Hotjar

Best for UX research and user feedback

Hotjar sits at the intersection of analytics and user research, offering heatmaps, recordings, on-page surveys and interview scheduling in one package. These built-in Voice-of-Customer tools let you observe what visitors do and learn why they act that way. A typical workflow is to watch a recording of a prospect hesitating on your pricing page, then trigger an exit survey asking what nearly stopped the sign-up. This focus on qualitative insight makes Hotjar invaluable for conversion-rate optimisation and UX research.

Richer features than Microsoft Clarity

Hotjar’s eight-tool suite extends far beyond the heatmaps and session replays that Clarity provides. In addition to Heatmaps and Recordings you get Feedback widgets, Surveys, Funnels, Form analysis and Trends dashboards, plus native integrations with Slack, Jira and Google Analytics. These extras turn observations into structured insight and embed findings in your daily workflow. Clarity remains a solid free option, but it omits built-in feedback tools and advanced funnels, so you cannot capture the same depth of understanding without add-ons.

Pricing and free plan limitations

The free plan records roughly thirty-five sessions a day and stores data for twelve months, which is fine for low-traffic sites or initial trials. Upgrading to the Plus plan (about €35 per month) yields one hundred daily sessions, while Business plans start near €90 for five hundred sessions a day and unlock Funnels, Form analysis and Trends. Costs rise with traffic because Hotjar charges for the volume it records. Clarity, by contrast, is free with generous limits, yet lacks Hotjar’s qualitative depth.

Privacy and data handling

Hotjar is fully GDPR and CCPA compliant, respects “Do Not Track” signals and never resells data. You can mask or exclude sensitive fields and honour deletion requests easily. Microsoft Clarity’s terms permit Microsoft to use data for service improvement and model training, which may be inappropriate for regulated sectors. Hotjar’s stance keeps ownership and control with you, a crucial factor for organisations handling sensitive B2B information.

Performance impact

Both Hotjar and Clarity load asynchronously, yet any recording script can affect page performance if used without restraint. Sampling traffic wisely and limiting recordings to research periods keeps load times healthy. In speed-critical environments you can pair Clarity for high-volume coverage with targeted Hotjar studies during quieter windows to balance insight and performance.

Who benefits most

Hotjar suits UX designers, CRO specialists and B2B growth teams who need rapid, actionable evidence. Marketers optimising landing pages, product managers refining onboarding flows and small product teams iterating on a web app all gain value quickly, often without needing developer time.

I adopted Hotjar in 2014 and it remains a fixture in my B2B toolkit. The appeal is simple: within an afternoon you can spot friction that months of analytics reports would miss. Watching recordings of prospects rage-click a disabled button on a signup form exposed a hidden bug that, once fixed, lifted completion rates immediately.

Setup could not be easier. Adding the script through Google Tag Manager takes minutes and the dashboard is intuitive enough for non-technical colleagues. Heatmaps and recordings reveal behaviour, while a one-question exit poll uncovers objections that copy tweaks can resolve. Integrations with Slack and Jira let me clip a key recording and share it straight into the dev queue, turning anecdote into evidence.

There are downsides. The free plan captures limited sessions; busy sites exhaust the quota quickly, so I sample traffic or run recordings only during research sprints to control costs. Hotjar also remains a page-level tool rather than a full product analytics platform, so deep event analysis still happens in Mixpanel or similar. Performance overhead is minor but real, which means I toggle recording off during high-traffic launches.

Despite these caveats, Hotjar delivers reliable insight at a speed few tools match. When a B2B funnel stalls, I run Hotjar for a week, collect user feedback, watch twenty recordings and usually uncover the next optimisation opportunity. That immediacy has repeatedly justified the subscription and keeps Hotjar on my must-have list.

How Hotjar works

Tracking script and data capture

Install the single JavaScript snippet via your CMS or Tag Manager. The script loads asynchronously, samples traffic based on your quota and streams anonymised interaction data to Hotjar’s servers. You decide which pages to track and whether to mask form inputs.

Data types collected

Hotjar stores clicks, mouse movement, scrolling, viewport size and keystroke timings. For privacy it never records actual keystrokes unless you explicitly include a field. Surveys and feedback widgets add contextual text responses.

Key features

Heatmaps

Aggregate visualisations show click hotspots, scroll depth and move heatmaps. Use scroll maps to check whether visitors see your call-to-action or abandon mid-content.

Session recordings

Replay individual visits with timeline controls and event tagging. Filters allow segmentation by page, device, duration or user action, so you can focus on specific funnel steps.

Surveys and feedback widgets

Deploy on-site polls, NPS surveys or full questionnaires. Trigger by exit intent, time on page or specific clicks. Responses appear alongside behavioural data for quick correlation.

Funnels and form analysis

Define multi-step funnels to see where users drop out, then jump straight to recordings of those exits. Form analytics highlight fields that cause hesitation, errors or abandonment.

Trends dashboards

Track high-level metrics such as average scroll depth or feedback scores over time, useful for monitoring the impact of redesigns or content experiments.

Engage interviews

Schedule one-to-one video calls with real users through Hotjar’s recruitment and booking flow. Recordings and transcripts are stored in your account, keeping all qualitative research in one place.

Using Hotjar for B2B marketing teams

Identify conversion blockers

Run heatmaps on your pricing, case-study and contact pages. Combine scroll data with survey answers to pinpoint ambiguous messaging or misplaced calls-to-action.

Optimise lead forms

Form analysis reveals which fields cause friction. If a company-size dropdown takes five times longer than other fields, simplify the options or move it to a later step.

Support A/B tests

Overlay recordings on winning and losing variants to understand behavioural differences. Qualitative evidence often explains statistical results and guides the next experiment.

Using Hotjar for product teams

Improve onboarding flows

Recordings of first-time users in your web app highlight confusing steps. Feedback widgets inside the app capture frustrations in the moment, turning anecdote into actionable tickets.

Prioritise roadmap items

Tag recordings that show repeated usability issues. When stakeholders debate priorities, a five-minute highlight reel often settles arguments faster than a slide deck.

GDPR and privacy

Hotjar is headquartered in the EU and complies fully with GDPR. You can:

• Mask or suppress specific page elements in recordings.
• Honour user deletion requests through the dashboard.
• Disable tracking until consent is granted through your CMP.

Pricing structure

PlanDaily sessionsKey inclusionsIndicative priceBasic35Unlimited heatmaps, 20 survey responsesFreePlus100Removal of Hotjar branding, more responsesc. €35 pmBusiness500-4000Funnels, Form analysis, Trends, priority supportFrom €90 pmScaleCustomUnlimited team seats, highest limitsCustom quote

Tips for quick wins

• Focus recordings on no more than five high-value pages for the first week.
• Run an exit poll on the pricing page asking what nearly stopped sign-up.
• Share a highlight reel of three users failing a task with your dev team to drive action.
• Toggle recording off during peak campaigns once main issues are fixed, saving quota and performance overhead.

Conclusion

Hotjar combines ease of deployment with rich qualitative tools, making it perfect for B2B marketers and product teams that need actionable insight fast. Deploy it alongside Microsoft Clarity for broad coverage or graduate to FullStory when enterprise analytics are required, but start with Hotjar for its unique blend of behavioural data and direct user feedback.