FullStory
New Relic
| Feature | FullStory | New Relic |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free only | Free / from $0.3/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.4 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Best For | product-teams, ux-designers, enterprise-apps, conversion-optimization | development-teams, sre-teams, startups, devops-engineers |
| Founded | 2014 | 2008 |
| Session Replay | ✓ | ✗ |
| Heatmaps | ✓ | ✗ |
| Product Analytics | ✓ | ✗ |
| Error Tracking | ✓ | ✓ |
| Frustration Signals | ✓ | ✗ |
| User Journeys | ✓ | ✗ |
| Data Export | ✓ | ✗ |
| Apm | ✗ | ✓ |
| Infrastructure Monitoring | ✗ | ✓ |
| Log Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Browser Monitoring | ✗ | ✓ |
| Synthetics | ✗ | ✓ |
| Ai Assistant | ✗ | ✓ |
| Distributed Tracing | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ FullStory Pros
- High-fidelity session replay with DOM rendering
- AI-powered insights surface frustration signals
- Combines qualitative and quantitative analytics
- Privacy-first with PII exclusion controls
✗ FullStory Cons
- Expensive for high-traffic sites
- Free plan limited to 1,000 sessions/month
- Can slow page performance with full recording
✓ New Relic Pros
- Generous free tier with 100GB/month data ingest
- Full-stack observability in one platform
- Usage-based pricing is cost-effective for many teams
- Strong AI assistant (New Relic AI) for troubleshooting
✗ New Relic Cons
- Per-user pricing for full platform access
- Data retention limits on free tier
- Can be complex to set up comprehensively
The Verdict
FullStory is built for product teams and ux designers, with a focus on session-replay and heatmaps. New Relic targets development teams and sre teams and leads with apm and infrastructure-monitoring.
FullStory uses custom enterprise pricing, while New Relic starts at $0.3/mo — a tangible advantage for teams with a fixed budget.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Feature-wise, New Relic offers broader built-in capabilities (8 features vs 7), while FullStory takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.