Northbeam vs. Triple Whale: Which attribution tool is best?

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Can’t decide between Northbeam and Triple Whale? This detailed Northbeam vs. Triple Whale comparison guide will help you decide which marketing attribution software is right for you.

 
 
Primary Rating:
4.5
Primary Rating:
4.5
Pricing:
$400/mo - $2,000/mo
Pricing:
$129/mo - $279/mo
Best For:
Marketers, digital advertisers, and businesses that heavily invest in online advertising
Best For:
Shopify store owners and agencies who work with them.
Primary Rating:
4.5
Pricing:
$400/mo - $2,000/mo
Best For:
Marketers, digital advertisers, and businesses that heavily invest in online advertising
Primary Rating:
4.5
Pricing:
$129/mo - $279/mo
Best For:
Shopify store owners and agencies who work with them.

In the world of ad management and tracking tools, Triple Whale and Northbeam are two common names.

Both are renowned for their features to streamline your workflow, boost productivity, and improve ROI, and it can be hard to know which one is right for you.

Beyond differences in pricing, you may wonder about supported platforms, tracking capabilities, customer support, and more.

If so, you’re in the right place. This detailed comparison of Northbeam vs. Triple Whale will answer all these questions and more to point you to the best choice for your business needs.

Now, let’s dive into the specifics.

Northbeam vs. Triple Whale at a glance

FeatureNorthbeamTriple WhaleWinner
SMB Guide’s Rating9/109/10Northbeam
Ad Campaign TrackingFirst party data trackingNative Triple Pixel to trackNorthbeam
Conversion TrackingUnlimited attribution windowPixel-based method to trackTie
Audience and Traffic Source AnalysisMultiple sources to draw fromUses cookies to segment the audience based on interests and behaviorTie
Attribution ModelingMultiple options, including proprietary modelsTriple pixel feature for attributionTie
Real-Time Reporting and DashboardsTie
Data Privacy and SecurityTie
Customizable Metrics and KPIsTie
UX and UIEasy to use and navigateElegant interfaceTriple Whale
Integrations & API Capabilities30+ integrations15+ integrationsNorthbeam
Supported PlatformsCloud-based, Android and iOS, but works for more platformsCloud-based, iOS and AndroidNorthbeam
Customer SupportEmail, knowledgebase, blogLive chat and emailTie
Pricing$400/mo – $2,000/mo$129/mo – $279/moTriple Whale
ScalabilityTie

How we evaluate and test softwares

When testing softwares/apps, SMB Guide employs a dual approach based on free trial availability and demos. For platforms offering free trials, we test their functionalities, usability, navigation, and ease of use. In the case of tools lacking a free version or trial, we rely on in-depth research and user testimonials through software review platforms like G2, Capterra, TrustRadius, Software Advice, and GetApp to gauge their performance and capabilities. Learn more about our ratings criteria for marketing attribution softwares & tools here.

Northbeam: Key Features, Pros, Cons, & Pricing

Northbeam homepage

Northbeam is a universal ad attribution platform designed for media buyers, business owners, and marketing agencies.

It’s designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of marketing activities and their impact on sales.

Features include: universal attribution, easy-to-scale, integrations, and more.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Best for ecommerce

Media mix modeling

Multi-touch attribution

Customizable reports

Cons

No mobile app

More expensive than other options

Pricing

Northbeam offers one plan that changes in price based on the number of pageviews your website earns.

The online pricing calculator starts at $1,000/month for sites with less than one million page views per month.

Northbeam pricing plans
  • Starter: $1,000 per month up to one million monthly pageviews
  • Professional: $2,500 per month for growing brands
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing for brands with >$250k monthly ad spend
Northbeam

Achieve your optimal marketing mix, execute experiments faster, and master creative strategy with Northbeam.

Book a demo
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

Triple Whale: Key Features, Pros, Cons, & Pricing

Triple Whale homepage

Triple Whale is an AI-powered ad-tracking platform designed for ecommerce – Shopify specifically.

It’s known for its ability to manage and automate and manage various aspects of business analytics, including attribution, merchandising, forecasting, and more.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Offers a free plan

Real-time data insights

Proprietary pixel

Easy-to-use interface

Cons

For Shopify users only

Cost scales as you grow

Pricing

Triple Whale has three plans with multiple pricing tiers based on your ecommerce website’s revenue in the past 12 months.

Triple Whale pricing
  • Growth: Ranges from $129 to $3,599/month for businesses with $250,000 to $49,999,999 in annual revenue.
  • Pro: Ranges from $199 to $3,799/month for businesses with $250,000 to $49,999,999 in annual revenue.
  • Enterprise: Ranges from $279 to $4,499/month for businesses with $250,000 to $49,999,999 in annual revenue.
Triple Whale

Triple Whale lets you easily manage and automate analytics, attribution, merchandising, forecasting and more—in the palm of your hand.

Book a demo
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

Ad Campaign Tracking

I did not get to personally test either platform in this regard because I don’t have a Shopify store to connect to Triple Whale and could only access webinars and tutorials for Northbeam.

triple whale ad tracking

Based on screenshots of the software and reviews, I would say that while both tools are powerful and intuitive, generally, users say Northbeam’s data is more accurate.

northbeam ad campaign tracking

✅ Winner: Northbeam

Conversion Tracking

Without being able to actually live demo either software, it’s hard to say how good of a job either of them do with conversion tracking.

triple whale conversion tracking

Based on what other reviews I’ve read, I’m going to go ahead and give them a tie here.

Both make it possible to track conversions across multiple channels.

✅ Winner: Tie

Audience and Traffic Source Analysis

This is another area where I struggle because I couldn’t demo either platform.

It’s clear you can add multiple traffic sources to both tools, and they can tell you where all your traffic is coming from, to more accurately direct your marketing budget to places where you’ll get the best results.

You will need to spend some time on UTM parameters to get everything set up correctly.

✅ Winner: Tie

Attribution Modeling

Both tools have proprietary attribution models that aim to attribute a conversion to the correct channel or touchpoint accurately.

Triple Whale calls their proprietary model “Total Impact” and assigns attribution based on the entire customer journey, using a combination of zero-party data and first-party data.

Northbeam calls their proprietary attribution mode Universal Attribution. It uses elements from multiple multi-touch attribution models to get a clearer view of your customer journey. 

northbeam attribution

Both allow you to choose the best attribution model for your needs, from options such as first click, last click, etc.

✅ Winner: Tie

Real-Time Reporting and Dashboards

Both tools offer real-time reporting and customizable dashboards.

Triple Whale dashboard

The dashboards are customizable, so you can filter, sort, and organize your data in the way that works best for you and your needs.

northbeam dashboard

✅ Winner: Tie

Data Privacy and Security

Both platforms take data privacy and security seriously. They abide by all local and international regulations to protect your data.

They also stay up to date with new regulations to ensure your service won’t be impacted.

For instance, Google and Apple have added more privacy and security features to help protect their users, which, in the past, would have influenced your ad tracking data.

But by relying on zero-party and first-party data rather than solely on the third-party cookie, you can still get quality data to help guide your marketing efforts.

✅ Winner: Tie

Customizable Metrics and KPIs

Both tools allow you to create customized metrics and KPIs. With Triple Whale, you can quickly and easily create custom metrics and KPIs to track in your dashboard.

Triple Whale custom metrics

With Northbeam, you can customize labels and column sets and organize your data in the way that works best for you.

You can create saved views so it’s easy to go back to.

✅ Winner: Tie

User Experience and User Interface

By looking at tutorials, videos, and screenshots of each platform’s user interface, I am confident that both of them are fairly easy to understand and use.

While it will take some time to connect all of your data sources to your chosen platform, it is a quick and easy process that can be done in a few clicks for each one.

There is no complicated coding that you need to do. Menus are clearly labeled and the tools are easy to navigate.

✅ Winner: Triple Whale

Integrations & API Capabilities

Both platforms have many native integrations to help you pass data back and forth between the advertising platforms and traffic sources.

triple whale integrations

API access may be limited depending on the plan you choose with Triple Whale, but you can connect data sources without needing API.

northbeam integrations

✅ Winner: Northbeam

Supported Platforms

Both of these are cloud-based platforms you can access from any device with an internet connection.

Both platforms also offer mobile apps for iOS and Android devices. So why does Northbeam win here?

Simple – it works with more ecommerce platforms. While Triple Whale only works with Shopify, Northbeam works with Shopify, Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento), and Woocommerce.

✅ Winner: Northbeam

Customer Support

I did not find that either Triple Whale or Northbeam had phone or live chat customer service.

Triple Whale customer support

Instead, it looks like your only option is email, or the knowledgebase. Both tools have blogs that could also provide helpful information.

Northbeam knowledgebase

Both tools have blogs that could also provide helpful information. It was disappointing to see that I couldn’t reach out and quickly speak to a human at either place.

✅ Winner: Tie

Pricing

Triple Whale is the way to go for businesses on a budget since it has pricing that starts at $129/month.

Both platforms scale pricing – Triple Whale based on previous 12-month business revenue and Northbeam on monthly pageviews.

Triple Whale has multiple plans to choose from and is overall more affordable.

Northbeam pricing starts at $1,000/month, but if you have a site with fewer than 1 million monthly pageviews, you’ll have to contact them to get custom pricing that’s below that point.

✅ Winner: Tie

Scalability

Both platforms can scale with your business as you grow. You’ll pay more for both services, but that’s likely related to the server resources your account uses than anything else.

Northbeam is the platform better suited to enterprise businesses but can work with you at any point in your company.

✅ Winner: Tie

Standout Features of Northbeam

Something that Northbeam offers that I haven’t seen in other ad tracking and monitoring tools is the data review feature.

With this, you’re connected to a team of dedicated expert media buyers. The team can help you make the most of your campaigns to improve conversions and ROI.

Standout Features of Triple Whale

Triple Whale offers a free tool for users called Founders Dash. The free-forever plan is based on creating a single source of truth, where all of your data is included in a centralized dashboard.

Features include:

  • Summary page
  • Benchmarks
  • Email reports
  • Web analytics
  • 1-question post-purchase survey
  • 2 users
  • 12-months historical data
  • Push and email notifications
  • Mobile app

Northbeam vs. Triple Whale: SMB Guide’s Verdict

While both Triple Whale and Northbeam are great ad tracking tools, the truth is that one will be better for your business than the other, depending on where you are in your journey and the platform you’re using.

Choose Triple Whale If:

Triple Whale is a Shopify-exclusive option, so it won’t be effective if you use something other than that ecommerce platform to run your business.

Get a demo of Triple Whale

Choose Northbeam If:

That said, Northbeam is better suited for larger businesses, but has custom plans available for smaller companies. 

Get a demo of Northbeam

They both scored highly, but Northbeam got the edge because it works with more than just Shopify – it also works with WooCommerce and Magento.

You also have the option to pay for hourly data cleansing, which is not something Triple Whale offers.

Ready to get started making the most of your ad budget? Try Triple Whale or Northbeam today!

Northbeam

Achieve your optimal marketing mix, execute experiments faster, and master creative strategy with Northbeam.

Book a demo
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Lucinda has spent the last 15 years working from home as a freelance writer and WordPress designer, and throughout her career, she has worked directly with several digital marketing agencies with clients in the SaaS space, ranging from e-commerce platforms to procurement software.