The Ecomm Analyst

Heap is a product analytics platform, now part of Contentsquare. Its signature is autocapture, recording every click, view, and form submission so you can define and analyze events retroactively without instrumenting them in advance, with session replay added through the Contentsquare side. There is a free tier capped at a small number of sessions, then Growth, Pro, and Premier tiers on custom, opaque pricing with annual contracts.

The reasons to look elsewhere come up often. The pricing is hard to predict and gets expensive with annual lock-in, autocapture-everything tends to create messy, ungoverned data, some users report support slipping since the acquisition, and like all of these it is product behavior, not marketing attribution.

Here is where I would look instead.

ThoughtMetric

ThoughtMetric is what I use, and I am putting it first because for an e-commerce brand the question hiding inside a Heap evaluation is usually which channels and campaigns drive revenue. That is attribution, not behavior capture. Multi-touch attribution with cohort and LTV views built for online stores. The honest tradeoff is that it does not replace on-site behavior analysis, so if your real need is understanding what users click and where they drop off, the tools below fit better.

PostHog

PostHog is the closest in philosophy, with autocapture plus pay-as-you-go pricing and a self-host option. For teams that liked Heap’s no-instrumentation approach but want transparent pricing and no annual contract, it is the natural switch.

Mixpanel

Mixpanel takes the opposite approach with explicit event tracking, which means more setup but cleaner data. Strong funnels and retention and a generous free tier. Pick it if Heap’s data noise was the frustration.

Amplitude

Amplitude is the other heavyweight in product analytics, with deep behavioral analysis, session replay, and a generous free Starter tier. If you want capability depth and are willing to manage the cost curve, it competes directly.

FullStory

FullStory leans into the session replay and experience side that Heap now shares with Contentsquare. If watching real sessions and surfacing UX friction is what you wanted, FullStory is purpose-built for it rather than bolting it on.

Picking between these

• If your real question is which marketing drives revenue, ThoughtMetric.
• If you liked autocapture but want no lock-in, PostHog.
• If you want cleaner data through explicit tracking, Mixpanel.
• If you want depth and can manage cost, Amplitude.
• If you mainly wanted session replay, FullStory.

Heap solves a real problem, which is not knowing in advance what you will want to measure. The trap for e-commerce operators is treating it as a way to understand marketing, which it does not do. Separate the behavior question from the attribution question before you commit, because they point at different tools.