Softwr

Software · head to head

FullStory vs Paddle

FullStory logo

FullStory

Software

Digital experience intelligence platform

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Paddle logo

Paddle

Software

The complete payments infrastructure for SaaS

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only FullStory has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: FullStory free tier limited to 30,000 sessions per month, no 5,000+ monthly active user sites; Paddle paddle charges 5% plus 50 cents on every checkout transaction, which is well above a bare payment processor rate
  • They diverge on capability: FullStory covers Session replay, Paddle covers Payment processing.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which FullStory and Paddle actually diverge.

Attributes where FullStory and Paddle differ
AttributeFullStoryPaddle
Starting priceFree$29/month
Pricing modelquoteusage-based
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, MobileWeb, Api
Founded20142012

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in FullStory

  • Session replay
  • Heatmaps
  • Conversion funnels
  • User journey mapping
  • Error tracking
  • Frustration signals
  • Search functionality
  • Custom events

Only in Paddle

  • Payment processing
  • Sales tax handling
  • Subscription management
  • Checkout
  • Revenue metrics
  • Stripe
  • PayPal
  • Various

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

FullStory

  • User experience analysisnot Paddle
  • Bug reproductionnot Paddle
  • Conversion optimizationnot Paddle
  • Customer supportnot Paddle
  • Product developmentnot Paddle

Paddle

  • Selling SaaS or digital products with a merchant of record handling taxnot FullStory
  • Global subscription billing and checkoutnot FullStory
  • Offloading sales tax and VAT compliance for cross border salesnot FullStory

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

FullStory

  • Free tier limited to 30,000 sessions per month, no 5,000+ monthly active user sites
  • Personal email addresses cannot be used for signup; business email domain required
  • Paid plan pricing not publicly listed, requires sales contact for quotes
  • Free plan has no email support, only community-based assistance
  • Mobile app analytics requires a separate add-on purchase

Paddle

  • Paddle charges 5% plus 50 cents on every checkout transaction, which is well above a bare payment processor rate
  • The 50 cent fixed component falls heavily on low value sales, and products under $10 require custom pricing agreed with sales
  • Invoicing is not covered by the published rate and requires custom pricing
  • As a merchant of record Paddle sits between the seller and the customer, so payouts and tax handling run through Paddle rather than the seller's own processor

Pricing, plan by plan

FullStory

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 1,000 sessions/month
    • 14-day data retention
    • Basic analytics
  • Business$undefined/month
    • Custom sessions
    • 3-month retention
    • Advanced analytics
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Unlimited sessions
    • Custom retention
    • Advanced privacy controls

Paddle

$29/month
  • Standard$5/transaction
    • Payment processing
    • Tax compliance
    • Billing

Which should you pick?

Choose FullStory if

  • You need session replay.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Mobile.
  • You also want heatmaps.
FullStory review

Choose Paddle if

  • You need payment processing.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want sales tax handling.
Paddle review

Questions people ask

Is FullStory or Paddle better?
Neither clearly leads. FullStory starts at Free and Paddle at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, FullStory or Paddle?
FullStory has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for FullStory and $29/month for Paddle.
Does FullStory or Paddle run on more platforms?
FullStory runs on Web, Mobile. Paddle runs on Web, Api.
Can I use FullStory for free?
Yes. FullStory has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Paddle starts at $29/month.
What is FullStory best used for?
FullStory is most often used for user experience analysis, bug reproduction, conversion optimization, customer support. Of those, user experience analysis and bug reproduction are not what Paddle is typically brought in for.
What can FullStory do that Paddle cannot?
FullStory covers Session replay, Heatmaps, Conversion funnels, User journey mapping. Paddle covers Payment processing, Sales tax handling, Subscription management, Checkout.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

FullStory: What does FullStory's free tier include?

30,000 sessions per month, 10 user seats, 5,000 server-side events per month, 1 year of session replay retention, and 1 year of product analytics retention. Session capture pauses when you exceed the monthly limit, though existing sessions remain accessible.

Source
FullStory: What features are excluded from the free plan?

Dashboards, configurable form privacy, Go-Live functionality, Streams, client-side rate hooks, mobile app analytics, and StoryAI are not available on the free tier. Email support is also unavailable; only community-based help is provided.

Source
FullStory: Can I use a personal email to sign up for FullStory's free plan?

No. FullStory requires a business email domain for signup; personal email services like Gmail cannot be used for free plan registration.

Source
FullStory: How does FullStory integrate with Slack?

FullStory's Slack integration allows individual users to send noteworthy sessions to Slack channels. Advanced and Enterprise plans can configure Alerts to receive notifications in Slack when user metrics exceed defined thresholds.

Source
FullStory: What analytics platforms does FullStory integrate with?

FullStory integrates with Segment, Mixpanel, Adobe Analytics, Google Analytics, Salesforce, HubSpot, and others. These integrations allow you to attach FullStory session URLs to events in your analytics platform for cross-platform correlation.

Source
Share

Related pages

More on FullStory

More on Paddle

Keep looking

Other head to heads