The best replacement for heat tape is heat cable.

The best alternatives to heat tape are rated as following:
★★★★★  heat cable
★  pipe insulation
★  heat pad
  heat trace

Your alternative for heat tape is not listed? Suggest!
Speaking about heat tape, one probably shouldn't forget about pex.

Other search terms related to heat tape and their ratings are:
★★★★★ pex
★ foam insulation
You have in mind a companion for heat tape and it is not yet here? Propose!



Google Trends

Scale is based on the average worldwide traffic of heat tape in all years. Click on graph for more.
heat tape
heat cable
pipe insulation