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Upstack vs Northbeam

Comparison · checked October 24, 2026

Upstack vs Northbeam

Modeling and incrementality from a $1,500/mo floor, or fixed signal sent back to Meta, Google, TikTok and Klaviyo.

Choose Northbeam if

your ad budget calls for MMM, incrementality testing and a media strategist: those come on Professional, $3,500 a month on an annual term, or Enterprise, while Starter is $1,500 a month.

Choose Upstack if

you don’t need those yet: Attribution + Signal is $349 a month at 3,000 orders and sends resolved events to Meta and Klaviyo.

By Michael Alt, Founder & CEO Northbeam’s prices and features checked against its own pricing pages on October 24, 2026

15 minutes · no credit card · no commitment. Or start a free 21-day trial.

What it costs

Northbeam’s entry price against Upstack Attribution.

Northbeam’s published Starter floor against Upstack Attribution at the volume a brand that size typically runs.

Your stack today

Northbeam Starter

Starter, under $1.5M/yr media spend $1,500
Professional, up to $500K/mo spend, annual $3,500
MMM+, Enterprise add-on quote
Implementation 2–4 weeks

$1,500 / month, published floor

Both prices are published on their own pricing page, and the final price is informed by your pageviews. At six figures a month in media spend the comparison stops being about price and starts being about whether you need MMM and incrementality, which we do not offer.

With Upstack

Upstack

Attribution + Signal, 3,000 orders $349
First-party tracking Included
Attribution reporting Included
Onboarding and support Included

$349 / month

Upstack Attribution + Signal at 3,000 orders: tracking and identity from Signal, attribution from Attribution, on one bill, month to month.

How they differ

Three differences, starting with who each one is for.

Northbeam is a serious measurement platform for brands spending heavily on media. This page is mostly about whether you are the brand they built it for.

Different weight classes, and that is the honest framing

Northbeam’s Starter plan is for brands under roughly $1.5M a year in media spend and starts at $1,500 a month; Professional starts at $3,500 a month, on an annual term, for brands spending up to $500,000 a month. If you are there, they are a serious platform. If you are not, the entry price is the comparison.

Their graph ends in a dashboard. Ours ends in your ad accounts

Northbeam resolves identity to model attribution, and Apex sends its attributed credit for each ad to Meta and AppLovin as separate custom events. Northbeam’s Apex FAQ says those events carry no emails, names, phone numbers or device IDs, don’t affect event match quality, and shouldn’t replace your pixel or Conversions API setup. Upstack sends resolved, user-level events to the platforms and to Klaviyo.

Weeks of implementation, or an afternoon

Northbeam’s own documentation puts Shopify implementation at two to four weeks with light dev work, and four to eight weeks elsewhere, including a DNS A-record for first-party tracking. Upstack installs from the Shopify app in one call.

Feature by feature

Northbeam vs Upstack: features and pricing compared

Feature

Northbeam

What each one is for

Built forDTC Shopify brandsBrands from under $1.5M a year in ad spend (Starter) to over $500K a month (Enterprise); Growth through agency partners

First-party trackingYesYes: own pixel, DNS A-record, Shopify server-to-server

Needs a separate tracking toolNoNo: their docs say so explicitly

Implementation time20 minutes2–4 weeks Shopify; 4–8 weeks elsewhere

Free trial21 days, full featuresDemo only

Where the data goes

User-level events to Meta CAPIYesNo: Apex sends attributed credit as custom events, with no emails, phones or device IDs

Google Enhanced ConversionsYesNot publicly documented

Klaviyo flow enrichmentYesKlaviyo is a reporting source, not a flow destination

Event match quality improvementYesNo: their Apex FAQ says Apex events don’t affect it

Feeds ad-platform algorithmsVia resolved conversionsYes: Apex: Meta Custom Attribution (beta) and AppLovin

Measurement

Attribution modelsThreeSeven, including Clicks + Deterministic Views (platform-verified views)

Marketing mix modelingNoYes: MMM+, Enterprise add-on

Incrementality testingNoYes: optional on Professional and Enterprise

Creative analyticsYesYes

Contribution margin (CM1–CM4)YesProfit reporting; ladder not publicly documented

Subscription handlingNativeShopify order tags; Recharge orders need none

Pricing & terms

ModelPer orderBy ad spend band, informed by pageviews

Published floorSignal $149 · Attribution $99$1,500/mo (Starter)

Next tierAttribution $149 at 3,000 ordersProfessional: from $3,500/mo, up to $500K/mo spend

Top tierAttribution $699 at 30,000 ordersEnterprise: quote, above $500K/mo spend

ContractMonth to monthMonth to month on Starter; annual on Professional and Enterprise

Service includedWhite-glove setup and supportMedia strategist on Professional; CSM and Slack on Enterprise

Where the Northbeam figures come from, checked October 24, 2026

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Reviews

What brands say about Upstack

From the Shopify App Store and X, quoted in whole paragraphs, with a link to each one.

Read all reviews

The Wellness Company United States · About 1 year using the app

We tried every attribution software out there. Upstack is the only one that can seamlessly tie email, social, and search attribution signals together. For health and wellness companies, it's invaluable. And to boot, their team's service levels are exceptional.

Shopify App Store · 5 out of 5 · Sep 13, 2026
Johnny Hickey @johnhickey1970

i use upstack. wouldn't do without it and I tested much of the competition

X · Jun 25, 2026
Maelove Skincare United States · 3 months using the app

After testing out and surveying a number of platforms in this space, we onboarded with UpStack based on a strong recommendation. It's been a few a months now and absolutely no regrets.
We've seen Event Quality Match scores in meta increase, adding reliable NC purchase, NC CPA and NC ROAS metrics in ad manager is massively helpful as we're very focused on optimizing for NC, Klaviyo abandon flows are picking up significantly more revenue outside of our standard abandon flows (this alone generates a very solid ROI on using UpStack).

Shopify App Store · 5 out of 5 · Aug 23, 2024

Common questions

Northbeam vs Upstack: pricing and switching questions

Do I need a separate tracking tool to use Northbeam?

No. An earlier version of this page said you did, and that was wrong: Northbeam has its own first-party pixel, a DNS-based first-party domain and a Shopify server-to-server integration for orders, and their documentation says so directly. We have corrected it.

Is Northbeam’s pricing public?

Partly. Starter starts at $1,500 a month, month to month, for brands under roughly $1.5M a year in media spend; Professional starts at $3,500 a month on an annual term for brands spending up to $500,000 a month. Growth, sold with an agency partner to brands spending under $200,000 a month, and Enterprise, above $500,000, are by quote. The final price is informed by your pageviews. We previously described it as not public and estimated $1,000, which was both wrong and, oddly, less favorable to us than the truth.

Does Northbeam send data back to my ad platforms?

Through Apex, yes. It sends Northbeam’s attributed credit for each ad to Meta as custom events for Custom Attribution (live optimization is in beta, with broader rollout during 2026), and to AppLovin. Northbeam’s Apex FAQ says those events carry no emails, names, phone numbers or device IDs, don’t affect event match quality, and shouldn’t replace your pixel or Conversions API setup. Ours sends resolved user-level events.

Does Upstack offer MMM or incrementality testing?

No. Northbeam does, and if that is what you are buying they are the better choice. We would rather say that here than have you discover it on a call.

How does switching work?

Install the app and connect your platforms; we configure the pipeline. Northbeam is a reporting platform, so nothing breaks if you run both while you compare. If you are on an annual Professional or Enterprise term, time any change to your renewal.

When should I stay with Northbeam?

When your media spend is large enough that MMM, incrementality and a dedicated strategist are the point of the purchase, or when you measure across Amazon, retail and linear TV as well as DTC.