Do I need a Datadog account?

No. A Pathly account is enough, and the Solo plan is free, no card. Alerts go out by email, and on paid plans to Slack, Teams, Discord, PagerDuty, Opsgenie or a webhook.

How does Pathly bill journeys?

With a monthly or yearly plan that includes a set number of runs, shown on the Pricing page. If a client needs more frequency, you add a run pack. No bill that climbs without warning.

Is the AI explanation automatic?

No. You request it by hand on a failure, on paid plans. It runs in Europe, never reads the screenshots and stays labelled as AI-generated.

Comparison

Datadog Synthetics alternative

Datadog Synthetics shines inside a Datadog stack. Pathly is for teams who want browser journeys without agents or per-minute billing surprises.

Try Flow

What each tool checks
What each tool checks	Datadog Synthetics	Pathly
Multi-step browser journey	Yes : browser tests	Yes : Flow, real browser
Journey built without code	Yes : recorded with a Chrome extension	Yes : click-by-click recorder
Screenshot of the failure	Yes : screenshots during steps	Yes : screenshot of the broken step
Usable without a Datadog account	No : Datadog product	Yes : Pathly account only
Entry price	Billed per run	Free Solo plan, no card

Multi-step browser journey

Pathly: Yes : Flow, real browser
Datadog Synthetics: Yes : browser tests

Journey built without code

Pathly: Yes : click-by-click recorder
Datadog Synthetics: Yes : recorded with a Chrome extension

Screenshot of the failure

Pathly: Yes : screenshot of the broken step
Datadog Synthetics: Yes : screenshots during steps

Usable without a Datadog account

Pathly: Yes : Pathly account only
Datadog Synthetics: No : Datadog product

Entry price

Pathly: Free Solo plan, no card
Datadog Synthetics: Billed per run

Tools' public pages read on 10/30/2026. docs.datadoghq.com/synthetics/browser_tests

Pathly: a failed Flow, with the screenshot of the broken step and its steps — The broken step, in plain words: the click on “Pay” goes nowhere.
The screenshot, as the visitor saw the page.
The journey’s steps, green up to the one that breaks.
Screenshot of the Pathly app, with demo data.

When Pathly is enough

5–30 client sites, login/cart/form flows, Slack or email alerts, client status page. No full APM needed to catch “Pay button stopped working”.

Reading a trace, or reading an explanation

A Synthetics trace is read by someone who knows the journey. Pathly re-reads the run's readings with a model and returns a plain-language explanation: what happened, the signs found, what changed since the last green run, and the checks to run in order. When the facts fall short it says so and shows low confidence rather than inventing a cause. The analysis runs in Europe and the hypothesis stays labelled as AI-generated.

What Pathly does not do

Pathly is not an APM: no traces, no logs, no infrastructure metrics. If your team already lives in Datadog, Synthetics belongs there, next to the traces. Pathly serves teams and agencies who want to watch the journey without adopting the whole platform.

Common questions

Do I need a Datadog account?: No. A Pathly account is enough, and the Solo plan is free, no card. Alerts go out by email, and on paid plans to Slack, Teams, Discord, PagerDuty, Opsgenie or a webhook.
How does Pathly bill journeys?: With a monthly or yearly plan that includes a set number of runs, shown on the Pricing page. If a client needs more frequency, you add a run pack. No bill that climbs without warning.
Is the AI explanation automatic?: No. You request it by hand on a failure, on paid plans. It runs in Europe, never reads the screenshots and stays labelled as AI-generated.