ToolStack

FullStory vs Datadog

Side-by-side comparison · Updated 2026-03-30

Our Verdict

FullStory and Datadog are closely matched on every metric we track. The differentiator is usually methodology — FullStory skews lean, Datadog skews devops.

Choose FullStory if…

Choose FullStory if your team focuses on session replay and user behavior analysis and fits a startup, scaleup profile. Free tier available. Best-in-class autocapture technology — captures every click, scroll, and interaction without manual event tagging, enabling retroactive analysis on historical data

Choose Datadog if…

Choose Datadog if your team focuses on infrastructure monitoring and application performance monitoring and fits a scaleup, enterprise profile. Free tier available. Unified observability platform — infrastructure monitoring, APM, logs, RUM, synthetics, and security all in one place, reducing tool sprawl

FullStory
by FullStory
4.5
out of 5 · 900 G2 reviews
Visit FullStory ↗
Datadog
by Datadog
4.5
out of 5 · 600 G2 reviews
Visit Datadog ↗

Feature Comparison

FeatureFullStoryDatadog
Category
session_replay
monitoring
G2 Score
4.5 / 5.0
4.5 / 5.0
G2 Reviews
900
600
Free Tier
Starting Price
—
—
Mobile App
AI Features
API Access
SSO / SAML
SOC 2
Learning Curve
moderate
steep
Platforms
web
web, ios, android

Pros & Cons

FullStory

Pros
✓ Best-in-class autocapture technology — captures every click, scroll, and interaction without manual event tagging, enabling retroactive analysis on historical data
✓ Frustration signals (rage clicks, dead clicks, error clicks) surface UX problems automatically, saving PMs hours of manual session review
✓ Powerful search and segmentation — find specific user sessions by any combination of events, user properties, or frustration signals in seconds
✓ Strong privacy-by-design approach with automatic PII masking, excluded elements, and HIPAA-compliant configurations for regulated industries
Cons
✗ No transparent public pricing — Business and Enterprise plans require contacting sales, making budgeting difficult for smaller teams
✗ Session-based pricing can become very expensive at scale, especially for high-traffic consumer products with millions of monthly sessions
✗ Data retention on lower tiers is limited — teams may lose access to historical sessions unless on Enterprise plans

Datadog

Pros
✓ Unified observability platform — infrastructure monitoring, APM, logs, RUM, synthetics, and security all in one place, reducing tool sprawl
✓ 750+ out-of-the-box integrations covering virtually every cloud service, database, framework, and DevOps tool in modern stacks
✓ Watchdog AI automatically detects anomalies and correlates issues across the entire stack, significantly reducing mean time to resolution
✓ Best-in-class custom dashboards and visualization with real-time data, enabling product teams to build business-level KPI views alongside technical metrics
Cons
✗ Costs can escalate rapidly at scale — usage-based pricing across multiple modules (hosts, logs, traces, RUM sessions) makes budgeting difficult and bills unpredictable
✗ Steep learning curve for the full platform — teams often use only a fraction of capabilities due to the breadth of features and configuration options
✗ Log management pricing per ingested GB can become prohibitively expensive for high-volume environments without aggressive filtering and exclusion rules

Frequently Asked Questions

It depends on your needs. FullStory scores 4.5/5 on G2, while Datadog scores 4.5/5. FullStory is better for session_replay and user_behavior_analysis, while Datadog excels at infrastructure_monitoring and application_performance_monitoring.
FullStory starts at N/A per user/month with a free tier. Datadog starts at N/A per user/month with a free tier.
FullStory supports 70 integrations, while Datadog supports 750.
Full FullStory Review →Full Datadog Review →
Data verified 2026-03-30. Some links may be affiliate links — see disclosure.