Beamer vs Canny: Which Changelog Tool Should You Pick?
You need a way to tell users what you shipped. You've narrowed it down to Beamer and Canny. Both show up in every "best changelog tools" list. Both have free plans. Both have logos from companies you've heard of.
But they're fundamentally different tools that happen to overlap on one feature. Beamer is a changelog and announcement platform. Canny is a feedback management tool that includes a changelog. Choosing the wrong one means either paying for features you don't need or missing features you do.
What Each Tool Actually Is
Beamer: Announcements first
Beamer started as a changelog widget and grew into an announcement platform. Its core strength is getting updates in front of users through multiple channels: in-app widgets, notification centers, push notifications, and a standalone changelog page.
Beamer's focus is distribution. It asks: "How do we make sure users see this update?"
Canny: Feedback first
Canny started as a feature request tool and added a changelog later. Its core strength is collecting user feedback, organizing it with voting boards, and helping teams prioritize what to build based on demand.
Canny's focus is collection. It asks: "What should we build next?"
The changelog is where they overlap. But the overlap is thinner than it looks.
Pricing Comparison
| Beamer | Canny | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | ✓ (limited) | ✓ (1 board, 100 tracked users) |
| Starter | $49/mo (MAU-based) | $79/mo (1,000 tracked users) |
| Pro | $99/mo | $399/mo (5,000 tracked users) |
| Enterprise | $249/mo | Custom |
| Pricing model | Monthly active users | Tracked users |
The key difference: Beamer charges by MAU (monthly active users who see your widget). Canny charges by tracked users (users who can submit feedback and vote). Beamer's pricing scales with how many users see your announcements. Canny's pricing scales with how many users participate in feedback.
For a product with 5,000 active users:
- Beamer: $99/mo (Pro plan)
- Canny: $399/mo (Business plan, since Starter caps at 1,000)
Beamer is consistently cheaper at every user tier because it's a simpler product with a narrower scope.
Feature Comparison
Where Beamer wins
In-app widgets. Beamer offers multiple widget types: notification center, sidebar, popup, and embedded. Users can browse updates without leaving your product. Canny's changelog widget is more basic.
Push notifications. Beamer can send browser push notifications for new updates. Canny doesn't have push notifications.
NPS surveys. Beamer includes NPS survey functionality. If you need lightweight user sentiment measurement alongside your changelog, Beamer bundles it.
Segmentation. Beamer lets you target announcements to specific user segments based on attributes you pass. Show enterprise features to enterprise users. Show mobile updates to mobile users. Canny's changelog doesn't support segmentation.
Announcement scheduling. Beamer lets you schedule posts to publish at a specific time. Useful for coordinated launches.
Where Canny wins
Feedback boards. This is Canny's core product. Users submit feature requests, other users vote on them, and you can track which requests have the most demand. Beamer has no feedback collection.
Feature voting. Public voting boards create transparency about what you're building and why. Users feel heard. Canny does this better than almost anyone.
Roadmap. Canny includes a public roadmap that syncs with your feedback boards. Users can see what's planned, in progress, and completed. Beamer has no roadmap feature.
Integrations depth. Canny integrates with Jira, Asana, ClickUp, Linear, Intercom, Zendesk, and more. The integrations are deeper than Beamer's, especially for syncing feedback with project management tools.
Status updates. When you ship a feature that users requested, Canny automatically notifies everyone who voted for it. This closed-loop communication is powerful for retention.
Where neither wins
AI generation from tickets. Neither Beamer nor Canny can connect to your issue tracker and automatically generate changelog entries from completed work. You're writing every entry manually.
Email campaigns. Beamer has email notifications but not full email campaigns with contact management. Canny has no email capabilities for changelog distribution.
In-app banners and modals. Neither tool offers dedicated announcement banners or modals that appear contextually within your product.
When to Choose Beamer
Pick Beamer if:
- Your primary need is changelog distribution. You want to get product updates in front of users through in-app widgets, push notifications, and a changelog page. You're less interested in collecting feedback.
- You want NPS alongside your changelog. The bundled NPS tool saves you from adding another vendor.
- You need segmented announcements. Showing different updates to different user segments is a core Beamer capability.
- Budget is a factor. At $49-99/month for most teams, Beamer is significantly cheaper than Canny's $79-399/month.
When to Choose Canny
Pick Canny if:
- Feedback collection is your priority. You want users to submit and vote on feature requests, and you want to prioritize based on demand. The changelog is secondary.
- You want the closed feedback loop. User requests feature → votes pile up → you ship it → voters get notified. This loop drives retention and engagement.
- You need a public roadmap. Transparency about what you're building creates trust with users and reduces "when will you add X?" support tickets.
- You use Jira or ClickUp. Canny's project management integrations are deeper than Beamer's.
The Third Option: Neither
Here's what both tools miss: the writing.
Beamer and Canny both require you to write every changelog entry manually. You close a sprint with 12 tickets, and someone needs to open the tool, write 5-8 entries in user-facing language, and publish them. That's the bottleneck that makes changelogs go stale.
Worknotes takes a different approach. Connect your Linear workspace, select completed tickets, and AI generates user-facing changelog entries from the ticket context. You edit, publish to your branded changelog, send an email campaign, and show an in-app banner. The writing is automated. The distribution covers three channels in one workflow.
| Beamer | Canny | Worknotes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $49-249/mo | $79-399/mo | $29/mo flat |
| AI from tickets | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ (Linear) |
| Email campaigns | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ (3,000/mo) |
| In-app banners | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Feedback boards | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Unlimited users | ✗ (MAU) | ✗ (tracked) | ✓ |
If you need feedback management, use Canny (or Canny's free plan + Worknotes for $29/month). If you need pure announcement distribution, compare Beamer and Worknotes. If you need AI-generated changelog entries and email campaigns, Worknotes is the only option.
Bottom Line
Beamer is for teams that ship features and need to distribute updates through in-app widgets and notifications. It's simpler, cheaper, and focused on getting announcements seen.
Canny is for teams that want user feedback to drive their product roadmap, with a changelog as a secondary benefit. It's more expensive but covers a broader product management workflow.
Neither solves the writing bottleneck. If your changelog keeps going stale because nobody wants to write the entries, that's the real problem to solve.
Worknotes generates changelog entries from your Linear tickets, then distributes them via email and in-app widgets. $29/month flat. Start your free trial →
A better way to share product updates
Worknotes is a platform for creating and sharing product updates across changelogs, email, and in-app announcements, without slowing down your team.
