Hotjar
Hotjar is the behaviour-analytics layer — heatmaps, session replays, funnels and surveys — now sold and billed by Contentsquare, with the category's largest free session allowance.
Verified against: uxcrush.comomidsaffari.comprogrammerschallenge.techhotjar.com as of 2026-09-09
Quick verdict: Hotjar earns a 3.9/5 from our research, standing out for the richest free tier in behaviour analytics. It fits best when you want to watch real sessions and ask the same visitors questions — weigh the Contentsquare migration terms and the sales-only upper tiers before building on it.
- Our rating: 3.9/5
- Strongest dimension: Functionality (4/5, research only)
- Weakest dimension: Localization (2/5, research only)
- Pricing: Free plan · $39/mo
- Verification: Research-only pass over official sources, last checked 2026-09-09. Sources: uxcrush.com, omidsaffari.com, programmerschallenge.tech, hotjar.com
Hotjar pricing details
- Free plan available
- free plan is effectively the trial (200K sessions/mo)
- paid plans from $39/mo
- $49/mo Growth billed monthly (EUR pricing on the same tier)
- growth from $39/mo (€39) billed annually
Free: 200,000 sessions/mo, 1 project, replay + heatmaps + funnels + basic surveys (100 responses/mo), MCP/LLM integration; Growth from $39/mo annual ($49 monthly): up to 10M sessions, 3 projects, Sense AI summaries; Plus and Scale are sales-quoted (typical 10x jump from Growth); old per-session tiers ($39 = 100 daily sessions) were restructured under Contentsquare — many 2026 reviews still quote them
In our index: Free plan available; paid from $39/mo annual ($49 monthly); Plus/Scale sales-quoted
How Hotjar scores across our 6 index dimensions
- Functionality: 4/5 (research only)
- Usability: 4/5 (research only)
- Stability: 4/5 (research only)
- Collaboration: 3/5 (research only)
- Localization: 2/5 (research only)
- Value: 4/5 (research only)
Score rationale: Research-only: qualitative behaviour suite (replay/heatmap/funnel/survey) rather than event analytics; free 200K sessions/mo is the category's most generous; acquisition by Contentsquare moved billing and pricing pages — existing Hotjar orgs auto-migrate to Contentsquare Growth unless they opt out; site ships de/es/fr/it/ja but no Chinese interface
What Hotjar does well
- Free plan gives 200,000 sessions/mo with replay, heatmaps, funnels and basic surveys (100 responses/mo) — a behaviour suite at $0, not a crippled demo (verified 2026-09-09).
- Qualitative loop rivals cannot match at this price: watch the session, then survey the same visitor (MCP/LLM analysis hook included on free).
- Pricing: Growth from $39/mo billed annually ($49 monthly) covers up to 10M sessions and 3 projects.
- GDPR posture is a named strength across sources: EU DPA paper trail, default field masking, IP anonymization on by default.
Where Hotjar falls short
- Under Contentsquare, existing Hotjar orgs auto-switch to Contentsquare Growth unless the account owner opts out — 30 days of dual collection, then Hotjar data deleted after a 90-day read-only window (verified from 2026 reviews).
- Plus and Scale are sales-quoted only, and the step-up from Growth is reported around 10x — the self-serve ladder ends at $39-49.
- Old session-count pricing ($39 = 100 daily sessions) still circulates in 2026 reviews; the Contentsquare restructure invalidated it.
- Weakest dimension: Localization at 2/5 — de/es/fr/it/ja editions, no Chinese interface.
How Hotjar compares to other Analytics tools
Our index tracks 5 Analytics tools. Hotjar sits at 3.9/5, with growth from $39/mo (€39) billed annually. Here are the 4 closest alternatives we hold pricing and scoring evidence for.
- Plausible — 4.2/5 · 30-day free trial · $9/mo
Plausible is lightweight, privacy-first website analytics without cookies and built for compliance. - Mixpanel — 4.1/5 · Free plan · $24/mo
Mixpanel is product analytics built around events and funnels, with a free plan sized for early teams. - Amplitude — 4.0/5 · Free plan · Usage-based
Amplitude is enterprise product analytics with behavioral cohorts and path analysis, and a capable free version. - PostHog — 4.0/5 · Free plan · Usage-based
PostHog is an open-source product analytics suite with session replay, feature flags and self-hosting.
Frequently asked questions about Hotjar
How much does Hotjar cost?
Free plan available; free plan is effectively the trial (200K sessions/mo); paid plans from $39/mo; $49/mo Growth billed monthly (EUR pricing on the same tier); growth from $39/mo (€39) billed annually. Billing detail: Free: 200,000 sessions/mo, 1 project, replay + heatmaps + funnels + basic surveys (100 responses/mo), MCP/LLM integration; Growth from $39/mo annual ($49 monthly): up to 10M sessions, 3 projects, Sense AI summaries; Plus and Scale are sales-quoted (typical 10x jump from Growth); old per-session tiers ($39 = 100 daily sessions) were restructured under Contentsquare — many 2026 reviews still quote them. Figures verified 2026-09-09.
Does Hotjar have a free plan?
Yes. Hotjar has a free tier; paid plans start at $39/mo.
What is Hotjar rated in our index?
Hotjar sits at 3.9/5 in our index, strongest on functionality (4/5, research only) and weakest on localization (2/5, research only). Hotjar earns a 3.9/5 from our research, standing out for the richest free tier in behaviour analytics. It fits best when you want to watch real sessions and ask the same visitors questions — weigh the Contentsquare migration terms and the sales-only upper tiers before building on it.
What are the drawbacks of Hotjar?
Under Contentsquare, existing Hotjar orgs auto-switch to Contentsquare Growth unless the account owner opts out — 30 days of dual collection, then Hotjar data deleted after a 90-day read-only window (verified from 2026 reviews) Plus and Scale are sales-quoted only, and the step-up from Growth is reported around 10x — the self-serve ladder ends at $39-49 Old session-count pricing ($39 = 100 daily sessions) still circulates in 2026 reviews; the Contentsquare restructure invalidated it Weakest dimension: Localization at 2/5 — de/es/fr/it/ja editions, no Chinese interface.
What does Hotjar do well?
Free plan gives 200,000 sessions/mo with replay, heatmaps, funnels and basic surveys (100 responses/mo) — a behaviour suite at $0, not a crippled demo (verified 2026-09-09) Qualitative loop rivals cannot match at this price: watch the session, then survey the same visitor (MCP/LLM analysis hook included on free) Pricing: Growth from $39/mo billed annually ($49 monthly) covers up to 10M sessions and 3 projects GDPR posture is a named strength across sources: EU DPA paper trail, default field masking, IP anonymization on by default.
How was Hotjar verified?
Research-only pass over official sources, last checked 2026-09-09. Sources: uxcrush.com, omidsaffari.com, programmerschallenge.tech, hotjar.com.
What are the alternatives to Hotjar?
We track PostHog, Mixpanel, Amplitude, Plausible as the closest alternatives in our Analytics index, and 4 head-to-head comparisons against Hotjar are available.