Cifra vs Northbeam
Profit for the store, attribution for the ad budget
When Cifra is the better fit
Quick verdict
Which one fits your store?
Both are good tools. They answer different questions, so the right pick depends on what you need to decide this week.
Cifra
Choose Cifra if you…
Want to know what your store actually made, by product and by discount code
Want a bill that follows your orders, with a custom plan once you pass 3,000 a month
Would rather ask the Ask bar, Claude or ChatGPT than build dashboards
Don’t have a data team and don’t want a pixel to install and maintain
Northbeam
Choose Northbeam if you…
Need multi-touch attribution, with media mix modeling and incrementality as add-ons
Spend heavily on ads, where attribution decides how the budget is split
Want Northbeam Apex to use first-party data to optimize ad delivery
Are comfortable with pricing based on ad spend and traffic, starting at $1,500 a month
What you get
Built to answer one question: what did your store make?
Everything in Cifra points at profit, so you can act on the numbers instead of reconciling them.
Profit
Profit by product
See what each product really earned once costs and ad spend are in, not just revenue.
Discounts
Profit by discount code
Find out which codes bring profitable orders and which ones quietly eat your margin.
Setup
Connects in minutes
Shopify, every ad platform and your email and SMS tools, with no pixel and no data team.
AI
Ask bar and MCP server on every plan
Ask in the app or in Claude and ChatGPT. It builds reports and finds orders that lost money, on every plan.
Pricing
Priced by orders
You pay for the orders you process. Overages are capped, so a strong month never ends in a shock bill.
Reporting
Metric tree and custom reports
Trace any number back to what drives it, then build the reports your team actually reads.
Pricing
Two different ways to pay
Cifra scales with your orders. Northbeam scales with your ad spend and traffic. That gap shows up on every invoice.
Cifra
Priced by orders
Free plan
Yes, plus a 14-day trial on paid plans
First paid plan
$29 a month
Top plan
$149 up to 3,000 orders, custom plans above
Going over your limit
Overages are capped
AI access
Ask bar and MCP server on every plan
Northbeam
Priced by ad spend
Free plan
No free plan, book a demo
Starter
$1,500 a month, Shopify only
Professional
$3,500 a month
Contract terms
Starter monthly, higher tiers annual
AI access
MCP access on Starter and Growth
Prices are Northbeam’s public list prices as of October 2026. They depend on ad spend and page views, so confirm a current quote before you compare.
Switching
Run both until Cifra earns the switch
You don’t have to rip anything out. Cifra needs no pixel, so it can run next to Northbeam while you compare the numbers.
Step 1
Install from the Shopify App Store
Start your 14-day free trial. Nothing to uninstall in Northbeam.
Step 2
Connect your sources
Link Shopify, your ad platforms and your marketing tools. It takes minutes, not a project.
Step 3
Compare profit side by side
Check Cifra’s profit by product and discount code against what Northbeam shows you, then decide.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Straight answers on how Cifra and Northbeam differ.
Is Cifra a Northbeam alternative?
How does Cifra’s pricing compare with Northbeam’s?
Does Cifra do multi-touch attribution?
Can I use Cifra and Northbeam together?
What do I need to set up Cifra?
Does Cifra work with AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT?
What happens if my store goes over its order limit?
Does Cifra work outside Shopify?
Competitor details come from public pricing pages and product documentation, last reviewed October 2026. Plans and prices change, so confirm current terms on each vendor’s site.
See what your store actually made
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