Is Directual or Heap better?

Neither clearly leads. Directual starts at Free and Heap at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Directual or Heap?

Directual starts at Free and Heap at Free.

Does Directual or Heap run on more platforms?

Directual runs on Web. Heap runs on Web, iOS, Android.

Can I use Directual for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is Directual best used for?

Directual is most often used for providing the backend for a webflow or flutterflow front end that needs real data, authentication and logic, replacing an airtable base that has outgrown its row limits without hiring a backend developer, event-driven workflows such as order processing or scheduled billing runs that must run without a person triggering them, organisations with a data residency requirement that rules out most no-code platforms, using the self-hosted tier. Of those, providing the backend for a webflow or flutterflow front end that needs real data, authentication and logic and replacing an airtable base that has outgrown its row limits without hiring a backend developer are not what Heap is typically brought in for.

What can Directual do that Heap cannot?

Directual covers Visual database designer, Scenario builder, Generated API endpoints, Event-driven triggers. Heap covers Autocapture, Retroactive analytics, Session replay, Funnel analysis.

No-Code · head to head

Directual vs Heap

Directual

No-Code

No-code backend with a visual workflow engine, used behind other tools rather than instead of them

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Heap

Technology

Product analytics for the modern product team

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Directual the front-end builder is basic, so any project needing a designed interface means learning and paying for a second tool, and time to launch is closer to a two-system build than a one-tool build.; Heap no built-in A/B testing or feature flags; requires integration with separate tools for experimentation
They diverge on capability: Directual covers Visual database designer, Heap covers Autocapture.
Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Directual and Heap actually diverge.

Attributes where Directual and Heap differ
Attribute	Directual	Heap
Pricing model	quote	Unknown
Platforms	Web	Web, iOS, Android
Category	No-Code	Technology
Founded	Unknown	2013

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Directual

Visual database designer
Scenario builder
Generated API endpoints
Event-driven triggers
Role and permission model
Scheduled jobs
Basic web page builder
Self-hosted deployment

Only in Heap

Autocapture
Retroactive analytics
Session replay
Funnel analysis
User segmentation
Path analysis
Data science
Virtual events

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Directual

Providing the backend for a Webflow or FlutterFlow front end that needs real data, authentication and logicnot Heap
Replacing an Airtable base that has outgrown its row limits without hiring a backend developernot Heap
Event-driven workflows such as order processing or scheduled billing runs that must run without a person triggering themnot Heap
Organisations with a data residency requirement that rules out most no-code platforms, using the self-hosted tiernot Heap

Heap

User behavior analysisnot Directual
Conversion optimizationnot Directual
Product adoptionnot Directual
Customer journey mappingnot Directual
A/B testing analysisnot Directual

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Directual

The front-end builder is basic, so any project needing a designed interface means learning and paying for a second tool, and time to launch is closer to a two-system build than a one-tool build.
Visual scenarios become unreadable once the logic is non-trivial; a workflow that would be forty lines of code sprawls across a canvas, and reviewing what a colleague built is slow.
Debugging asynchronous, event-triggered scenarios is harder than debugging code, because failures surface as records left in an unexpected state rather than as a stack trace at the point of failure.
Self-hosting is confined to the top commercial tier, so the ownership advantage is available only to buyers already spending at the high end.
The pool of agencies and freelancers who know Directual is small next to Bubble or Airtable, so handing a finished system to someone else to maintain is harder and more expensive.

Heap

No built-in A/B testing or feature flags; requires integration with separate tools for experimentation
Group analytics and advanced features require a sales conversation, not self-serve
Cloud-only deployment; no self-hosted option for data security or compliance requirements
Session replay lacks developer debugging tools compared to PostHog
Pricing for Growth and Pro plans requires direct sales contact; no transparency on how pricing scales

Pricing, plan by plan

Directual

Free

Directual$undefined/month
- Free tier with capped records and API calls
- Paid tiers priced by database rows, API calls and scenario runs
- Self-hosted deployment on the top tier only

Heap

Free

FreeFree
- Up to 10,000 monthly sessions
- Basic charts
- 6 months data history
Growth$undefined/custom
- Custom session pricing
- Sense AI assistant
- 12 months data history
Pro$undefined/custom
- Custom session pricing
- Account analytics
- Engagement matrix
Premier$undefined/custom
- Custom session pricing
- Data warehouse integration
- Unlimited projects

Which should you pick?

Choose Directual if

You need visual database designer.
You want to start without paying.
You also want scenario builder.

Directual review

Choose Heap if

You need autocapture.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, iOS, Android.
You also want retroactive analytics.

Heap review

Questions people ask

Is Directual or Heap better?: Neither clearly leads. Directual starts at Free and Heap at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Directual or Heap?: Directual starts at Free and Heap at Free.
Does Directual or Heap run on more platforms?: Directual runs on Web. Heap runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Directual for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Directual best used for?: Directual is most often used for providing the backend for a webflow or flutterflow front end that needs real data, authentication and logic, replacing an airtable base that has outgrown its row limits without hiring a backend developer, event-driven workflows such as order processing or scheduled billing runs that must run without a person triggering them, organisations with a data residency requirement that rules out most no-code platforms, using the self-hosted tier. Of those, providing the backend for a webflow or flutterflow front end that needs real data, authentication and logic and replacing an airtable base that has outgrown its row limits without hiring a backend developer are not what Heap is typically brought in for.
What can Directual do that Heap cannot?: Directual covers Visual database designer, Scenario builder, Generated API endpoints, Event-driven triggers. Heap covers Autocapture, Retroactive analytics, Session replay, Funnel analysis.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Directual: Is Directual a replacement for Bubble?

Not directly. Bubble builds the whole application; Directual builds the backend and expects you to bring a front end such as Webflow or FlutterFlow.

Heap: What does Heap's autocapture feature do?

Heap's autocapture is a single code snippet that automatically captures every click, swipe, tap, pageview, and form fill on your website and apps without requiring manual event setup. Once installed, Heap captures the entire digital experience of every user on every platform with no ongoing engineering maintenance needed.

Source

Directual: Can I host it myself?

Yes, on the top commercial tier. That is unusual in no-code and it is the main reason regulated buyers look at it at all.

Heap: What are Heap's pricing plans and how much do they cost?

Heap offers a Free plan for up to 10,000 monthly sessions. Growth, Pro, and Premier plans use custom session-based pricing that requires contacting sales for a quote. Free includes basic charts and 6 months data history. Growth adds the Sense AI assistant. Pro adds account analytics. Premier adds data warehouse integration and dedicated customer success management.

Source

Directual: How does it cope with large data volumes?

It is built on a real database with indexing rather than a spreadsheet abstraction, so record counts that break Airtable-class tools are within its normal range.

Heap: Does Heap include session replay and A/B testing?

Heap includes integrated session replay showing exactly what users did on your site. However, Heap does not include built-in A/B testing or feature flags. Teams requiring these capabilities must use separate tools or integrate with third-party platforms.

Source

Directual: What happens to my logic if I leave?

The data exports and the API is documented, but scenarios are platform-specific and have to be reimplemented, unless you are already on the self-hosted tier.

Heap: What integrations does Heap support?

Heap supports over 100 integrations connecting to business tools including marketing platforms, CRMs, and data warehouses. This allows insights to reach relevant teams and ensures data flows to other business systems automatically.

Source

Heap: Does Heap offer self-hosting or is it cloud-only?

Heap is cloud-only and does not offer self-hosted options. Organizations requiring on-premises deployment should consider alternatives like PostHog which supports self-hosting alongside its cloud product.

Source

Heap: What is Sense and how does it help with analytics?

Sense Chat is Heap's AI assistant that enables users to access analytics without extensive technical knowledge. It allows teams to ask questions about user behavior and get answers directly without lengthy onboarding or technical expertise, making insights more accessible to non-technical stakeholders.

Source

Directual vs Heap

Directual

Heap

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Directual

Only in Heap

What people use each for

Directual

Heap

Where each one falls short

Directual

Heap

Pricing, plan by plan

Directual

Heap

Which should you pick?

Choose Directual if

Choose Heap if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Directual

More on Heap

Keep looking

Other head to heads