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Top Alternatives to Circana for Transaction Data in 2025
Vendor Reviews:
Top Alternatives to Circana for Transaction Data in 2025
Key Highlights:
Use Cases by Function
7 Key Selection Criteria
Circana (formerly IRI/NPD) is a longstanding provider of point-of-sale (POS) data across CPG and foodservice. For many years, it has served as a trusted lens into category sales and brand share reporting. However, as data needs have evolved toward real-time decisioning, shopper-level analytics, and cross-vertical visibility, Circana’s infrastructure and scope have proven limiting for some teams depending on their data infrastructure, use case complexity, or need for extensibility.
This guide evaluates Circana and outlines where it excels—and where Facteus or other complementary providers may help fill gaps based on specific use cases.
Why Teams Replace Circana
Teams typically expand beyond Circana when they encounter one or more of the following limitations:
- Narrow vertical focus (primarily CPG and foodservice)
- Lack of shopper identity, demographic granularity, or household-level linkage
- Limited ability to analyze DTC, service, or digital-native verticals
- Weekly or monthly reporting lag
- Limited extensibility (feeds, APIs, modeling pipelines)
These constraints make Circana less useful for teams seeking consumer-level signal clarity, omnichannel benchmarking, or modeling infrastructure that scales.
Comparing Circana Alternatives
Facteus
Receipt Providers (Circana)
Survey Data
Mobile Location Data
Data Source
Includes sales transactions, surveys, GPS
Sales Transaction
Sales Transaction
Survey
GPS, cell tower ping
Retailer Breadth
5M physical locations
1M online retailers
500k physical locations
NA
Similar
Consumer Breadth
180M active cardholders
1M receipt panelists
500-1000 panelists
Large
Consumer Depth
Includes demos, affinities, cross-shopping
Good
Good
Good
Mediocre
Transaction Depth
Includes store vs. UPC
Store, UPC
UPC
Can be product level
Store
Time Granularity
Includes day part, day, week
Good
Good
Poor
Good
Speed
<48hrs
Typically >7 days
Slow
7-21 days
Custom Questions
NA
Sometimes an add’tl service
Yes
NA
Facteus
Facteus delivers daily, privacy-safe transaction data sourced from 185M+ U.S. cards, spanning credit, debit, prepaid, and commercial accounts. It captures actual purchase behavior across both consumers and businesses, including categories not covered by Circana (e.g., services, ecommerce, B2B, DTC).
With 1-day lag, UPC/store-level granularity, and full demographic resolution, Facteus supports use cases like competitive benchmarking, pricing elasticity, omnichannel tracking, and spend forecasting. It offers feeds, APIs, dashboards, and cloud-native integrations—providing maximum flexibility for technical and business teams alike.
For teams already using Circana, Facteus may serve as a high-velocity complement. For those needing cross-vertical coverage, shopper insights, or modeling-ready infrastructure, it may serve as a more complete foundation.
Who Should Switch From Circana—and Why
Use Case
Circana Limitation
Facteus Advantage
Purchase validation
Retailer-side sales only
Consumer-side spend with UPC/store granularity
Cross-vertical benchmarking
CPG + foodservice only
Full category span incl. apparel, QSR, services
Real-time decisioning
Weekly cadence
1-day lag behavioral signals
Model development
No feeds, rigid ecosystem
Analyst-ready APIs, feeds, and Snowflake pipelines
Demographic segmentation
No age/income resolution
Scaled panel with full demographic visibility
Final Take
Circana continues to be a category leader in syndicated CPG and grocery analytics. For packaged goods brands focused on pricing trends and market share, it remains a foundational asset. However, the data economy has shifted.
Facteus provides the visibility, extensibility, and demographic coverage needed to complement or modernize analytics stacks alongside Circana, or to stand alone when unified behavioral insight is required. Whether used as a supplement or a full-stack replacement, it delivers purchase fidelity and infrastructure Circana cannot.
→ Request a demo to see how Facteus compares in your exact use case.
Explore Alternatives for Other Providers
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