Softwr

Software · head to head

FullStory vs Shopify

FullStory logo

FullStory

Software

Digital experience intelligence platform

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Shopify logo

Shopify

Software

The most trusted ecommerce platform to start, grow, and scale your business

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; Shopify using any payment provider other than Shopify Payments adds a transaction fee on top of the card rate, at 2% on Basic falling to 0.2% on Plus
  • They diverge on capability: FullStory covers Session replay, Shopify covers Hosted ecommerce platform.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which FullStory and Shopify actually diverge.

Attributes where FullStory and Shopify differ
AttributeFullStoryShopify
Starting priceFree$29/month
Pricing modelquotesubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, MobileWeb
Founded20142006

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 Shopify

  • Hosted ecommerce platform
  • Payment processing
  • Inventory management
  • Order tracking
  • Marketing automation
  • Apps and integrations
  • Multi-channel selling
  • SSL certificate

What people use each for

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

FullStory

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

Shopify

  • Running a hosted ecommerce store with payments and fulfilmentnot FullStory
  • Selling across online, in person and social channels from one cataloguenot 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

Shopify

  • Using any payment provider other than Shopify Payments adds a transaction fee on top of the card rate, at 2% on Basic falling to 0.2% on Plus
  • That fee makes the cheapest plan the most expensive place to use an outside processor, which is the opposite of how plans usually work
  • Card rates also improve with the plan, from 2.9% on Basic to 2.7% on Advanced
  • Amex is charged at a higher rate than other cards on every plan below Plus
  • Plus starts at $2,300 a month
  • The advertised lower monthly prices require paying a year up front

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

Shopify

$29/month
  • Starter$5/month
    • Buy Button & Sales Channel
    • Abandoned checkout recovery
    • Basic reporting
  • Basic$29/month
    • Online store
    • Up to 2 staff accounts
    • Basic reports
  • Standard$79/month
    • Professional reports
    • Gift cards
    • Up to 15 staff accounts

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 Shopify if

  • You need hosted ecommerce platform.
  • You also want payment processing.
Shopify review

Questions people ask

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

Keep looking

Other head to heads