Quick verdict
Short answer: If you just need heatmaps and session recordings, start with Microsoft Clarity — it is free forever with no session cap. If you need funnels, form analytics and friction scoring in one paid tool, Mouseflow is the closest like-for-like Hotjar replacement. Crazy Egg is the pick if you also want A/B testing built in.
Bottom line: Hotjar no longer really sells as Hotjar (see below), so most people shopping for an alternative are actually shopping for a simpler, clearer-priced behaviour analytics tool. Clarity wins on price, Mouseflow wins on depth for small teams, and Fullstory or LogRocket win for product teams.
Why are people looking for Hotjar alternatives in 2026?
The big reason is change, not quality. Hotjar merged into Contentsquare, its pricing page now redirects to Contentsquare’s, and new standalone Hotjar accounts are no longer the route in. Add session-based pricing that climbs with traffic, sampled recordings on lower tiers, and separate pricing for surveys and feedback, and a lot of small sites are asking a fair question: do we need all of this just to see where people click and get stuck?
What the pricing page doesn’t make obvious
Verified on Contentsquare’s own pricing pages in November 2026 coverage: hotjar.com/pricing redirects to Contentsquare, the free tier is now Contentsquare Free — up to 200,000 sessions a month, but only 1 project and only 1 month of data access — and Growth starts at $49/month ($39 billed yearly) at just 7,000 sessions. Surveys are priced separately, with Voice of Customer Growth starting around $99/month. In other words, the headline “free” and “$49” figures hide the two limits that bite first: projects and data history.
8 best Hotjar alternatives at a glance
| Tool | Free plan | Paid starts | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Clarity | Yes — unlimited | No paid tier | Free heatmaps and recordings |
| Mouseflow | Yes — 500 sessions/mo | $25/mo | Closest Hotjar replacement |
| Crazy Egg | Heatmaps only | $29/mo, billed yearly | Heatmaps plus A/B testing |
| Plerdy | Yes | $32/mo ($21 yearly) | SEO plus UX checks |
| Lucky Orange | Trial | Around $32/mo | Stores that want chat too |
| Smartlook | Yes | Paid tiers by sessions | Web and mobile app analytics |
| Fullstory | Limited | Custom pricing | Enterprise product teams |
| LogRocket | Limited | Session-based pricing | App errors plus replay |
The 8 best Hotjar alternatives
1. Microsoft Clarity — best free alternative
Clarity is free forever, with unlimited heatmaps and session recordings, no traffic cap and Copilot AI summaries built in. It covers click, scroll and area heatmaps, plus useful dead-click and error-click signals. The trade-offs are real: recordings are kept for about 30 days, there are no surveys, and Microsoft uses aggregated, anonymised data to improve its own products. For most small sites, none of that outweighs $0.
2. Mouseflow — closest like-for-like replacement
Mouseflow records sessions and offers six heatmap types, funnels, form analytics, feedback and a friction score that surfaces your worst sessions first. The free plan covers 500 sessions a month on one site; Essential is $25/month for 5,000 sessions. It feels most like classic Hotjar — just watch session caps, because a traffic spike moves you up a tier.
3. Crazy Egg — best if you want A/B testing too
Crazy Egg combines heatmaps (including its Confetti view), recordings and A/B testing in one tool, priced by tracked pageviews rather than sessions. A free Instant Heatmaps plan exists, but it has no recordings. Paid Starter is $29/month billed yearly for 5,000 pageviews and only 50 recordings; A/B testing does not unlock until Plus at $99/month. Billing is annual-only, so do the maths before you commit.
4. Plerdy — best for SEO plus UX in one dashboard
Plerdy mixes heatmaps and session replay with SEO auditing, pop-ups and e-commerce checks, which suits small marketing sites that do not want three separate tools. It has a free plan, with Startup around $32/month or $21/month billed yearly. It is less specialised than Clarity or Mouseflow for pure behaviour analysis, but broader for day-to-day site fixes.
5. Lucky Orange — best for online stores that want chat
Lucky Orange bundles heatmaps and recordings with live chat, forms and announcements, so a store team can watch a stuck checkout and talk to the visitor in the same tool. Pricing is session-based, with entry plans around $32/month for a few thousand sessions. If you do not need chat, Clarity or Mouseflow will usually be better value.
6. Smartlook — best for web plus mobile apps
Smartlook covers websites and mobile apps in one place, with recordings, heatmaps, events and funnels. That cross-platform view is its edge over Hotjar for teams whose product lives in an app as much as a browser. It offers a free plan, with paid tiers scaling by session volume, so check your app traffic before choosing a tier.
7. Fullstory — best for larger product teams
Fullstory goes well beyond heatmaps: deep session search, product analytics, and strong privacy controls for teams that need to debug behaviour at scale. Pricing is custom and aimed at mid-size and enterprise teams, so it is overkill for a brochure site. Pick it when multiple product and support teams will live in the data, not just one marketer.
8. LogRocket — best for replay plus technical errors
LogRocket pairs session replay with JavaScript error tracking, network logs and product analytics, which makes it the developer-friendly pick on this list. It suits SaaS and app teams who need to see both what the user did and what the code did. Pricing is session-based; if you only need marketing heatmaps, Clarity will do the same core job for free.
Verdict: which Hotjar alternative should you pick?
Start with Microsoft Clarity — it is free, unlimited, and enough for most sites. Move to Mouseflow when you need funnels, form analytics and friction scoring and are willing to pay per session. Choose Crazy Egg only if built-in A/B testing matters, Fullstory for enterprise product work, and LogRocket when replay needs to sit next to error logs. If you are comparing broader analytics stacks, our guide to the best Tableau alternatives is a useful next read, and our Microsoft Copilot alternatives roundup covers the AI assistant side of the Microsoft stack Clarity belongs to.
FAQ
Is Hotjar still available in 2026?
The product lives on inside Contentsquare. Hotjar’s pricing page redirects to Contentsquare’s, and new customers sign up there on Contentsquare plans such as Free and Growth.
What is the best completely free Hotjar alternative?
Microsoft Clarity. It is free forever with unlimited heatmaps and recordings and no paid tier. Its main limits are roughly 30-day recording retention and no survey tools.
Which alternative is most similar to Hotjar?
Mouseflow. It matches Hotjar’s core mix — recordings, multiple heatmap types, funnels and form analytics — with a free plan of 500 sessions a month and paid plans from $25/month.