Hotjar’s free plan is real but tight: 35 recordings a day. Every tool below has a permanent free tier, not a trial. They are ordered by how much you get for nothing, and the limit is stated on each one so you can see where you would hit the ceiling.
Out of the 9 Hotjar alternatives we test. Ranked with permanently-free tools first — never by affiliate payout.
Enterprise digital-experience analytics with session replay and anomaly AI.
Our take: Overkill for a marketing site, right for product teams: Signal AI and full session replay justify the complexity and the custom pricing at enterprise scale — not before.
eCommerce-focused analytics with heatmaps plus live chat.
Our take: The value pick for stores: $10/mo gets heatmaps, recordings, funnels, form analytics and live chat — a lot of surface for the price if you run on Shopify/Woo.
Free, unlimited heatmaps and session recordings from Microsoft.
Our take: The default first install. Free and genuinely unlimited — if budget is the question, start here and only leave when you hit a specific wall.
Six heatmap types plus proprietary friction scoring and form analytics.
Our take: The analyst’s heatmap tool: the widest heatmap set plus Friction Score and form analytics make it the pick when you actually dig into sessions, not just glance.
SEO and conversion suite with heatmaps, session replays and funnels.
Our take: The marketer’s multi-tool: if you want heatmaps, an SEO audit and conversion pop-ups from one cheap subscription, Plerdy covers more ground for the money than a pure heatmap tool.
Open-source product analytics with heatmaps, session replay and a generous free tier.
Our take: The developer/SaaS pick: heatmaps and replay ride along with real product analytics, feature flags and A/B testing in one open-source stack — overkill for a brochure site, ideal for a product team.
Cross-platform (web + mobile app) recordings, heatmaps and funnels.
Our take: The one to shortlist if you need to record a mobile app and a website with the same tool — that cross-platform reach is its real reason to exist.
Enterprise experimentation platform: A/B testing with heatmaps and session recordings.
Our take: The pick when heatmaps are one input to a real experimentation program: VWO pairs recordings and heatmaps with serious A/B and multivariate testing — right for CRO teams, heavy for anyone who just wants a heatmap.