Beamer is one of the most-used changelog tools in SaaS. It popularized the notification bell pattern — a badge in your app's navbar that shows unread updates. A lot of products use it exactly for that.
But it starts at $49/mo, has no permanent free plan, and only does changelogs. If you also need testimonials, a status page, a feedback board, or NPS surveys — those are separate tools at separate prices. The average SaaS team ends up with a $150-200/mo tool stack for things that should work together.
ShipPulse is the direct Beamer alternative that does changelog well, plus four other modules, starting at $19/mo.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Beamer | ShipPulse |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $49/mo (Starter) | $19/mo (Starter) |
| Free plan | 14-day trial only | Yes (permanent free tier) |
| Changelog widget types | 3 (sidebar, modal, banner) | 4 (sidebar, modal, banner, badge) |
| GitHub / GitLab auto-sync | No | Yes — commits → AI changelog draft |
| AI changelog generation | No | Yes — AI drafts from commits |
| Segmentation (show to specific users) | Yes (paid) | Yes |
| Feedback / reactions on changelog | Yes | Yes |
| Email notifications for subscribers | Yes | Yes |
| Testimonials module | No | Yes (9 widget types) |
| Status page module | No | Yes |
| Feedback board + roadmap | Basic (NPS only on Growth plan) | Yes — full feedback board with Voter MRR |
| NPS surveys | $99/mo (Growth plan) | $19/mo (Starter) |
| Custom domain | $49/mo+ | $19/mo (Starter) |
Beamer's strongest feature: segmentation
Beamer's most-cited advantage is user segmentation — showing specific changelog entries only to certain user groups based on plan, behavior, or custom attributes. If you're running a complex multi-tier SaaS where different user types need to see different updates, Beamer's segmentation is genuinely good.
ShipPulse supports segmentation too, but Beamer has been building this feature longer and it's more mature.
ShipPulse's advantages
- GitHub auto-sync. Connect your GitHub repository and ShipPulse drafts changelog entries from your commits automatically. Beamer has no VCS integration.
- Permanent free plan. Beamer has no free tier — just a 14-day trial. ShipPulse's free plan is permanent, with no watermark.
- Lower price. $19/mo vs $49/mo for equivalent functionality.
- Five modules in one. Changelog, testimonials, status page, feedback board, and NPS — Beamer is changelog-only.
- NPS without upgrading. Beamer's NPS requires the $99/mo Growth plan. ShipPulse includes NPS in the $19/mo Starter plan.
The migration path
Beamer doesn't offer a direct export in a standard format, but your changelog entries are typically short text posts. Copy-paste migration is the most reliable approach — most teams have fewer than 50 changelog entries, which takes about an hour.
Once you're on ShipPulse, replace Beamer's embed script with ShipPulse's:
<!-- Replace Beamer script with: -->
<script src="https://cdn.shippulse.dev/widget.js"
data-project="proj_your_id"
data-widget="changelog-badge">
</script>The ShipPulse changelog badge renders a notification bell with an unread count — same pattern as Beamer. Users won't notice the switch.