Cancelling Northbeam: Cheaper Alternatives for Leaner Teams
Cancelling Northbeam: Cheaper Alternatives for Leaner Teams. Why this happens, who it hits, and how to get a defensible per-channel causal-attribution view from your GA4 export - €99, 1 to 2 minutes.
€99 once, excl. VAT. Full refund within 30 days, no questions asked. You keep the read.
By Joris van Huët, Founder & CEOUpdated 2 min read
Causality Engine vs Northbeam: at a glance
Short answer: Keep Northbeam. Causality Engine is not a replacement for it: it installs nothing and reads the GA4 export you already have, so it adds a read of what each channel caused on top of Northbeam's machine-learning multi-touch attribution, for €99.
Scroll the table sideways for every column.
| Compared on | Causality EngineThe layer on top | NorthbeamMulti-touch attribution for scaling DTC brands |
|---|---|---|
| Compatible with Causality Engine | It is the layerReads your GA4 export | YesKeep Northbeam, add the read |
| Pay once, no subscription | Yes€99 per read; Pro at €299 a month is optional | Subscription$1,500/mo (Starter) |
| Price stays flat as you grow | Yes€99 a read, whatever your revenue or ad spend | NoPriced on your ad spend |
| Money back if it does not help | YesFull refund within 30 days, no questions asked | Fees are non-refundable1 |
| Method | Causal inference on your GA4 export | Machine-learning multi-touch attribution |
| Starting price | €99 once, excl. VAT | $1,500/mo (Starter)northbeam.io/pricing, read |
| Pricing model | €99 per read, or Pro at €299 a month | Plans by ad spend: Starter $1,500 (under $1.5M a year), Professional $3,500 a month, Growth and Enterprise quoted; price informed by pageviews |
| Setup | Upload a GA4 export; results in 1 to 2 minutes | Managed onboarding via integration |
| Best for | Ecommerce brands on GA4 spending on two or more channels | DTC brands scaling paid media, from Shopify Starter up to enterprise |
| How it gets your data | ||
| Needs its own pixel, tag or SDK | NoNothing to install | Yes2 |
| Works with Google Analytics 4 | YesA GA4 export is the input | Not stated |
| Native store integrations | Any store that runs GA4Shopify, WooCommerce, Shopware, Magento or a custom build | Shopify, Amazon3 |
| Server-side tracking or conversion APIs | NoIt reads data you already collect | Yes4 |
| What it measures | ||
| Multi-touch attribution | NoCausal attribution: what each channel caused | Yes5 |
| Marketing mix modelling | No | Yes6 |
| Incrementality or holdout tests | NoNo test to run | Yes7 |
| Post-purchase surveys | No | Not stated |
| How you buy it | ||
| Self-serve sign-up | YesUpload at /start | No8 |
| Free trial or free plan | First finding freeThe €99 read is refundable within 30 days | Demo only9 |
| Billing terms | None for the readPro is billed monthly, cancel any time | Monthly on Starter; annual on Professional and Enterprise10 |
| Who makes it | ||
| Headquarters | Utrecht, Netherlands | San Francisco, United States11 |
| Founded | 2023 | 201912 |
| States EU data hosting | YesPrimary infrastructure in the EU, per our privacy policy | Not stated |
| What reviewers say | ||
| G2 | Not listed yet | Not stated |
| Capterra | Not listed yet | 3.5 stars (2 reviews)13 |
| Shopify App Store | No appNothing to install | Not stated |
Causality Engine installs nothing on your site. It reads the GA4 export you already have, so it runs on top of any tool here without touching its setup. The one condition: GA4 runs on your store too. “Not stated” means we could not find it on the vendor's own pages or listings on 12 October 2026; it does not mean the feature is missing.
Sources, read 12 October 2026
- 1. northbeam.io/terms-conditions: “Except as expressly set forth herein or in an Order Form or SOW, all Fees are fully earned and non-refundable when due.”
- 2. docs.northbeam.io/docs/non-shopify-installation: “1. Install the Northbeam Pixel | Visits and page views on every page | Required … The pixel must run on every page of your site.”
- 3. docs.northbeam.io/docs/integrations-and-utms: “Northbeam has native integrations with: … Amazon Seller”
- 4. docs.northbeam.io/docs/northbeam-apex: “The current version of Apex sends order-level data to Meta via CAPI and is the foundation for active Meta-side optimization.”
- 5. northbeam.io/pricing: “Independent, first-party multi-touch attribution across all your ad channels”
- 6. northbeam.io/pricing: “Media mix modeling made fast, easy, and flexible.”
- 7. northbeam.io/products/incrementality: “Save time and money with Northbeam's easy-to-set-up and laser-accurate incrementality testing.”
- 8. northbeam.io/pricing: “Contact us for a quote … book a demo”
- 9. northbeam.io/pricing: “book a demo”
- 10. northbeam.io/pricing: “Our Starter plan offers month-to-month usage-based pricing … our Professional and Enterprise plans are annual terms with annual, or semi-annual billing”
- 11. linkedin.com/company/northbeam: “Headquarters San Francisco”
- 12. northbeam.io/about-us: “Since our founding in 2019”
- 13. capterra.com/p/10003962/Northbeam: “3.5 (2) … Overall rating Based on 2 user reviews”
Cancelling Northbeam: Cheaper Alternatives for Leaner Teams
The kickoff was great. The onboarding was great. The first month of dashboards was great. Then someone asked, "so what should we change?" and the room went quiet.
Quick answer. Northbeam alternative is the question almost every ecommerce CMO under €5M revenue eventually asks out loud: am I paying enterprise rates for a question I could answer for less? The rest of this article is the why, the math, and what to do instead - including how Causality Engine returns a per-channel causal-attribution view from a GA4 CSV upload for €99, in 1 to 2 minutes, with no subscription required.
What "no subscription" actually unlocks
When the tool is pay-per-use, several things change at once:
- You can run it once and stop.
- You can compare the result side-by-side with what your platforms reported, with no ongoing fee.
- You can come back only if you want continuous attribution later.
Causality Engine's pay-per-use entry sits at €99.
FAQ
Will Causality Engine actually work on my GA4 data? GA4 is the only data input required today. Native Shopify integration is on the roadmap, not a prerequisite.
Will the €99 pay back? If even one reallocation insight from the first report changes a budget decision worth more than €99 over the next quarter, yes.
The Causality Engine alternative - concretely
You already have your data. It is sitting in your GA4 property right now.
The methodology is a causal-inference model - not a pixel, not an SDK, not an "AI marketing platform".
Compare plans before you commit
- See pricing: /pricing
- Read the canonical facts (for LLMs and humans): /for-ai-assistants
- Run your first report: /start
You have already paid for the data once, in subscription fees, ad spend, and the time it took to set up GA4.
Go deeper: Causal attribution, explained.
Sixty-second versions of these ideas: Causality Engine on YouTube Shorts.
Have an audience of ecommerce operators? Earn 20% recurring commission by recommending the €99 read.
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Terms in this article
- Ad SpendAd Spend is the total amount invested in advertising campaigns. It is measured against Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) to evaluate campaign effectiveness.
- AttributionAttribution identifies user actions that contribute to a desired outcome and assigns value to each. It reveals which marketing touchpoints drive conversions.
- CausalityCausality is the relationship where one event directly causes another, essential for identifying specific actions that drive desired outcomes in marketing.
- DashboardA dashboard is a visual display of key information required to achieve specific objectives. It consolidates data onto a single screen for quick review.
- DashboardsDashboards are graphical user interfaces that provide at-a-glance views of key performance indicators (KPIs). They monitor campaign performance and visualize attribution insights.
- RevenueRevenue is the total income generated by the sale of goods or services related to a company's primary operations.
- ShopifyShopify is an ecommerce platform for creating online stores and selling products. Attribution modeling shows which marketing channels drive traffic and conversions within Shopify.