Hotjar Alternatives for Session Replay and Heatmaps

The strongest Hotjar alternatives depend on which half of Hotjar you use. If you mostly look at heatmaps, Microsoft Clarity, Mouseflow and Lucky Orange cover the same ground. If you mostly watch recordings to understand problems, FullStory, PostHog, Smartlook and AnyReplay go deeper on replay, mobile apps or self-hosting.

This guide compares seven tools like Hotjar by what they are generally known for, whether they can be self-hosted, and whether they record mobile apps. It does not list prices or plan limits, which change often; check each vendor's site for those.

Why teams look for a Hotjar alternative

Hotjar is generally known for heatmaps, session recordings and on-page surveys and feedback, aimed at marketers, designers and product teams. It is part of the Contentsquare group. It is a good default, and many teams never need to move. The usual reasons people search for Hotjar competitors are narrower:

• Cost at volume. Recording many sessions on a hosted plan adds up, so teams look for a free Hotjar alternative or one that samples well.
• Mobile apps. Hotjar is built around websites. Teams shipping a native or React Native app often want a tool with a dedicated mobile SDK.
• Data control. Some privacy reviews ask for self-hosting, or at least a clear answer on masking defaults and consent.
• Depth over breadth. Engineers and support teams may want better replay, search and identification rather than surveys.

Hotjar alternatives at a glance

The alternatives, one by one

Microsoft Clarity

Microsoft Clarity is generally known as the free option: heatmaps and session recordings from Microsoft, with automatic flags for things like rage clicks. For a marketing site where the main question is how visitors move through a page, it covers most of what teams use Hotjar for. It is hosted only, and the data sits with Microsoft. Our Clarity comparison goes into the differences in detail, and the Microsoft Clarity alternatives guide looks at it from the other side.

Mouseflow

Mouseflow positions itself around heatmaps, session recordings, conversion funnels and form analytics. It is the closest match if you use Hotjar to find out which form fields slow people down or where a checkout loses them. Check their site for current plans, mobile support and data residency options.

Lucky Orange

Lucky Orange is generally known for heatmaps and recordings alongside live chat and surveys, often for small businesses and online shops. If your Hotjar use leans on feedback widgets and talking to visitors, it keeps those together. Check their docs for what the recordings capture and how masking is configured.

FullStory

FullStory positions itself as an enterprise digital experience and behavioural analytics platform. It autocaptures interactions so you can build searches and metrics after the fact, and it offers mobile SDKs. It suits larger organisations that want analytics depth rather than a lightweight heatmap tool. See our FullStory comparison and the FullStory alternatives guide.

PostHog

PostHog is an open-source product platform: product analytics, session replay, feature flags, experiments and surveys, available in the cloud or self-hosted. If you want to replace Hotjar and a separate analytics tool at the same time, it is worth a look. Check their docs for the current state of heatmaps and mobile replay. See AnyReplay vs PostHog session replay.

Smartlook

Smartlook is generally known for recording both websites and native mobile apps, with events and funnels on top. It is part of Cisco. For teams whose product is mainly a native iOS or Android app, it is one of the more direct Hotjar alternatives. See the Smartlook comparison.

AnyReplay

AnyReplay is narrower than Hotjar on purpose. It records web sessions and React Native apps, and a reviewer can watch any session translated into English, Turkish, German, Spanish or French. Masking runs in the browser before anything is sent — every field value is masked by default, and passwords and payment fields are never recorded in any configuration — requireConsent: true holds recording until your consent banner says yes, and replay runs in an iframe that cannot execute the page's scripts. The browser SDK is about 35 KB gzipped.

It does not build heatmaps, funnels or surveys, and it does not capture console logs or network requests. AnyReplay is in early access with a free plan: 1 project and 500 sessions a month. See AnyReplay vs Hotjar and pricing.

Is there a free alternative to Hotjar?

Yes. Microsoft Clarity is the best-known free Hotjar alternative for heatmaps and recordings. PostHog can be self-hosted from its open-source code, which moves the cost to your own servers, and several hosted tools have free tiers with limits. AnyReplay has a free plan with 1 project and 500 sessions a month. Free tiers change, so check current limits on each site; the free session replay tools guide compares them further.

Is Microsoft Clarity better than Hotjar?

It depends on what you use Hotjar for. Clarity is generally seen as a strong match for heatmaps and recordings, and it costs nothing. Hotjar is generally known for broader feedback tooling, such as surveys and feedback widgets, and for a longer list of integrations. If surveys are not part of your workflow, Clarity is often enough. If they are, Hotjar or Lucky Orange keeps them in one place.

What is similar to Hotjar but open source?

PostHog is the closest open-source tool to Hotjar's mix of replay, analytics and surveys. OpenReplay is open source and self-hostable but focuses on replay with developer tools rather than heatmaps. For a build-your-own approach, rrweb is the MIT-licensed recording library many tools use. AnyReplay's SDKs are MIT-licensed, but the AnyReplay platform is not open source. See open-source session replay tools.

Does Hotjar work on mobile apps?

Hotjar is built for websites, so it records visitors on mobile browsers. For native or React Native apps, check Hotjar's docs for current support. If you ship an app, Smartlook and FullStory are generally known for native mobile SDKs, and AnyReplay records React Native apps as a wireframe of the element tree, with no native module and support for Expo Go on the New Architecture. AnyReplay does not record fully native Swift or Kotlin apps.

How to choose

1. Name the question you answer most. "Where do people click on this page?" points to a heatmap tool. "What went wrong for this customer?" points to replay. Heatmaps vs session replay explains the trade-off.
2. List your platforms. Website only, React Native, or fully native apps narrow the list quickly.
3. Decide where recordings may live. If they must stay on your infrastructure, only self-hostable tools remain.
4. Check the privacy defaults. Ask what is masked before you configure anything and how recording waits for consent.
5. Run two tools side by side for a week. Most scripts can coexist, and real sessions settle the question faster than feature lists.

Where AnyReplay fits (and where it doesn't)

AnyReplay fits teams whose users and reviewers do not share a language, teams shipping React Native apps, and teams whose privacy review wants masking they configure in one line, applied in the browser, and a documented self-hosting path, which is available on the Enterprise plan. Sessions can be searched by email or URL, filtered by errors, rage clicks or custom events, and opened on a timeline with every click and route change marked.

It is the wrong choice if heatmaps, funnels, surveys or feedback widgets are what you rely on Hotjar for, or if you need a hosted tool that is free for as much traffic as you have. Many teams keep a heatmap tool for the aggregate view and use AnyReplay for individual sessions.

Frequently asked questions

Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity, Mouseflow, Lucky Orange, FullStory, PostHog and Smartlook are trademarks of their owners. AnyReplay is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. Descriptions are general and may be out of date; check each vendor's site for current features, pricing and limits.