You visited an online store, looked at a pair of shoes, and left without buying.
A few hours later, you got an email saying, “Still thinking about those sneakers?”
You wonder- How did they know?!
Then the next day, the same shoes pop up on your Instagram feed… again.
Sounds familiar? That’s not a coincidence; it’s the power of first-party data at work.
Behind the scenes, smart brands are using platforms that collect and activate the data you leave behind, like the pages you visit, the products you browse, and the actions you take.
In this blog, we’ll walk you through the best First-Party Data Platforms that help brands own their data, understand their customers, and create marketing that connects. Let’s dive in.
Jump ahead to:
What is First-Party Data
First-party data is user-level or event-level information that is collected, owned, and controlled directly by your brands, without reliance on third-party intermediaries.
In digital marketing, this typically includes:
- Server-side tracked data: Events captured via your servers (e.g., purchases, form submissions, logins), using tools like GTM server-side, API endpoints, or middleware like EasyInsights
- CRM data: Lead, customer, and sales data collected from platforms like Salesforce, HubSpot, or Zoho.
- Offline conversion data: In-store purchases, call centre interactions, or sales activity collected through internal systems and matched back to digital campaigns
- Authenticated user data: Email, phone number, or unique user ID collected via login, subscription, or account activity
This data is directly obtained from your audience and is stored within your infrastructure (data warehouse, CDP, CRM), making it the most accurate and privacy-compliant foundation for marketing, measurement, and optimization.
Top 7 First-Party Data Platforms
1. EasyInsights
EasyInsights is a first-party data activation tool built for performance marketers to activate first-party data across different ad platforms. With a simple integration (by placing a pixel on your website), it starts tracking user interactions server-side, bypassing browser limitations and ad blockers. It captures key actions like form fills, purchases, and button clicks and sends this data in real time to platforms like Meta and Google Ads, ensuring your ad platforms always have the freshest, most accurate signals.
Key Features include :
- First-party data activation: It integrates your CRMs with ad platforms like Meta and Google, enabling you to send customer data in real time so that you can retarget, personalize, and optimize campaigns with pinpoint accuracy.
- Custom Events Based on Real Business Logic: Track KPIs like AOV, Acquisition, Delivered Orders, and more
- Complex Funnel Conversion Tracking: Integrate across WhatsApp, Calling Platforms, POS Systems, etc.
- High Event Match Rate & Full Coverage: Maximize visibility across user journeys
- Website user behaviour: EasyInsights helps in collecting comprehensive user behavior and engagement data by tracking how visitors interact with your website and digital assets across the entire customer journey.
- True & Unbiased Attribution: Session-by-session user tracking for accurate channel and campaign ROI
- Dynamic Audience Creation & Suppression: Build precision-targeted segments in real time
- Feed Enhancement with Custom Attributes: Enrich your product and event data for better targeting & performance
Cons:
- EasyInsights does not offer a built-in reporting interface. Instead, it focuses purely on activating first-party data by sending it to platforms like Meta Ads Manager and Google Ads Dashboard for analysis.
Pricing: Starts from 250$/Month
Additional Reading: How to Activate Your First-Party Data
2. CleverTap
CleverTap collects first-party data directly from your app or website using SDKs and APIs. Once installed, the SDK automatically tracks user actions like app installs, opens, screen views, clicks, purchases, and other custom events you define. It captures real-time behavioral data and builds rich user profiles by associating device-level information with user identifiers
Key Features of CleverTap:
SDK Integration: A lightweight SDK is installed in your app to track events and user behavior.
Real-time Analytics: View live user actions and segments.
User Segmentation: Automatically create cohorts based on behavior.
Omnichannel Engagement: Track how users respond to messages across push, SMS, email, WhatsApp, and more.
Lifecycle Optimization: Monitor users across the funnel to boost retention and conversions.
Cons:
- Needs developer help: Setup and custom tracking usually require developers.
- Pricey for larger teams: Costs can increase quickly as you grow.
- Better for apps than websites: Web support isn’t as strong as mobile.
- Basic attribution: Lacks advanced tools for tracking how users convert across channels.
Pricing:
Essential – 70$/Month
3. Salesforce
Salesforce is a cloud-based software platform that helps brands manage their relationships with customers. It allows teams in sales, marketing, customer service, and e-commerce to track leads, close deals, support customers, and run campaigns all in one place.
In simple terms, Salesforce helps you keep all your customer information organized, automate tasks, and grow your brand faster.
Key Features Salesforce:
- Contact Management – Organise and track customer information, including emails, phone numbers, and interaction history.
- Single Source of Truth – Centralize customer data across teams for a unified view.
- AI Integration – Use predictive and generative AI to improve customer service, marketing, and sales.
- Reports & Dashboards – Get real-time insights with customizable analytics and visual reports.
- Cloud-Based CRM – Access your CRM remotely with lower setup and maintenance costs.
- Mobile CRM – Use CRM features anytime, anywhere, from any device.
- Automation & Workflows – Automate routine tasks and approvals to boost team productivity.
- Collaboration Tools – Improve teamwork with built-in tools like Slack for seamless communication.
- Scalability & Flexibility – Customize features and scale users as your business grows.
Cons:
- You have to pay for add-ons to get the most out of the software.
- Configuration and setup are complex and time-consuming.
- A cluttered interface makes navigation and simple tasks unnecessarily complex.
Pricing:
Starter Suite- $25 USD/user/month
Pro Suite- $100 USD/user/month
Sales Enterprise- $165 USD/user/month
4. Segment Twilio
Twilio Segment is a CDP that acts as a central hub for customer data. It enables brands to gather data from multiple sources (websites, mobile apps, customer service platforms, etc.) and create a unified view of each customer.
Key Features:
- Data Integration- Connect data from web and mobile apps using a single, streamlined API.
- Functions- Customize your data flows and pipeline logic to fit specific business needs.
- Developer Toolkit- Build custom workflows and integrations using open tools and APIs.
- Audiences- Create dynamic, real-time segments based on unified customer profiles.
- Customer data unification- Combine data from all channels to create a single, accurate customer view.
Cons:
- High Cost – Segment can become prohibitively expensive for small to mid-sized teams, especially as your tracked users or events grow.
- Steep Learning Curve – Many users report that implementing Segment, setting up data schemas, sources, and streams, requires substantial technical effort and onboarding time.
- Data Control Constraints – As data is stored on Segment’s servers, companies risk losing full ownership and may face additional charges to export data to their own warehouse.
Pricing:
Free Plan – $0/month,
Team Plan – Starts at $120/month,
Business Plan – Custom Pricing
5. Liveramp
LiveRamp is an enterprise-grade platform that helps brands connect and activate first-party data across digital ecosystems using its identity resolution infrastructure. It’s widely used for data onboarding, audience activation, and privacy-safe collaboration.
Key features of Liveramp:
- Identity Resolution: Matches user data (email, phone, device IDs) to a persistent identifier (RampID), enabling cross-channel targeting.
- Data Onboarding: Upload offline/CRM data and make it usable across platforms like Google, Meta, Amazon, and more.
- Clean Rooms & Collaboration: Secure data sharing between partners and platforms without exposing user-level data.
- Audience Activation: Push custom audiences to DSPs, walled gardens, and CTV platforms.
- Measurement & Attribution: Analyze campaign performance with privacy-safe measurement tools.
Cons:
- No Native Tracking Capabilities. You must integrate it with other tools to feed data into the platform.
- No real-time event sync, supports only scheduled batch uploads
- Doesn’t provide attribution models, campaign performance analytics, or insights.
- Does not send event-level data and fuel campaign learning.
Pricing: Not Disclosed
6. Zapier
Zapier is a no-code automation platform designed to connect different web apps and automate repetitive tasks. Think of it as a digital “glue” that links your everyday tools- like Gmail, Slack, or Google Sheets – through workflows called Zaps
Key features of Zapier:
- Automate simple, repetitive tasks between apps (e.g, form→slack, Gmail→sheet)
- Integrate CRM with the ad platforms and send the user data.
- Integrates with various apps, including Gmail, Slack, Salesforce, Trello, Shopify, and more
- Automate workflows by defining a trigger event in one app and one or more actions in another
- Zapier helps in creating custom web pages and apps.
Cons:
- Don’t have native pixel, can not track the user behaviour data.
- Do not provide the attribution modelling
- Limited predefined event types
- Limited visibility into marketing performance
Pricing:
Pro: $29.99/month
Team: $103.50/month
Additional Reading: Strategies to Use First-Party Audiences on Meta and Google Ads
7. Mixpanel
Mixpanel is an easy-to-use and powerful tool that helps product teams understand how people use their app. It shows exactly how users interact with your product, so your team can spot what’s working, what’s not, and make smart improvements based on real data.
Key features of Mixpanel:
- Sophisticated features that enable granular data analysis are a significant advantage of using Mixpanel.
- Unlimited segmentation capabilities: It offers unlimited segmentation capabilities on attributes, user properties, and cohorts.
- Easy-to-navigate UI patterns: The user interface of this platform is simple and has a wide variety of functions and resources to help you work in the most organised way, have better team coordination, and keep efficiency high.
- Seamless onboarding for your product team: Getting started on Mixpanel is easy and stress-free. Register, choose a plan, or hop on for a free trial.
Cons:
- Free tier is limited: While great for small SaaS, scaling up to enterprise-level features gets expensive.
- Requires engineering support: Setup, custom event tracking, segmentation, and advanced usage often demand developer involvement and a steeper learning curve.
- Limited attribution models: Though it offers first/last touch and multi-touch, it lacks depth compared to specialized tools.
- No built-in user feedback: You’ll need third-party systems for surveys, NPS, or in-app feedback
Pricing:
Starter Plan: Free – Up to 20M monthly events
Growth Plan: $20/month – Up to 100M monthly events
Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing – Contact sales for a quote
Conclusion
In a world where privacy rules are tightening and third-party cookies are disappearing, first-party data is every brand’s best friend. It’s accurate, reliable, and owned by you, not rented from someone else. But collecting and activating this data in real time is easier said than done. That’s where the right platform makes all the difference.
After reviewing top tools like CleverTap, Segment, Salesforce, LiveRamp, Zapier, and Mixpanel, one thing becomes clear: most of these platforms either collect or activate data, not both. They often rely on third-party systems, browser-based tracking, or batch uploads that delay how quickly you can use that data in your marketing.
EasyInsights collects your data directly on the server side, without relying on pixels that can be blocked by browsers or affected by privacy tools. It captures every meaningful action (such as form fills, purchases, scrolls, or WhatsApp clicks) directly from your website or backend and instantly sends that data to platforms like Meta and Google Ads. This means better targeting, smarter retargeting, and faster optimization.
It also helps you build and enrich audiences using real-time behavior, syncs with your CRM, and enables precise cross-channel attribution, something most other platforms struggle to deliver natively.
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