Comparison

Neurons vs Attention Insight

Two attention-prediction tools built on the same science — eye-tracking-trained saliency models — sold to very different buyers. The choice is mostly about how much organizational weight your heatmaps need to carry.


What Neurons does best

Neurons wraps its Predict engine in a research institution: years of eye-tracking and neuroscience validation, brand norms libraries, focus and clarity metrics, team workflows, and enterprise support. Large brands and agencies buy it when heatmap evidence needs to survive skeptical stakeholders — the pedigree behind the pixels is the product.

What Attention Insight does best

Attention Insight delivers the same core artifact — predicted attention heatmaps, clarity scores, percentage-of-attention on key elements — at prices individual designers and small teams can expense. It integrates into design workflows and answers landing page, UI, and static-ad layout questions without a procurement cycle.

Head-to-head: where each wins

Price and accessibility: Attention Insight, decisively. Validation depth and norms: Neurons. Team features and enterprise fit: Neurons. Speed to first insight: Attention Insight — sign up and upload the same hour. For a freelancer, Neurons is overkill; for a global brand team, a self-serve heatmap without a norms library may not win the meeting. Same instrument, different armor.

The question neither is built for

Both tools answer where — neither answers how long. Feed video lives and dies on retention: the first frame earns the stop, the next seconds keep it. PreTestAds scores that dimension: AdCortex™, trained on fMRI brain-response data, predicts second-by-second engagement against 76 top-performing TikTok ads — Hook Strength, drop-off second, peak frame — in minutes, from about $2 per test, first free. Full comparisons: vs Neurons · vs Attention Insight.

The verdict

Solo designer or small team on statics → Attention Insight. Brand/agency needing heatmaps with institutional weight → Neurons. Feed-video advertiser → neither is your primary tool; pair whichever heatmap tier fits with an attention-curve instrument, because your money fails in time, not space.

Add the time dimension

Second-by-second engagement scoring — first analysis free.

Test Your Ad Free

Frequently asked questions

Should I choose Neurons or Attention Insight?

Attention Insight if you're a designer or small team that needs fast saliency heatmaps at self-serve prices. Neurons if you're a brand or agency that needs the research pedigree, brand norms, and team workflows to make heatmap evidence stick organizationally.

Do Neurons and Attention Insight do the same thing?

Both predict where eyes go on a design using models trained on eye-tracking data. The difference is packaging: validation history, norms libraries, integrations, and price tier. The core spatial question they answer is the same.

What about video ads — do heatmaps work for those?

Heatmaps show where attention lands, not whether it survives. Feed video fails temporally — viewers swipe at a specific second. That needs an engagement-over-time model benchmarked against winning ads, which is a different instrument.

By Chris Krecicki · Published