Firebase vs Amplitude for mobile funnels

Amplitude documents a funnel chart and SDKs for iOS, Android, React Native and Flutter, Firebase offers no-cost Google Analytics for apps already on it, and ActivationPal is the narrower option for mobile onboarding and paywall funnels. ActivationPal publishes this page and makes the third product.

Firebase vs Amplitude at a glance

Prices and limits are as stated on each vendor's page on 13 October 2026.

What Firebase covers here

This page compares Google Analytics in the Firebase console only. Authentication, Firestore, Hosting and the other Firebase products are priced separately on the Firebase pricing page and are not part of this comparison.

How each tool builds a funnel

Firebase (Google Analytics)

The Firebase Analytics docs page does not describe funnels. Google's help page documents funnel exploration in Google Analytics:

• Up to 10 steps, each defined by events or dimension values. Steps cannot be based on metrics.
• Each step can be directly or indirectly followed by the next, with an optional "Within" time limit.
• Open funnels let users enter at any step. Closed funnels require the first step.
• Up to 4 segment comparisons, a breakdown dimension and an optional elapsed time between steps.
• A saved funnel report built from the exploration.

Amplitude

Amplitude's Funnel Analysis chart starts from an event, or any event, and needs at least one more:

• Choose "this order", "any order" or "exact order".
• Exclude users who fire a given event between steps.
• Apply a saved or custom user segment. It applies to the starting event only.

The same page lists A/B Test Funnel View and Conversion Drivers on Growth and Enterprise. On the pricing page, Free has Product & Web analytics and AI-powered analysis but not custom events and formulas or behavioral cohorts. Plus adds custom events and formulas and 20 behavioral cohorts.

Mobile SDKs and event collection

Firebase. You add the SDK and collection begins. It captures some events and user properties automatically and lets you log custom events such as E-Commerce purchases or achievements. Data shows in the console within hours, and Analytics can link to BigQuery for custom analysis.

Amplitude. Its Analytics SDKs send event, identify and revenue data. The SDK catalog lists a Swift SDK for iOS, a Kotlin SDK for Android, React Native and Flutter. Session Replay SDKs exist for the same four platforms, and Experiment and Guides and Surveys SDKs are listed too.

Subscription revenue

The Firebase docs describe logging E-Commerce purchases and finding your most purchased items. Amplitude's SDKs send revenue data.

Neither page states a RevenueCat or Superwall connection, so a purchase reaches either tool as an event you send or load yourself. ActivationPal documents a RevenueCat webhook and a Superwall webhook that feed purchases, trials, renewals and churn into the same funnel.

Cost as of 13 October 2026

• Firebase: Analytics is no-cost, with unlimited reporting on up to 500 distinct events.
• Amplitude Free: 2M events a month forever, no credit card.
• Amplitude Plus: starts at $0 with the first 2M events a month free, scales up to 70M events, credit card required.
• Amplitude Growth and Enterprise: custom, event-based pricing.

Amplitude gives startups with under $10M in funding and fewer than 20 employees one free year on Growth.

Firebase caps distinct event names and Amplitude bills by event volume, so the limits measure different things.

How ActivationPal sets up onboarding-to-revenue reporting

ActivationPal uses fixed event names, so there is nothing to register and no charts to build. Setup on iOS takes five steps, from the quickstart:

1. Add the app in the dashboard to get its slug and ap_pk key, then download the single Swift file. It has no dependencies.
2. Call ActivationPal.configure(app:key:userId:) at launch. With RevenueCat, pass Purchases.shared.appUserID. This sends first_open and app_open automatically.
3. Call onboardingStep(index, id:, answer:) on each onboarding screen, then onboardingCompleted().
4. Call paywallShown, paywallPlanSelected, paywallPurchased and paywallDismissed around the paywall.
5. Connect RevenueCat with an HMAC-signed webhook, or Superwall with its signing secret. Purchases, trials, renewals and churn arrive as rc_* events and join the funnel through the user id.

ActivationPal.configure(app: "myapp", key: "ap_pk_YOUR_KEY", userId: Purchases.shared.appUserID)

ActivationPal.onboardingStep(0, id: "goal", answer: "lose_weight")
ActivationPal.onboardingStep(1, id: "notifications")
ActivationPal.onboardingCompleted()

ActivationPal.paywallShown("onboarding")
ActivationPal.paywallPlanSelected("yearly")
ActivationPal.paywallPurchased("yearly")

Every funnel stage counts unique devices from the install cohort, so no stage exceeds 100% of installs. Onboarding shows one row per step, the paywall card shows conversion, and the dashboard shows the median time from first_open to first purchase.

Android, Flutter and React Native use the same event names: see the Android, Flutter and React Native guides. The subscription analytics page covers the revenue side, and iOS analytics the Swift SDK. The homepage shows the dashboard.

The free plan is 10k events for the life of the account. Paid plans are $9, $19 and $29 a month; see pricing. ActivationPal covers mobile apps only. It has no web analytics, experimentation or session replay.

How to choose

• Pick Firebase when the app is already on Firebase and no-cost general measurement is enough.
• Pick Amplitude for a documented funnel chart, SDKs on four mobile platforms, session replay and experimentation, free up to 2M events a month.
• Pick ActivationPal for mobile-only onboarding, paywall and RevenueCat or Superwall funnels.

For other pairings, read Firebase vs Mixpanel, Heap vs Amplitude and Firebase analytics alternatives, or run your numbers through the funnel calculator.