Mixpanel and Amplitude both collect iOS app events through a Swift SDK. ActivationPal, which publishes this site, is an optional third choice for a fixed install-to-purchase funnel. Compared on 15 October 2026 from the vendors' own pages, linked below.
Mixpanel vs Amplitude at a glance
| Product | Best for | Platform | Price as stated by the source |
|---|
| ActivationPal | A fixed install-to-purchase funnel for mobile apps | Native Swift, Native Android, Flutter, React Native / Expo | First 10,000 events free; unlimited apps and members on every plan (pricing) |
| Amplitude | Product analytics with autocapture, session replay and experiments | iOS Swift SDK (docs); Session Replay for web and mobile | Free: 2M events a month; Plus starts at $0 with the first 2M events free; Growth and Enterprise on custom event-based pricing (source) |
| Mixpanel | Explicit event tracking with control over batching and data residency | iOS Swift SDK (docs) | Not confirmed from Mixpanel's pricing page when this was written |
Instrumentation and mobile SDKs
Both install through Swift Package Manager, CocoaPods or Carthage.
Mixpanel asks for explicit calls. You initialise with MixpanelOptions(token:) and Mixpanel.initialize(options:), then send each event with track(event:properties:). Swift Package Manager needs version 2.8.0 or above. Events are batched and sent every 60 seconds by default and when the app moves to the background. You can change flushInterval, add super properties that ride on every event, and time an action with time(event:). Projects with EU or India data residency must set a serverURL. The /track endpoint only accepts events from the last 5 days (Mixpanel Swift docs).
Amplitude is configured with Amplitude(configuration: Configuration(apiKey:, autocapture: [...])) and sends custom events with a BaseEvent. Events upload every 30 seconds or after 30 events by default. Autocapture covers sessions, app lifecycles, screen views, element interactions, network requests and frustration interactions, and session tracking is on by default (Amplitude iOS Swift SDK docs).
Mixpanel's Swift SDK has a trackAutomaticEvents option for app lifecycle events. It is off by default and its docs do not recommend it.
Funnels
Amplitude builds a funnel from a start event and at least one more. You pick whether users must do the steps in this order, in any order or in exact order, and you can exclude users who did a given event between steps. The segment you choose applies to the starting event. The A/B test funnel view and conversion drivers are Growth and Enterprise features (Amplitude funnel docs).
Mixpanel's funnel documentation was not available when this was compared, so its funnel features are not covered. Its Swift docs show the same starting point as Amplitude's manual route: you name and send the events yourself.
Cost
Amplitude's Free plan covers 2M events a month and 10K monthly session replays. Plus starts at $0 with the first 2M events a month free and scales to 70M events. Growth and Enterprise are priced by event volume on request. Every plan lists unlimited team members, and startups with under $10M in funding and fewer than 20 employees get one free year of Growth (Amplitude pricing).
Mixpanel's plan limits were not confirmed for this comparison. Check its pricing page before you decide.
ActivationPal as a focused third option
ActivationPal answers one question: how many installs reach each onboarding step, the paywall and a purchase. It is not a general product analytics tool, and it only records what you instrument.
SDKs. Native Swift is one file with no dependencies, iOS 15+. Native Android, Flutter and React Native / Expo have their own SDKs. configure sends first_open and app_open automatically. The quickstart has the steps.
Instrumentation. Onboarding and paywall are one call each, with fixed event names:
ActivationPal.configure(app: "myapp", key: "ap_pk_YOUR_KEY")
ActivationPal.onboardingStep(0, id: "goal")
ActivationPal.onboardingCompleted()
ActivationPal.paywallShown("onboarding")
ActivationPal.paywallPlanSelected("yearly")
ActivationPal.paywallPurchased("yearly")
Funnel. It runs install, each onboarding step, completed, paywall shown, plan selected, purchased. Every stage counts unique devices from the install cohort, so no stage can exceed 100% of installs (events reference).
Revenue. Purchases, trials, renewals and refunds arrive through the RevenueCat webhook, and Superwall has its own webhook, with one revenue source per app. Subscription integrations for Mixpanel and Amplitude were not confirmed from the sources used here. For what the revenue side shows, see subscription analytics.
Cost. The first 10,000 events are free, and apps and members are unlimited on every plan.
Limits. The funnel is fixed. Custom events appear in the Events card but do not enter it. There is no web analytics, and it counts devices, not people. To check the arithmetic on your own numbers, use the funnel calculator. The homepage shows the dashboard.
How to choose
- Amplitude if you want screens and taps captured without writing a call per event, or session replay and experiments in the same product.
- Mixpanel if you prefer explicit
track calls, with control over flush timing and EU or India data residency.
- ActivationPal if the only question is onboarding and paywall conversion in an iOS or Android app.
For what a mobile funnel should show, read funnel analysis for mobile apps. For Mixpanel against a SQL tool, see Metabase vs Mixpanel.