Arcus vs. Northbeam
Northbeam is a marketing attribution and measurement platform popular with e-commerce brands. It shows performance teams which ads get credit for online sales. Arcus connects every piece of an entertainment or lifestyle brand’s data, from sales, tickets and CRM to ad accounts, agency reports and what people say, into one place the brand owns, and answers questions with the whole picture.
Free, no card. Pick a question and we answer it with your own numbers.
Arcus
You asked: What drove sales in week 3?
Week 3: sales up 18%. 1,240 TikTok and Reddit posts about one unpaid creator. Next: test paying them in half your regions.
- From your sales + CRM
- From TikTok + Reddit
| Compared on | Northbeam | Arcus |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | E-commerce and performance marketing teams | Brand teams at entertainment and lifestyle companies |
| Main job | Attribution and measurement across channels | Connecting every piece of your data into one place you own, and answering any question |
| Who does the work | Your team, in Northbeam | We do, and send you the answers |
| Results it starts from | See their site | Your own sales, tickets, sign-ups, streams or viewing |
For Northbeam’s current features and pricing, see its website.
Try it on your own numbers. Nothing changes until you decide.
When Northbeam is the better pick
If you sell mostly online and have a performance team that wants an attribution dashboard, Northbeam is built for that.
When Arcus is the better pick
When your data sits in pieces across teams, partners and tools, and you want it connected in one place you own: every result counted once against your own numbers, what people say added in, and an answer to whatever you ask next.
What Northbeam is built for
Northbeam is known as an attribution platform for e-commerce brands. It brings ad spend and tracked online sales into one view so a performance team can compare channels and decide where the next dollar goes.
That suits a team that sells mostly through its own site, runs paid media closely and wants a dashboard it checks every day.
Attribution and proof of cause
Any attribution model, however good, is a rule for sharing credit. It can show which ads were on the path to a sale. It can’t show whether the sale would have happened anyway.
Arcus starts by lining up every channel’s reported results against your own numbers, so each result counts once. When a decision needs proof, it uses a regions-on, regions-off test. Ask any attribution vendor how they handle proof of cause, Northbeam included.
Results beyond online sales
Entertainment and lifestyle brands often count tickets, streams, viewing, sign-ups or retail sales. Many of those happen somewhere a site tracker can’t see: a theater, a streaming platform, a retailer’s shelf.
Arcus works from whatever your own numbers are, lined up by day and region, and tells you where they’re too thin to call. If your results mostly happen off your own site, ask any attribution vendor how they’d measure them.
Who does the work
With an attribution platform, your team reads the dashboard and turns it into decisions. With Arcus, our team does the work and sends a few slides with the answer on top.
Arcus also reads and counts public conversation about your brand and lines it up with your numbers, which attribution tools usually leave out.
How to decide.
- Pick Northbeam if most of your results are online sales through your own site.
- Pick Northbeam if you have a performance team that wants an attribution dashboard to use daily.
- Pick Arcus if your results are tickets, streams, sign-ups, viewing or retail sales.
- Pick Arcus if nobody on your team has time to read and act on a dashboard.
- Pick Arcus if you need every result counted once across channels, and tested before you move budget.
- Use both if a performance team wants attribution and the brand team wants every result counted once, plus listening.
Using both: A brand with a performance team might use Northbeam for day-to-day paid media and Arcus for the brand-side questions, listening and tests. Attribution output becomes one more piece Arcus connects to your own numbers.
Questions people ask
More in the full FAQ, or ask us on a call.
Is Northbeam the same as what Arcus does?
They overlap on one question: which marketing gets credit. Northbeam is a platform for performance teams. Arcus connects every piece of a brand team’s data, plus what people say, counts each result once, and runs tests when a decision needs proof.
Does Arcus do attribution?
Arcus lines up every reported result against your own numbers and counts each one once. When you need proof of cause, we run a regions-on, regions-off test. See our guide to incrementality.
What does Northbeam cost?
We don’t publish other companies’ pricing, so for Northbeam, see their site or ask their team. Arcus is free to try. If you want everything connected after that, we scope the setup and the monthly work for your brand and quote it once you’ve seen your free answer.
Can Arcus use our Northbeam data?
If you share it, yes. We read it alongside your other channels and your own numbers.
Can we use both?
Usually, yes. Arcus works alongside the tools and partners you already have. What they produce becomes one more piece of the picture, lined up with your own numbers.
How do we try Arcus without switching anything?
Try it free. We answer your question with your own numbers and what people say. Nothing changes until you decide.
Other comparisons
Try it onyour numbers.
Pick the question you’re least sure about. We answer it with your own numbers and what people say online, then walk you through it in 30 minutes. Free, no card.