Amplitude vs Heap vs Segment

Overview

Segment

Stacks3.3K

Followers941

Votes275

Heap

Stacks689

Followers468

Votes126

Amplitude

Stacks887

Followers701

Votes36

Amplitude vs Heap vs Segment: What are the differences?

Key Differences between Amplitude, Heap, and Segment

Amplitude, Heap, and Segment are three popular tools used for tracking and analyzing user behavior on websites. While they have some similarities, there are several key differences between them:

Data Collection: Amplitude provides a client-side SDK that needs to be integrated directly into the website's code, allowing for real-time event tracking and data collection. Heap, on the other hand, uses a snippet of code that is placed on the website and automatically captures all user interactions without the need for custom event tracking. Segment acts as a middleware between the website and various analytics tools, enabling easy integration and management of different tracking services.
Data Storage and Querying: Amplitude has its own infrastructure for storing and querying data, offering efficient and fast querying capabilities using its proprietary database. Heap automatically captures and stores all user interactions, allowing retroactive analysis as it saves raw data. Segment, however, acts as a data pipeline and does not persist data itself, forwarding it to the analytics destinations specified by the user.
Analytics Features: Amplitude provides an extensive set of analytics features, including cohort analysis, user segmentation, and A/B testing. Heap also offers similar features but focuses on automatically capturing and organizing user interactions for retroactive analysis. Segment, being a data pipeline, offers integrations with various analytics tools and allows data to be sent to them for further analysis.
Implementation Complexity: Implementing Amplitude requires integration of their SDK into the website code, which could be more complex compared to Heap or Segment. Heap provides automatic data collection, simplifying the implementation process. Segment offers a simplified implementation process through its single integration point and takes care of data routing to different analytics tools.
Pricing: Amplitude offers a tiered pricing model based on the number of monthly tracked users and the selected features. Heap's pricing is also based on the number of monthly tracked users, but they offer a free plan for up to a certain limit. Segment offers a flexible pricing model based on the number of data sources and destinations used.
Target Users: Amplitude is suitable for businesses that require extensive event tracking and customizable analytics features. Heap is beneficial for organizations that want to automatically capture comprehensive user interactions without custom event tracking. Segment is ideal for businesses that need to manage data and send it to multiple analytics or marketing tools for analysis.

In Summary, Amplitude, Heap, and Segment differ in terms of their data collection methods, data storage and querying capabilities, analytics features, implementation complexity, pricing models, and target users.

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Advice on Segment, Heap, Amplitude

Ben

Chief Product Officer at goLance

Aug 22, 2020

Needs advice

I am trying to decide on a solution to better track our user data. We need to track which google ads are leading to signups, and which signups are performing various actions on the site. We then need to visualize this data in various ways. We also need to run A/B tests on features and content, to track which ones lead to the most paid conversions.

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Detailed Comparison

Segment	Heap	Amplitude
Segment is a single hub for customer data. Collect your data in one place, then send it to more than 100 third-party tools, internal systems, or Amazon Redshift with the flip of a switch.	Heap automatically captures every user action in your app and lets you measure it all. Clicks, taps, swipes, form submissions, page views, and more. Track events and segment users instantly. No pushing code. No waiting for data to trickle in.	Amplitude provides scalable mobile analytics that helps companies leverage data to create explosive user growth. Anyone in the company can use Amplitude to pinpoint the most valuable behavioral patterns within hours.
A single API to integrate third-party tools; Data replay that backfills new tools with historical data; SQL support to automatically transform and load behavioral data into Amazon Redshift; More than 120 tools on the platform; One-click to install plugins for WordPress, Magento and WooCommerce; Mobile, web and server-side libraries	Define analytics events using a simple, point 'n' click interface. People with zero coding knowledge can start tracking events and generating important metrics instantly;Automatically capture every user action in your iOS or web app and measure it all. Clicks, taps, swipes, form submissions, page views, and more;All analysis is automatically retroactive, so there's no need to wait days for data to accumulate. You can rely on each report to include everything from day one.;Define meaningful user segments in seconds, without writing code. Or pick a single user and display every single action they performed in your app.;Define active users and plot their growth, or list users who hit the sign up page but never registered.	Real-time user analytics, including funnels, retention, flexible user segmentation, and revenue analysis.; Microscope: Explore the user behavior behind any data point. Compare the behavior of engaged vs. churned users.; Growth Discovery Engine: Identify behaviors that are predictive of retention or conversion and drive explosive user growth.; Direct SQL Access via Amazon Redshift: Get access to all of your raw data with zero work on your end.
Statistics
Stacks 3.3K	Stacks 689	Stacks 887
Followers 941	Followers 468	Followers 701
Votes 275	Votes 126	Votes 36
Pros & Cons
Pros 86 Easy to scale and maintain 3rd party services 49 One API 39 Simple 25 Multiple integrations 19 Cleanest API Cons 2 Not clear which events/options are integration-specific 1 Limitations with integration-specific configurations 1 Client-side events are separated from server-side	Pros 36 Automatically capture every user action 23 No code required 21 Free Plan 14 Real-time insights 11 Track custom events	Pros 11 Great for product managers 9 Easy setup 6 Efficient analysis 2 Chart edits get their own URLs 2 Behavioral cohorts Cons 4 Super expensive once you're past the free plan
Integrations
Google Analytics Mixpanel UserVoice LiveChat Olark Marketo Intercom Sentry BugHerd Gauges	Optimizely Visual Website Optimizer	Looker Urban Airship Amazon Redshift Mode Optimizely Periscope

What are some alternatives to Segment, Heap, Amplitude?

Mixpanel

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KISSmetrics

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Countly

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Flurry

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Localytics

Localytics provides app analytics and app marketing for the mobile market, similar to companies such as Flurry and Adobe.

Rybbit

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Amplitude vs Heap vs Segment

Overview

Amplitude vs Heap vs Segment: What are the differences?