How to Cancel Amplitude in 2026 — Downgrade to Free + Export Your Data

Last updated: February 2026 • Difficulty: Medium

⚠️ The analytics pricing cliff: Amplitude's Growth plan starts at $49K/year when you exceed 1,000 MTUs. Many startups onboard during free tier, build deep dependencies, then face a massive bill when they grow. The sales team will call relentlessly when your free plan nears its limit.

Why Amplitude Gets Expensive Fast

MTU-based pricing: Monthly Tracked Users — every user who triggers an event counts
Growth plan minimum: ~$49K/year ($4,083/month) — no monthly option
Enterprise lock-in: Annual contracts with auto-renewal clauses
Event volume multiplier: More events per user = higher effective cost per user
Add-on upsells: Experiment, CDP, Session Replay each add $10K-30K+ annually

Option 1: Downgrade to Starter (Free)

If you're under 50M events/month, the free Starter plan might be enough:

Go to Settings → Organization Settings → Plans & Billing
Select Downgrade to Starter
You'll lose: behavioral cohorts, advanced attribution, group analytics, and SSO
You'll keep: core analytics, unlimited events (up to 50M/mo), basic funnels and retention

💡 Timing matters: If you're on an annual contract, you can only downgrade at renewal. Check your contract end date — canceling mid-contract usually doesn't trigger a refund.

Option 2: Cancel Completely

Email billing@amplitude.com or contact your account manager
State clearly: "I want to cancel my subscription and not auto-renew"
For enterprise contracts: send written notice 30-60 days before renewal (check your MSA)
Request written confirmation of cancellation with end date
Remove the Amplitude SDK from your codebase to stop sending events

Step 3: Export Your Data

Export API: Use the Export API to download raw event data as JSON
Dashboard exports: Save charts as CSV/PNG before downgrading
Cohort exports: Export any behavioral cohorts you've defined
Taxonomy: Document your event naming scheme — you'll need it for migration
Data retention: Amplitude keeps historical data even on free tier, but features to query it may be limited

Retention Tactics They'll Use

"We can offer a discount" — They'll typically offer 20-40% off. Get it in writing before committing.
"You'll lose historical data" — Not true on Starter. Data is retained; you just lose advanced query features.
"Migration is complex" — It's an SDK swap. PostHog and Mixpanel both have Amplitude import tools.
"Let me connect you with your CSM" — Classic delay tactic. Insist on written cancellation confirmation.

Free and Cheaper Alternatives

PostHog: Free up to 1M events/month, open-source, self-hostable, includes session replay + feature flags
Mixpanel: Free up to 20M events/month — the most generous free analytics tier
Plausible: $9/month for privacy-focused web analytics (simpler but much cheaper)
Google Analytics 4: Free, unlimited events, but less product-analytics-focused
June.so: Free for B2B product analytics, built specifically for SaaS
Umami: Free, open-source, self-hosted web analytics

The Math: Amplitude vs PostHog

Amplitude Growth at 10K MTUs: ~$49,000/year. PostHog Cloud with equivalent usage (10M events/month): ~$0-450/year depending on volume. Self-hosted PostHog: $0. Even Mixpanel Growth plan at the same scale is ~$1,000-2,000/year. Amplitude is pricing itself out of the startup market.

🔍 Find All Your SaaS Subscriptions

Amplitude is one of many SaaS tools quietly billing your company card. Upload a bank statement to JustCancel and we'll find every subscription — analytics, infrastructure, marketing, and more.

Scan Your Statement — $5 One-Time

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Quick Cancel Guide: Amplitude

Direct cancel link + step-by-step instructions