5 Best Free Alternatives to Heap in 2026
By Noahlast updated pricing verified
Compared: free alternatives to Heap
| Alternative | Best for | Learning curve | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heapreference | product teams that want non-technical staff to build and adjust event funnels retroactively, without waiting on engineering to instrument new tracking code | Low | Free |
| Amplitude | 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 | Moderate | Free |
| Mixpanel | product teams tracking funnels, retention, and feature adoption across web and mobile without writing SQL | Moderate | Free |
| PostHog | product and engineering teams who want analytics, session replay, feature flags, and error tracking in one platform instead of stitching together separate tools | Moderate | Free |
| FullStory | product and UX teams who need to watch actual user sessions to diagnose friction, not just aggregate funnel metrics | Low | Free |
| Contentsquare | Finding where and why visitors drop out of key website or app journeys by combining heatmaps, session replays and funnels on one dataset | Moderate | Free tier · paid from $39/mo |
Heap
Amplitude
Mixpanel
PostHog
FullStory
Contentsquare1Amplitude — best Heap alternative 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
Amplitude is the best Heap alternative for product teams that want behavioral analytics, session replay, and lightweight experimentation bundled under one usage-based pricing model. Amplitude's Free plan covers up to 2 million tracked events per month with no credit card required, well beyond Heap's own free tier cap of 10,000 monthly sessions, and Amplitude holds a 4.6/5 rating from 68 Capterra reviews, edging out Heap's 4.5/5 from 42 Capterra reviews. Amplitude also ships native MCP connectivity so AI coding assistants like Claude and Cursor can query product data directly, a capability Heap's platform doesn't list, and its Plus plan scales usage-based pricing up to 70 million events/month with published mechanics, compared with Heap's Growth, Pro, and Premier tiers, which are all custom-quoted through sales with no published numbers. Heap is still the better choice for teams that specifically want to avoid instrumenting events at all: Heap's autocapture records every click, tap, and form submission from install with no manual event tagging, letting non-technical staff build brand-new funnels against historical data, while Amplitude's event tracking still relies on its SDKs (TypeScript, Python, Go, Swift, Kotlin) capturing what's been instrumented.
Compared to Heap: free tier covers 2M events/month vs Heap's 10,000-session cap, slightly higher Capterra rating (4.6/5 from 68 reviews vs 4.5/5 from 42), native MCP integration for Claude and Cursor
Wins:Free tier covers 2 million events/month with no credit card, vs Heap's 10,000-monthly-session free cap · 4.6/5 rating from 68 Capterra reviews vs Heap's 4.5/5 from 42 Capterra reviews · Native MCP connectivity lets AI coding assistants like Claude and Cursor query product data directly, which Heap doesn't list
Loses:No autocapture-by-default model; Amplitude's event tracking relies on SDK instrumentation rather than capturing everything automatically like Heap · Growth and Enterprise pricing is still usage-based and requires navigating a calculator or sales conversation for exact numbers, similar to Heap's own unpublished tiers · Setup and event-taxonomy design require more upfront planning than Heap's retroactive, no-instrumentation approach
Pros
- Free tier covers 2 million events/month with no credit card required, generous compared to many analytics competitors.
- Session replay and feature experimentation are built in, reducing the need for separate tools.
- Native MCP support lets AI coding assistants query product analytics data directly.
- SDKs across TypeScript, Python, Go, Swift, and Kotlin cover most product stacks.
Cons
- Growth and Enterprise pricing is not published; both require a sales conversation to get a quote.
- Usage-based pricing means costs can rise with instrumentation depth, not just company size or seats.
- Advanced session replay volume (beyond the free tier's 10,000/month) requires moving to a paid plan.
- Setup and event-taxonomy design require more upfront planning than simpler analytics tools.
Pricing: Free — Free up to 2M events/month vs Heap's free tier capped at 10,000 sessions/month; both vendors' paid tiers are usage-based and not published as flat numbers (verified )
2Mixpanel — best Heap alternative for product teams tracking funnels, retention, and feature adoption across web and mobile without writing SQL
Mixpanel is the best Heap alternative for teams that want a genuinely forever-free tier with real usage headroom, rather than Heap's narrower 10,000-monthly-session free cap. Mixpanel's Free plan requires no credit card and covers up to 1 million events per month with 10,000 session replays included, and it holds a combined review base of 4.5/5 from 146 Capterra reviews and 4.9/5 from 90 Product Hunt reviews, more third-party review volume than Heap's 4.5/5 from 42 Capterra reviews. Mixpanel's proprietary Arb query engine is built for fast ad hoc queries across large event volumes, and MCP integrations connect Mixpanel data directly into Slack, Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor. Heap is still the better choice for teams that don't want to plan an event-tracking taxonomy in advance: Mixpanel requires disciplined event naming up front, and poorly named events make later analysis messy, a setup cost Heap's autocapture model avoids entirely by recording every interaction from install and letting non-technical staff define funnels retroactively against historical data, without waiting on engineering to instrument new tracking code.
Compared to Heap: forever-free tier with 1M events/month and 10,000 session replays vs Heap's 10,000-session cap, more combined third-party reviews (146 Capterra + 90 Product Hunt vs 42 Capterra), proprietary Arb engine for fast ad hoc queries
Wins:Forever-free tier (no credit card) covers 1M events/month plus 10,000 session replays, vs Heap's 10,000-monthly-session free cap · 146 Capterra reviews at 4.5/5 plus 90 Product Hunt reviews at 4.9/5, more combined review volume than Heap's 42 Capterra reviews · Proprietary Arb query engine enables fast ad hoc queries across tens of millions of monthly events
Loses:Requires a disciplined event-tracking taxonomy set up in advance; poorly named events make later analysis messy, unlike Heap's no-instrumentation autocapture · No SQL access on lower tiers limits users who want warehouse-style custom queries directly · Growth plan pricing is usage-based and not shown as a flat number, similar to Heap's own unpublished tiers
Pros
- Free tier genuinely usable up to 1M events/month with core funnel and retention analysis included.
- Fast ad hoc queries across large event volumes via the proprietary Arb engine.
- Session replay and A/B testing built into the same product as the analytics.
- MCP integrations connect Mixpanel data directly into Slack, Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor.
Cons
- Growth plan pricing is usage-based and not shown as a flat number on the pricing page, making costs harder to forecast.
- Event-based pricing can climb quickly for high-traffic consumer apps compared to flat-rate tools.
- No SQL access on lower tiers limits users who want to run custom warehouse-style queries directly.
- Requires disciplined event-tracking taxonomy up front; poorly named events make later analysis messy.
Pricing: Free — Free forever up to 1M events/month vs Heap's free tier capped at 10,000 sessions/month; both vendors' paid tiers require a sales quote or usage calculator rather than published flat rates (verified )
3PostHog — best Heap alternative for product and engineering teams who want analytics, session replay, feature flags, and error tracking in one platform instead of stitching together separate tools
PostHog is the best Heap alternative for engineering-led teams that want product analytics, session replay, feature flags, error tracking, and a data warehouse bundled in one MIT-licensed, open-source platform. PostHog's core is published on GitHub under the MIT license, with a dedicated posthog-foss repository for teams that want strictly open-source code, and its Free plan requires no credit card while covering 1 million analytics events, 5,000 session replays, and 1 million feature flag requests per month, more generous across more product areas than Heap's 10,000-monthly-session free cap. PostHog holds a 5.0/5 rating from 253 Product Hunt reviews, a far larger sample than Heap's 4.5/5 from 42 Capterra reviews, and teams can choose a US or EU cloud region or self-host it entirely. Heap is still the better choice for non-technical teams that want the simplest possible entry point: PostHog's breadth of bundled tools means a wider surface area to learn than Heap's single-purpose, no-code autocapture approach, and PostHog's usage-based pricing spans multiple separately billed products (events, replays, flags, surveys, warehouse rows), making total monthly cost harder to forecast than Heap's simpler free-then-custom-quote structure.
Compared to Heap: MIT-licensed open-source core with self-hosting option, larger review sample (5.0/5 from 253 Product Hunt reviews vs 4.5/5 from 42 Capterra reviews), free tier bundles analytics, replay, feature flags, and error tracking
Wins:MIT-licensed, open-source core published on GitHub, with an official self-hosting option Heap doesn't offer · 5.0/5 rating from 253 Product Hunt reviews, far more review volume than Heap's 4.5/5 from 42 Capterra reviews · Free tier bundles analytics, session replay, feature flags, error tracking, and surveys, more product areas than Heap's free tier covers
Loses:Breadth of bundled tools creates a wider surface area to learn than Heap's single-purpose, no-code autocapture approach · Usage-based pricing spans multiple separately billed products, making total monthly cost harder to forecast than a single free-then-custom-quote structure · Some enterprise features live behind a separate proprietary 'ee' license rather than the fully open-source core
Pros
- Combines analytics, session replay, feature flags, error tracking, and surveys in one platform.
- Generous free tier: 1M analytics events and 5,000 session replays per month with no credit card required.
- MIT-licensed core with source available on GitHub, plus a dedicated posthog-foss repository for strictly open-source use.
- Choice of US or EU cloud region, or self-hosting.
Cons
- Usage-based pricing spans multiple products independently, making total monthly cost harder to forecast than flat per-seat pricing.
- Some enterprise features are gated behind a separate proprietary license (the 'ee' directory), not the fully open-source core.
- Self-hosting PostHog at scale requires more operational overhead than using the managed cloud.
- The breadth of bundled tools (analytics, replay, flags, surveys, data warehouse) means new users face a wider surface area to learn than a single-purpose analytics tool.
Pricing: Free — Free tier (1M events, 5,000 replays, 1M feature flag requests) vs Heap's free tier capped at 10,000 sessions/month; PostHog's paid usage starts at $0.00005/event, Heap's paid tiers are unpublished custom quotes (verified )
4FullStory — best Heap alternative for product and UX teams who need to watch actual user sessions to diagnose friction, not just aggregate funnel metrics
FullStory is the best Heap alternative for product and UX teams that need to watch actual user sessions to diagnose friction, not just review aggregate funnel metrics. FullStory's free FullstoryFree tier covers up to 30,000 monthly sessions and 12 months of data retention with no credit card required, three times Heap's own free-tier cap of 10,000 monthly sessions with only 6 months of history. FullStory also holds a much larger review base than Heap: 4.5/5 from 1,048 G2 reviews and 4.6/5 from 67 Capterra reviews, compared with Heap's 4.5/5 from just 42 Capterra reviews. StoryAI, FullStory's natural-language AI assistant, answers behavioral questions in plain language instead of requiring analysts to build a custom dashboard. Heap is still the better choice for teams that want SSO included on a genuinely free plan: Heap's free tier explicitly bundles SSO and unlimited enrichment sources, while FullStory's free tier description doesn't list SSO, and FullStory's paid Business, Advanced, and Enterprise tiers are entirely custom-quoted through sales, just as Heap's Growth, Pro, and Premier tiers are.
Compared to Heap: free tier covers 30,000 sessions/month and 12 months of history vs Heap's 10,000 sessions/6 months, far larger review base (1,048 G2 + 67 Capterra vs 42 Capterra), StoryAI natural-language querying
Wins:Free FullstoryFree tier covers 30,000 monthly sessions and 12 months of retention, vs Heap's 10,000-session, 6-month free tier · 4.5/5 from 1,048 G2 reviews and 4.6/5 from 67 Capterra reviews, far more review volume than Heap's 42 Capterra reviews · StoryAI answers behavioral questions in plain language without requiring a custom dashboard build
Loses:Free tier doesn't list SSO the way Heap's free plan explicitly includes it · Paid Business, Advanced, and Enterprise tiers are entirely custom-quoted, just like Heap's unpublished Growth, Pro, and Premier tiers · Mobile analytics is a separate add-on rather than included by default
Pros
- Retroactive session search finds and replays any past user behavior without pre-defining tracked events.
- StoryAI answers behavioral questions in plain language instead of requiring a custom dashboard build.
- Free tier covers 30,000 sessions/month and 12 months of retention with no credit card required.
- Reviewers consistently rate the interface as intuitive enough for non-technical team members to use directly.
Cons
- No published pricing above the free tier; Business, Advanced, and Enterprise all require a sales quote.
- Reviewers report costs escalate sharply once a site outgrows the 30,000-session free tier.
- High-traffic sites generate enough session volume that finding actionable insights can become overwhelming.
- Mobile analytics is a separate add-on rather than included by default.
Pricing: Free — Free up to 30,000 sessions/month vs Heap's free tier capped at 10,000 sessions/month; both vendors' paid tiers require a custom sales quote (verified )
5Contentsquare — best Heap alternative for finding where and why visitors drop out of key website or app journeys by combining heatmaps, session replays and funnels on one dataset
Contentsquare is the best Heap alternative for enterprise and mid-market teams that want Heap-style automatic capture inside a broader experience platform with a published price. Contentsquare bought Heap in 2023 and merged Heap, Hotjar, and its own product into one platform in 2024. Like Heap, Contentsquare records every click, scroll, and tap without manual event tagging, and Contentsquare adds session replay, error and performance monitoring, and surveys on the same data, with Sense AI summarizing replays and heatmaps and suggesting what to fix. The free allowance is far larger in sessions: Contentsquare's Free plan counts up to 200,000 sessions a month, 20 times Heap's 10,000, and replays 5% of them, where Heap sells session replay as an add-on to its custom-quoted Pro plan. Growth is published at $39/month billed yearly ($49 monthly) for 7,000 sessions, while Heap's Growth, Pro, and Premier plans are all custom-quoted. Contentsquare says 3,000 enterprise and mid-market brands and 1.3 million+ websites use it. Heap is still the better choice for teams that need history and SSO without paying: Heap's free plan keeps 6 months of data against 1 month on Contentsquare Free and includes SSO, which Contentsquare reserves for its custom-quoted Pro plan, and Heap's learning curve is rated low against Contentsquare's moderate.
Compared to Heap: a free plan counting up to 200,000 sessions a month against Heap's 10,000, published Growth pricing from $39/month billed yearly where every Heap paid plan is custom-quoted, and session replay, error and performance monitoring, and basic surveys on the free plan, where Heap sells replay as a Pro add-on and lists no error monitoring or surveys
Wins:Free plan counts up to 200,000 sessions a month, 20 times Heap's 10,000-session free cap, with heatmaps, funnels, error and performance monitoring, and basic surveys · Session replay is included on Free for 5% of sessions, up to 10,000 a month, where Heap sells session replay as an add-on to its custom-quoted Pro plan · Growth is published at $39/month billed yearly or $49 monthly for 7,000 sessions, rising to $739/month at 200,000 sessions on monthly billing, where Heap's Growth, Pro, and Premier plans are all custom-quoted · Sense AI chat and replay and heatmap summaries come with the published Growth plan, where Heap's Sense AI sits in its custom-quoted Growth plan
Loses:Free keeps 1 month of data against 6 months on Heap's free plan · SAML SSO requires the custom-quoted Pro plan, where Heap's free plan includes SSO · Learning curve rated moderate against Heap's low, and no new heatmap or funnel data is collected once the monthly session cap is reached · Growth climbs from $49 to $739 a month on monthly billing between 7,000 and 200,000 sessions, and larger volumes need a sales quote
Pros
- The Free plan includes up to 200,000 sessions a month with heatmaps, funnels, error monitoring and basic surveys, against the 35 sessions a day Hotjar's old free plan captured.
- Automatic, tag-free capture lets teams analyze clicks, scrolls and form interactions retroactively without defining events in advance.
- Sense AI answers plain-language questions and summarizes replays and heatmaps, and the MCP server connects the data to ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot.
- One platform spans heatmaps, session replay, journeys, error and performance monitoring, surveys, product analytics and A/B testing, and Hotjar users log in with their existing credentials.
- Rated 4.6/5 on G2 and 4.6/5 on Gartner Peer Insights, the scores Contentsquare displays on its site.
Cons
- Free keeps only 1 month of data and records replays for 5% of sessions, capped at 10,000 a month.
- Growth pricing scales steeply with traffic, from $49/month at 7,000 sessions to $739/month at 200,000 on monthly billing, and larger volumes need a sales quote.
- APIs, alerts, SAML SSO, Data Connect and revenue attribution are reserved for the custom-quoted Pro and Enterprise plans.
- Hotjar is no longer sold on its own, so teams that wanted a simple standalone tool must adopt Contentsquare's broader platform and session-based plans.
Pricing: Free tier · paid from $39/mo — Contentsquare: free up to 200,000 sessions/month, then Growth from $39/month billed yearly ($49 monthly) for 7,000 sessions; Heap: free up to 10,000 sessions/month, paid tiers custom-quoted (verified )