The Ecomm Analyst

Peel Insights is purpose-built for one of the harder questions in ecommerce analytics: what does retention actually look like? The platform goes deep on cohort analysis, RFM segmentation, market basket analysis, repurchase rates, and subscription analytics. For Shopify Plus and subscription-heavy stores, those reports are genuinely valuable, and the team behind the product (now part of Relay Commerce) has built one of the better Shopify analytics tools for that specific job.

Where Peel is lighter is on attribution proper. The platform includes UTM-based multi-touch attribution, which is fine for basic channel reporting but doesn’t compete with the first-party, deterministic, server-side approach you get from tools built for attribution as a primary use case. Pricing runs from $199 a month at the Core tier (6,000 monthly orders) up to custom Enterprise quotes at 62,000+ monthly orders.

If what you’re after is attribution rather than retention reporting, here’s how I’d rank the alternatives.

Quick comparison

Tool	Best for	What it does well	Pricing	Main tradeoff
Northbeam	Brands spending $100K+ a month with complex media mixes	MTA plus media mix modeling	Starts at $1,500/mo	Expensive, slow onboarding
Wicked Reports	Subscription and LTV-driven brands	Cohort and lifetime value tracking	Starts at $499/mo	Dated UI, less DTC-native
ThoughtMetric	Ecommerce brands looking for attribution	Multi-touch attribution, product analytics, AI connector	Starts at $99/mo for 50k pageviews	Doesn’t support B2B lead gen
Polar Analytics	Brands that want BI and attribution together	Deterministic attribution, Snowflake access, flat pricing	Pricing not listed	More tool than most small DTC teams need
Triple Whale	Shopify brands spending $50K to $5M a month	Creative analytics, mobile app, Sonar pixel	Starts at $179/mo	Feature bloat, pricing scales fast
Hyros	High-ticket, info products, long sales cycles	Long-window tracking, call attribution	Pricing not listed	Not very Shopify-native, heavier setup

1. Northbeam

Northbeam is the natural upgrade path for Peel users who want their LTV and cohort work paired with serious attribution rigor. The platform combines machine learning attribution with media mix modeling, customer journey reporting, and the kind of analytical depth that ambitious DTC teams use day-to-day. If you came to Peel for cohort analysis and you’re now finding the attribution layer too thin, Northbeam closes that gap.

The catch is the price and the complexity. The Starter plan begins at $1,500 a month, the platform really wants you spending $100K+ a month across at least four channels for the math to make sense, and onboarding takes weeks rather than days. For Peel users at the Core or Essentials tier, this is too far up the stack. For brands at Accelerate and above who treat analytics as a strategic function, Northbeam is what that next stage looks like.

2. Wicked Reports

Wicked Reports overlaps with Peel more than any other tool on this list in terms of philosophy. Both put LTV and cohort analysis at the center. Both go deep on subscription brands and replenishment products. Both focus on which channels bring in customers worth keeping rather than which channels drove a conversion this week.

The difference is the attribution layer underneath. Wicked has been doing attribution-first reporting longer than Peel and the methodology runs deeper. Plans start at $499 a month. The interface shows its age and the platform feels less polished than Peel’s UI. If your business is a subscription brand and you came to Peel for the LTV work, Wicked covers the same ground with stronger attribution behind it.

3. ThoughtMetric

Disclosure: ThoughtMetric is the attribution tool I run on my own stack, so factor that in. Where Peel goes deep on retention with UTM-based attribution layered in, ThoughtMetric flips the priority. Multi-touch attribution comes first, with cohort analytics and product analytics built around it.

That makes it a fit for brands that want attribution as the centerpiece without paying for the depth of Peel’s retention reporting. Multiple attribution models, a conversion API for first-party data, an AI connector that lets you query results from Claude or ChatGPT, and pricing published on the site at $99 a month for 50k pageviews. The tradeoff is the depth of retention reporting Peel offers (RFM, market basket analysis, the deeper customer-segment work). If those reports are central to your operation, Peel may still be the right home for them. For brands where attribution is the priority, ThoughtMetric handles it more directly.

4. Polar Analytics

Polar takes a different shape than Peel. Where Peel is a polished analytics product with pre-built reports, Polar is a full BI-and-attribution platform with a dedicated Snowflake instance under it. Deterministic attribution, custom dashboards, AI agents on top, and the option to write SQL against your raw data if your team has the bandwidth.

For data-curious teams that want flexibility beyond pre-built reports, Polar’s depth is appealing. The tradeoff is operational. There’s more to manage, and if a marketer is the primary user rather than someone with an analyst background, parts of the platform will feel like overkill. Pricing isn’t listed on the site, so a demo is required to find out what you’d pay. For Peel users specifically, Polar offers a similar Snowflake-data-access angle but wraps it in deeper attribution and broader BI.

5. Triple Whale

Triple Whale covers more surface area than Peel but at a different angle. Where Peel optimizes for analytical depth on retention, Triple Whale optimizes for operational visibility across the whole DTC stack. The Sonar pixel handles first-party tracking, the dashboards center on metrics like blended ROAS and MER, and the platform layers retention reporting, creative analytics, post-purchase surveys, and a mobile app on top.

Pricing starts at $179 a month and scales with revenue. For Shopify brands that want one tool covering attribution, retention, and operations rather than a specialist for each, Triple Whale is the more complete pick. For brands that specifically chose Peel for the depth of cohort and segmentation work, Triple Whale’s retention reporting is solid but doesn’t go as deep.

6. Hyros

Hyros is the least obvious fit on this list for a Peel user. The platform is built for high-ticket info products, coaching businesses, and lead-gen funnels, businesses where the conversion happens on a sales call rather than a Shopify checkout. Long-window attribution, call tracking, conversion sync to ad platforms.

Pricing isn’t published on the Hyros site, which signals who they’re built for. If your business runs on sales calls or offline conversions and you came to Peel because you needed long attribution windows, Hyros is worth a look. For most Shopify subscription brands using Peel, this isn’t the right swap.

So which one should you actually pick

Quick map. Northbeam if you want serious attribution rigor on top of cohort analytics. Wicked Reports if you cared about Peel for the LTV work and want stronger attribution behind it. ThoughtMetric if you want attribution-first reporting at a transparent price. Polar if BI and attribution belong in the same platform. Triple Whale if you want a complete Shopify-native operating system. Hyros if you’re closer to high-ticket or lead-gen than Shopify ecommerce.

Peel Insights isn’t a bad tool. For Shopify brands that want polished retention and cohort analytics without building it all in a BI platform, Peel does that job genuinely well. For brands that want serious attribution analysis as the centerpiece, the alternatives above are better fits.