Hotjar alternatives in 2026: seven heatmap and session replay tools compared
Hotjar alternatives compared: Microsoft Clarity, PostHog, Mouseflow, Fullstory, Crazy Egg and Lucky Orange. Free plans, pricing and EU data hosting.
Hotjar is no longer a standalone product. It is now part of Contentsquare: you can no longer create a new Hotjar account, and new users sign up on Contentsquare directly. For many teams that’s a good moment to look at what else does heatmaps and session replay — and whether it can be done for less.
This comparison covers seven tools that do the job, sorted by the situation you’re choosing in. A disclosure first: we build Kaen, who does not collect heatmaps or recordings himself but watches the funnel in GA4 or PostHog and can connect to recording tools, so we’ll get to him at the end. Pricing, limits and data hosting details are taken from the vendors’ own websites as of September 2026. Prices change, so check them before you buy.
The comparison at a glance
| Tool | What it does | Free plan | Paid from | EU data hosting | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hotjar (Contentsquare) | Heatmaps, recordings, surveys, funnels | 200,000 sessions/month, 100 survey responses | 49/month (Growth, 7,000 sessions); billed in euros in Europe | Yes, Hotjar states Ireland (AWS) | Teams that want to stay with what they know |
| Microsoft Clarity | Heatmaps, recordings, funnels | The whole product, no traffic limits | No paid plan | Region not stated; data in Azure, EU customers contract with Microsoft Ireland | Starting with zero budget |
| PostHog | Recordings, heatmaps, surveys, funnels, product analytics | 5,000 recordings, 1M events, 1,500 survey responses per month | Usage-based, recordings from $0.005 each | Yes, EU cloud in Frankfurt | SaaS and product teams |
| Mouseflow | Heatmaps, recordings, funnels, form analytics, surveys | 500 sessions/month, 1 funnel, 1-month retention | $25/month (Essential, 5,000 sessions) | Yes, Amsterdam if you sign up in the EU | E-commerce and form-heavy sites |
| Fullstory | Recordings, heatmaps, analytics; funnels and dashboards on paid plans | 30,000 sessions/month, 12-month retention, up to 10 users | Pricing on request | On request (US by default) | Larger product and engineering teams |
| Crazy Egg | Heatmaps, recordings, surveys, A/B tests, funnels | Yes: web analytics, heatmaps, conversion analytics, surveys | $29/month billed annually (5,000 pageviews, 50 recordings) | No, data stored in the US (AWS) | Heatmaps and A/B tests in one tool |
| Lucky Orange | Heatmaps, recordings, surveys, funnels, live chat | No, 7-day free trial only | $32/month billed annually (3,500 sessions) | Not stated on the vendor’s site | Smaller stores that also want live chat |
One tool is missing on purpose. Smartlook, now part of Cisco, stopped selling new subscriptions on May 31, 2026, according to its own website. The platform is scheduled to shut down on September 30, 2027, with its features moving into Splunk Observability Cloud. If you use Smartlook, plan your data export and replacement now.
If you want it free
Microsoft Clarity is the simplest pick. Microsoft’s FAQ says Clarity is free forever, with no traffic limits and no sampling. You get recordings, heatmaps and funnels, with no cap on sites or team members.
The trade-offs sit elsewhere. Recordings are available for 30 days (favorites and a random sample for up to 9 months), heatmaps for 9 months. For visitors from the EEA, UK and Switzerland you must pass a consent signal to Clarity. Without it, Clarity’s own documentation says sessions get fragmented and full replays aren’t available. For a head-to-head, see Microsoft Clarity vs. Hotjar.
Free Hotjar hasn’t gone away either. Contentsquare’s free plan, which Hotjar now sits under, covers 200,000 sessions a month with recordings, heatmaps, funnels and basic surveys. If Hotjar works for you and price was the only issue, check whether the new free plan is enough before you migrate.
PostHog has a generous free tier too (5,000 recordings and a million events a month), but it is product analytics first rather than a one-to-one Hotjar replacement. More on that below.
If you need EU data hosting
If your data has to stay in Europe, here’s what the vendors’ sites say as of September 2026:
- PostHog runs PostHog Cloud EU in the AWS Frankfurt region. You pick the region at signup, and a DPA is available on any plan, including free.
- Mouseflow stores data in Amsterdam or Virginia depending on where you sign up, and says data never leaves its region.
- Fullstory has an EU1 data center, but the default is the US and EU hosting is available on request.
- Hotjar states in its documentation that data is stored in Ireland on AWS (eu-west-1).
- Microsoft Clarity only says data is stored in Azure. EU customers contract with Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited.
- Crazy Egg stores data in the US.
Where the data sits is only part of GDPR. Session recording usually needs visitor consent, and you’ll want a data processing agreement with whichever vendor you choose. Work out the details with whoever owns privacy on your side.
If you want product analytics and recordings in one place
PostHog is the strongest fit here. Recordings, heatmaps, surveys and funnels all run on the same events, so you can go from the funnel step where people drop off straight to the recordings of the people who dropped. According to its docs, PostHog doesn’t bill heatmaps separately — the data is captured alongside your other events.
The cost is setup. PostHog needs a sensible event design and more technical work than pasting one script. Recordings are kept for 30 days on the free plan and up to a year or more on paid plans. How it differs from GA4 is covered in GA4 vs. PostHog.
Fullstory covers similar ground for larger teams. Its free plan gives 30,000 sessions a month with 12 months of retention, but funnels and dashboards sit on paid plans, and Fullstory doesn’t publish those prices.
If you run an online store or a form-heavy site
Mouseflow adds form analytics (where people abandon a form) and automatic friction detection to recordings and heatmaps. The cheapest paid plan, at $25 a month, includes 5,000 sessions and one funnel; the free plan includes 500 sessions.
Lucky Orange adds live chat and a real-time visitor view. Every feature is on every plan; plans differ by session volume and storage length. The pricing page lists no free plan as of September 2026, only a 7-day trial.
Crazy Egg pairs heatmaps with A/B testing, which helps if you want to test a change in the same tool. Watch the limits: the entry plan at $29 a month (billed annually) covers 5,000 pageviews and 50 recordings a month.
Either way, pick the tool after you know where your store loses people. That’s the next section.
What heatmaps and recordings can’t tell you
Heatmaps and recordings show how people behave on a page: where they click, where they stop scrolling, where they hesitate in a form. That’s valuable — once you know which page to look at.
They don’t tell you which funnel step costs you the most money. Ten recordings from your homepage look interesting, but if most of your lost revenue sits between cart and payment, you’re watching the wrong place. For that you need a funnel: in GA4 or PostHog, with steps from entry to purchase and revenue attached to each one. Funnel analysis in GA4 walks through how to build it.
So the sensible order is:
- The funnel shows where people drop off and what it costs.
- Recordings and heatmaps from that step show why.
- A fix or an A/B test confirms whether you found the real cause.
This is where Kaen comes in — we build him, so weigh this accordingly. Kaen is a growth buddy for conversion rate optimization: an AI CRO agent run as a service. He doesn’t collect heatmaps or recordings himself. He reads your GA4 or PostHog data read-only, watches the funnel daily and hunts for lost revenue every week. He puts a price on each finding and proposes a fix or an A/B test. Nothing ships without your approval. Kaen can ship the change himself, or your developer makes it from Kaen’s brief. If you use Clarity, Hotjar or PostHog recordings, Kaen connects to them and uses them for what they do best: explaining why people leave at a specific step. For where Kaen sits among other AI tools, see AI CRO tools compared.
How to choose
“We have no budget.” → Microsoft Clarity, or Hotjar’s free plan on Contentsquare.
“Our data must stay in the EU.” → PostHog (EU cloud) or Mouseflow (EU signup).
“We want analytics and recordings on the same data.” → PostHog.
“We run a store and forms are the problem.” → Mouseflow, or Lucky Orange if you also want live chat.
“We want to test changes right away.” → Crazy Egg, or a dedicated testing tool.
“We don’t know where we lose people.” → Start with a funnel in GA4 or PostHog. Choose the recording tool after that.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free version of Hotjar?
Yes. Hotjar is now part of Contentsquare, and new accounts are created there. As of September 2026, Contentsquare’s free plan includes 200,000 sessions a month, session replay, heatmaps, funnels and basic surveys with 100 responses a month.
What is the best free Hotjar alternative?
Microsoft Clarity. It is free with no traffic limits and includes session recordings, heatmaps and funnels. Recordings are kept for 30 days, and for visitors from the EEA, UK and Switzerland you have to pass a consent signal. If you also want product analytics, look at PostHog.
Which Hotjar alternatives store data in the EU?
PostHog offers an EU cloud in Frankfurt, Mouseflow stores data in Amsterdam if you sign up in Europe, and Fullstory has an EU data center on request. Hotjar itself says in its documentation that data is stored in Ireland.
Are heatmaps and session recordings enough for conversion optimization?
No. They show how people behave on a given page. They don’t tell you which funnel step costs you the most money. For that you need a funnel in GA4 or PostHog with revenue attached — then you watch recordings from that step.
The takeaway
Cheaper and free Hotjar alternatives exist: Clarity for a zero budget, PostHog for analytics and recordings in one place with EU hosting, Mouseflow for stores and forms. And Hotjar itself now has a generous free plan on Contentsquare.
Any of them only shows behavior on the page. Where your funnel loses the most money comes from your GA4 or PostHog data. That’s the job Kaen does: he watches the funnel daily, puts a price on each leak and proposes the fix. Nothing ships without your approval.