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Marketing · head to head

Lucky Orange vs Snowplow

Lucky Orange logo

Lucky Orange

Marketing

All-in-one conversion optimization

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Snowplow logo

Snowplow

Business Intelligence

Behavioural data pipeline you run in your own cloud, relicensed away from Apache 2.0 in 2024

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Lucky Orange has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Lucky Orange session-based pricing scales poorly during traffic spikes or successful campaigns; Snowplow the core pipeline was relicensed from Apache 2.0 on 8 January 2024 to the Snowplow Limited Use Licence Agreement and a Confluent-derived community licence, so organisations that adopted it as permissively licensed software must now review their entitlement, buy a licence, or migrate.
  • They diverge on capability: Lucky Orange covers Heatmaps, Snowplow covers Own-cloud deployment.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Lucky Orange and Snowplow actually diverge.

Attributes where Lucky Orange and Snowplow differ
AttributeLucky OrangeSnowplow
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelUnknownquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWebLinux, Web, Docker
CategoryMarketingBusiness Intelligence
Founded2012Unknown

Identical on both: 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 Lucky Orange

  • Heatmaps
  • Session Recordings
  • Live Chat
  • Surveys
  • Form Analytics
  • Shopify
  • WordPress
  • BigCommerce

Only in Snowplow

  • Own-cloud deployment
  • Schema enforcement
  • Warehouse loading
  • Enrichment
  • Trackers
  • Streaming output
  • Data models
  • Snowplow BDP

What people use each for

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

Lucky Orange

  • User experience analysisnot Snowplow
  • Bug reproductionnot Snowplow
  • Conversion optimizationnot Snowplow
  • Customer journey mappingnot Snowplow
  • Usability testingnot Snowplow

Snowplow

  • A data team that needs full-fidelity event data in its own warehouse to build attribution or machine learning features rather than to populate dashboardsnot Lucky Orange
  • A regulated business that cannot send behavioural data to a third-party analytics vendor and must keep collection inside its own cloud accountnot Lucky Orange
  • A product organisation tired of silently malformed events, which wants a schema contract enforced at collection timenot Lucky Orange
  • A company modelling customer behaviour across web, mobile and server events that needs them in one consistent structurenot Lucky Orange

Where each one falls short

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

Lucky Orange

  • Session-based pricing scales poorly during traffic spikes or successful campaigns
  • Lacks A/B testing capabilities that competitors like Crazy Egg offer
  • Less privacy-focused than Hotjar for session recording data

Snowplow

  • The core pipeline was relicensed from Apache 2.0 on 8 January 2024 to the Snowplow Limited Use Licence Agreement and a Confluent-derived community licence, so organisations that adopted it as permissively licensed software must now review their entitlement, buy a licence, or migrate.
  • You run the pipeline in your own cloud, which means the infrastructure bill, the on-call rota and the upgrade work are yours, and at high event volume that operational cost frequently exceeds what a hosted product would have charged.
  • Schema enforcement is the main benefit and the main friction, because every new event requires a schema to be authored and versioned, and teams without discipline around that end up blocked on their own governance process.
  • There is no analysis layer: Snowplow delivers data to your warehouse and nothing else, so you still need modelling, a BI tool and the people to run them before anyone sees a number.
  • The licence change fractured the community, spawning an Apache 2.0 fork, which means community contributions and third-party tooling are now split across two codebases with uncertain long-term maintenance.

Pricing, plan by plan

Lucky Orange

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 100 monthly sessions
    • 30 days data retention
    • Basic features
  • Build$32/month
    • 5,000 monthly sessions
    • Live chat
    • Heatmaps
  • Grow$72/month
    • 15,000 monthly sessions
    • All Build features
  • Expand$184/month
    • 50,000 monthly sessions
    • All features

Snowplow

On request
  • Snowplow BDP$undefined/year
    • Commercial pricing quoted by event volume and deployment
    • Core pipeline components under the Snowplow Limited Use Licence Agreement, not Apache 2.0
    • Trackers, analytics SDKs and Iglu SDKs remain Apache 2.0

Which should you pick?

Choose Lucky Orange if

  • You need heatmaps.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want session recordings.
Lucky Orange review

Choose Snowplow if

  • You need own-cloud deployment.
  • You work on Linux, Web, Docker.
  • You also want schema enforcement.
Snowplow review

Questions people ask

Is Lucky Orange or Snowplow better?
Neither clearly leads. Lucky Orange starts at Free and Snowplow at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Lucky Orange or Snowplow?
Lucky Orange has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Lucky Orange and On request for Snowplow.
Does Lucky Orange or Snowplow run on more platforms?
Lucky Orange runs on Web. Snowplow runs on Linux, Web, Docker.
Can I use Lucky Orange for free?
Yes. Lucky Orange has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Snowplow starts at On request.
What is Lucky Orange best used for?
Lucky Orange is most often used for user experience analysis, bug reproduction, conversion optimization, customer journey mapping. Of those, user experience analysis and bug reproduction are not what Snowplow is typically brought in for.
What can Lucky Orange do that Snowplow cannot?
Lucky Orange covers Heatmaps, Session Recordings, Live Chat, Surveys. Snowplow covers Own-cloud deployment, Schema enforcement, Warehouse loading, Enrichment.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Lucky Orange: What is Lucky Orange's pricing based on?

Lucky Orange uses session-based pricing tiers. The Free plan tracks 100 monthly sessions; Build plan ($32/mo) tracks 5,000 sessions; Grow ($72/mo) tracks 15,000 sessions, up to Scale ($839/mo) for 300,000 sessions.

Source
Snowplow: Is Snowplow still open source?

Not in the permissive sense. On 8 January 2024 the core pipeline moved from Apache 2.0 to the Snowplow Limited Use Licence Agreement, with version 1.1 following in December 2024, alongside a community licence based on the Confluent Community Licence. Trackers and analytics SDKs remain Apache 2.0.

Lucky Orange: Does Lucky Orange include live chat?

Yes, unlike pure heatmap tools, Lucky Orange includes live chat with canned responses, operator transfers, co-browsing, and typing preview in all paid plans.

Source
Snowplow: Can we still run it for free in production?

Free use of the relicensed core components is materially constrained and commercial use generally requires an agreement. Read the current licence text against your intended use rather than relying on older documentation.

Lucky Orange: Can I get a 7-day free trial?

Yes, Lucky Orange offers a 7-day free trial with all features on every plan and no credit card required to start.

Source
Snowplow: Is there an Apache 2.0 alternative?

Yes, a fork called OpenSnowcat was created in response to the relicensing and continues under Apache 2.0.

Lucky Orange: Does Lucky Orange track session recordings?

Yes, Lucky Orange provides dynamic heatmaps and visitor session recordings showing customer behavior, including drop-offs in conversion funnels.

Source
Snowplow: What does Snowplow BDP cost?

Not published. It is quoted by event volume and deployment, and your own cloud infrastructure costs are separate and additional.

Lucky Orange: How is Lucky Orange different from Hotjar?

Lucky Orange combines heatmaps with integrated live chat for real-time support, while Hotjar focuses more on feedback collection and UX research with better privacy defaults.

Source
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