Hightouch vs Segment

by Gralio Mar 12, 2025

Hightouch and Segment cater to different data needs. Hightouch excels at activating data in marketing platforms directly from your warehouse, simplifying campaign personalization and measurement. Segment provides a more complete CDP solution, unifying customer data from various sources for deeper analysis and audience segmentation, but requires more technical setup.

At Gralio.ai we help to simplify your decision-making process by offering detailed, side-by-side software comparisons like this one, to help you confidently choose the tool that aligns with your business goals.

This comparison was created by analysing 919 reviews and 60 websites, saving 5 hours, 36 minutes of reading.

Hightouch

Website LinkedIn Twitter

Segment

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About

Hightouch is a platform that helps marketing teams use their company data more effectively. It works by connecting to your existing data warehouse and letting you send customized groups of customer data to over 200 other marketing tools, like email and advertising platforms. This helps marketers create more targeted campaigns, personalize messages, and ultimately get better results. Hightouch emphasizes ease of use, so marketers can access and utilize data without needing to code.

Segment is a customer data platform (CDP) that helps businesses understand their customers better. It gathers customer data from various sources, cleans it up, and makes it usable for analysis and marketing. This allows businesses to personalize customer experiences, improve ad targeting, and measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns. Segment is suitable for medium to large businesses across various industries wanting to use their customer data more effectively.

Summary

Main difference

Hightouch shines with its Reverse ETL (data activation) capabilities, seamlessly pushing data from your warehouse to various marketing platforms. Segment, as a CDP, excels at collecting, unifying, and segmenting customer data from multiple sources.

Relative strengths of Hightouch (compared to Segment)

Stronger Reverse ETL (Data Activation): Hightouch's focus and direct integrations with over 200 marketing and sales tools make it better for activating data in downstream tools directly from your warehouse.
Simpler Pricing: While both have complex pricing, Hightouch's pricing, based on destinations and syncs, can be easier to predict for core Reverse ETL use cases.
Faster Initial Setup: Connecting your warehouse and activating data in a few clicks makes Hightouch quicker to get started with for basic use cases, compared to Segment's more involved tracking plan implementation for full functionality.

Relative weaknesses of Hightouch (compared to Segment)

Less Comprehensive CDP Features: Segment offers more extensive CDP features like identity resolution and advanced segmentation, exceeding Hightouch's data activation focus.
Smaller Pre-built Connector Library: While Hightouch integrates with many destinations, Segment's broader range of source connectors simplifies initial data collection.
Limited Transformation Capabilities: Hightouch's in-app transformation options are less powerful than Segment's, potentially requiring more pre-processing in your warehouse for complex scenarios.

Who is using Hightouch and Segment?

Kyle Poyar

Co-Founder & Operating Partner | Growth Unhinged

No data

Who should use Hightouch VS. Segment

Hightouch empowers marketing teams to activate customer data by connecting their warehouse to 200+ marketing tools. Users praise its intuitive interface and seamless integrations, especially with Snowflake. However, some have noted slow syncs and a complex pricing model. Best for medium to large businesses seeking improved data-driven marketing.

Segment is a customer data platform (CDP) that empowers businesses to collect, clean, and activate customer data. Users praise its ease of use and integration with existing software, enabling valuable insights into customer behavior. However, some users note the cost can be prohibitive for smaller companies and the UI can be confusing at times.

Best for medium to large businesses (101+ employees), particularly in software, IT, and marketing/advertising.
Ideal for software, IT, telecommunications, marketing, and advertising industries.

Best for medium to large businesses (101+ employees) focused on data-driven decisions.
Ideal for E-commerce, Software/IT, and Telecommunications, but suitable for various sectors.

Hightouch and Segment features

Supported

Partially supported

Not supported

Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need

Market Leadership

Not supported

Hightouch is not mentioned as a leader in the IDC MarketScape report.

Supported

Twilio Segment, which includes Segment, is recognized as a leader by IDC.
Real-time segmentation

Partially supported

Hightouch activates segments in real-time, but segment creation depends on data landing in the warehouse.

Partially supported

Segment emphasizes real-time insights, suggesting real-time segmentation is likely supported.
API-based segmentation

Supported

Hightouch supports API-based segmentation via its Personalization API.

Supported

Customer segments can be created and managed through Segment's API.
Import/export segments

Partially supported

Hightouch supports exporting segments. Importing is not directly supported.

Not supported

Segment allows importing historical data and exporting raw data, but not customer segments.
Data Source Integration

Supported

Hightouch integrates with data warehouses and other platforms.

Supported

Segment integrates with external data sources through various methods, including APIs, libraries, and Segment Functions.
Segmentation Integration

Supported

Hightouch allows the creation and integration of predefined segments with email marketing tools.

Supported

Predefined segments can be integrated with email marketing tools.

Qualities

Value and Pricing Transparency

-0.33

Rather negative sentiment

-0.57

Rather negative sentiment
Customer Service

No data

+0.6

Rather positive sentiment
Ease of Use

+0.78

Strongly positive sentiment

+0.81

Strongly positive sentiment
Reliability and Performance

+0.2

Neutral sentiment

+0.43

Rather positive sentiment
Ease of Implementation

+0.67

Rather positive sentiment

+0.3

Rather positive sentiment
Scalability

No data

+0

Neutral sentiment

Hightouch and Segment Pricing

No data

User sentiment

Rather negative

-0.33

See full Pricing page

No data

User sentiment

Rather negative

-0.57

See full Pricing page

Hightouch and Segment review insights

917 reviews analysed from

Users love

Intuitive interface praised for ease of use and setup.
Seamless integration with data warehouses like Snowflake.
Wide range of destinations supported, expanding data activation options.
Excellent and responsive customer support via Slack and other channels.

Easy to use and implement, especially for existing software and company dynamics.
Helpful customer support, both before and after implementation.
Simple integration with existing software.
Provides valuable insights into customer data and behavior.

Users dislike

Syncs can be slow, impacting workflows.
Occasional bugs and unexpected errors require attention.
Complex pricing model can be difficult to understand and estimate.
Limited transformation capabilities within the tool itself.

The cost can make this software prohibitive for smaller companies.
Personas feature requires an additional purchase.
Difficult to understand the success/failure rate for event delivery.
UI can be confusing to navigate, especially around tracking plans.

Hightouch and Segment Ratings

G2

4.6/5

(360)
Glassdoor

4.7/5

(64)

G2

4.5/5

(557)
TrustPilot

3.3/5

(2)
Glassdoor

3.6/5

(201)

Company health

Employee growth

39% increase in the last year

21% decrease in the last year

Web traffic

11% increase in the last quarter

10% decrease in the last quarter

Financing

No data

October 2019 - $284M

How do Hightouch's and Segment's data transformation capabilities compare?

Hightouch has limited transformation capabilities within the tool itself, relying more on the data warehouse for transformations. Segment, while not explicitly detailed in the provided information, generally offers more robust data transformation capabilities within its platform, including data cleaning and standardization as part of its core CDP functionality. This allows users to manipulate data before sending it to various destinations.

Which platform offers easier integration with existing marketing tools?

Hightouch offers easier integration with existing marketing tools. It connects to a data warehouse and pushes data to over 200 marketing tools, suggesting a broader range of pre-built integrations compared to Segment. While Segment also offers pre-built connectors, Hightouch's emphasis on activating data across numerous platforms makes it appear more integration-focused for a wider variety of marketing tools.

What are the advantages of Hightouch?

Hightouch offers reverse ETL capabilities, enabling direct data synchronization to various marketing platforms, unlike Segment, which focuses on collecting and consolidating customer data. Hightouch emphasizes real-time data synchronization via Streaming Reverse ETL, giving marketing teams access to the most current data. Users praise Hightouch's intuitive interface and seamless integration with data warehouses like Snowflake. While both platforms cater to similar customer profiles, Hightouch's specialization in reverse ETL makes it advantageous for activating data directly within marketing tools.

What are the disadvantages of Hightouch?

Hightouch's disadvantages include potentially slow syncs that can disrupt workflows, occasional bugs requiring attention, a complex pricing model that can be difficult to understand, and limited data transformation capabilities within the tool itself.

Alternatives to Hightouch and Segment

RudderStack

RudderStack is a customer data platform that helps businesses understand their customers better. It collects and combines customer data from various sources and makes it usable for marketing and analysis. This helps businesses create a single view of their customers, personalize marketing campaigns, and improve customer experiences. RudderStack is used by various companies, including e-commerce and technology businesses. It is designed to be easy to use and integrate with other tools.

Faraday

Faraday is a predictive analytics platform designed to help businesses understand and anticipate customer behavior. Using machine learning, it analyzes customer data to predict actions like purchases, unsubscribes, or engagement with marketing campaigns. The platform offers pre-built prediction models, data integrations, and a user-friendly interface that doesn't require coding experience. This allows marketers to easily access and use predictions within their existing workflows and marketing tools, enabling them to target customers more effectively and personalize their experiences.

Customer.io

Customer.io is a customer engagement platform that helps mid-sized and larger companies improve their customer relationships through personalized messaging. Using data you already have, you can create automated email, SMS, and in-app messages. Customer.io also features robust data management tools and a visual workflow builder for designing complex campaigns. Companies use Customer.io to increase engagement, reduce churn, and improve customer lifetime value.

Heap | by Contentsquare

Heap | by Contentsquare is a digital insights platform that helps businesses understand their customers' online journeys. It provides data on customer behavior, such as where users struggle or abandon their experience. Heap offers session replay, allowing you to see exactly what your customers see, and helps identify areas for improvement. This data-driven approach helps businesses optimize their websites and apps to enhance customer experience, improve conversion rates, and make better product decisions. Heap caters to a range of businesses, from SaaS companies to e-commerce and financial institutions.

Integrate

Integrate is a software platform designed for marketing teams at large businesses. It helps manage and organize the way marketing campaigns find potential customers, with a focus on making sure the data collected is high-quality and usable. Integrate aims to simplify how marketing connects with other teams like sales, making sure everyone has access to consistent information. It provides tools to track the effectiveness of campaigns, helping measure results and make better decisions about where to invest marketing budget.

Fivetran

Fivetran helps businesses like yours gather all your data in one place. It connects to all your apps and databases, automatically pulls out the information, and sends it to a central data warehouse. With Fivetran, you can trust your data is accurate and up-to-date, so you can make informed decisions about your business.

Page co-authored by

Michal Kaczor

CEO at Gralio

Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs of any business and find solutions to its problems.

Tymon Terlikiewicz

CTO at Gralio

Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX, HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.

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