Softwr

E-commerce · head to head

FullStory vs PayPal

FullStory logo

FullStory

E-commerce

Digital experience intelligence platform

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
PayPal logo

PayPal

Personal Finance

The simpler, safer way to pay and get paid

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; PayPal currency conversion on international purchases and sends carries a 4.00 percent fee, and 3.00 percent in other conversion scenarios
  • They diverge on capability: FullStory covers Session replay, PayPal covers Payment processing.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which FullStory and PayPal actually diverge.

Attributes where FullStory and PayPal differ
AttributeFullStoryPayPal
Starting priceFree$29/month
Pricing modelquoteusage-based
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, MobileWeb, Ios, Android, Api
CategoryE-commercePersonal Finance
Founded20141998

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

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 PayPal

  • Payment processing
  • PayPal Checkout
  • Invoicing
  • Business debit card
  • Working capital loans
  • Shopify
  • WooCommerce
  • BigCommerce

What people use each for

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

FullStory

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

PayPal

  • Paying online merchants without sharing card detailsnot FullStory
  • Sending money to friends and family domestically and internationallynot FullStory
  • Holding balances in multiple currencies for cross border purchasesnot 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

PayPal

  • Currency conversion on international purchases and sends carries a 4.00 percent fee, and 3.00 percent in other conversion scenarios
  • Instant transfer to a bank or debit card costs 1.75 percent of the amount, with a minimum of 0.25 USD and a maximum of 25.00 USD
  • International personal transactions carry a 5.00 percent fee regardless of payment method, with a minimum of 0.99 USD and a maximum of 4.99 USD
  • Sending domestic personal payments funded by a credit card costs 2.90 percent plus a fixed fee of 0.49 USD
  • Instant transfers are capped at 25,000.00 USD per transaction

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

PayPal

$29/month
  • Standard$2.99/transaction
    • Card payments
    • PayPal checkout
    • Invoice payments

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 PayPal if

  • You need payment processing.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
  • You also want paypal checkout.
PayPal review

Questions people ask

Is FullStory or PayPal better?
Neither clearly leads. FullStory starts at Free and PayPal at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, FullStory or PayPal?
FullStory has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for FullStory and $29/month for PayPal.
Does FullStory or PayPal run on more platforms?
FullStory runs on Web, Mobile. PayPal runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
Can I use FullStory for free?
Yes. FullStory has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. PayPal 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 PayPal is typically brought in for.
What can FullStory do that PayPal cannot?
FullStory covers Session replay, Heatmaps, Conversion funnels, User journey mapping. PayPal covers Payment processing, PayPal Checkout, Invoicing, Business debit card.

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
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Related pages

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