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E-Commerce · head to head

FullStory vs Plausible

FullStory logo

FullStory

E-Commerce

Digital experience intelligence platform

From
Free
Rated
-
Plausible logo

Plausible

Marketing

Simple, privacy-friendly analytics

From
$9/month
Rated
-

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; Plausible there is no free tier, only a 30 day trial
  • They diverge on capability: FullStory covers Session replay, Plausible covers Page view tracking.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which FullStory and Plausible actually diverge.

Attributes where FullStory and Plausible differ
AttributeFullStoryPlausible
Starting priceFree$9/month
Pricing modelquotesubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, MobileWeb
CategoryE-CommerceMarketing
Founded20142018

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 Plausible

  • Page view tracking
  • Goal tracking
  • Real-time analytics
  • Outbound link click tracking
  • Privacy-focused
  • No cookies
  • Cloud deployment
  • Web support

What people use each for

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

FullStory

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

Plausible

  • Privacy-focused web analytics without cookies or personal datanot FullStory
  • A Google Analytics replacement that needs no consent bannernot FullStory
  • Self-hosted analytics on your own infrastructurenot FullStory
  • EU-hosted measurement for data residency requirementsnot 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

Plausible

  • There is no free tier, only a 30 day trial
  • Paid plans are metered on monthly pageviews, so a traffic spike moves you up a plan
  • Self-hosting is possible but means running and updating the service yourself
  • Deliberately simple, so there are no user-level profiles or funnel-by-individual reports the way a cookie-based analytics tool provides

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

Plausible

$9/month
  • Starter$9/month
    • Up to 10k monthly pageviews
    • 1 site
    • 3 years data retention
  • Growth$14/month
    • Up to 3 sites
    • Up to 3 team members
  • Business$19/month
    • Up to 10 sites
    • Up to 10 team members
    • 5 years data retention
  • Enterprise$null/custom
    • 10+ sites
    • Custom pricing

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.

Choose Plausible if

  • You need page view tracking.
  • You also want goal tracking.

Questions people ask

Is FullStory or Plausible better?
Neither clearly leads. FullStory starts at Free and Plausible at $9/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, FullStory or Plausible?
FullStory has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for FullStory and $9/month for Plausible.
Does FullStory or Plausible run on more platforms?
FullStory runs on Web, Mobile. Plausible runs on Web.
Can I use FullStory for free?
Yes. FullStory has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Plausible starts at $9/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 Plausible is typically brought in for.
What can FullStory do that Plausible cannot?
FullStory covers Session replay, Heatmaps, Conversion funnels, User journey mapping. Plausible covers Page view tracking, Goal tracking, Real-time analytics, Outbound link click tracking.

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
Plausible: How much does Plausible Analytics cost?

Plausible offers plans starting at $9/month for the Starter tier, $14/month for Growth, and $19/month for Business. Enterprise pricing is custom. All plans include a 30-day free trial without requiring a credit card.

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
Plausible: Is there a free version of Plausible?

Plausible does not offer a free plan; however, all paid plans include a 30-day free trial with full access to features.

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
Plausible: What is the difference between Plausible's pricing tiers?

The Starter plan covers up to 10k monthly pageviews for 1 site. Growth adds up to 3 sites and 3 team members. Business expands to 10 sites, 10 team members, and includes advanced features like API access and 5 years data retention.

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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