company size or seats.
- Con: Advanced session replay volume (beyond the free tier's 10,000/month) requires moving to a paid plan.
- Con: Setup and event-taxonomy design require more upfront planning than simpler analytics tools.

### Heap

- Pro: Autocapture records every interaction on install, so new funnels can be built against historical data with no re-instrumentation.
- Pro: Non-technical team members can define and adjust tracked events without engineering involvement.
- Pro: Sense AI enables natural-language queries against behavioral data.
- Pro: Free tier includes SSO and unlimited enrichment sources, not just a stripped-down trial.
- Con: No published pricing above the 10,000-session free tier; Growth, Pro, and Premier require a sales quote.
- Con: Reviewers report costs rising sharply as monthly session volume grows.
- Con: Session replay is an add-on rather than included in the base Pro plan.
- Con: Now part of Contentsquare following acquisition, which has changed roadmap priorities for some long-time users.

## Which fits your use case?

| Use case | Pick | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Early-stage startup that wants analytics and session replay without paying | Amplitude | Amplitude's free plan covers 2 million events a month and includes 10,000 session replays; Heap sells session replay as an add-on starting at the custom-priced Pro tier. |
| Product team where PMs build their own funnels without engineering help | Heap | Heap autocaptures every interaction from one snippet so PMs can define events retroactively, while Amplitude typically needs engineers to tag events up front and carries a moderate learning curve. |
| Team that runs feature A/B tests alongside product analytics | Amplitude | Amplitude includes feature experimentation in the platform; Heap's listed plans do not mention an experimentation tool. |
| Company that needs SSO before signing a sales contract | Heap | Heap includes SSO on its free plan, while Amplitude adds SSO only at Growth, which is priced through sales. |
| Engineering team that wants Claude or Cursor to query product data | Amplitude | Amplitude supports MCP on its free plan so AI coding assistants can query analytics directly; Heap's listing does not mention MCP support. |
| Scaling product that needs a predictable analytics budget | Tie | Amplitude Growth and Enterprise and every Heap paid tier need a sales quote, Amplitude's listing warns event volume can outrun budgets, and Heap reviewers report costs climbing sharply with sessions. |

## Migration FAQ

### Should I use Amplitude or Heap?

Use Amplitude if you want analytics, session replay, and feature experimentation in one tool with a free plan of 2 million events a month; use Heap if you want autocapture so non-technical staff can build funnels retroactively without engineering help.

### Is Amplitude cheaper than Heap?

Neither Amplitude nor Heap is clearly cheaper, because Amplitude bills by event volume and Heap bills by session volume, and most paid tiers on both are quoted by sales. On the free plans, Amplitude allows 2 million events a month and Heap allows 10,000 sessions a month.

### Can Heap replace Amplitude?

Yes for funnel and behavioral analysis, since Heap autocaptures every interaction and adds Sense AI queries, heatmaps, and journey maps. Teams that depend on Amplitude's feature experimentation or free-plan session replay would need another tool or Heap's Pro session replay add-on.

### Which has session replay, Amplitude or Heap?

Both Amplitude and Heap offer session replay, but Amplitude includes 10,000 monthly replays on its free plan, while Heap sells session replay as an add-on starting at the Pro tier.

### Is Heap owned by Contentsquare?

Yes — Heap was acquired by Contentsquare, and Heap's analytics and session replay data now feed into Contentsquare's broader digital experience platform. Some long-time Heap users report that roadmap priorities changed after the acquisition.

## Neither a match?

- 5 alternatives to Amplitude: https://findalternative.to/amplitude
- 5 alternatives to Heap: https://findalternative.to/heap

---

Markdown mirror of https://findalternative.to/compare/amplitude-vs-heap — findalternative.to, honestly ranked software alternatives. AI info: https://findalternative.to/ai