Best Beamer Alternative in 2026
Looking for a Beamer alternative? fdback offers changelogs, feedback boards, and roadmaps — without MAU pricing or $99/month add-ons.
Fdback.io
CEO & Founder
The Best Beamer Alternative (For Teams That Need More Than Announcements)
Beamer does changelogs well. The in-app notification widget, the popup announcements, the "what's new" feed — it nailed a specific use case and built a solid product around it.
But Beamer is a one-way street.
If you're looking for a Beamer alternative, you've probably hit one of these walls:
It's announcement-only — Beamer lets you push updates to users, but there's no real way to collect feedback, votes, or feature requests. It's a megaphone, not a conversation.
MAU pricing scales against you — Beamer charges by monthly active users. The Starter plan gives you 5,000 MAUs for $49/month. Hit 10,000 and you're on Pro at $99/month. Hit 50,000 and you're at $249/month. The more people see your updates, the more you pay.
Feedback and NPS are $99/month add-ons — Want to actually collect feedback? That's a separate add-on at $99/month on top of your plan. NPS? Another $99/month. A Beamer Pro plan with feedback and NPS: $297/month minimum.
The free plan is barely usable — 1,000 MAUs, 1 teammate, Beamer watermark on everything. It's a trial, not a plan.
Beamer isn't bad at what it does. It's just limited in what it does — and expensive the moment you try to make it do more.
The Real Cost of Beamer
The MAU Trap
Most feedback and changelog tools charge per seat (your team) or a flat rate. Beamer charges by monthly active users — every visitor who sees your widget counts.
That sounds manageable until your product grows. Ship a viral feature, get mentioned on Hacker News, or just steadily grow your user base — your Beamer bill grows with it.
Plan | Monthly Price | Annual Price | MAUs | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Free | $0 | $0 | 1,000 | 1 teammate, Beamer watermark, basic analytics |
Starter | $59/mo | $49/mo | 5,000 | Unlimited teammates, boosted announcements |
Pro | $119/mo | $99/mo | 10,000 | Comments, reactions, basic segmentation |
Scale | $299/mo | $249/mo | 50,000 | Advanced segmentation, user activities |
Need more MAUs? Add $50/month per 5,000 users. A Scale plan with 100,000 MAUs: $349/month.
The pricing model creates a strange incentive: the more users engage with your updates, the more you pay. For a changelog tool, that's backwards.
The Add-On Tax
Beamer's core product is announcements. Everything else costs extra:
Feedback add-on: $99/month
NPS add-on: $99/month
A team on Beamer Pro ($99/month) that wants feedback and NPS pays $297/month — $3,564/year — for a changelog with two bolt-on features.
And even with the feedback add-on, you don't get a proper feedback loop. There's no public roadmap with voting. No way for users to see what's planned and influence priorities. It's feedback collection without the follow-through.
API Limits That Surprise You
Beamer's API limits are tier-gated:
Starter: 2,000 requests/month
Pro: 20,000 requests/month
Scale: 100,000 requests/month
Overages: $49 for the first 100K block, then $19 per additional 100K. If you're automating changelogs from your CI/CD or pulling data into dashboards, those limits hit faster than you'd think.
fdback: The Full Feedback Loop, Not Just Announcements
Beamer answers one question: "How do I tell users what shipped?"
fdback answers three: "What do users want? What are we building? What did we ship?"
That's the difference between a changelog tool and a feedback loop.
Flat Pricing, Not Per-MAU
Beamer charges by monthly active users. We don't charge by anything that scales with your success.
Your whole team gets access — PMs, designers, engineers, support — and every user who visits your board, votes, or reads your changelog is free. One price, unlimited users.
Beamer | fdback | |
|---|---|---|
Pricing model | Per MAU ($49-249+/mo) | Flat pricing |
Free plan | 1,000 MAUs, 1 teammate, watermark | Full features, 1 workspace |
10,000+ users | Pro $99/mo minimum | Same flat price |
Feedback boards | $99/month add-on | Included |
Public roadmap | Not available | Included |
AI features | Not available | Included (no usage fees) |
The moment your changelog reaches more than a few thousand users, the math tilts heavily in fdback's favor.
Feedback + Roadmap + Changelog in One
Beamer gives you announcements. For feedback, you need an add-on. For a roadmap, you need a different tool entirely.
fdback connects all three:
Feedback boards — Users submit ideas, vote, comment. You see what matters.
Public roadmap — Drag cards between columns. Share it publicly or keep it internal. Users see what's planned and what's in progress.
Changelog — Ship something, write it up, notify everyone who asked for it. Close the loop automatically.
The power is in the connection: a user requests a feature → you add it to your roadmap → you ship it → the changelog notifies that user. That's a feedback loop. Beamer only does the last step.
AI That's Included, Not Absent
Beamer doesn't offer AI features. fdback includes AI in every plan with no usage fees:
Duplicate detection — Catches repeat requests before submission
Spam filtering — Keeps your board clean automatically
Auto-tagging — Categorizes feedback without manual work
Smart suggestions — Shows users similar existing ideas
No per-resolution charges. No token limits. It's just part of the product.
Anonymous Voting Without Signup Walls
Most of your users won't create an account to leave feedback. They just won't.
fdback lets visitors vote and browse without signing up. When they want to submit something, they can use Google or a magic link. No passwords. No friction.
More participation means better signal on what actually matters.
Integrations That Connect the Loop
Slack — Real-time feedback notifications, or turn any message into feedback with "Send to Scout"
Discord — Push updates to your community automatically
Linear & Asana — Create tasks from feedback, sync completion status
App Store & Google Play — Automatically pull reviews daily and turn them into feedback items
Webhooks — Connect to Zapier, Make, or build your own
Beamer has integrations for pushing announcements. fdback has integrations for the full loop — from collecting feedback to syncing with your project management tool.
Embed Anywhere
Drop our widget into your app with a few lines of code. Users submit feedback without leaving your product.
Works on any website, any framework. React component included. Customize it to match your brand.
When Beamer Still Makes Sense
Beamer has been around for years and does announcements really well. For some teams, that's enough.
Choose Beamer if:
You only need to push announcements — no feedback collection needed
You want in-app popups and "what's new" notifications specifically
You already have a separate feedback tool and project management tool
Your MAU count is low and won't grow significantly
You need NPS surveys as a core workflow (and don't mind $99/month for it)
Choose fdback if:
You want feedback, roadmaps, and changelogs — the full loop in one tool
You don't want to pay $99/month just to collect feedback
Your user base is growing and you don't want costs to grow with it
You want a generous free plan, not a 1,000 MAU cap with watermarks
Your team is small and ships fast — you want one tool, not three
The question is: do you need a notification tool for shipping updates, or a feedback platform that includes changelogs as part of the loop?
The Math: Beamer vs fdback Over 3 Years
Most teams that want feedback end up on Beamer Pro + the Feedback add-on:
Beamer Pro + Feedback | fdback Pro | Savings | |
|---|---|---|---|
Monthly | $198 ($99 + $99) | $15 | $183 |
Year 1 | $2,376 | $180 | $2,196 |
3-Year Total | $7,128 | $540 | $6,588 |
Even on Beamer's cheapest plan without add-ons:
Beamer Starter | fdback Pro | Savings | |
|---|---|---|---|
Monthly | $49 | $15 | $34 |
Year 1 | $588 | $180 | $408 |
3-Year Total | $1,764 | $540 | $1,224 |
And Starter gives you no feedback, no roadmap, 5,000 MAUs, and no comments or reactions. The moment you need more than announcements, you're on Pro plus add-ons, and the gap widens fast.
Comparing Other Tools?
We've written similar breakdowns:
Canny Alternative — Per-contributor pricing that scales badly
Featurebase Alternative — Per-seat pricing plus $0.29/AI resolution fees
Productboard Alternative — Enterprise complexity you don't need
UserVoice Alternative — Starting at $899/month
Pendo Alternative — $47K/year for analytics you won't use
Frill Alternative — 50-idea cap and add-on pricing
Nolt Alternative — No free plan, limited features
Try the Full Loop
Here's what I'd do:
Sign up for free — No credit card, no MAU limits, no watermarks
Set up your board — Create your first feedback board and changelog
Use it for a month — See if the feedback loop was what you were missing, or if you really just needed a notification widget
Beamer is a solid announcement tool. fdback is a feedback platform that includes changelogs. If announcements are your only problem, Beamer works. If you want the full loop — feedback, roadmap, changelog — you don't need three tools. You need one.
