Best Hotjar Alternatives in 2026: 4 Heatmap and Session Recording Tools Compared

Hotjar used to be the default answer when a store owner asked how to see what visitors do on a page. That has changed. Hotjar’s pricing address now sends you to Contentsquare, and the plans you land on belong to a much bigger analytics platform. If you only want heatmaps and recordings for a small store, that shift is a good reason to compare your options.

At Ecommerce Paradise, I teach people to build stores around expensive products, and those stores often get a small number of visits that each matter a lot. That makes seeing exactly what a visitor did on a product page worth far more than a dashboard of averages. This guide compares four Hotjar alternatives on price, limits and fit, using each company’s own pages checked in October 2026, and it says “not shown” wherever a page does not give a number. Some links below are affiliate links, so I may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you. Lucky Orange is the one I link first for exactly that reason, so weigh my pick with that in mind. If you are still new to high-ticket dropshipping, bookmark this one for when your store has traffic worth studying.

The Best Hotjar Alternatives at a Glance

Here is how the four alternatives compare with Hotjar’s current Contentsquare plans on entry price, free options and fit. Prices are US dollars per month, and I note where a page does not say whether a figure is billed monthly or annually.

If you want one tool that does recordings, heatmaps, funnels, surveys and chat for a fixed price, I would start with Lucky Orange. If your budget is zero, start with Clarity. The sections below explain who should pick something else.

What Happened to Hotjar

The change is documented on Contentsquare’s own support site. It says that as of 1 July 2025 Hotjar merged into the Contentsquare Group, and that Hotjar’s heatmaps, recordings and surveys can now be found in Contentsquare.

You can see the effect on the pricing page. Hotjar’s old pricing address now redirects to the Contentsquare pricing page, and that page only mentions Hotjar as a link in its footer.

The plans there are named Free, Growth, Pro and Enterprise. Pro and Enterprise show a “Book a demo” button instead of a price, which tells you who the company is aiming at.

Hotjar’s help center adds a useful detail for existing users. It says people on the Hotjar Free plan can keep using their accounts, and that Contentsquare Free is a different platform from Hotjar Free.

What Hotjar (Contentsquare) Costs Now

To judge any alternative, you need the baseline. The Contentsquare Free plan is listed at $0 with 200,000 monthly sessions, one project, one month of data access, replays, heatmaps, funnels, error and performance monitoring, and basic surveys.

Growth is shown at $39 a month, with a struck-through $49 beside it. Session tiers run from 7,000 up to more than 240,000 a month, with 13 months of data access and three projects.

The page lists a 15-day trial for new accounts with no payment details needed. It also says there is no annual contract and a 30-day money-back guarantee for new Growth accounts.

Pro is custom priced, and the page contradicts itself on its project count, with one section saying six and the FAQ saying three. I would confirm that in a demo if you ever get that far.

Contentsquare’s help article says its free plan keeps up to 10,000 session replays a month for 30 days. It adds that Hotjar Free kept recordings for 365 days, so the free plans are not equal.

Why Store Owners Look for an Alternative

The first reason is direction. A tool that merges into an enterprise suite tends to build for enterprise buyers, and a store owner with a few thousand visits a month is not the customer on the roadmap.

The second reason is the free plan. The new free plan keeps replays for 30 days and limits replays to 10,000 sessions, which may be fine for you or may be a step down from what you had.

The third reason is cost clarity. A few tools below publish a flat price for every feature, and a few publish limits by sessions or pageviews, and you may simply prefer the way one of them counts.

What to Compare Before You Switch

Start with how usage is counted. Sessions and pageviews are different units, and a visitor who browses six product pages uses six pageviews but only one session.

Next, check what is included on the entry plan. Funnels, surveys and chat are sometimes locked to higher tiers, and a cheap headline price can hide that.

Then look at data retention. If you want to compare a holiday peak with a slow month, a plan that keeps data for 30 or 60 days will not help you.

Finally, check privacy controls. Recordings can capture what people type, so confirm that you can mask form fields before you turn anything on.

1. Lucky Orange: Best Overall Hotjar Alternative for Stores

Lucky Orange is the tool I would try first, and I want to be upfront that it is also the one I earn a commission on. Its pricing page lists Build at $32 a month, Grow at $72, Expand at $199 and Scale at $839 when billed annually, with Enterprise on custom pricing.

A comparison table on the same page shows $39, $249 and $1,049 for Build, Expand and Scale on monthly billing. The monthly price for Grow is not shown.

Sessions are what you pay for. Build covers 3,500 a month, Grow covers 10,000, Expand starts at 50,000 and Scale starts at 300,000. A pageview limit is not shown.

The page says every feature is available on every plan, covering dynamic heatmaps, session recordings, unlimited surveys, live chat, conversion funnels and form analytics. Team members are unlimited, and extra websites are $5 each.

Base data storage is 60 days, and longer storage is an upgrade whose price is not shown. The site lists a 7-day free trial, and a money-back guarantee is not shown. Discovery AI is a point of confusion, because the trial card says it is included and the comparison table lists it as an add-on.

My own Lucky Orange pricing breakdown goes through the tiers in more detail.

Best for: store owners who want recordings, heatmaps, funnels, surveys and chat in one bill without paying extra to unlock features.

2. Microsoft Clarity: Best Free Hotjar Alternative

Microsoft Clarity describes itself as free forever, and its page says there are no limits on traffic. For a store with no budget for tools, that is hard to argue with.

The page lists heatmaps and session recordings, plus AI summaries and chat. Whether the AI features are included in the free product is not shown, and neither is data retention.

It also supports Android, iOS, Flutter and React Native, which matters if you run a mobile app next to your store. No paid tier is shown, so there is nothing to upgrade to and no sales team to talk to.

The trade-off is what the page does not mention. I did not see live chat or the kind of funnel and survey tools that Lucky Orange lists, so you may end up pairing Clarity with other apps.

If you want a direct comparison, my guide to Lucky Orange vs Microsoft Clarity covers when paying is worth it.

Best for: new stores, side projects and anyone who wants to start watching sessions today with no budget.

3. Mouseflow: Best for Testing on Very Low Traffic

Mouseflow lists a free plan with 500 sessions a month, one website project, one conversion funnel and one month of data retention. That is enough to test the tool on a small store before you spend anything.

Essential is $25 a month for 5,000 sessions, one project, one funnel and three months of retention. Advanced is $109 for 25,000 sessions, two projects, five funnels and six months. Premium is $319 for 100,000 sessions, five projects, ten funnels and twelve months.

The page offers a 14-day trial on Essential and Advanced with no credit card needed. It also lists a 14-day money-back guarantee for first-time annual subscribers on non-Enterprise plans, and says annual billing saves up to 35% without listing the annual prices.

The funnel limit is the thing to watch. One funnel on Essential means you cannot track a quote request flow and a normal checkout side by side without moving up a plan.

Best for: small stores that want a free plan to evaluate and a cheap first paid step.

4. Crazy Egg: Best for Heatmaps With A/B Testing

Crazy Egg prices by pageviews. Its page lists Starter at $29 a month for 5,000 pageviews and 50 recordings, Plus at $99 for 150,000 pageviews and 1,000 recordings, Pro at $249 for 500,000 and 5,000, and Enterprise at $599 for 1,000,000 and 10,000.

All plans are billed annually, with the monthly equivalent shown, and the annual totals are not shown. Every plan lists a 30-day free trial, and a money-back guarantee is not shown.

Plus and above add A/B testing, CTAs and error tracking, and the page says Crazy Egg never charges overages. Data collection simply pauses at your monthly limit and resumes on the first of the next month.

Because the unit is pageviews, a research-heavy store burns through the allowance faster than the number suggests. A visitor comparing four products can easily use ten pageviews in one visit.

My comparison of Lucky Orange vs Crazy Egg explains how the two units behave on a real store.

Best for: store owners who want heatmaps and split testing from one vendor.

What Each Tool Costs at a Glance

This table shows each tool’s entry paid plan and the next step up, using the figures on each vendor’s page. Billing terms differ, so treat it as a rough guide.

Two cautions apply. The tools count usage in different units, so a session number and a pageview number are not directly comparable, and annual and monthly billing are mixed across the vendors.

The takeaway is that entry plans range from free to about $39 a month, and the real difference shows up in what is included, how long data is kept and how usage is counted.

When Hotjar (Contentsquare) Is Still the Right Call

I would not tell everyone to leave. The Contentsquare Free plan lists 200,000 monthly sessions, which is far above what most of the paid entry plans here include.

If you already know the interface and your traffic fits inside the free allowance, there is no urgent reason to move. Switching tools costs you time and any history you built up.

It also makes sense if you expect to grow into a larger analytics setup. Growth lists 13 months of data access and journey analysis, and Pro and Enterprise exist if you outgrow it.

If you are comparing Lucky Orange against the rest of the field instead, my Lucky Orange alternatives guide looks at the same market from the other direction.

Which Tool Fits Which Store

A brand new store with a small budget needs something free that works right away. Clarity lists no traffic limits, and Mouseflow lists a 500-session free plan if you want to compare.

A store that wants one bill for recordings, heatmaps, funnels, surveys and chat should look at Lucky Orange first. The page says every feature is on every plan, which keeps the cost predictable.

A store that wants to test page changes alongside heatmaps should look at Crazy Egg, as long as you size the pageview allowance with care. Starter does not include A/B testing, so plan on Plus.

A store with a quote request flow and a checkout should check funnel limits before buying. Mouseflow’s Essential plan allows one funnel, so that store would need Advanced.

How to Choose Between the Alternatives

Begin with your monthly visits. Count sessions and pageviews separately if you can, because that decides whether a session-based or pageview-based plan will last the month.

Then list what you actually need. If you only want to watch recordings and look at heatmaps, a free tool covers that, and if you want surveys, chat and funnels, count what you would pay for those separately.

Next, plan what you will do with what you learn. Recordings show you where people get stuck, and an email tool helps you win some of them back, which is where I like Omnisend for store follow-ups.

If you are running the store on Shopify, Shopify has its own analytics, and a recording tool adds the behavior detail those reports leave out.

Last, run a two-week trial on your top pick. Watch real sessions on your highest-value product page and write down three things you would change before you decide.

How to Switch Without Losing What You Learned

Start by writing down your baseline. Note your worst funnel step, the pages with the weakest scrolling and what a converting visit looks like, and store it in a document outside the tool.

I would not expect recordings to move between vendors, so confirm that with the tool you are leaving before you cancel. If you can afford it, run both tools for one billing cycle so you can compare the numbers.

Then set up masking on day one. Turn on field masking and exclude sensitive pages before you let the new tool record, because the new install starts with its own defaults.

Finally, watch your page weight. Each of these tools adds a script, and running two at once should be temporary.

Common Mistakes When Choosing a Heatmap Tool

The first mistake is choosing on headline price alone. A cheap plan that locks funnels or keeps data for only a month can cost you more in lost insight than the saving is worth.

The second is watching recordings without a question. Pick one page and one problem, such as why visitors leave a product page, and look for that pattern instead of watching at random.

The third is skipping disclosure when you recommend tools. The FTC’s endorsement guides explain when you must disclose affiliate relationships and other material connections.

The fourth is installing a tool before you have traffic. Recordings of a store with a handful of visits teach you little, so get the basics of the business in place first.

Where Conversion Tools Fit in a High-Ticket Business

Conversion tools help once people are already arriving. If you sell expensive products, each visitor is worth a lot, which is why watching a handful of sessions can be more useful than a long report.

Before you spend on any of this, get the foundation right. Pick a category from my high-ticket niches list. Then line up reliable fulfillment with my guide to finding dropshipping suppliers.

Set up the company properly with my business formation guide, since payment processors and platforms both ask for business details. The SBA’s guide to managing your business covers the financial footing underneath.

If you want to benchmark the market you are selling into, the US Census Bureau publishes quarterly ecommerce figures. If you need hands to run the work, I recommend OnlineJobs.ph for finding a virtual assistant who can review recordings and log findings.

If you’re brand new, start with my free mini course. When you’re ready to go deeper, the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass covers the full model.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best alternative to Hotjar?
It depends on your budget and what you need. Lucky Orange bundles recordings, heatmaps, funnels, surveys and chat on every plan, Clarity is free, Mouseflow has a small free plan and Crazy Egg adds A/B testing.

Is Hotjar still available?
Contentsquare’s support site says Hotjar merged into the Contentsquare Group on 1 July 2025 and that its tools can be found in Contentsquare. Hotjar’s help center says existing Hotjar Free users can keep their accounts.

Is there a free alternative to Hotjar?
Yes. Microsoft Clarity describes itself as free forever with no limits on traffic, Mouseflow lists a free plan with 500 sessions a month and Contentsquare lists a free plan with 200,000 monthly sessions.

Which Hotjar alternative is cheapest to start with?
Among paid plans, Mouseflow Essential is listed at $25 a month, Crazy Egg Starter at $29 billed annually and Lucky Orange Build at $32 billed annually. Each counts usage differently, so compare sessions to pageviews before you decide.

Can I move my recordings from Hotjar to another tool?
I would not count on it. None of the pages I checked describe a way to import another tool’s recordings, so write down your baseline findings before you switch.

Want me to build the whole store for you? Check out my done-for-you store service → and skip the setup work entirely. Prefer to build it yourself with a guide? Join my coaching program →.

Related Articles

If you found this useful, these guides go deeper on related topics:

• Lucky Orange vs Hotjar: Only One of These Will Tell You What It Costs
• Lucky Orange Pricing 2026: Every Plan and What It Actually Costs
• Lucky Orange vs Microsoft Clarity in 2026: Is Paid Worth It Over Free?
• Lucky Orange vs Crazy Egg in 2026: Sessions or Pageviews?
• Best Heatmap Tools for Ecommerce Conversion Optimization