Is Hotjar worth the price?
5/10
Hotjar (now Contentsquare) offers solid heatmaps and recordings but pricing got complicated after the merger.
The free plan is generous at 200K sessions/mo, but Growth at $49/mo is steep when Microsoft Clarity offers unlimited sessions free.
Pricing Plans
15-day Free TrialBasic
Free
- 35 sessions/day
- 20 survey responses/month
- 5 user interviews/month
Plus
$39/month
- 100 daily sessions
- 250 survey responses
- 15 user interviews
Business
$99/month
- 500 daily sessions
- 500 survey responses
- 30 user interviews
- Funnels
Hidden Costs & Gotchas
Three separate products (Observe, Ask, Engage) each billed independently
Growth plan sessions start at just 7,000/mo despite paying $49/mo — confusing jump from 200K free sessions
Invoice billing costs $118/year more than credit card payment ($588 vs $470 annually)
Pro and Enterprise pricing is completely opaque — contact sales only
Data retained for only 365 days with no paid extension option
No option to buy additional SMS credits — hit the cap and recordings stop
Which Plan Do You Need?
UX researchers
Product managers
Conversion optimization teams
E-commerce sites
Our Recommendation
startup
Start with free tier (200K sessions). Only upgrade to Growth if you need AI insights or advanced filtering. Consider Microsoft Clarity as a free alternative first.
enterprise
Pro or Enterprise for 1M+ sessions. Negotiate hard — Contentsquare pricing ranges $15K–170K/year.
freelancer
Free tier handles most client sites. Microsoft Clarity is a better free option with unlimited recordings.
How Hotjar Compares to Competitors
Microsoft Clarity is completely free with unlimited heatmaps and session recordings — hard to beat on value. FullStory offers deeper product analytics but starts at custom enterprise pricing. Amplitude focuses on product analytics with a generous free tier (50K MTUs). Hotjar wins on survey/feedback tools (Ask product) but loses on value for pure heatmaps/recordings.
