Hotjar is a behavior analytics and website optimization tool that helps you understand how users behave on your site, what they need, and how they feel. It uses visuals, such as heatmaps, records users’ sessions, uses surveys to gather feedback, and identifies your most prominent user experience issues and their fixes.
It’s a leading solution for anyone who wants to go above and beyond traditional web and behavior analytics. However, as good as Hotjar is, there are other leading analytics tools. For whatever reason, people want alternatives. And there’s a long list of them.
But I’m narrowing it down to the top three: Crazy Egg, Fullstory, and Mouseflow.
Crazy Egg
I’m writing for Crazy Egg. So, you’re probably thinking I had to put them on this list. Maybe I did. But every other article that put Crazy Egg on their list, didn’t have to. I’m not wrong to put us as one of the best Hotjar alternatives, and neither are they.
Crazy Egg gives you a suite of analytics, optimization, and feedback tools; everything you need to improve the user experience on your website.
Website heatmaps let you see where visitors interact with your site so you can optimize page design and drive more conversions. I like how you can filter clicks to see how different segments interact with a page, helping you better understand where people are clicking.
A/B testing can be a nightmare with a lot of analytics platforms. But you can launch A/B tests in 3 easy steps and get real-time results with Crazy Egg. And I can’t forget the surveys. I like that you can brand them, that they’re customizable, and are easy to set up.
The ability to record actual visitor sessions is a huge bonus because you get to see how real people navigate your site and get insights into why they do what they do.
Ultimately, Crazy Egg is a flexible, user-friendly solution, and the in-depth data segmentation options are beyond what Hotjar can do.
Pricing and Plans: I appreciate how transparent the pricing is. All plans are billed annually, so prepare for that. But you get a free 30-day trial with each plan which is more than enough time to figure out if it’s for you. The Starter plan is $29/mo, Plus is $99/mo, Pro is $249/mo, and Enterprise is $499/mo.
Fullstory
Fullstory is a “Digital Experience Intelligence” platform that focuses on the end-to-end digital user experience, measuring and analyzing user interactions with all of your digital channels.
You can watch what your users are doing in real time with their behavioral insights tool. Being able to monitor a user’s entire history with your website is a plus. They also have a unique feature called Top Opportunities, that automatically analyzes session recordings and shows you the greatest opportunities to improve your website’s UX.
What was most interesting to me was that they say they don’t use screen recorders because they could slow down your site performance and put user privacy in jeopardy, and instead use heatmaps and session replay to give you a full view of user behavior.
Also worth mentioning is Fullstory’s comprehensive quantitative analytics capabilities, including funnel analysis. Keep in mind too that they can be used to analyze mobile apps as well as websites.
My issue with Fullstory is that it’s designed for enterprise businesses. They typically operate in multiple markets and offer a wide range of products and services.
So, a solution that measures and analyzes user interactions across all digital channels is good for them. But a solution that’s truly for enterprises isn’t for small and mid-size businesses with smaller teams and less complexity. They don’t need such a high-level solution. They need something flexible, and easy to use and set up, like Crazy Egg.
Pricing and Plans: Another thing I don’t like is the lack of transparency with pricing. They don’t share any prices on their website. You have to contact them for pricing details, but you do get a demo when you do. Here’s what they say about each plan:
- Data Direct: “For data science and analytics teams to build predictive models or use data for GenAI and LLMs.”
- Business: “For teams that need total cross-functional clarity into their digital portfolio.”
- Advanced: “For companies that need deep product analytics and qualitative insights to grow with agility.”
- Enterprise: “For organizations that need to discover trends, plan roadmaps, and improve funnels at scale.”
Mouseflow
Mouseflow is a behavior analytics platform and website optimization tool that helps you understand and improve user experience and conversion rates on your website. I like how they’re focused on helping you find out the why behind the numbers and data.
It’s close to a one-to-one replacement for Hotjar. And I say close because it doesn’t have A/B testing and a few other small features, but it can take over the heat mapping, session replay, and funnel analysis.
They’ve got a robust analytics ecosystem that’s actually really impressive. It includes session replay, where you can rewatch the behavior of different audience segments. You can figure out where visitors are converting, getting stuck, and dropping off on your website with their conversion funnel optimization tool.
Their website heatmaps record 100% of your traffic by default, instead of sampling only a part of it. One of my favorite features is the user feedback tool that catches customers in critical moments, like when they’re rage-clicking, and gives you instant feedback.
Pricing and Plans: Their pricing is a little more complicated than I’d like it to be because the prices change based on how many sessions they track a month for you. But they do seem to have an option for everybody and they offer a 14-day free trial. You can pay monthly or annually for each of the following plans:
Essential: For individuals and small teams. (prices for paying annually)
- Essential Free– $0/mo for 500 sessions
- Essential Starter– $31/mo for 5,000 sessions
- Essential Growth– $109/mo for 15,000 sessions
Advanced: For growing teams and organizations. (Prices for paying annually)
- Advanced Business– $219/mo for 50,000 sessions
- Advanced Pro– $399/mo for 150,000 sessions
Enterprise: For large enterprises. Contact sales for pricing.
I want to make a note here about how limiting these plans are. If you get any real traffic to your website, you’re not even going to look at the essential plans. 15,000 sessions a month is nothing.
So, then you go down to the advanced plans, and you’re looking at $399 a month for 150,000 sessions, and even that is low for sites that get good traffic. At the end of the day, the costs can get out of control. For me, it’s a no-brainer. It’s much cheaper to go with Crazy Egg. You get 500,000 tracked pageviews /mo with their pro plan at $249/mo.
How to Choose One of the Three Hotjar Alternatives
Each of these Hotjar alternatives supports individuals and businesses who want to better understand the behavior of visitors on their website. They all have their pros and cons and can get the job done when it comes to analytics. So, how do you choose one?
Here are my thoughts:
- If you’re a small or mid-sized business that needs a flexible, user-friendly solution that’s extremely affordable, get Crazy Egg.
- If you’re an enterprise and need a high-level solution that can help you with user and web analytics across all your digital platforms, go with Fullstory.
- If you just started your website and it doesn’t get a whole lot of real traffic yet, or you need to go with a free plan for now, get Mouseflow.
Also, take advantage of free trials and demos. You get to actually use the features, get a feel for the interface, and see whether your team is taking to the platform or not.
Remember, Crazy Egg offers a 30-day free trial with all of their plans, Mouseflow offers a 14-day free trial, and Fullstory will give you a demo when you reach out to them about pricing details. You could even throw Hotjar into the mix and try their free plan for a while to see how it stacks up to these alternatives.
Are These Alternatives Better Than Hotjar?
A lot of you may have come to this article not just for the alternatives, but for whether or not these platforms are better than Hotjar. Because what’s the point of trying something else if Hotjar beats them out no matter what?
My honest answer is that Crazy Egg is definitely better than Hotjar because of the in-depth data segmentation options and the prices are unmatched for what you get with each plan.
Yes, I’m a bit biased, but I believe how much data you can collect and what you can do with it, and affordability are important enough to really matter to people looking for a behavior analytics and website optimization tool.
You could still go with Hotjar if you want to build a custom plan. But honestly, it’s not worth the hassle of putting it all together yourself. Crazy Egg has straightforward plans that have everything you need to improve the user experience.
Full-story could be an option if you’re a large enterprise. Mouseflow could fit if you need a decent free plan for a website that doesn’t get real traffic.
But still, I think Crazy Egg makes sense in both of these situations because it’s a scalable solution that can support an enterprise. And you’re likely here because your website does get real traffic. So, a solution that doesn’t help you with that real traffic doesn’t make sense.
At the end of the day, I’m standing behind the fact that Crazy Egg is better than Hotjar, Fullstory, and Mouseflow.
