This article discusses perceptions of and performance in listening by a group of heritage and non-heritage learners of Portuguese. Our data include a survey containing background information and perceptions about listening, two listening tasks and a post-task self-report on how learners arrived at their answers. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data revealed similarities and differences between the two groups. With regard to perceptions, and unlike non-heritage learners, heritage learners find listening easier than the other skills. However, both groups of learners perceive listening tasks as challenging and both think that heritage learners have an advantage over non-heritage learners while listening. The analysis of listening performance shows that, while heritage learners achieved slightly higher scores than non-heritage learners, they encountered difficulties in tasks requiring integration of information or inferencing. Also, neither group is able to deal successfully with those task demands on a consistent basis.