By the Numbers vs RFM Calc
An independent, review-free comparison compiled by the SaaSTracker editorial team. Both products are profiled in full, and neither can pay for placement here.
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The short answer
Both sides assessedBy the Numbers compared with RFM Calc
RFM Calc gives stores on any platform RFM, lifetime value, and cohort analysis for free, or a scored customer file from £19, where By the Numbers is Shopify only. By the Numbers keeps a clear lead on activation, with hourly sync to Klaviyo, Meta, Google Ads, and TikTok against RFM Calc's manual CSV, so Shopify stores running Klaviyo should stay with By the Numbers.
RFM Calc compared with By the Numbers
By the Numbers is a $19 Shopify app with a sixteen-cell RFM matrix, more than seventy-five filters, and hourly sync to Klaviyo, Meta, Google Ads, and TikTok. RFM Calc costs about the same at £19, or nothing on the free plan, and works on any platform, but produces a CSV rather than a live audience. A Shopify store running Klaviyo flows should choose By the Numbers; a store on another platform, or one that wants the analysis without paying, should choose RFM Calc.
Choose By the Numbers if
Cost-conscious Shopify stores that want a real RFM segmentation model with fast audience syncing into email and paid social, plus broad reporting, without paying analytics-suite prices or waiting a day for audiences to refresh.
Choose RFM Calc if
Small ecommerce businesses on any platform, including those outside Shopify's app ecosystem or running an ERP, that want proper RFM segmentation, lifetime value, and repeat-purchase timing from their order history for free or £19 to £39 a month, and are comfortable exporting a CSV and importing the segmented customer list into their email or ad tools themselves.
Side by side
13 attributes| Attribute | By the Numbers | RFM Calc |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Segmentation | Segmentation |
| Starting price | $19 per month (14 days trial) | £19 per month (about $25) for the Small plan, billed monthly in pounds; no annual rate is published. A free-for-life plan covers the core reports |
| Pricing model | Flat monthly subscription sold through the Shopify App Store, with tiers rising by feature and scale from a $19 entry plan. | Monthly subscription in pounds sterling with a free-for-life plan and four paid plans that differ by projects, users per project, order rows per upload, custom report columns, custom RFM segments, audit logging, AI forecasting, and FTP access. Reports are unlimited on every plan. |
| Free plan | No | Free for life with core reports, including standard RFM segments, lifetime value, cohorts, and time between orders; project, user, and row limits are shown only after sign-in, and the customer CSV export is paid only |
| Free trial | 14 days, no credit card required | No |
| Best for | Cost-conscious Shopify stores that want a real RFM segmentation model with fast audience syncing into email and paid social, plus broad reporting, without paying analytics-suite prices or waiting a day for audiences to refresh. | Small ecommerce businesses on any platform, including those outside Shopify's app ecosystem or running an ERP, that want proper RFM segmentation, lifetime value, and repeat-purchase timing from their order history for free or £19 to £39 a month, and are comfortable exporting a CSV and importing the segmented customer list into their email or ad tools themselves. |
| Setup time | About a minute to install and connect, with the RFM matrix populating shortly after against the store's existing history. Sync connections to Klaviyo, Meta, Google, and TikTok take a few minutes each. | Minutes. Creating an account and a project is quick, and the vendor says most reports are generated within a few minutes of upload. The main work is exporting a clean order CSV; the vendor recommends at least two years of history. |
| Learning curve | Low to moderate. The pre-built matrix and reports require nothing, but getting value from the seventy-five filters means knowing what you want to isolate, which is more work than describing a segment in a sentence. | Low for reading reports. Getting the most from custom columns and merged data, such as adding a source channel from Google Analytics, takes spreadsheet skills, and the vendor's FAQ includes Excel formulas for it. |
| Platforms | Shopify app, Web dashboard | Web app, CSV upload, FTP and SFTP fetch on Large and Huge |
| Compliance | Operates on Shopify customer data under the store's own privacy obligations, Server-side conversion tracking makes the store responsible for the lawful basis of the data it forwards to ad platforms, Audience syncing to Meta, Google, and TikTok carries the store's own consent obligations for advertising audiences | GDPR compliance claimed; the vendor does not collect data from your customers directly and supports anonymization, Privacy policy includes California resident rights, No security certifications published |
| Founded | 2022 | 2020 |
| Headquarters | Not disclosed | England, United Kingdom |
| Ownership | Privately held, operated by Unsupervised LLC | Privately held |
Strengths and limitations
By the Numbers
Strengths
- The lowest entry price in the category by a wide margin, starting at $19 a month.
- A genuine sixteen-cell RFM matrix rather than the simplified three-bucket version most cheap tools ship.
- Hourly audience refresh, faster than the daily sync most competitors offer.
- More than seventy-five segment filters spanning orders, products, lifetime value, and acquisition channel.
Limitations
- Almost no public information about the vendor: no named founders, no funding history, no disclosed team.
- Shopify only, with no path for stores on other platforms.
- Segments are built by assembling filters rather than described in plain language, which is slower for non-analytical users.
- No documented public API, so segments cannot be pushed into custom internal systems.
RFM Calc
Strengths
- Works with any ecommerce platform or ERP that can export orders to CSV, with no integration or tracking code.
- A free-for-life plan that includes standard RFM segments, lifetime value, cohorts, and time-between-orders reports.
- RFM bins adjustable from three to ten, and custom RFM segments from the £39 plan.
- A detailed customer CSV with RFM scores, segment labels, predicted next order date and spend, and a lapsed flag on every paid plan.
Limitations
- No live audience sync to Klaviyo, Meta, Google Ads, or TikTok; the customer file must be imported manually.
- Segments do not refresh on their own unless you pay for FTP or SFTP fetching on Large or Huge.
- The customer CSV is not on the free plan and is deleted after seven days.
- Lifetime value is lifetime revenue unless you add margin data yourself.
Pricing compared
By the Numbers
Flat monthly subscription sold through the Shopify App Store, with tiers rising by feature and scale from a $19 entry plan.
- EntryFrom $19
- Higher tiersPublished on the App Store listing
On paper this is the best capability-per-dollar in the category and it is not close: a sixteen-cell RFM matrix, seventy-five filters, hourly syncing, and thirty-eight reports for a starting price under a fifth of what Tresl charges and a third of Repeat Customer Insights. The question is not whether it is cheap, it is whether the vendor is durable, since there is no public corporate information behind an app around two thousand stores now depend on. For a store weighing $19 against not segmenting at all, that risk is easy to accept. For one about to make it the backbone of every audience in Meta and Klaviyo, keep the segment definitions documented somewhere you control.
RFM Calc
Monthly subscription in pounds sterling with a free-for-life plan and four paid plans that differ by projects, users per project, order rows per upload, custom report columns, custom RFM segments, audit logging, AI forecasting, and FTP access. Reports are unlimited on every plan.
- Free£0
- Small£19
- Medium£39
- Large£69
- Huge£99
For the price, RFM Calc delivers more analysis than anything else in this category. The free plan alone gives a small store RFM segments, lifetime value by first order month and value, cohorts, and repeat-purchase timing, which competitors charge $19 to $59 a month for, and £19 adds the customer file with every customer's scores and predicted next order. It also works on platforms the Shopify apps cannot see. What the money does not buy is automation. Segments are as fresh as the last upload, activation means importing a CSV into Klaviyo or Meta yourself, and hands-free refresh needs the £69 Large plan's FTP or SFTP fetch. A Shopify store with an active Klaviyo program will get more from By the Numbers at $19 with hourly sync; a store on WooCommerce, Magento, or an ERP that runs segmented campaigns monthly will find RFM Calc hard to beat.
Editorial verdict on each
By the Numbers
By the Numbers is the best capability-per-dollar in customer segmentation, and the gap is large enough that price alone settles many decisions. A real sixteen-cell RFM matrix, seventy-five filters, hourly syncing into Klaviyo and the ad platforms, and a broad reporting layer starting at $19 is not a stripped-down version of what competitors charge $150 for, it is most of the same job done more cheaply and, on refresh speed, done better. Two caveats. The vendor publishes essentially nothing about itself, so keep your important segment definitions written down somewhere you control, and confirm on the App Store listing which tier actually includes the sync before assuming the entry price covers it. For a Shopify store that has been putting off segmentation on cost grounds, there is no longer an excuse at this price.
Read the full By the Numbers profileRFM Calc
RFM Calc is the most analysis per pound in this category and the least automation. For free, a small store on any platform gets standard RFM segments, lifetime value by first order month and value, cohorts, and repeat-purchase timing from a single order export; for £19 a month it adds a customer file with every customer's scores, segment, predicted next order, and lapsed status, and for £39 custom RFM segments and forecasting. It handles customer data carefully, deleting uploads after processing. The trade is that nothing is live: segments are as current as the last upload, activation means importing a CSV into Klaviyo or Meta yourself, the file disappears after seven days, and hands-free refresh needs the £69 plan. Stores outside Shopify, or anyone who runs segmented campaigns monthly and wants the analysis cheaply, should start here; Shopify brands that need audiences synced every hour should choose By the Numbers or Tresl.
Read the full RFM Calc profileBy the Numbers profile last reviewed 2026-09-02; RFM Calc last reviewed 2026-09-26. Pricing is compiled from public sources and can change without notice. See our methodology.
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9 trackedCustomer segmentation tools group an existing customer base into targetable cohorts, using recency, frequency, and monetary behavior, lifetime value, and firmographic similarity, then push those segments into the email, ads, and CRM tools that act on them.
Frequently asked questions
6 questionsWhat is the difference between By the Numbers and RFM Calc?
RFM Calc gives stores on any platform RFM, lifetime value, and cohort analysis for free, or a scored customer file from £19, where By the Numbers is Shopify only. By the Numbers keeps a clear lead on activation, with hourly sync to Klaviyo, Meta, Google Ads, and TikTok against RFM Calc's manual CSV, so Shopify stores running Klaviyo should stay with By the Numbers.
Is By the Numbers or RFM Calc cheaper?
By the Numbers starts at $19 per month (14 days trial). RFM Calc starts at £19 per month (about $25) for the Small plan, billed monthly in pounds; no annual rate is published. A free-for-life plan covers the core reports. The billing models differ, so the entry price is rarely the whole cost. By the Numbers pricing model: Flat monthly subscription sold through the Shopify App Store, with tiers rising by feature and scale from a $19 entry plan. RFM Calc pricing model: Monthly subscription in pounds sterling with a free-for-life plan and four paid plans that differ by projects, users per project, order rows per upload, custom report columns, custom RFM segments, audit logging, AI forecasting, and FTP access.
Does By the Numbers or RFM Calc have a free plan?
By the Numbers has no free plan. Trial terms: 14 days, no credit card required. RFM Calc has a free plan. Free for life with core reports, including standard RFM segments, lifetime value, cohorts, and time between orders; project, user, and row limits are shown only after sign-in, and the customer CSV export is paid only.
Who should choose By the Numbers?
Cost-conscious Shopify stores that want a real RFM segmentation model with fast audience syncing into email and paid social, plus broad reporting, without paying analytics-suite prices or waiting a day for audiences to refresh.
Who should choose RFM Calc?
Small ecommerce businesses on any platform, including those outside Shopify's app ecosystem or running an ERP, that want proper RFM segmentation, lifetime value, and repeat-purchase timing from their order history for free or £19 to £39 a month, and are comfortable exporting a CSV and importing the segmented customer list into their email or ad tools themselves.
What are the best alternatives to By the Numbers and RFM Calc?
SaaSTracker profiles 9 products in Customer Segmentation. Every profile is compiled from primary sources, so a shortlist can be built from pricing, limitations, and fit rather than from star ratings.
