Mixpanel vs. Smartlook

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Mixpanel
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Mixpanel helps companies measure what matters, make decisions fast, and build better products through data. With self-serve product analytics solution, teams can analyze how and why people engage, convert, and retain—in real-time, across devices—to improve their user experience. Mixpanel serves over 26,000 companies from different industries around the world, including Expedia, Uber, Ancestry, DocuSign, and Lemonade. Headquartered in San Francisco, Mixpanel has offices in New York,…
$0
per month
Smartlook
Score 8.2 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
Smartlook is an analytics solution tool for websites, iOS/Android apps, and various app frameworks, that answers the "whys" behind users' actions. It helps users understand precisely how customers interact with website and app — watch recordings, create heatmaps, use automatic tracked events, and build conversion funnels. Data is seen on one central dashboard, which enables sharing and collaborating with colleagues. This is to support clear, data-driven decision-making for product managers,…
$55
per month 5000 sessions
Pricing
MixpanelSmartlook
Editions & Modules
Free
$0
per month
Growth
$17
per month
Enterprise
Contact sales
Pro
$55
per month 5000 sessions
Free
Free forever
per month 3000 sessions
Enterprise
Custom pricing
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
MixpanelSmartlook
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional DetailsMixpanel uses MTU (Monthly Tracked User) pricing, which is designed to scale with your company. MTUs are roughly equivalent to the number of unique visitors on your product and each user is counted once per month, even if they use multiple devices. If Events based pricing makes more sense for your business, reach out to us and we can work with you!All Smartlook packages support both web and mobile app platforms.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
MixpanelSmartlook
Considered Both Products
Mixpanel
Chose Mixpanel
We actually use both. Mixpanel is more customisable for me. Tableau has more fixed data
Chose Mixpanel
Datanomix is an excellent tool, with similar characteristics; however, Mixpanel has been our preference for two main reasons: one, to have customization and to be able to adapt the interface and tools to our use, and two, to be able to count on reports that it automates the …
Chose Mixpanel
We chose it to strengthen internal communication to work more organized and productive. Objective achieved.
Chose Mixpanel
Mixpanel is critical for measuring customer and consumer actions through behavioral messaging by allowing notifications to be sent based on their actions; can be deployed on all major platforms, including mobile; facilitates interactive reports to answer questions about …
Chose Mixpanel
Google Analytics also has a free option and can be utilized in parallel or as a stand-alone system, it will provide most of the features that are required. but lacks live data tracking so Mixpanel is that alternative that anyone can look for. particularly if your project is …
Chose Mixpanel
Mixpanel is a more tailored solution focused on customers and products. Google Analytics behaves more like a generic tool and may require a bit of effort to set up with best practices and actionable data. Mixpanel has a more likable user interface, compared to GA, which can be …
Chose Mixpanel
Mixpanel is much nicer to use and gives a better UX. However, it doesn't offer historical data that wasn't initially defined as to-be-collected, integration with Salesforce, and requires developers to make changes to the code in order to be able to query for some insights. We …
Chose Mixpanel
It’s hard to compare Google Analytics to Mixpanel because Google Analytics doesn’t measure app data, however Google Analytics has a much easier to use platform in my opinion. Google Analytics does not give you as much user data as Mixpanel does though. Mixpanel is definitely …
Chose Mixpanel
Mixpanel was fairly simpler to set up and the pricing metrics were easier for us to keep track of.
Besides that, Mixpanel integrated with many of the other products we were using which made it simpler for us to keep all our data integrated and easy to keep track of. Mixpanel's …
Chose Mixpanel
These two aren't the same but can fulfill some of the funnel optimisation purposes of Mixpanel.
Chose Mixpanel
Mixpanel is way more granular. We do use Google Analytics for top-level trends, but Mixpanel, when properly integrated, shows you the details. Even our marketing team is able to log events, etc. that they care about.
Chose Mixpanel
Mixpanel does what it does very well. We sometimes don't see it as the only tool in the arsenal. When combined with other solutions, we get a more complete picture. It also allows us to validate data across different tools.

While Heap isn't as simple as Mixpanel, its major …
Chose Mixpanel
Mixpanel has a much better UX and the toolset provided by Mixpanel helps us solve our needs in a better way.
Chose Mixpanel
I wasn't directly part of the evaluation for Amplitude but I think we went with Mixpanel because of the price.
Chose Mixpanel
Mixpanel has been my favorite tool I've used thus far because of how simple it is to use. While Google Analytics is quick to setup also, Mixpanel provides a lot more functionality. The reporting and visualization capabilities that are provided out-of-the-box make it a good tool …
Chose Mixpanel
Mixpanel is pretty up to date with many good and useful features. As I mentioned before, the Mixpanel platform provides a pretty good mobile analytics and when our marketing team was looking for the web and mobile analytics tool, detailed and accurate mobile analytics was one …
Chose Mixpanel
We use a few tools at the same time: Moz, Google Analytics and Mixpanel. But mostly we use Mixpanel simply because of the amount of data it provides and also because mobile analysis has more capabilities than Google Analytics' mobile analysis has. Moz and Google Analytics are …
Chose Mixpanel
Mixpanel has a free plan and looks more up to date than Kissmetrics. We use Google Analytics and Mixpanel together. We stopped use Kissmetrics simply because there is not enough time to use 3 analytics platform with so many features and capabilities.
Chose Mixpanel
We use Mixpanel together with Yandex Metrica and Google Analytics, comparing to both YM and GA I'd say Mixpanel has more convenient and featured e-commerce solution. Although, quality of data is better in Google Analytics and Yandez Metrica has plenty of features completely for …
Chose Mixpanel
Mixpanel has pretty powerful mobile users' behavior analytics when comparing to its competitors on a market. Also, Mixpanel offers a lot of capabilities for free, it has an up-to-date, user friendly interface, quick and very professional customer support, reports that you can …
Chose Mixpanel
We use Google Analytics as our primary website analytics platform and Mixpanel as an addition to Google Analytics. We have chosen Mixpanel over Tableau and Moz because Mixpanel offers pretty decent free version that has many features we needed. We are pretty satisfied with …
Chose Mixpanel
We also use Google Analytics to analyze our web and mobile app data. We noticed that although Google Analytics is a great tool with a lot of useful insights, Mixpanel gives us more data about our mobile users. So, I would say that Mixpanel does a better job on a mobile side.
Chose Mixpanel
Mixpanel got lots of praise from trusted colleagues. And they were right. It is powerful, affordable, and easy to use. It integrates with Segment which made it very easy for us to implement multiple metrics tools. It has great visuals and powerful
Smartlook
Chose Smartlook
I like it more in different aspects such as pricing, capabilities, UI, etc. When it comes to the pricing, I have been using it for many years, and always was easy to use and to see what was happening with conversions. It's the most undervaluable tool these days. When I was …
Chose Smartlook
FullStory is more complex, detailed, better-looking and way more expensive. Therefore I think it makes sense to start with Smartlook at least. FullStory also has yearly plans which is really annoying. Hotjar doesn't have browser error logging which is a huge disadvantage for …
Chose Smartlook
Smartlook is the better overall value of all the solutions we've tried. Hotjar was overpriced, Lucky Orange seems more like an experimental project than a full-fledged product and Mouselflow seems to have some problems dealing with some types of browsers that we did not …
Chose Smartlook
For me personally, I use Smartlook more for the debugging side of things, so I wish it had more debugging/error reporting features.
Chose Smartlook
Like I mentioned, Smartlook is younger than FullStory and it seems like they're trying to improve. The dashboards are lacking. I wish I had more control over what I see there instead of the standard. We use the API to determine customer name and company and I'd like to see some …
Chose Smartlook
We use both intensively in our agency. Google Analytics is our first go-to analytics suite, but we often combine it with Smartlook to prove or disprove our hypotheses. Both our web design and marketing projects benefit greatly from this synergy. Google Analytics offers better …
Chose Smartlook
For me, Smartlook gathers everything a product designer or even a product manager needs. We have everything gathered in a single platform, and it's very powerful we can analyze everything we need. It's the only product where recordings are as well done. The UX/UI of the …
Chose Smartlook
Smartlook has all the features of the other products I have tried but was both simpler to use and cheaper.
Chose Smartlook
Smartlook seems smoother than Hotjar and it also offers more customizable options such as events and funnels.
Chose Smartlook
Compared to Hotjar, the first, and most important criteria for us is the performance impact on our customers. We've always had problems with Hotjar's rather resource-intensive script, which causes a noticeable degradation even on medium to high-performance client devices. In …
Chose Smartlook
Smartlook is better in tracking events, building advanced funnels, and filtering out the sessions than Hotjar. It's definitely cheaper and more user-friendly than Fullstory.
Chose Smartlook
Smartlook is far more cost-effective and simple to use for agencies with multiple clients than Hotjar, which targets the user companies more directly.
Chose Smartlook
So much simpler to the user and way more effective. The pricing for our requirement was also much better.
Chose Smartlook
The thing about Hotjar is they became too big too fast. They forgot what their product was all about and then started to charge an exorbitant amount for what is a glorified heat map. Smartlook has taken into account new features but always kept the essence of what they're …
Chose Smartlook
At my old company, we debated using FullStory, but I believe Smartlook was the better option financially.
Chose Smartlook
100% better. Microsoft had no support at all. They directed you to a forum where other users "could" assist, but there was no assistance.
Chose Smartlook
In terms of analytics, we are still using other products, which are more suited to our needs and more complex. In terms of user behavior and session recording, this is by far the best tool there is!
Best Alternatives
MixpanelSmartlook
Small Businesses
Fullstory
Fullstory
Score 9.1 out of 10
Lucky Orange
Lucky Orange
Score 3.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Whatfix
Whatfix
Score 8.2 out of 10
Siteimprove
Siteimprove
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Whatfix
Whatfix
Score 8.2 out of 10
Contentsquare
Contentsquare
Score 7.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
MixpanelSmartlook
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
8.9
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.9
(0 ratings)
7.3
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
MixpanelSmartlook
Likelihood to Recommend
Mixpanel is a versatile platform that integrates features to connect every work team and get the best out of them in productivity and results. Moreover, it will improve the flow of information and interaction between all your company staff; it will unify and help promote collaboration between the different work areas. Without a doubt, I highly recommend this software
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Smartlook is best for screen recordings. Especially when you are running MVPs. However, its pricing is very high. If your daily visitors are too much then either you will have to lose many of your recordings or you will have to pay too much money.
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Pros
  • Mixpanel's ease of use is easily their best feature, allowing you to quickly create graphs with a few point and clicks. Their UI is also fairly snappy and well-designed.
  • Tying together events with user attributes allows you to properly segment users into cohorts which can then be tracked individually. Proper segmentation is where most analytics solutions earn their keep.
  • Live view is a nice perk that gives you a good feel for who's on your site and what they're doing at any single point in time. This can be further filtered to focus on particular events of interest.
  • Mixpanel has flexible plans that work for smaller startups as well.
  • Their documentation is top notch.
Read full review
  • Funnels are both easy to configure yet comprehensive enough to detect complicated customer journeys.
  • Real-time recording provides exceptional insights to our design & engineering teams.
  • Session recording is surprisingly lightweight and seems to cause no substantial performance degradation for our customers.
Read full review
Cons
  • I didn't use the engagement features at all but it seems like they could have a better WYSIWYG editor for the emails for non-technical people using Mixpanel.
  • The custom reports feature seems to be really powerful but I wish they had more resources/templates for creating custom reports. I don't code so it was really hard for me to use this feature...BUT the reports I was able to get help with, were really powerful.
  • I wanted a dashboard area for all of my reports in one view. It seems like they were implementing this when I was moving jobs. If it's not available yet, they definitely need to add a master dashboard page for arranging saved reports.
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  • Events -- but I think this is something that we could improve ourselves in our system.
  • Create some suggestions for funnels and heatmaps.
  • Give general insights for a certain period of time, e.g. from Oct. 7th to 12th, 75 users left the checkout step and 60% of them left due to a payment issue. IDK just bringing some ideas!
  • Send an e-mail with main insights.
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Likelihood to Renew
It's not an all encompassing solution like Google Analytics tries to be, but MixPanel offers much easier to use and understandable data insights. That's valuable when juggling many responsibilities as startup life demands, so a renewal would be easily justified.
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As my ratings show, I have been absolutely delighted with Smartlook in terms of usability, cost, support, and its benefit to our organization. I have given it such high ratings because I think it has really benefitted our organization and I think it could do the same for other companies too.
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Usability
Relativity easy to use. Once you get the hang of it, very easy to create dashboards for different use cases. I split my dashboards between customers or use cases
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Smartlook is very intuitive and simple for an average programmer (I don't know if it will be as simple for a normal user). We have never had to resort to looking for information on the web or ask for help for something we didn't understand or didn't work as expected.
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Support Rating
There is no support at all for free-plan users. There used to be a good support but something changed. If everything had gone great we could've considered upgrading but it is so bad that we'll look for an alternative once we finish the current project. Given that the documentation is very poor, there are some aspects in which customer support could have helped a lot, but with no support, we are left with some needs unfulfilled.
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I am always very happy when a company offers the option to use online chat, as I do not like to call customer support and writing an email is just too slow and cumbersome. I did not even expect a reply right away, yet it took the customer support team less than a minute to respond to my problem.
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Online Training
Mixpanel has a great resource about their product, with videos on how to use it and real world examples from other companies on how they integrate Mixpanel into their business processes.
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Mixpanel is a simple JS script installation. For adding events to track, its simply a matter of adding the code where you want it. Their API and documentation are easy to understand and use.
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Datanomix is an excellent tool, with similar characteristics; however, Mixpanel has been our preference for two main reasons: one, to have customization and to be able to adapt the interface and tools to our use, and two, to be able to count on reports that it automates the work of sales analysis and being able to evaluate progress.
Read full review
Like I mentioned, Smartlook is younger than FullStory and it seems like they're trying to improve. The dashboards are lacking. I wish I had more control over what I see there instead of the standard. We use the API to determine customer name and company and I'd like to see some custom dashboards.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • User event data has helped us improve our product, which has increased subscriptions.
  • Being able to send helpful messages to some users who drop off after certain events has helped us reduce our churn.
  • We have been able to identify the Monthly super-active users, understand their usage of our product, which we use to conduct focus groups to help us shape the product.
Read full review
  • We have increased the conversion rate from the beginning till now with 120%.
  • We redesigned our landing pages and decreased the bounce rate by 41%.
  • We rethinked and redesigned our menu structure and internal site linking to increase the time users spent on our site based on the data we got from Smartlook analysis.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Mixpanel Screenshots

Screenshot of Mixpanel's Insights report enables you to see how often users perform meaningful actions, monitor growth of key user cohorts, like power users, and slice and dice trends by any attribute.Screenshot of Mixpanel's powerful Flows report enables you to identify top user paths to see where people get stuck, and discover actions users take before, after, or between key events.Screenshot of Mixpanel's Retention report helps you understand how often users return and visualize feature stickiness. You can also slice and dice retention data to identify user groups that retain best and to find out what causes churn.

Smartlook Screenshots

Screenshot of HeatmapsScreenshot of RecordingsScreenshot of DashboardsScreenshot of EventsScreenshot of FunnelsScreenshot of Analytics for websites & mobile apps