When you start exploring user behaviour on your website, the tool you’ll likely encounter first is Hotjar. Hotjar gives you heatmaps, session recordings, and surveys so you can see what your visitors are doing and how they feel. In this discussion, you’ll find a detailed review of Hotjar, its pricing, its key integrations (especially with platforms like Webflow, WordPress, and Shopify), and then five strong alternatives you may want to evaluate. Because while Hotjar works well, you might find a better fit depending on your budget, growth stage, or platform.
Hotjar Review
What is Hotjar used for
Hotjar is a user behaviour analytics tool that shows how people interact with your website through heatmaps, session replays, funnels, and feedback tools. It combines quantitative analytics (what users do) with qualitative insights (why they do it). Businesses use Hotjar to uncover usability issues, improve conversions, and enhance customer experience across desktop and mobile.
Unlike traditional analytics tools that focus only on numbers, Hotjar helps visualize user actions in real time. You can see exactly where users click, scroll, or get frustrated, and then use that insight to refine design, content, and performance. It’s trusted by companies like HubSpot, Panasonic, and Decathlon for continuous improvement.
Hotjar works seamlessly with major platforms such as Webflow, WordPress, and Shopify, making it suitable for both small websites and large eCommerce stores. It also supports GDPR compliance through consent banners and anonymized tracking, ensuring that user privacy remains intact.
Key Features of Hotjar
Here are the main features of Hotjar that make it a leading web analytics and feedback platform in 2025:
1. Website Traffic Heatmaps
Heatmaps visualize where users click, scroll, and move on each page. You can quickly identify high-engagement areas, dead zones, and call-to-action performance. Hotjar’s heatmaps now include scroll-depth analytics and mobile-responsive views, so you can analyse user behaviour on every device.
2. Session Replays
Session replays let you watch recordings of real visitor journeys. You can see how users navigate, where they hesitate, and when they exit a page. In 2025, Hotjar’s replays include AI-powered tagging, which highlights patterns like “rage clicks,” “u-turns,” or “form abandonment.” These automated flags save hours of manual review and make troubleshooting faster.
3. Funnels & Trends
Funnels and Trends show drop-off points in the user journey. You can track how visitors move from landing pages to conversions and identify where they leave. Hotjar’s latest update introduces dynamic funnel creation, allowing for building and filtering funnels based on live data without extra tagging. Trends visualize performance over time, helping you spot sudden behavioural changes after design or content updates.
4. Surveys and Feedback
Hotjar’s surveys and feedback widgets let you gather direct input from your visitors. You can trigger surveys on exit intent, after conversions, or on key pages. The AI survey summarizer (added in 2025) automatically categorizes responses by sentiment and theme. This helps you understand user satisfaction or frustration at scale without manual sorting.
5. Integrations
Hotjar connects smoothly with dozens of platforms and tools, including Webflow, WordPress, Shopify, Google Analytics, Slack, HubSpot, Segment, and Zapier.
In Webflow, you paste your Hotjar tracking code into Project Settings to start collecting session data immediately.
In WordPress, you can use the official plugin or manually embed the tracking script in your header for effortless setup.
In Shopify, you insert the Hotjar snippet in your theme. liquid file to capture customer interactions across product and checkout pages.
These integrations ensure your analytics are unified, whether you manage content in WordPress, design in Webflow, or sell products through Shopify.
Hotjar Integrations (Webflow, WordPress, Shopify)
Hotjar is built to work smoothly with the most popular web platforms, allowing website owners to capture user behaviour data without complex setup or coding. The integrations make installation quick and the analytics instantly available, whether your site is built on Webflow, WordPress, or Shopify.
Integration with Webflow
Hotjar provides a step-by-step integration guide for Webflow users through its official Help Centre. To install it, go to Webflow Project Settings → Custom Code → Head Code and paste your Hotjar tracking script. Once published, Hotjar automatically begins tracking all user interactions on your Webflow pages.
After installation, you gain access to heatmaps, session replays, funnels, and surveys directly connected to your Webflow site. This helps designers and marketers understand how visitors interact with layouts, buttons, or forms without leaving the Webflow dashboard. The integration is lightweight, secure, and optimized for Webflow’s dynamic pages and animations.
Integration with WordPress
Hotjar supports WordPress through both a dedicated plugin and a manual script option. If you use the plugin, you can install and activate it from your WordPress dashboard under Plugins → Add New → Hotjar. You then enter your unique Site ID to start collecting visitor data instantly.
Alternatively, you can add the Hotjar tracking script manually by going to Appearance → Theme Editor → header.php, and pasting the code before the closing </head> tag. Within minutes, Hotjar will record clicks, scrolling, and behaviour data across your WordPress pages.
This integration helps bloggers, small businesses, and corporate sites identify where readers engage or drop off, all without writing code or installing heavy analytics suites.
Integration with Shopify
Hotjar offers a dedicated integration path for Shopify stores, ensuring accurate behaviour tracking across product pages, carts, and checkout flows. You can add the tracking script by opening your Shopify Admin → Online Store → Themes → Edit Code → theme. liquid, and pasting the Hotjar code right before the closing </head> tag.
Once installed, Hotjar automatically starts collecting insights on how visitors browse your collections, interact with product descriptions, and progress through the purchase funnel. The integration captures heatmaps for each store page, records full user sessions, and supports on-site feedback polls that help identify barriers to checkout.
In 2025, Hotjar will also support Shopify 2.0 themes and work seamlessly with apps like Klaviyo, Gorgias, and Recharge for deeper eCommerce analytics.
Why These Integrations Matter
These integrations mean you don’t need a heavy technical setup or custom development to get started with Hotjar on popular web platforms. Within a few clicks, you can install the script, verify data flow, and begin gathering actionable insights about real user behaviour.
Whether you’re designing in Webflow, publishing in WordPress, or selling in Shopify, Hotjar ensures your analytics are unified, visual, and easy to interpret, helping you make smarter design and marketing decisions.
Hotjar Pricing
Here’s a breakdown of Hotjar’s pricing structure as of 2025:
Free plan: Up to 20,000 monthly sessions, unlimited heatmaps, session replays, and basic filters. (Hotjar)
Growth plan: From about US$49/month, this unlocks advanced filters, AI-driven insights, 13 months of data access, and more integrations.
Pro / Business / Enterprise: Custom pricing starting when you move into 1 million+ sessions per month, advanced features like zone-based heatmaps, journey analysis, SSO, and more.
Pros
You get a rich set of features (heatmaps + recordings + feedback) in one platform.
Easy integration with Webflow, WordPress, Shopify, and many more.
The free plan is generous enough to test real behaviour insights.
Helps you link what users do with why they behave that way (via feedback).
Cons
For high-traffic sites, the cost can escalate as session counts grow.
Some reviews say that deeper segmentation and custom event tracking require higher plans.
The free plan has limits on how many sessions get captured/replayed or how long data is stored.
The broad feature set can be overwhelming if you only need a simple tool.
Some advanced features are more difficult to set up or require technical knowledge.
Why consider Hotjar alternatives?
You will want to evaluate alternatives to Hotjar when:
Your website traffic is growing, and you need a scalable pricing model.
You need more advanced analytics (e.g., mobile app tracking, custom event tracking, usability testing) than Hotjar supports out of the box.
You want a tool more focused on a niche (e-commerce, mobile app, information architecture) rather than a general-purpose behaviour analytics tool.
You want a different pricing model or focus on a specific capability (like form analytics, UX testing, or AI-driven insights). Because the user behaviour analytics landscape has matured in 2025. More tools provide specific features or better value depending on your needs.
5 Best Hotjar Alternatives (2025)
Here are five strong alternatives to Hotjar, each with an introduction, key features, pros, cons, and detailed pricing.
For each, we assume you’re looking for “Hotjar alternative” in terms of behaviour analytics/feedback/UX research.
1. Crazy Egg
Crazy Egg offers heatmaps, session recordings, and A/B testing in a simpler, cost-focused package. If you liked Hotjar’s core features but want a leaner tool mainly for conversion optimisation, Crazy Egg is worth considering.
Key features
Click heatmaps, scroll heatmaps, and overlays showing where users engage.
Session recordings to watch actual user journeys.
A/B testing functionality is built in so you can test variants of your page.
Form analytics: find where visitors abandon forms or fields.
Unlimited websites/pages depending on plan and snapshot limits.
Archive of recordings and heatmaps for historical comparison.
Pros & Cons of Crazy Egg | HOTJAR ALTERNAT
Category
Pros
Cons
User experience & setup
Easy and quick to set up with simple JavaScript code.
Clean, intuitive interface that non-technical users can navigate.
Good mobile heatmap/tracking accuracy noted in recent reviews.
Some users report that the setup still requires per-page configuration rather than automatic site-wide tracking.
On sites built with heavy dynamic or single-page application elements, the heatmaps may be less accurate.
Visual analytics & insight
Strong heatmap visualisations (clicks, scrolls, overlays) that help identify user behaviour.
Session recordings and confetti/overlay tracking add depth to analysis.
Reporting and export capabilities are limited compared to more advanced analytics tools.
Some users feel the tool lacks depth in funnel analysis or native A/B testing compared to specialised platforms.
Value & pricing
Pricing is considered fair for the features offered by many users.
Suitable for small- to medium-sized sites where full enterprise analytics might not be necessary.
Some users believe the cost is high relative to the feature set and that cheaper alternatives exist.
Free or trial tiers are limited, and page/view quotas may be restrictive for higher traffic sites.
Support & reliability
Reviews show responsive customer support in certain cases.
Established product with a long history in the heat-map / UX space.
Some users report inconsistent support experiences and issues with billing practices.
Some functionality (e.g., snapshots, dynamic pages) is still reported as buggy or requiring a workaround.
Pricing
Plus plan starts at ~$99/month.
Mid-tier ~US$249/month for more pageviews/recordings.
Higher tiers (US$499/month+) for 1,000,000+ pageviews/month.
Annual billing may reduce the cost per month. As you grow, the cost increases but remains manageable compared to some enterprise tools.
2. Mouseflow
Mouseflow focuses on session recordings, conversion funnels and form analytics. If your goal is to pinpoint why visitors leave without converting, Mouseflow provides strong functionality in this area.
Key features
Session replays of user visits, including mouse movement and clicks.
Heatmaps (click, movement & scroll) to visualise behaviour.
Funnel and form analytics to detect drop-off in multi-step flows.
Multiple websites supported, depending on the plan.
Data export, segmentation, and unlimited page views in many plans.
Pros & Cons of Mouseflow | HOTJAR ALTERNAT
Category
Pros
Cons
User experience & setup
Mouseflow is easy to install with both a plugin and manual script options, making it flexible for different website setups.
Its interface is user-friendly and intuitive, suitable for non-technical users, marketers, and small business owners.
Setup is quick for small to medium websites, allowing you to start collecting valuable user data within minutes.
Some advanced features, such as Friction Score and Funnel analysis, require time to learn and understand, which may slow down onboarding for new users.
Mobile dashboards are less functional than the desktop version, limiting detailed insights for on-the-go analysis.
Visual analytics & insight
Session recordings provide a clear view of actual visitor journeys, helping identify usability issues, navigation problems, or drop-offs.
Heatmaps for clicks, scrolls, and movement highlight areas of high engagement and pages that need improvement.
Funnel and form analytics allow you to pinpoint the exact steps where visitors abandon processes, making it easier to optimize conversions.
Filtering and analyzing large data sets can be slow, especially for high-traffic websites with thousands of recordings.
Some advanced reporting features, like exporting segmented sessions or building complex funnels, are only available in higher-tier plans.
Value & pricing
Starter plans are affordable and suitable for small businesses or growing websites.
Pricing scales reasonably for medium-traffic sites, allowing companies to upgrade as they grow without excessive cost.
Session recording limits on lower-tier plans may require upgrading for high-traffic websites, which can increase costs.
Certain features, while useful, are less advanced compared to dedicated UX research tools.
Support & reliability
Mouseflow provides built-in GDPR and privacy compliance features, giving peace of mind for regulated regions.
User feedback reports responsive support, especially for installation and troubleshooting.
Integration options are more limited than some enterprise platforms, which can be a drawback if you use multiple marketing or analytics tools.
Occasional slow performance can occur when processing heavy datasets or large volumes of recordings.
Pricing
Starter plan ~US$39/month (5,000 recordings/month, 1 website).
Growth plan ~US$129/month (15,000 recordings/month, 3 websites).
Business ~US$259/month (50,000 recordings/month, 5 websites).
Custom Enterprise pricing is above that. Scales moderately with usage.
3. Smartlook | HOTJAR ALTERNAT
Smartlook is tailored for web and mobile apps. If you run a hybrid site/app or want full user paths across devices, Smartlook gives you that flexibility better than many general website tools.
Key features
Session recordings on websites and mobile apps (including touch events, gestures).
Heatmaps that capture desktop and mobile behaviours.
Event tracking and funnel analysis without heavy setup.
Automatic retention of entire user journeys, not just page-to-page.
Export options for recordings and analytics to external tools.
Pros & Cons of Smartlook
Category
Pros
Cons
User experience & setup
Smartlook is easy to install with website scripts or mobile SDKs, enabling tracking for both web and mobile apps.
The interface is intuitive and allows marketers, product managers, and developers to navigate without extensive technical knowledge.
Real-time session recording is available immediately after setup, helping teams quickly start analyzing user behavior.
Mobile SDK installation requires some technical knowledge, which may slow adoption for non-technical teams.
Beginners may find the dashboard overwhelming at first due to the wide range of features.
Visual analytics & insight
Session replays provide a detailed view of actual visitor interactions, helping identify friction points, navigation issues, and UX problems.
Funnels, event tracking, and heatmaps are integrated in a single platform, making it easier to analyze visitor behavior across pages or app screens.
Retention tracking, path analysis, and event segmentation allow teams to monitor how users engage over time and optimize conversion steps.
Some advanced analytics and reporting features are only available on higher-tier plans, limiting functionality for small teams or startups.
For teams only tracking website behavior, Smartlook may feel more complex than necessary.
Value & pricing
Competitive pricing for combined web and mobile analytics makes it accessible for startups and growing businesses.
Scales effectively as websites or apps grow, with options for higher traffic and more events.
Higher-tier plans can be costly for larger-scale apps or high-traffic websites.
Free or trial versions have limited data retention, which can affect long-term analysis.
Support & reliability
Reliable support is available for installation, troubleshooting, and feature guidance.
Multi-platform support ensures accurate tracking across web and mobile environments.
Steep learning curve for some advanced features.
Customization options are limited in lower-tier plans, which can restrict complex tracking setups.
Pricing
Starting price ~US$39/month as noted in the top research.
Higher usage/feature tiers require custom quotes.
Free trials are available (in many cases) to validate behaviour.
4. Microsoft Clarity | HOTJAR ALTERNAT
Microsoft Clarity is an analytics tool offered by Microsoft that provides heatmaps, session recordings, and behavioural analytics, often with a strong value (including free) proposition. If you’re budget-conscious and need core behaviour insights, Clarity is a solid alternative to Hotjar.
Key features
Session recordings of visitor journeys.
Heatmaps (click and movement) across pages.
No-cost implementation with generous usage limits.
Integration with other Microsoft tools and analytics.
Insights into rage clicks, dead clicks, and high-friction areas.
Pros & Cons of Microsoft Clarity
Category
Pros
Cons
User experience & setup
FullStory provides detailed session replay tracking that captures user journeys across web and mobile applications.
The platform supports both single-page applications and traditional websites, allowing for consistent insights across different architectures.
Advanced segmentation and filtering help teams quickly identify specific user behaviors or problem areas.
Initial setup can be technical, requiring knowledge of JavaScript or SDK integration for mobile apps.
Beginners may face a steep learning curve due to the depth of features and interface complexity.
Visual analytics & insight
Offers comprehensive analytics, including funnels, retention tracking, path analysis, and heatmaps, giving a full view of user behavior.
Real-time dashboards and alerts help teams monitor engagement trends and detect issues as they occur.
Cross-device tracking allows understanding of user interactions on desktop, mobile, and tablet devices.
FullStory may be overkill for small websites or startups that do not require enterprise-level insights.
Some advanced features require additional training to use effectively.
Value & pricing
Designed for enterprise-grade analytics, making it suitable for high-traffic sites that require deep behavioral insights.
Integrates with a wide range of tools, including CRM and marketing platforms, enabling unified analytics.
Expensive compared to alternatives, with pricing starting around $2,000/year for medium-sized websites.
Small or low-traffic sites may not justify the cost, limiting accessibility for startups.
Support & reliability
Offers strong enterprise support, including dedicated account management for larger clients.
Reliable platform with consistent uptime and active updates.
Limited free trial availability may restrict testing before commitment.
Managing large datasets can be resource-intensive and require ongoing maintenance.
Pricing
Microsoft Clarity is offered as a free service with no paid tier from Microsoft.
According to Microsoft’s own documentation: “Clarity is a free service forever. There’s no obligation to upgrade to a paid version.”
Some third-party apps related to Clarity (e.g., Shopify plugin addons) show paid pricing (for added features), but those are not from Microsoft Clarity itself.
5. FullStory | HOTJAR ALTERNAT
FullStory is a heavyweight behaviour and product analytics platform. If your website/app is complex and you need deep insights, unlimited sessions, segmentation, funnel, and path analysis, and you have the budget, FullStory is a compelling alternative to Hotjar.
Key features
Full session replay and user journey mapping across all pages and devices.
Advanced segmentation: filter users by behaviour, attributes, and technical context.
Funnel, path, and retention analysis are built in so you can measure and optimise complex flows.
Integrations with hundreds of tools for data export, analytics, and product teams.
Real-time dashboards, alerts, and insights for high-traffic/enterprise use.
Pros & Cons of FullStory
Category
Pros
Cons
User experience & setup
FullStory provides detailed session replay tracking that captures user journeys across web and mobile applications.
The platform supports both single-page applications and traditional websites, allowing for consistent insights across different architectures.
Advanced segmentation and filtering help teams quickly identify specific user behaviors or problem areas.
Initial setup can be technical, requiring knowledge of JavaScript or SDK integration for mobile apps.
Beginners may face a steep learning curve due to the depth of features and interface complexity.
Visual analytics & insight
Offers comprehensive analytics, including funnels, retention tracking, path analysis, and heatmaps, giving a full view of user behavior.
Real-time dashboards and alerts help teams monitor engagement trends and detect issues as they occur.
Cross-device tracking allows understanding of user interactions on desktop, mobile, and tablet devices.
FullStory may be overkill for small websites or startups that do not require enterprise-level insights.
Some advanced features require additional training to use effectively.
Value & pricing
Designed for enterprise-grade analytics, making it suitable for high-traffic sites that require deep behavioral insights.
Integrates with a wide range of tools, including CRM and marketing platforms, enabling unified analytics.
Expensive compared to alternatives, with pricing starting around $2,000/year for medium-sized websites.
Small or low-traffic sites may not justify the cost, limiting accessibility for startups.
Support & reliability
Offers strong enterprise support, including dedicated account management for larger clients.
Reliable platform with consistent uptime and active updates.
Limited free trial availability may restrict testing before commitment.
Managing large datasets can be resource-intensive and require ongoing maintenance.
Pricing
Business/Enterprise plans start from around US$2,000/year for medium traffic.
Full custom quotes for large volumes of sessions or advanced features.
You’ll likely need to budget accordingly if scaling.
Summary & Recommendation
If you already use Hotjar, you know its strength: you get heatmaps, recordings, feedback and integration across major platforms like Webflow, WordPress and Shopify. The question is whether Hotjar remains the best tool for your needs in 2025.
If you’re looking for:
A strong all-round behaviour analytics tool, and you’re comfortable with Hotjar’s pricing and session limits → stick with Hotjar.
A lean, cost-effective alternative with conversion focus → consider Crazy Egg.
Deep funnel/recording analytics on your website → Mouseflow is a good fit.
Web + mobile behaviour insights at a lower cost → Smartlook.
Entry-level budget with decent behaviour insights → Microsoft Clarity.
Enterprise-grade insights, complex flows, and high traffic volumes → FullStory.
Final thoughts
Use your decision criteria wisely: how many sessions do you expect monthly? Are you tracking only a website or a mobile app, too? Do you need surveys and feedback or mostly behaviour data? What budget do you have? Then compare your current usage with the alternatives we listed. If Hotjar meets your needs and budget, then you’re set; if not, one of the alternatives above may serve you better in 2025.
Whatever you choose, make sure it integrates cleanly with your site builder (Webflow, WordPress, Shopify) and supports your data goals. Hotjar remains strong, but the landscape has evolved, and your tool should keep pace with your growth.
.webp)
.webp)
.svg)
.svg)