Headway is a narrow changelog product, so people who leave it usually want one of three things: a plan with a published free limit that suits a larger audience, a way to bill by project instead of one flat Pro tier, or a changelog attached to feedback boards or Jira. Others want the branding and domain control that Headway keeps behind its paid plan, or wording about who runs the service.
Short answer: Challengers take places 1 to 3 here. Big brands follow in the order of our category ranking. For Headway users, the top three picks from our changelog software ranking are ReleaseNotes.io, Rapidr and Noticeable. Pick ReleaseNotes.io if you publish notes for several products and want billing per project. These 11 products are all in Best Changelog Software in 2026; the notes say how each one compares with Headway.
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Pricing: Free plan with unlimited changelogs, plus one paid Pro tier listed on the home page
Established in: United States
Built for: Small teams that want a plain public changelog and may upgrade later
Not for: Buyers who also want feedback boards in one tool
01
Why buyers look past Headway
01
Branding sits behind one paid plan
Headway's home page offers a Free plan and a Pro plan at 29 dollars a month, billed monthly with no annual option mentioned. White-labelling, a custom domain, all integrations, team management, search engine privacy, a private changelog and scheduled publishing are all listed under Pro. A team that needs only the custom domain still buys the whole bundle.
02
Attribution and account terms
The terms say attribution links or text appear in the footer or toolbar of a free site and can be hidden only with a Pro subscription. They also let Headway reclaim a username or site URL after prolonged inactivity, and they describe no data export process. A team that wants to leave later should keep its own copies of entries.
03
Scope stops at the changelog
The free plan lists unlimited changelogs, a customised public page, a widget, custom categories and an eyecatcher, and the home page names Slack and Twitter as integrations. There are no feedback boards or roadmap on the pages we read, so teams that want to collect requests beside release notes look at wider tools.
you need several release pages and email sent through your own provider
#11
03
What each one does differently
1
ReleaseNotes.io
Not stated by the vendor · Published
ReleaseNotes.io charges per project, not per seat, over three monthly plans. Starter costs nothing but holds one team member and five release entries with a 90-day history limit. Teams lifts those caps and bills email subscribers extra, and Business adds a custom domain. Its terms cite Victoria, Australia law and give no address.
Switch from Headway if you publish notes for several products and want billing per project.
Rapidr says on its about page that it is wholly bootstrapped and run by two founders, with no parent named. Startup includes five team members, roadmap, changelog, a custom domain and private boards. Business raises the cap to 50 team members and adds user segmentation, SAML and JWT sign-in. Entry is through a fourteen-day trial.
Switch from Headway if you want a changelog beside a roadmap from a small independent team.
Elaunira SARL, a French company, operates Noticeable. The free tier covers one builder, unlimited release notes and 1,000 unique visitors a month, with feedback analysis capped at 25 items. Essentials adds a second widget and 100 items, and Business has five builders. Pricing leans toward the feedback analysis side.
Switch from Headway if you want a free tier with a visitor allowance and a French operator.
Sleekplan GmbH operates under German law and meters usage openly. The free Indie plan allows 1,000 announcement views and 500 email sends a month, with one admin and no team seats. Starter and Business add seats, AI credits and larger send limits. Views are capped, so a busy product outgrows entry quickly.
Switch from Headway if you want announcements, feedback and a roadmap with a German operator.
Olvy's privacy page says Amoeboids took the product over in February 2025, and no country is given. Tier names and headline limits mirror Noticeable's. Essentials charges extra for each added builder and every integration, whereas Business includes unlimited widgets and integrations for five builders. The extras make a small plan hard to forecast.
Switch from Headway if you will have five builders and want integrations included in the price.
Upvoty begins as a feedback tool, and its changelog is missing from the entry tier. Power covers boards, a public roadmap and branding. Super is the first plan with the changelog and all integrations, and Hyper adds unlimited projects, SAML sign-in, an API and webhooks. Every plan has a fourteen-day trial without a card.
Switch from Headway if you want feedback boards and a roadmap first, with release notes on the middle tier.
Released Software Pty Ltd, in Lilyfield, Australia, sells Released Hub as a Jira Cloud app on Atlassian Forge. Cost follows active Jira users, a free plan covers up to 10, and each tier carries AI tokens per user. It reads from Jira work, but works on Atlassian Cloud only and does not support Data Center.
Switch from Headway if your release notes start from Jira issues on Atlassian Cloud.
AnnounceKit prices products separately: Changelog, Feature Requests and Roadmap, Knowledge Base, NPS, In-app Notifications and Product Tours, each with 10,000 MAU and three team members. A changelog buyer pays only for that module. A 15-day trial covers every product, and early-stage startups get half off for twelve months. The footer reads AnnounceKit LLC.
Switch from Headway if you want to pay for the changelog module alone and add others later.
Featurebase is run from Tallinn and says it is bootstrapped. Its pricing page lists feedback boards, roadmaps, help articles and surveys, but names no changelog there, so confirm that module with the vendor. Plans charge per seat, with one seat free and AI resolutions at an extra rate. Branding removal is a monthly add-on.
Switch from Headway if you want help articles and feedback boards from an Estonian vendor, after confirming the changelog.
Beamer pairs a changelog with push and in-app notifications, a roadmap and ideas boards. Plans follow monthly active users: free to 1,000 users and one teammate, then paid tiers at 5,000, 10,000 and 50,000. Extra users come in blocks of 5,000. The bill tracks audience size, which penalises a large user base with few releases.
Switch from Headway if you want push notifications to reach users and have a modest audience.
Shiny Planes, Inc. dba LaunchNotes is based in Covina, California. Growth includes one page, two users and 5,000 emails a month sent through LaunchNotes, and Premium adds several pages, multiple custom domains and your own email provider. The 14-day trial starts only after a 30-minute demo, and the entry price is far higher than the others here.
Switch from Headway if you need several release pages and email sent through your own provider.
ReleaseNotes.io: Billing is per project instead of per seat, and the free Starter plan holds five entries with a 90-day history.
02
Your release notes begin in Jira Cloud
Released: It is a Jira Cloud app charged per active Jira user, free up to 10 users.
03
You want feedback boards and a roadmap next to the changelog
Rapidr: Startup includes five team members, roadmap, changelog and a custom domain, and trials need no card.
04
Your audience is small and you want push notifications
Beamer: The free plan covers up to 1,000 monthly active users and one teammate, with push and in-app notifications bundled.
05
You want to pay for the changelog module alone
AnnounceKit: Each product is priced separately with 10,000 MAU and three team members, and a 15-day trial covers all of them.
04
When Headway is still the right choice
Headway is built around one thing, the changelog, and does it with little setup. The free plan allows unlimited changelogs with a public page, widget and custom categories, and the single Pro plan at 29 dollars a month is easy to budget with no seat, view or user meters. Its security page describes AWS hosting across multiple availability zones, TLS, encryption at rest and daily tested backups. For a team that wants a hosted changelog and nothing else, it is a reasonable place to stay.
05
What moving off Headway involves
01
Copy your entries out by hand
The terms we read describe no export process, so treat the existing changelog as content you will carry over yourselves. Save each entry's text, images and publication date before you cancel Pro, and keep the old public page live until the new one is indexed.
02
Check what your new tool does with a domain
Headway lists a custom domain and search engine privacy under Pro. Point the new tool at a fresh subdomain, confirm whether it publishes to search engines by default, and plan a redirect from the old address.
03
Rebuild integrations and widget placement
Pro includes all integrations, of which the home page names Slack and Twitter. Reconnect those channels, then replace the embedded widget snippet in your product so users do not see two notification badges.
06
Questions about replacing Headway
6 answers
How much does Headway cost?
The home page lists a Free plan and a Pro plan at 29 dollars a month, billed monthly, with no annual option mentioned. The free plan has unlimited changelogs, and Pro adds white-labelling, a custom domain, all integrations and a private changelog.
Can I remove Headway branding for free?
The terms say attribution appears in your footer or toolbar on the free plan and can be hidden only with a Pro subscription.
Who runs Headway?
The home page names Headway App, Inc. with a Covina, California address. The terms refer only to the folks at Headway and name no governing law, and the security page lists AWS and Stripe.
Which alternatives have a free plan?
Beamer is free up to 1,000 users, Noticeable's free tier covers 1,000 unique visitors a month, Sleekplan's Indie plan allows 1,000 announcement views, Released is free up to 10 Jira users, and ReleaseNotes.io has a free Starter plan with capped history.
Which alternative bills per project?
ReleaseNotes.io charges per project and not per seat, which helps an agency with many small products. AnnounceKit prices each product module separately instead.
Is there an alternative that starts from Jira?
Released Hub is a Jira Cloud app on Atlassian Forge, charged per active Jira user, and it does not support Jira Data Center.
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Sources
Checked 8 November 2026
Headway home and pricing: Free and Pro 29 dollars a month, feature lists, Slack and Twitter, Headway App, Inc. in Covina.
Founder of The Knowledge Engineers and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Editorially responsible for every page on this site; research and drafting are AI-assisted.
Author and fact-checker: Sebastiaan Smits. This page was last reviewed on 8 November 2026; our review process is public.
