---
title: "Datadog Synthetics alternative for AI shopping agents"
source: "https://ottom.io/compare/datadog-synthetics-alternative"
summary: "Ottom is an alternative to Datadog Synthetic Monitoring for one specific job: finding out whether an AI shopping agent can buy from your store. Datadog runs API and browser tests that you configure or record, as part of its wider monitoring platform. Ottom needs only your web address. It sends an agent through the purchase, from finding a product to reaching the payment step, and reports where it stalled. The two answer different questions, so running both is reasonable."
---

# Datadog Synthetics alternative for AI shopping agents

Ottom is an alternative to Datadog Synthetic Monitoring for one specific job: finding out whether an AI shopping agent can buy from your store. Datadog runs API and browser tests that you configure or record, as part of its wider monitoring platform. Ottom needs only your web address. It sends an agent through the purchase, from finding a product to reaching the payment step, and reports where it stalled. The two answer different questions, so running both is reasonable.

## What Datadog Synthetic Monitoring does

In its own words, from the sources below, read on 13 Oct 2026.

- Datadog describes Synthetic Monitoring as simulated requests and actions from around the globe, tracking the performance of web pages and APIs. [1]
- Its API tests cover HTTP, gRPC, SSL, DNS, WebSocket, TCP, UDP and ICMP. [4]
- Browser tests are recorded in Chrome with a recorder extension, or built from steps, and run from Datadog managed locations or from private locations inside your own network, at intervals from every minute to once a week. [2]
- Tests can also run in CI pipelines. [4]
- Datadog also has Goal-Based Testing, in Preview with a waiting list when this page was checked. You give a starting URL and a goal in plain language, and an agent explores your application, trying paths toward that goal. [3]

## What Ottom does

- You give Ottom a web address. There is no script to write or maintain and nothing to install on your store.
- An agent tries to buy something the way an AI assistant shopping for a person would. It finds a product, reads what your pages say about it, compares it, and works through cart and checkout.
- It stops at the payment step on purpose. It never enters a real card and never places an order on your live store.
- The report names the stage where the agent stalled, what it was looking at, and what to change, written so you can forward it to whoever looks after your site.
- Paid plans run on a schedule and alert you by email or Slack when the result changes.

## Datadog Synthetic Monitoring and Ottom side by side

| Question | Datadog Synthetic Monitoring | Ottom |
| --- | --- | --- |
| How a test is made | Recorded in the browser or built from steps. In the Goal-Based Testing preview, written as a goal. | Not made by you. The journey is fixed: find, judge, compare, buy. |
| What it checks | Your web pages and APIs, against the steps, assertions or goal you set. | Whether an AI shopping agent can buy from your store, reading only what your pages say. |
| What a failure tells you | Which step or assertion of your test failed. | Which of four purchase stages the agent stalled at, what it saw, and what to change. |
| Where it runs from | Datadog managed locations around the world, or private locations you run. | Ottom’s own runners, from published addresses, with an agent that says who it is on every visit. |
| What you need first | A test configured in Datadog. | A web address. |

## Which one you need

### When Datadog Synthetic Monitoring fits

Datadog Synthetic Monitoring fits when you already run Datadog and want API and browser tests beside the rest of your monitoring, including internal sites reached through private locations.

### When Ottom fits

Ottom fits when the question is whether AI shopping agents can buy from you, and you want the answer in the words of a purchase: which stage, which stall, which fix.

### Using both

A recorded browser test replays steps somebody took on your site. A goal-based test lets an agent look for a path to a goal you describe. Ottom’s agent arrives knowing only that it has been asked to buy something, the way an assistant shopping for a person does, and it reports against a library of commerce stalls with a fix for each. Running both covers your own test plan and the agent channel.

## What Ottom does not do

- Ottom does not test APIs or internal sites.
- Ottom does not run tests you record or configure.
- Ottom does not test payment. It stops before it.

## Questions

### Is Ottom a replacement for Datadog Synthetic Monitoring?

Not for what Datadog does. Datadog tests the APIs and web flows you define, from the locations you choose, beside the rest of your monitoring. Ottom answers one question it defines itself: whether an AI shopping agent can buy from your store.

### Datadog has an agent that explores toward a goal. How is Ottom different?

Datadog’s Goal-Based Testing, in Preview when this page was checked, takes a starting URL and a goal you write and explores your application toward it. Ottom is built for one goal only, buying from an online store, and reports against a fixed library of commerce stalls with a fix for each. It needs no Datadog account, only a web address.

### Do I need to record or configure anything to use Ottom?

No. You give Ottom your web address. There is nothing to record, nothing to configure and nothing to install on your store.

### Does Ottom place real orders?

No. On every self-serve plan the agent goes as far as the payment step and stops there. It never enters a real card and never places an order on your live store. On Enterprise Plus, only if you ask, it can complete checkout on your staging store using your gateway’s test mode.

## Sources

Everything above about Datadog Synthetic Monitoring comes from its own site and documentation, read on 13 Oct 2026.

1. Datadog documentation: Synthetic Monitoring: https://docs.datadoghq.com/synthetics/
2. Datadog documentation: Browser Testing: https://docs.datadoghq.com/synthetics/browser_tests/
3. Datadog documentation: Goal-Based Testing: https://docs.datadoghq.com/synthetics/goal_based_testing/
4. Datadog Synthetic Monitoring product page: https://www.datadoghq.com/product/synthetic-monitoring/