Hotjar Pricing 2026: Plans & Reviews
Heatmaps and session recordings
Quick Verdict
Bottom Line
Hotjar is now part of Contentsquare (acquired 2021, fully merged July 2025). If you visit hotjar.com/pricing, it redirects to contentsquare.com/pricing — that's not a bug, it's the new reality. The good news: the free tier got better. You now get 200K monthly sessions and 10K session replays for free (Hotjar's old free plan was far more limited). The Growth plan starts at $49/month for heatmaps and session recordings. We've tracked Hotjar's pricing page across 100 snapshots since November 2025 and watched the transition to Contentsquare pricing in real time. The product is essentially the same Hotjar — heatmaps, recordings, surveys — but now under Contentsquare branding with a broader feature set. For teams that just want heatmaps and basic recordings, the free plan is generous enough to start.
Who Should Use It
- UX designers and product managers who need visual user behavior data
- CRO specialists optimizing landing pages and conversion funnels
- Marketing teams who want to see how users interact with campaigns
- Small businesses wanting a free heatmap and recording tool
Who Should Skip It
- Teams needing quantitative product analytics (use Mixpanel or Amplitude)
- Developers wanting open-source session replay (use PostHog)
- High-traffic sites needing 1M+ session recordings (Contentsquare Pro pricing is enterprise-level)
- Companies on tight budgets needing both heatmaps and surveys (Growth is $49/mo + $99/mo separately)
Our Monitoring Data
We've tracked Hotjar's pricing page across 100 snapshots since November 2025 — which means we captured the Contentsquare transition in real time. Our monitoring data shows the hotjar.com/pricing redirect to contentsquare.com/pricing became permanent during our tracking period. The free tier expanded from Hotjar's old Basic plan (limited sessions) to Contentsquare's 200K sessions, which is a genuine improvement for users.
What is Hotjar?
Hotjar was founded in 2014 in Malta and quickly became the most popular heatmap and session recording tool for small-to-mid-size businesses. In 2021, Contentsquare (a French enterprise analytics company) acquired Hotjar. By July 2025, the merger was complete — Hotjar's pricing page now redirects to contentsquare.com.
What does this mean for users? The core Hotjar features remain: heatmaps that show where users click, scroll, and move their mouse; session recordings that replay real user visits; and surveys/feedback widgets for qualitative insights. The Contentsquare integration adds enterprise features like AI-powered analysis, revenue-attributed heatmaps, and zone-based analytics.
The pricing structure has been reorganized. Contentsquare now splits features into three products: Experience Analytics (DXA) for heatmaps and recordings, Voice of Customer (VoC) for surveys and feedback, and Product Analytics (PA) for funnel and behavior analysis. What used to be one "Hotjar" subscription is now potentially three separate products — though the free tiers cover basics across all three.
For most teams searching for "Hotjar pricing," you're looking at Experience Analytics (DXA) — that's the direct successor to the original Hotjar product.
Key Features That Affect Pricing
| Feature | Free | Pro | Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly sessions | 200K | 7K-200K (Growth) | 1M+ (Pro/Enterprise) |
| Session replays | 10K/mo | 7K-20K/mo | Custom |
| Heatmaps | Unlimited | ✅ + Zone-based | Revenue-attributed |
| Surveys | 100 responses/mo | 500+ (separate VoC plan) | Custom |
| Data retention | 1 month | 13 months | Custom |
| AI analysis (Sense AI) | ✅ (Growth) | ✅ |
What Makes Hotjar Different
- 1Free tier: 200K sessions + 10K recordings + unlimited heatmaps – The Contentsquare free plan is more generous than old Hotjar Basic. 200K monthly sessions is enough for most small-to-mid-size websites. You get real data without a credit card.
- 2See exactly what users do — not just what they click – Session recordings show the full user journey: hesitation, rage clicks, scroll depth, form abandonment. This qualitative data answers 'why' users behave a certain way, not just 'what' they do.
- 3AI-powered insights (Sense AI) on Growth+ – Contentsquare's Sense AI automatically identifies friction points, summarizes session patterns, and highlights conversion opportunities. This saves hours of manual session review.
Hotjar Pricing Plans 2025
Free (Experience Analytics)
Best for: Small websites wanting heatmaps and basic session recordings
- Up to 200K monthly sessions tracked
- 10K session replays per month
- Unlimited heatmaps (click, scroll, move)
- Basic funnels
- Standard filters
- 7 integrations
- 1 month data retention
Value Analysis: Excellent starting point. 200K sessions covers most websites under ~50K monthly visitors. 10K recordings per month is enough to identify major UX issues. The 1-month data retention is the biggest limitation — you can't compare month-over-month trends.
Growth (Experience Analytics)
Best for: Growing businesses optimizing conversion rates
- 7K-200K monthly sessions (tiered pricing)
- 7K-20K session replays per month
- Sense AI (automatic friction detection)
- Zone-based heatmaps
- Journey analysis
- Impact quantification
- 13 months data retention
- 9 integrations
Value Analysis: The $49/month starting price is for 7K sessions — most businesses need a higher tier. At 50K sessions: ~$199/month. At 200K sessions: ~$739/month. The AI features justify the upgrade if you're actively optimizing conversions.
Pro (Experience Analytics)
Best for: Mid-market companies needing advanced analytics and high volume
- 1M+ monthly sessions
- Multi-session replay summaries with AI
- Revenue-attributed heatmaps
- Precision filtering with retroactive analysis
- 115+ integrations
- Priority support
Value Analysis: The jump from Growth ($739/month at 200K sessions) to Pro is significant. Pro adds revenue attribution — seeing which page elements drive actual revenue — which is powerful for e-commerce. Worth exploring when your Growth bill exceeds $500/month.
Enterprise (Experience Analytics)
Best for: Large organizations needing compliance, monitoring, and multi-site analytics
- 1M+ monthly sessions
- Digital Experience Monitoring
- Error summaries and performance tracking
- Data feeds for BI integration
- Unlimited projects
- Enterprise security and compliance
Value Analysis: Enterprise adds monitoring capabilities (error tracking, performance) that overlap with tools like Datadog or Sentry. Best for organizations that want a single platform for experience analytics + monitoring.
Hidden Costs to Watch Out For
- 1. Surveys are now a separate product ($99+/month): Old Hotjar bundled surveys with heatmaps. Contentsquare separates them into 'Voice of Customer' (VoC) — a separate plan starting at $99/month for Growth. If you need both heatmaps AND surveys, budget $148+/month minimum.
- 2. Session volume tiers escalate quickly: Growth starts at $49/month for 7K sessions, but most businesses need more. 50K sessions costs ~$199/month. 200K sessions costs ~$739/month. That's a 15x range within the same plan name.
- 3. Product Analytics is yet another separate plan: Contentsquare's funnel and behavior analytics (Product Analytics) is a third product with its own pricing. Full Contentsquare coverage across all three products can cost 3x what Hotjar alone used to cost.
Pro tip: Start with the free Experience Analytics plan — 200K sessions and 10K recordings is genuinely enough to identify your biggest UX issues. Only upgrade to Growth ($49/month) when you need AI analysis or 13-month data retention. If you need surveys, consider Typeform or Google Forms first — they're cheaper than the $99/month VoC plan for basic feedback collection.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Most generous free heatmap and recording plan available – 200K sessions and 10K recordings per month at $0. Competitors like FullStory and Mouseflow offer much smaller free tiers. For small businesses, this is months of free insights.
- Visual data that anyone can understand – Heatmaps and session recordings don't require analytics expertise. Show a stakeholder a heatmap of where users click and they get it immediately. No charts, no SQL, no data literacy required.
- Contentsquare AI adds genuine value – Sense AI automatically flags friction points (rage clicks, dead clicks, u-turns) and summarizes patterns across sessions. This saves hours of manual session review for CRO teams.
- Established tool with massive community – Hotjar has been the go-to heatmap tool since 2014. Thousands of tutorials, case studies, and integration guides exist. Your team probably already knows how to use it.
Cons
- Surveys separated into expensive standalone product – The biggest downside of the Contentsquare merger: surveys went from bundled to $99+/month separate. Teams that used Hotjar for both heatmaps and surveys now pay significantly more.
- Confusing pricing structure post-merger – Three separate products (DXA, VoC, PA) with their own tiers. It's hard to calculate total cost. Old Hotjar pricing was simple — one plan, one price. Contentsquare pricing requires a spreadsheet.
- Session volume pricing can be unpredictable – A marketing campaign or seasonal traffic spike can push you into a higher session tier mid-month. Unlike event-based tools (Mixpanel), you can't easily control session count.
- Not a replacement for product analytics – Heatmaps and recordings show individual behavior. They don't show aggregate funnels, retention cohorts, or feature adoption rates. You still need Mixpanel, Amplitude, or similar.
Our Take
We've monitored Hotjar's pricing page across 100 snapshots since November 2025 and watched the Contentsquare transition happen in real time. Our data shows the redirect from hotjar.com/pricing to contentsquare.com/pricing became permanent during our monitoring period. The free tier actually improved — 200K sessions is far more generous than old Hotjar Basic. But the unbundling of surveys into a separate $99/month product is a real cost increase for existing Hotjar users. I recommend the free plan for heatmaps and recordings — it's excellent — and using a cheaper survey tool (Typeform, Tally) instead of the Contentsquare VoC plan unless you need AI-powered survey analysis.
Is Hotjar Right for You?
Solo marketer / Small business
Free Experience Analytics plan. 200K sessions + 10K recordings covers most small sites.
Recommended: Free
Monthly cost: $0
Identify top UX issues without spending anything. Heatmaps alone can improve conversion rates 10-20%.
Growing e-commerce / SaaS
Growth DXA ($49-199/month) for AI insights and 13-month data retention.
Recommended: Growth
Monthly cost: $49-199
AI friction detection identifies conversion blockers. 1% conversion improvement on $100K revenue = $1,000/month.
CRO team / Agency
Growth DXA + VoC ($148+/month) for complete qualitative research stack.
Recommended: Growth DXA + VoC
Monthly cost: $148+
Combined heatmaps + surveys + recordings = complete user research toolkit. Replaces 2-3 separate tools.
Enterprise / High-traffic
Pro or Enterprise with custom pricing. Revenue-attributed heatmaps justify the premium.
Recommended: Pro/Enterprise
Monthly cost: Custom
Skip Hotjar If:
- •You need quantitative product analytics (funnels, retention, cohorts) — use Mixpanel or Amplitude
- •You want an open-source, self-hosted solution — use PostHog (includes session replay + analytics)
- •You only need surveys and feedback — Typeform or Tally is cheaper than Contentsquare VoC ($99/mo)
- •Your budget is tight and you need heatmaps + surveys bundled — Microsoft Clarity (free heatmaps) + Google Forms is $0
Hotjar Alternatives & Competitors
| Tool | Starting Price | Free Tier | Best For | Key Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CurrentHotjar (Contentsquare) | Free / $49-739+/mo | Visual UX insights with heatmaps and session recordings | Most popular heatmap tool, now part of Contentsquare with AI features | |
| Microsoft Clarity | Free (unlimited) | Budget-conscious teams wanting free heatmaps and recordings | Completely free with unlimited sessions. No surveys or advanced features. | |
| FullStory | Custom (enterprise-focused) | Enterprise teams needing detailed session replay with DX data | More detailed session capture, frustration signals, enterprise pricing | |
| PostHog | Free / Usage-based | Dev-first teams wanting analytics + session replay in one open-source tool | Open-source, includes product analytics, 15K free recordings/month |
Detailed Comparisons
Hotjar vs Microsoft Clarity
You need AI-powered analysis, surveys, advanced filtering, or professional support
Budget is your priority — Clarity is free with unlimited sessions and still offers solid heatmaps and recordings
Hotjar vs FullStory
You're a small-to-mid-size business and the free tier or Growth plan meets your needs
You're an enterprise needing detailed digital experience intelligence with robust search and segmentation
Hotjar vs PostHog
You want a proven, user-friendly heatmap tool that non-technical team members can use immediately
You're a dev-first team wanting open-source analytics + session replay + feature flags in one platform
Frequently Asked Questions
Pricing
How much does Hotjar cost in 2026?
Why does Hotjar pricing redirect to Contentsquare?
Is Hotjar still free?
Are Hotjar surveys still included in the heatmap plan?
What's the difference between Hotjar and Contentsquare?
Features
Is Microsoft Clarity better than Hotjar?
Can Hotjar replace Google Analytics?
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