Best Hotjar Alternatives 2024

Hotjar is a popular product experience insights platform that provides valuable data and insights into how users interact with your websites. It offers features such as heatmaps and recordings, surveys, and funnels to help you get these insights.

But while it’s a staple in user behavior analytics, this article introduces 6 of the best Hotjar alternatives just waiting to be discovered. Whether you're a budget-conscious blogger or an enterprise giant, there is an option in this list perfect for your needs 🤓

To have a framework to compare the different options, the following section will guide you through the essential criteria to consider when comparing them to Hotjar. These criteria will empower you to pinpoint the perfect fit for your requirements.

How We Compare & Group Hotjar Alternatives

There are many reasons why users seek alternatives to Hotjar. To make choosingt the best one for you easy, we'll categorize the criteria into three main factors:

1. Feature depth

• Website Surveys & Forms: Does the tool help you gather users’ voices through polls and surveys to understand your audience better?
• Heatmaps & Recordings: Do you want a tool for click maps and session replays with visitor insights?
• Integrations: Does the tool work well with your current tech stack?

2. Privacy: Is the tool fully GDPR, CCPA, or HIPAA compliant? What about data ownership?
3. Extensibility: Do they provide API services for extensibility and customization?
4. Pricing: Freemium and Premium Plans

Moving forward, we’ll group these Hotjar alternatives into two different categories: first, for website survey tools, and second, for behavioral analysis tools.

Two Hotjar Ask Alternatives For Website Surveys

1. Formbricks
2. SurveyMonkey

Four Hotjar Alternatives For User Behavior Analysis

1. Smartlook
2. Lucky Orange
3. FullStory
4. MouseFlow

Enough setting up, let's dive right in! 🤿

Hotjar Ask Alternatives For Targeted Website Surveys

Formbricks - The Open Source Hotjar Alternative

Formbricks is open-source survey software designed to gather specific feedback at the perfect moment in the user or customer journey. Formbricks allows you to create and deploy targeted surveys within your app, website, or links without disrupting your user experience.

Formbricks is super good at one thing: making your surveys and survey experiences awesome. We show you why people abandon your surveys, which questions cause churn, and how to fix them to get more people to finish. No heatmaps or fancy recordings, just laser focus on surveys.

Formbricks vs Hotjar

TL;DR: Let’s see how Formbricks compares side-by-side to Hotjar.

Factors	Formbricks	Hotjar
Surveys & Forms	🟢	🟡🟢
Heatmaps & Recordings	🔴	🟢
Integrations	🟡🟢	🟡🟢
Pricing	🟢	🟡🟢
Privacy and Compliance	🟢	🟡
Extensibility	🟢	🟡

Now, we’ll go into the details.

Feature depth

• Surveys & Forms: Formbricks offers a diverse range of survey templates, including options like Product-Market fit, Improving Newsletter Content, and NPS surveys. These surveys can be seamlessly to your website using the Formbricks SDK.

  To learn more about setting up the Formbricks widget, visit our guide on How to set up the Formbricks widget.

  Furthermore, Formbricks provides a comprehensive analytics dashboard that assists in optimizing survey conversion rates. This dashboard helps gather user data, analyze drop-offs, and track the number of users who viewed your surveys. The level of analytics provided by Formbricks is comparable to Hotjar's offerings.

• Heatmaps & Recordings: Formbricks focuses on surveys. No fancy website heatmaps here for now, but you get detailed insights into individual form fields and how users interact with them. If you’re looking for open source heatmaps, OpenReplay might be worth checking out.

• Integrations: Formbricks integrates with popular tools like Zapier, Make.com, Airtable, Notion, and Slack, and these integrations are all available on its Free Plan. The Formbricks team and open-source community are continuously adding more integrations.

  Hotjar, on the other hand, offers integrations with many tools for their surveys, but these are only available on their Business Plan. The Basic plan offers just one integration (HubSpot).

Privacy: Formbricks takes data privacy very seriously. Hence, we take on considerable additional effort to collect as little data as necessary and handle it safely and securely.

Formbricks is easily self-hostable and if you do so you have full control over the data you collect. This removes a huge chunk of privacy compliance and security reviews because the data never leaves your servers. Our privacy policy does not apply here, since no data is ever processed by Formbricks (the company).

We also offer Formbricks as a managed service in the Cloud. Formbricks Cloud is hosted by a German entity (GmbH) in Germany and comes with full GDPR and CCPA compliance. Learn more about how we handle private data on our Cloud in the Privacy Policy. We also provide a guide on how to create a GDPR compliant survey as well as GDPR FAQs.

Extensibility: Formbricks stands out for its open-source nature and extensive API access, available on all plans. This unique feature allows users to customize and enhance their experience without limitations. In contrast, Hotjar's API access is restricted to its Scale plan, which comes at a higher price point of $128/month with as little as 500 sessions / day.

Pricing: Both tools have free plans, but Formbricks gives you more value on a free plan than Hotjar. Ultimately, Formbricks offers a lot more value for your money, especially if you’re mostly interested in running surveys.

If you decide to self-host Formbricks on your servers, the community edition is completely free including Branding Removal. If you require the Enterprise Edition because you need Team Roles, Advanced Targeting or Multi-language Surveys, please reach out.

SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey prides itself on being the global leader in online surveys and forms, and rightfully so, as it has been around for over 20 years. It is an online survey software that helps you create and run professional online surveys.

According to their website, SurveyMonkey provides answers to more than 20 million questions every day, helping organizations of all sizes build products people love, create winning marketing strategies, delight their customers, and cultivate an engaged and happy workforce.

SurveyMonkey vs Hotjar

TL:DR: How SurveyMonkey compares side-by-side to Hotjar.

Factors	SurveyMonkey	Hotjar
Surveys & Forms	🟡🟢	🟡🟢
Heatmaps & Recordings	🔴	🟢
Integrations	🟡🟢	🟡🟢
Privacy and Compliance	🟢	🟢
Extensibility	🟡🟢	🟡🟢
Pricing	🟢	🟡

Now, let’s dive into the details.

Feature depth:

• Surveys & Forms: SurveyMonkey provides over 150 survey templates cutting across different categories ranging from customer feedback, human resources, and events, among many others. However, most of its survey templates and features, like adding a custom logo, logic skips, and analysis features, are only available on paid plans.

  Another feature that gives SurveyMonkey an edge over competitors is their recently rolled out Build with AI feature; if you don’t know where or how to start building your survey, all you have to do is enter a prompt into the text area stating what you need a survey for.

• Heatmaps & Recordings: SurveyMonkey does not offer heatmaps or recording features, unlike Hotjar. However, if you need feedback on an image, they provide a click map feature, which is available on paid plans.

• Integrations: SurveyMonkey integrates with popular apps like Office 365, Google Drive, and Slack, but these integrations are only available on the Team plans.

Privacy: Like Hotjar, SurveyMonkey complies with GDPR and CCPA regulations, although its HIPAA-compliant features are only available on its enterprise plans.

Extensibility: SurveyMonkey provides an API to integrate survey data into your mobile and web applications. But it’s only available on its Enterprise Plan.

Pricing: SurveyMonkey’s paid plans begin at $25/month whereas paid plans for Hotjar surveys begin at $47.2/month. However, don’t forget that SurveyMonkey is a full-fledged survey software, so you’ll get more value for your money if you are concerned about only surveys.

4 Hotjar Alternatives For User Behavior Analysis

Smartlook - G2 Crowd Award Winner

Smartlook, which was recently acquired by Cisco, is a comprehensive product analytics and visual user insights tool designed to help businesses gain deep insights into user behavior on their websites or mobile applications. Like Hotjar, it offers a range of features, including heatmaps, surveys, and session recordings, that enable organizations to understand, analyze, and optimize the user experience.

It has received numerous awards and recognition, including the G2 Crowd Awards for Top 100 Software Products and Best Products for Marketers, as well as being named on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 in Central Europe.

Smartlook vs Hotjar

TL;DR: How Smartlook compares side-by-side to Hotjar.

Factors	Smartlook	Hotjar
Surveys & Forms	🟡🟢	🟢
Heatmaps & Recordings	🟢	🟢
Integrations	🟢	🟢
Privacy and Compliance	🟢	🟢
Extensibility	🟡🟢	🟡
Pricing	🔴	🟢

Next, we’ll into the details.

Feature depth:

• Surveys: Smartlook also offers survey features in addition to user behavior analysis tools. However, it does not offer standalone surveys, unlike Hotjar. Instead, you can create surveys through its integration with Survicate.

  For a deeper look into Survicate, check out our article on best feedback apps.

• Heatmaps & Recordings: Similar to Hotjar, Smartlook provides comprehensive heatmap and recording features. Your recordings are displayed on a dashboard with versatile filtering capabilities and customizable user information. You can also save recordings to a vault session in case the amount of time designated for them to remain in your account expires due to your purchase plan.

  Smartlook provides three types of heatmap overlays for heatmaps: click and move, and scroll overlays to help you see how your users use your website.

• Integrations: Both platforms work well with many external tools. However, if you're a big enterprise seeking a broader selection of tools, Hotjar is the better choice, but it's worth noting that with Hotjar, only Hubspot and Microsoft Teams integrations are available on free plans.

Privacy and Compliance: Smartlook is privacy compliant just like Hotjar. Smartlook stores all data on EU servers. If you collect personal data with Smartlook, GDPR applies. Smartlook is also fully CCPA compliant.

Extensibility: Smartlook, like Hotjar, provides a REST API you can build on top of, and it’s available across all plans; however, there are rate limits across the plans. Its free plan accepts only twenty (20) requests per hour; its paid plan accepts one hundred (100) requests per hour, and its REST API add-on accepts one thousand (1,000) requests per hour.

On the contrary, Hotjar’s API integration for heatmaps and recordings is only available on its scale plan at $170.4/month.

Pricing: Compared to Hotjar, Smartlook is relatively more expensive. Its pro plan provides only 30 heatmaps a month and three months of storage. Hotjar’s equivalent business plan offers unlimited heatmaps with 12 months of data storage

Lucky Orange

Lucky Orange is a tool for web analytics and conversion optimization. It helps businesses understand how users behave on their websites. Its features include surveys, session recordings, live viewing, and conversion funnels. These features move beyond vanity metrics, aiming to uncover the reasons behind visitors' actions on your website.

LuckyOrange vs Hotjar

TL:DR: Let’s see how they compare side-by-side.

Factors	Lucky Orange	Hotjar
Surveys & Forms	🟢	🟢
Heatmaps & Recordings	🟡🟢	🟢
Integrations	🟡	🟢
Privacy and Compliance	🟢	🟢
Extensibility	🟡	🟢
Pricing	🟡	🟢

Next, we’ll take a look at the details.

Feature depth:

• Surveys: Like Hotjar, Lucky Orange offers survey features. You can choose from four survey types that suit your needs. They include Multiple Choice, Like or Dislike, rating, and open-ended surveys.

  You can also customize how your survey is triggered based on your users’ location on your website and their devices, or if you want a delay before your survey is triggered. There are also advanced settings with which you can customize your survey.

• Heatmaps & Recordings: Both Lucky Orange and Hotjar offer session recordings; however, while this feature is on par with Hotjar’s features like filtering, some users still report that the session viewer crashes when watching a desktop session on the mobile screen.

• Integrations: Lucky Orange offers a smaller but growing selection of integrations compared to Hotjar, focusing on essentials like Google Analytics, CMS platforms, and marketing automation tools.

Privacy & Compliance: Lucky Orange tools, like Hotjar, are fully CCPA and GDPR-compliant. This means that it does not store sensitive information, ensuring a secure and trustworthy environment for user data.

Extensibility: Lucky Orange currently works with fewer third-party tools than Hotjar. This might be a drawback for large companies. However, they're planning to add support for a public API in the future. This means you'll be able to build on top of it.

Pricing: Lucky Orange offers pricing plans suitable for businesses of different sizes, including a 7-day free trial; as of the time of writing this article, they begin at $32 per month. Each of these plans is based on sessions but only has 60-day data storage, unlike Hojar, which provides data storage for 365 days.

FullStory

FullStory is a comprehensive user experience analytics platform that enables businesses to gain detailed insights into user interactions with their websites and applications. Through features such as session recordings, dynamic heatmaps, and advanced analytics, FullStory provides a nuanced understanding of user behavior.

FullStory vs Hotjar

TL;DR: FullStory vs Hotjar side by side.

Factors	FullStory	Hotjar
Surveys & Forms	🟢	🟢
Heatmaps & Recordings	🟢	🟢
Integrations	🟢	🟢
Pricing	🟡	🟢
Privacy and Compliance	🟢	🟢
Extensibility	🟡	🟡

Features depth:

• Surveys: Both FullStory and Hotjar offer survey features, with FullStory utilizing integration with third-party tools like Survicate and SurveyMonkey for versatility and in-depth feedback.

  FullStory wins here if you are looking for a versatile tool to integrate with other existing third-party survey tools. However, if you want an all-in-one solution, Hotjar is your go-to solution.>

• Heatmaps & Recordings: FullStory's interactive heatmaps and detailed visuals help you better understand how users interact with your website, improving the analysis of page activities. This feature is similar to what Hotjar offers.

  However, a notable difference is that in FullStory, you can't save a session to watch later. So, if you find a recording interesting and want to see it again, you'll need to search for it manually when you want to revisit it.

• Integrations: Like Hotjar, FullStory integrates seamlessly with various third-party tools, enhancing its versatility and allowing users to integrate it into their existing tech stack.

Privacy & Compliance: You are in full control of what data FullStory captures and saves. FullStory is not just GDPR and CCPA-compliant but also holds a SOC 2 Type II attestation and a SOC 3 report.

Extensibility: FullStory also provides several APIs, like Hotjar, including a Webhooks API that enables developers to build on top of its functionality and integrate it into their workflows. However, it’s worth noting that this is available on paid plans.

Pricing: FullStory does not have a free plan, and the price for paid plans is available upon request from the sales team. Although their pricing page states that you get a 14-day free trial for their business plan.

Mouseflow

Mouseflow is a web analytics tool designed to provide insights into user behavior on websites. It offers features such as session recordings, heatmaps, surveys, and funnel analysis to help businesses optimize user experiences and conversions.

MouseFlow vs Hotjar

TL;DR: MouseFlow side-by-side with Hotjar.

Factors	Mouseflow	Hotjar
Surveys & Forms	🟢	🟡🟢
Heatmaps & Recordings	🟢	🟡🟢
Integrations	🟢	🟢
Pricing	🟢	🟢
Privacy and Compliance	🟢	🟢
Extensibility	🟡	🟡

Feature depth

• Surveys: Mouseflow provides you with a funnel-like analysis for in-depth form analytics, which is not available on Hotjar. With Mouseflow, you can replay sessions from visitors who dropped out or succeeded in completing the form. It also helps you analyze how users interact with each of your form fields.

• Heatmaps & Recordings: Mouseflow, like Hojar, provides heatmaps and session recordings to visualize user interactions and behaviors, aiding in the analysis of website engagement.

  However, Hotjar samples the data you collect daily. That is, you are allowed to review just a small fraction of the whole set of data you receive daily. For example, if you have 3000 recordings per month, you are allowed to record just 100 daily sessions on standard plans.

• Integrations: Mouseflow, like Hotjar, integrates with about 58 third-party tools, including other analytics, eCommerce, CMS, and marketing platforms in your stack.

Privacy & Compliance: Mouseflow is committed to data protection. It’s compliant with GDPR, CCPA, CPRA, and VCDPA.

Extensibility: Like Hotjar, Mouseflow's open REST API and Webhooks enable developers to build custom integrations, connecting them to virtually any platform or tool imaginable. However, the API is only available on its Growth plan, starting at $109/month.

Pricing: Mouseflow's pricing is tiered based on usage and additional features. It offers a range of plans to accommodate businesses of different sizes.

Its free plan comes with 500 recordings per month, unlimited page views, and a month of storage, all for one website. Paid plans begin at $31/month, however, if you are an enterprise, you can contact their sales team to create a customized plan.

So, which option is the better fit for you?

If you're seeking a comprehensive solution encompassing heatmaps, recordings, surveys, and a strong focus on privacy, MouseFlow emerges as a prime choice.

On the other hand, if your primary emphasis is on forms and surveys, Formbricks stands out as the optimal Hotjar alternative. What's even more noteworthy is that it is the sole open-source solution for website surveys available. This translates to not just being completely free to use if you self-host, but also offering the freedom for modification due to its extensibility and the liberty to seamlessly integrate with your preferred tools.