Comparison
Upstack vs Northbeam
Northbeam publishes a $1,500 a month floor and is built for brands spending well into six figures on media, with marketing mix modelling, incrementality testing and a dedicated media strategist to match. Upstack is built for the Shopify brand below that line — and instead of modelling around signal loss, we fix the signal and push it back out to Meta, Google, TikTok and Klaviyo.
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By the numbers
Why Brands choose Upstack Data
$249
Attribution, from 750 orders
$1,500
their published floor
Outward
data goes back to your platforms
Feature by feature
Northbeam vs Upstack Attribution and Analytics Feature Comparison
| Feature |  | Northbeam |
|---|---|---|
| What each one is for | ||
| Built for | DTC Shopify brands | Brands spending upward of $125K–250K a month on media |
| First-party tracking | Yes | Yesown pixel, DNS A-record, Shopify server-to-server |
| Needs a separate tracking tool | No | Notheir docs say so explicitly |
| Implementation time | 20 minutes | 2–4 weeks Shopify; 4–8 weeks elsewhere |
| Free trial | 21 days, full features | Demo only |
| Where the data goes | ||
| User-level events to Meta CAPI | Yes | NoApex sends aggregated ad-level data only |
| Google Enhanced Conversions | Yes | Not publicly documented |
| Klaviyo flow enrichment | Yes | Klaviyo is a reporting source, not a flow destination |
| Event match quality improvement | Yes | Not achievable by design — no user-level data shared |
| Feeds ad-platform algorithms | Via resolved conversions | YesApex, aggregated |
| Measurement | ||
| Attribution models | Four | Seven, including deterministic view-through across seven platforms |
| Marketing mix modelling | No | YesMMM+, Enterprise add-on |
| Incrementality testing | No | Yes |
| Creative analytics | Yes | Yes |
| Contribution margin (CM1–CM4) | Yes | Profit reporting; ladder not publicly documented |
| Subscription handling | Native | Order-tag based, not a native Recharge connector |
| Pricing & terms | ||
| Model | Per order | By media spend band |
| Published floor | Signal $149 · Attribution $249 | $1,500/mo — Starter |
| Next tier | Attribution $499 at 3,000 orders | Professional — quote, above $250K/mo spend |
| Top tier | Attribution $1,999 at 30,000 orders | Enterprise — quote, above $500K/mo spend |
| Contract | Month to month | Month to month on Starter; annual on Professional and Enterprise |
| Service included | White-glove setup and support | Media strategist on Professional; CSM and Slack on Enterprise |
From brands who switched
What they said after moving.
“We looked at several competitors and talked to some of their customers. From our research, Upstack was by far the clear winner in terms of data accuracy, customer service and pricing.”
Shopify App Storeverified review “We have extended experience with other options out there. This is the best experience and the steadiest results I have seen across any other software we have worked with.”
HEALiX Infraredpreviously ran four tracking tools “Moved from a competitor to Upstack and have a very clear picture that Upstack is a faster setup, with a much more competent team, amazing customer service, and better performance, for a cheaper price — it’s not even close.”
Giant HoodiesShopify brand
Sources for the Northbeam figures on this page
Common questions
Upstack vs Northbeam, answered.
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?
Yes. Starter starts at $1,500 a month for brands under roughly $1.5M a year in media spend; Professional is for brands above $250,000 a month and Enterprise above $500,000, both by quote. We previously described it as not public and estimated $1,000, which was both wrong and, oddly, less favourable to us than the truth.
Does Northbeam send data back to my ad platforms?
Through Apex, yes — but as aggregated, ad-level data to Meta and Axon. Their own technical documentation states this is explicitly not the Conversions API and that no user-level event data is shared. That is a deliberate privacy design, and it also means it cannot improve event match quality. 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 — and 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.
See it on your own data.
Start a free 21-day trial. Setup takes under 20 minutes, and the 60-day ROI guarantee on Scale and above means the downside is your time.