FullStory vs Pendo: What are the differences?

FullStory and Pendo are both powerful analytics tools that help businesses gain insights into the user behavior on their websites and mobile apps. While they share some similarities, there are key differences between the two platforms that make them distinct from each other.

1. Data Collection and Storage: FullStory is known for its comprehensive session replay feature that captures and stores every user interaction on a website or app. It records every mouse movement, click, and scrolling action, allowing businesses to visualize and understand the user experience in detail. On the other hand, Pendo focuses more on collecting product usage data, such as feature adoption and user flows, providing insights into how users navigate through an application.

2. Analytical Capabilities: FullStory places a strong emphasis on providing visual representations of user sessions. It offers robust search and filtering options, enabling users to identify patterns, uncover errors, and optimize their digital experiences. Pendo, on the other hand, offers advanced analytics that focus on user behavior and segmentation, allowing businesses to understand how different groups of users engage with their product and make data-driven decisions based on those insights.

3. Integration Options: FullStory provides seamless integrations with a wide range of third-party tools and platforms, such as customer support systems, A/B testing tools, and collaboration software. This allows businesses to combine the power of session replay with other analytics and support tools. Pendo also offers integrations with various tools, but it has a more comprehensive product suite that includes not only analytics but also product onboarding, user guides, and announcements.

4. Target Audience: FullStory is often favored by user experience professionals, product managers, and developers who want to understand the user journey and identify areas for improvement. Its session replay feature is particularly valuable for these roles. On the other hand, Pendo caters to product teams and product managers who want to gain insights into user behavior and improve product adoption and customer success. Its focus on user flows and analytics make it a popular choice for product-focused teams.

5. Pricing Model: FullStory offers different pricing tiers based on the number of sessions recorded per month, allowing businesses to choose a plan that fits their needs. Pendo, on the other hand, follows a user-based pricing model, where businesses pay per user per month. This can be advantageous for companies with a smaller user base but may become costlier as the number of users grows significantly.

6. Customizability: FullStory offers a variety of customization options, allowing users to tailor the analytics platform to their specific needs. It provides features like custom events and tags that enable businesses to track and analyze data that is relevant to their unique use cases. Pendo also offers some customization options, but its focus is more on providing out-of-the-box functionality and pre-built features that are intuitive and easy to use.

In Summary, FullStory excels in capturing detailed user interactions through session replay and offers extensive customization options, while Pendo focuses more on product usage analytics, user behavior segmentation, and providing a comprehensive product suite for product teams.