# Amplitude Evaluate Amplitude billing, identity, event retention and replay controls. Canonical page: https://quillwell.com/guides/software/amplitude/ Updated 2026-11-05 Publisher: Quillwell Guides (https://quillwell.com/guides/about/). Editorial standards: https://quillwell.com/guides/editorial/ ## The short answer - Amplitude is a candidate when a team wants product analytics and adjacent modules, provided its contract and identity rules match the workload. - [Amplitude pricing](https://amplitude.com/pricing) lists monthly event and replay allowances, while [billing documentation](https://amplitude.com/docs/faq/billing-and-plans) also describes MTU-based contracts. - [Amplitude’s web replay privacy guide](https://amplitude.com/docs/session-replay/manage-privacy-settings-for-session-replay) says its default masks inputs but not all page text or HTML attributes. ## Identify the meter on your contract [Amplitude pricing](https://amplitude.com/pricing) lists Free with 2 million events and 10,000 monthly replays. Plus starts at $0 with the first 2 million events free; Growth and Enterprise require a quote. Check plan features and terms at purchase. [Amplitude’s billing FAQ](https://amplitude.com/docs/faq/billing-and-plans) instead describes a Free limit in MTUs. The public pages therefore do not establish one universal Free meter. Confirm which terms apply to a new account or existing agreement. [Amplitude billing documentation](https://amplitude.com/docs/faq/billing-and-plans) also describes MTU-based and event-ingestion versions of Plus. An MTU guardrail applies to the MTU version, not the event version. Public pricing alone does not establish which meter applies to an existing contract. [Amplitude’s MTU guide](https://amplitude.com/docs/admin/billing-use/mtu-guide) defines tracked users within a calendar month. Ask how anonymous devices, merged identities, exclusions, event guardrails and additional modules affect your actual bill. ## Reconcile users and raw exports [Amplitude](https://amplitude.com/docs/data/sources/instrument-track-unique-users) maps anonymous and known identities in analysis when its documented conditions are met. It describes cases where the original raw event keeps its earlier Amplitude ID even though the dashboard applies a merged-ID mapping. Test an anonymous visit, login, logout and a shared device. Reconcile the dashboard with exported IDs and document how your warehouse obtains the mapping. Do not assume every two known accounts can be merged or that a mistake can be undone. ## Treat retention and export as operational work [Amplitude’s pricing table](https://amplitude.com/pricing) lists data access of one year on Free, two years on Plus and unlimited on Growth and Enterprise. Its [billing FAQ](https://amplitude.com/docs/faq/billing-and-plans) describes seven-year data retention for Growth and two years for Plus. Data access and technical retention are not necessarily the same; ask Amplitude to explain the distinction and confirm your account’s terms in writing. [Amplitude’s TTL documentation](https://amplitude.com/docs/data/time-to-live) says event deletion starts 24 hours after confirmation and becomes irreversible after that window. Decide ownership, backups and the intended retention before enabling a shorter policy. [Amplitude’s Export API](https://amplitude.com/docs/apis/analytics/export) selects events by upload time, not event time. Its hourly windows are inclusive, and a recent empty response may reflect export delay. Use checkpoints, retries and deduplication; reconcile the result before considering an export complete. ## Inspect the data masking misses [Amplitude](https://amplitude.com/docs/session-replay/manage-privacy-settings-for-session-replay) says the default Medium browser setting masks form fields and inputs, while other page text is captured. Its guide says HTML attributes are not masked, including attributes that can contain sensitive data. Remove or obfuscate sensitive attributes before capture. Review URLs and images, test the actual settings and SDK, and agree who may view recordings. Mobile defaults need their own review. ## How to compare the alternatives Compare [Mixpanel](https://quillwell.com/guides/software/mixpanel/) and [PostHog](https://quillwell.com/guides/software/posthog/) on the same synthetic journeys. The [Mixpanel vs Amplitude comparison](https://quillwell.com/guides/compare/mixpanel-vs-amplitude/) walks through billing, identity and replay. ## Common questions ### Is Amplitude billed by events or users? [Amplitude pricing](https://amplitude.com/pricing) lists event allowances; its [billing guide](https://amplitude.com/docs/faq/billing-and-plans) describes both event and MTU variants. Verify your contract. ### Does default replay masking cover all sensitive data? No. [Amplitude](https://amplitude.com/docs/session-replay/manage-privacy-settings-for-session-replay) says its default browser setting captures other page text and does not mask HTML attributes. ## Sources and scope We read the linked vendor pricing and documentation on November 5, 2026. This is documentation-only research; we have not used the products, installed SDKs, collected events or tested exports or replay. Inclusion and corrections are free. Any future vendor placement will be clearly labeled and will not determine editorial judgment or order. Confirm current terms and test your own configuration. Sponsorship never changes this page. [How we research](https://quillwell.com/guides/editorial/). ## Sources 7 vendor pages, checked November 5, 2026 [Amplitude: Pricing](https://amplitude.com/pricing) Checked 2026-11-05. Published event and replay allowances and plan options. [Amplitude: Billing and plans](https://amplitude.com/docs/faq/billing-and-plans) Checked 2026-11-05. Plus MTU and event billing variants and guardrail. [Amplitude: Monthly tracked users](https://amplitude.com/docs/admin/billing-use/mtu-guide) Checked 2026-11-05. MTU definitions and calendar-month rules. [Amplitude: Track unique users](https://amplitude.com/docs/data/sources/instrument-track-unique-users) Checked 2026-11-05. Anonymous identity mapping and raw export limitations. [Amplitude: Time to Live](https://amplitude.com/docs/data/time-to-live) Checked 2026-11-05. Event deletion and cancellation period. [Amplitude: Export API](https://amplitude.com/docs/apis/analytics/export) Checked 2026-11-05. Upload-time windows, delay and raw event exports. [Amplitude: Session Replay privacy settings](https://amplitude.com/docs/session-replay/manage-privacy-settings-for-session-replay) Checked 2026-11-05. Web masking presets and HTML attribute limitations. ### Images in the header [Checkout event timeline with event and user properties](https://amplitude.com/docs/data/sources/instrument-checkout-funnel) Amplitude's own image from amplitude.com, fetched November 5, 2026. Figures in it are the vendor's examples, not our results. [Suggest a correction or send a vendor fact update](https://quillwell.com/guides/request/?type=correction&page=/software/amplitude/)