# Hotjar Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Is Hotjar the right Heatmap solution for you? Explore 542 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/163516/Hotjar/reviews --- Hotjar 4.6 (542) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/163516/Hotjar/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated June 10th, 2026 # Reviews of Hotjar Ease of use 4.6 Customer Service 4.5 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews Dandu M AnalystMarketing and Advertising, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “I am a CRO analyst and I liked this tool very much since it allows us to analyze user behavior with each and filter any specific category of users with each and accuracy.“ February 15, 2026 SC Sean C MarketerMarketing and Advertising, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: 6-12 months. “The freemium runs out pretty quickly, and I don't know how accurate the data is (it's hard to verify qualitative data)“ November 22, 2025 Sarah F Marketing TechnologistEducation Management, 5,001 - 10,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “The feedback tab function was handy and helpful for users to provide immediate feedback and actually helped us discover bugs and issues in our ecommerce site.“ May 15, 2026 ZG Zohreh G Senior Product ResearcherHospitality, 201 - 500 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “I find integrating with google analytics to interpret users' behaviour a bit confusing. and also I don't see a specific merit in using Hotjar's survey tool instead of other products built specifically for surveys.“ October 21, 2024 RC Radek C board memberEntertainment, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “Hotjar offers strong Data Analysis and Monitoring tools like heatmaps and recordings.“ May 20, 2026 MI Mihail I Senior Product ManagerFinancial Services, 1,001 - 5,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “After the product was acquired the price was instantly increased while the pricing tiers became extremely hard to follow which added additional friction and made me move to other tools and services.“ October 25, 2024 Rodrigo T Director of Cyber SecurityInformation Technology and Services, 10,001+ employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “Its seamless integration with other marketing tools provides deep insights into user behavior, allowing you to identify large-scale patterns and continually improve user experience.“ October 22, 2024 Theresa F CRO Program ManagerMarketing and Advertising, 1,001 - 5,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “I sometimes question the accuracy of the reports. And if the page has a popup, modal, overlay, etc, that can be problematic.“ February 28, 2025 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 542 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Sarah F. Marketing Technologist Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Hotjar worked great for us until the pricing model changed" May 15, 2026 4.0 Hotjar was easy to set up on our domains and to get running right away. Key features were heatmaps and clickmaps. We also utilized the recording feature which helped us uncover at least one bug in the checkout process. They assign a user frustration score to the recordings, allowing you to sort the most negative experience first and see the user's recording to investigate issues. We were disappointed when their pricing model changed to require more investment to cover the same number of domains. Pros We used hotjar for several years for our web performance tracking, on-page quick NPS surveys, and to measure user engagement on pages. It's a lighweight web experience tools that complies easy to understand scroll maps and click maps. The feedback tab function was handy and helpful for users to provide immediate feedback and actually helped us discover bugs and issues in our ecommerce site. Cons The cost is way too high to scale up for an enterprise company. We were grandfathered in to a lower price point that eventually expired, so we moved away to a more scalable solution (VWO insights). Otherwise we probably would have stuck with Hotjar as it fulfilled all of our needs. Alternatives considered [Contentsquare](https://www.capterra.com/p/161591/ContentSquare/)[Crazy Egg](https://www.capterra.com/p/163520/Crazy-Egg/)[Fullstory](https://www.capterra.com/p/153721/FullStory/)[Mouseflow](https://www.capterra.com/p/163517/Mouseflow/)[VWO Insights](https://www.capterra.com/p/181518/VWO/) Reason for choosing Hotjar Hotjar had the best features for cost, but when their pricing model changed, it was too much of an investment so we switched to VWO which scaled better for our enterprise company. Review Source NF Niccolo F. Cofounder, CTO Automotive Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Our go-to tool for heatmaps, and User behaviour recording, but it is very expensive to get all the features" May 2, 2025 4.0 We use Hotjar mainly for user experience analysis. Heatmaps and user recordings is our go to tool. We've used it on all projects, different websites etc. recordings are good, but we sometimes get overwhelmend by "useless" recordings, where users just idle on a page. Always sort by relevance. Also, free version is very limited, and first paid tier is already very expensive. Pros Hotjar is a great tool for insights on user behaviour. It makes you understand where's the biggest blockers in your UX, where the customers are going, what they're reading, where they're clicking etc. You can easily understand if some parts of your website are useless, or if they're good and grab attention. It also gives you insights on how much time users stay on each page, so that you know what's driving them around and for how long. Cons There's no real big cons in the product itself. However, we use the free version and it does the job in a fantastic way, but it's very limited: -The basic price above free is quite expensive. -You cannot see trends and data for free. just heatmaps and recordings -You're very limited to 35 recording/day on free plan Also, in the recording sections, you can easily get overwhelmed by not-relevant recordings, where users just idle. Alternatives considered [Mixpanel](https://www.capterra.com/p/158740/Mixpanel/) Reason for choosing Hotjar We use mixpanel for our apps, but hotjar is much easier and quicker to implement on normal websites Review Source AG Annie G. Marketing Manager Alternative Medicine Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Useful Heatmapping Tool" June 4, 2025 3.0 Overall, hotjar was a useful tool in gathering information and analysis of website performance, and perhaps there are more features I don't know about. Pros It gave fairly accurate heat mapping and information regarding user behavior on our website. It was also easy to use. Cons Limits on how many pages it would scan, would love more comprehensive data and analytics, as well as reporting. Review Source RC Radek C. board member Entertainment Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Powerful Behavior Analytics Tool for Websites" May 20, 2026 4.0 Overall, Hotjar provides excellent Security and powerful Monitoring features. It is great for Data Analysis and understanding Conversion Funnels, despite some initial Learning Curve. Pros Hotjar offers strong Data Analysis and Monitoring tools like heatmaps and recordings. Survey Creation is easy, and it gives great insight into Conversion Funnels and user behavior. Cons Hotjar has a Learning Curve for beginners and can feel complex at first. Pricing is not ideal for small teams, affecting Value for Money at higher usage levels. Switched from [Google Optimize](https://www.capterra.com/p/246659/Google-Optimize/) Its no longer supported, it was best app for such things but it was disabled. Review Source Theresa F. CRO Program Manager Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Good tool to include in your CRO toolbox" February 28, 2025 4.0 I've used hotjar for many years, along with a few of their competitors. I like that this is one more data point for creating hypotheses for A/B tests. However, I don't make changes to the website based on the Hotjar findings alone since I don't totally trust the maps. I use judgment and combine these findings with data from other other tools as well as best practices and theory. Pros Hotjar helps to identify patterns in user behavior to uncover problems with UX and conversions. I use scrollmaps and heatmaps the most, and compare them by device since Hotjar will show the different maps on desktop, tablet, and mobile. Other features that I don't use as much but my clients and colleagues do are session recordings and polls. I rarely use session recordings as I find them time consuming, even after narrowing my choices with filters. And I use the polls sparingly when I have a specific question I need to dig into. A lot of clients don't want the intrusion to distract their site's users on a regular basis though. Cons I sometimes question the accuracy of the reports. And if the page has a popup, modal, overlay, etc, that can be problematic. Mega menus also appear to be a blindspot. Switched from [Crazy Egg](https://www.capterra.com/p/163520/Crazy-Egg/)[Microsoft Clarity](https://www.capterra.com/p/236349/Microsoft-Clarity/)[Lucky Orange](https://www.capterra.com/p/150695/Lucky-Orange/) My employer has an agency account. But I sometimes have clients who have Microsoft Clarity, so I still use that too. Review Source BJ Bartosz J. Head of Technology Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "High quality assistant to make data-driven decisions" December 18, 2024 4.0 Very wide known tool in an advertising & marketing market. Used as a one source of truth in our company as well. We use it almost every day to check traffic quality and make data-driven changes Pros \- easy to set up surveys to rate & get feedback from users - weekly stats in email notifications - very helpful insights to A/B test websites! (the most important to me, when launching mvp version of a web based application was: top pages and recordings from them; top console errors; av. session duration; top exit pages (to see when users drop off) Cons pricing. Clarity from Microsoft has most of the high priority features & it's for free (but doesn't have this awesome surveys!) Alternatives considered [Microsoft Clarity](https://www.capterra.com/p/236349/Microsoft-Clarity/) Reason for choosing Hotjar We use both, HotJar and Clarity used in different areas (surveys in HotJar, and traffic analisys in Clarity) Review Source MI Mihail I. Senior Product Manager Financial Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Hotjar offers a great toolset but it takes sometime to understand thep pricing" October 25, 2024 4.0 My experience with Hotjar was extremely positive before Contentsquare acquired it. However, after the acquisition, the pricing tiers became super annoying and unclear. It is even not the pricing itself but the way you pay for a tier and some features require a higher tier but it was unclear. Pros Hotjar has some neat features that can help any site owner better understand their customers. Cons After the product was acquired the price was instantly increased while the pricing tiers became extremely hard to follow which added additional friction and made me move to other tools and services. Alternatives considered [Smartlook](https://www.capterra.com/p/164713/Smartlook/)[VWO Testing](https://www.capterra.com/p/147639/Visual-Website-Optimizer/) Reason for choosing Hotjar Before the Content Square acquisition, the pricing was competitive and there was a generous free tier as well. Review Source Dandu M. Analyst Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Hotjar is very helpful and easy to use tool." February 15, 2026 4.0 I am a CRO analyst and I liked this tool very much since it allows us to analyze user behavior with each and filter any specific category of users with each and accuracy. Pros User behaviour analysis and security while showing PII, And also I like the features to filter based on any event and skip inactivity , speed, etc., feature, and save to a collection any specific scenario . Cons I would like to have an automated data analysis bot which if we teach something to look it will look that behaviour and give us a report. Review Source Response from ContentSquare March 3, 2026 Hey Dandu! Thank you so much for your thoughtful review. We’re so glad to hear that Hotjar is helping you analyse user behaviour effectively and that you find it easy to use and secure. We also really appreciate your suggestion about an automated data analysis bot. Feedback like this is incredibly valuable and helps inform how we continue to improve the product. Thanks again for taking the time to share your experience! OQ Orion Q. Head of Marketing Telecommunications Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Good first step to website insight" June 3, 2026 4.0 I have used this for years and always found it to be a useful and insightful tool but is not as smooth as others. Pros Easy to access information. Heat maps and session videos are very insightful. This gives even a beginner a quick idea as to what is and isn’t working on their sight and possible ‘sticking points’. But there is the ability to drill down further. Cons Although easy to use it is a bit ‘clunky’ and feels not up to date with other packages. I have used many iterations of hot jar over the years and I like to use it (my initial go to for website behaviour review) but it still feels less smooth to use than one would expect. Review Source SC Sean C. Marketer Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Qualitative and quantitive website data in one dashboard" November 22, 2025 4.0 Pros It was the first heat map tool I used, and I never switched. It has a lot of data and analytics options Cons The freemium runs out pretty quickly, and I don't know how accurate the data is (it's hard to verify qualitative data) Review Source BG Bharat G. VP, Enginnering Information Services Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Hotjar for UI/UX monitoring" December 23, 2024 4.0 Decent experience, customer support is also helpful. Pros Ease of implementation and its alerts features. Cons Screen recording is not perfect, many of our dom interactions were not recorded leading to us identify them as bugs. Took us some time to get used to it. Review Source ZG Zohreh G. Senior Product Researcher Hospitality Used the software for: 2+ years ### "an insightful tool in a user researcher's toolbox" October 21, 2024 5.0 Hotjar is with it's heatmaps and recordings is a powerful tool for understanding user behavior. Pros I like Hotjar's heatmaps and recordings since they provide good insights into user behaviour. Same for tracking funnels and conversion rates in the user journeys. Cons I find integrating with google analytics to interpret users' behaviour a bit confusing. and also I don't see a specific merit in using Hotjar's survey tool instead of other products built specifically for surveys. Review Source IS Ishwinder S. Fire brigade Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: I used a free trial ### "Hot jar application is best application " November 1, 2024 5.0 About hotjar experience well and good for real Pros About hot jar application look videos and create Cons In the hot jar application we can see feedback of videos Review Source MC Maria C. Owner Apparel & Fashion Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Hotjar review" October 10, 2024 4.0 Overall would recommend for the average user that likes to fill out surveys for minor rewards or gift cards, but it could take some time to earn some money Pros This is an easy to use app that most people could easily figure out and use without a problem. Cons I don't know if this happens for everybody but I get phased out of a lot of surveys for some reason. Review Source MK Mowshori K. Researcher Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Hotjar is a platform for getting feedback from website visitors." September 18, 2022 5.0 Analysis tools include Heatmaps, Visitor Recording, Form Analytics, and Conversion Funnels, which let you watch and measure how our users act. Pros Seeing how our site's visitors use it helps me figure out how to improve the user experience. The recording features let me see what people actually see on my site, which helps me find any problems. Heat maps will show us what our site visitors do and what they are interested in. I can also improve our conversion funnels and forms by finding out what needs to be fixed or improved. I also noticed that I don't have to worry about paying for a plan that works for everyone but doesn't fit my needs. Instead, it has different plans for people, businesses, and government agencies. This makes sure that I only pay for the features I want. Personal users with low traffic can even get a free plan that lets them add as many users as they want forever. Meanwhile, businesses will pay based on how many times their pages are looked at every day. The agency plans, on the other hand, give you a single account that can be used for multiple client sites. Cons Prices could be better for new companies. Some things need to be worked on more. There should be ways to record multiple sessions at once in different parts of the site. Alternatives considered [FigPii](https://www.capterra.com/p/199975/FigPii/) Review Source Pedro A. Marketing & Growth Ops Financial Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Best tool to find bugs and pain points in your site" October 14, 2023 5.0 Pros \- Session Recordings - This really lets us know what are bugs and pain points in your site and having the timeline displaying tips were those actions were made is awsome (F.e, you can see in the timeline when the prospect is frustrated);- Heatmaps - This is very important to get an overall page knowing about what your prospects are clicking and looking Cons The analysis can be very qualitative. I wanted to see more numbers, especially with the revolution of AI Review Source BT Benjamin T. Head of Marketing Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The best heatmap software" March 11, 2024 5.0 Pros The best parts of Hotjar are the intuitive heatmaps, and visitor recordings, that offer deep insights into user behavior and user interaction based on real visitor data. Once you've implemented the tool - it's easy to of use to get all the data information from your users and visitors, to do research or to improve your website experience. Cons The only issue besides the learning curve could include the sampling limits on larger sites, which may prevent you from getting a complete picture of visitor behavior. Alternatives considered [Mouseflow](https://www.capterra.com/p/163517/Mouseflow/) Review Source MV Mathijs V. Marketing Manager Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Effective for easy, quick and clear overview of webpage behavior" August 5, 2022 4.0 Been using it for 3 years now. For a low investment it gives you a sense of the effectiveness of your webpages. It is very easy to set up on your website and then it does the work for you. We implemented it when we renewed our website and when we changed menu's and core landingpages. Let it run for 3 to 6 months, so you have enough data, and then analyse and improve the visuals, text and structure of the webpages. Hotjar is a quick, easy and effective tool. Pros Easy set up Quick integration with website (no tech support needed) Free plan to try out Creates heatmaps without asking Cons Limited sessions per month on free Setting up funnels is difficult Review Source Brent J. Head Of Product Management Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Awesome for user recordings and heat-maps " February 18, 2020 5.0 The tool is really helpful to better understand your user's experience. Pros The insights we got from Hotjar were instantly used by our team. We understood our user's journey and pain points better after reviewing the heatmaps and screen recordings. Cons It's fairly expensive. We operate 16 different websites and we only have Hotjar setup on one of the brands because of the cost. Switched from [Inspectlet](https://www.capterra.com/p/163689/Inspectlet/) Features and page speed. Review Source Response from ContentSquare February 19, 2020 Hey Brent So happy to hear that you found instant value with Hotjar and that it helped you to understand the user's journey better. You are right - once you know the pain points, you can address them a lot easier! With regards to pricing, perhaps it might be better for you to be on a plan that caters for more than 1 site? Do you want to email support@hotjar.com or submit your query here> https://help.hotjar.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket\_form\_id=360000665794&pricingagencies and we can see if we can help suggest a better option for you? Hope this helps! Thanks so much again for your kind review. Bee @ Hotjar Rafal M. Owner Management Consulting Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "pricey, but worth it" May 5, 2022 5.0 Great tool. Ive used it to do surveys (NLP), heatmaps and AB testing when running product pages or landingpages for newsletter subscriptions. Helped me to eliminate some issues on mobiles. Currently I use different tool but Hotjar is still a tool that you need to try (even in free tier) to see how things should be done in other apps. Pros \+ extremely supportive and informative help/blog section with many types of how-to articles and guides + quick support that is helpful and points solutions very quickly + a lot of different tools packed in one app (it can be overwhelming!) + whole report section is great (especially heatmaps and surveys) + allows to collect feedback (helpful if you are migrating form one website layout to another) + helpful if you want to run AB test (ie. landingpage, product page etc) + free tier (not so informative but helpful) Cons \- too expensive comparing to competition (plans are also limited to number of sessions) - integrations are enabled from higher plans Review Source Sebastián P. Marketing Consultant Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Best tool for user tracking and heatmaps!" July 25, 2022 5.0 I love using Hotjar! It helps me understand how users behave on my site, what they need, and how they feel. I can quickly see what pages they're visiting, how much time they're spending on each page, and where they're clicking. This information is really helpful in optimizing my client's sites. Pros Hotjar is a great tool for understanding how users behave on your site: video tracking is the best part. By reviewing the videos I can see why customers abandon the shopping cart or why they don't scroll further down the blog. Cons I would like to be able to isolate elements on the web page for individual analysis. Review Source mL mook L. senior software engineer Retail Used the software for: 2+ years ### "capture the live user usage of your web product, and analyse the user experience " March 23, 2020 5.0 good experience, but i hope this dose not eat much of end users internet and hope it dos not reduces the web performance Pros It capture a video of the user screen who is using the web product which is integrated with hotjar and store's it in clean directory structure it also stores meta data information of the user session which is really help full in analytics good documentation Cons the captured data back up is maintained only for 90 days, it wold be better if they provide a permanent storage plan and the meta data collected are in file formate and they also stay for 90 days, we had to write scripts to dump these data in to sql tables for further analysation it wold be better if they provide a simple API to do this they do provide a good documentation for this dumping proses Review Source Response from ContentSquare April 14, 2020 Hi Mook, Thanks for taking the time to review Hotjar. We're happy to hear that you are finding Hotjar useful. I would interested to hear more about the data retention issues you experienced - Hotjar retains data for 365 days from the date the data is captured. We do not have any plans with 90-day data retention, so it would be good to dig deeper into your issue. You can reach me at mike.cullen@hotjar.com if you'd like to discuss further. I'd also like to offer you a little something as a thank you for your review. Cheers, Mike DP Derrick P. Advertising Manager Entertainment Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Sports Use" June 18, 2024 5.0 This has been a great product to utilize and we've found values in using the tool. Pros I value the fact that theres a tool that provides the necessary insights to make UX decisions or website layouts. Cons Its not as interactive as it can be when showing exactly what actions users take as a weighted consumer. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Web Content Manager Furniture Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Hotjar is an easy and affordable user feedback tool that helps us tailor user experience." January 19, 2018 5.0 We've used hotjar to identify navigational, organizational, and functional issues on our website that crop up in actual use, issues that may not appear in our daily use or testing. It allows us to see how users are interacting with our site and collect user feedback, and that lets us find ways to improve the experience Pros Using hotjar is like being able to stand next to your users and watch them use your site. This gives you actionable insight that many times numbers alone may not be able to tell you. And if you are someone who isn't comfortable sifting through analytics, it makes it extremely simple to identify potential problem areas in the user experience that you, being familiar with the site, might miss. The features are all sufficiently developed to be able to handle most straightforward tasks. Also, Hotjar is (at the time of this writing) very affordable for what you get out of it. My primary site is a local home goods retailer. We mostly use the session recording and heatmapping features, in addition to the poll feature. There are other features, such as the conversion funnel tracking, survey feature, and others. Although we don't use those much, the solution more than worth it for the recording and heatmapping. Their support is also fast and helpful. Cons There aren't many things to not like about Hotjar. I suppose one of the issues I have run into is that the conversion funnel tracking tool doesn't seem to accurately report metrics for us. I've never bothered to try and get this fixed since we use other methods to evaluate conversion funnels anyway. Otherwise, I haven't encountered any notable issues. Review Source Shaun F. Director of Online Advertising Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Screen recording & heat maps made easy" December 31, 2019 5.0 My overall experience has been fantastic. The recordings are top quality and there are plenty of additional features and functions for those who want more. As someone that works in a marketing agency I also appreciate the fact I can house a number of clients underneath one login. I would, and do, recommend Hotjar to anyone who needs screen recording software. Pros This software is SO easy to use. All you need to do is add their javascript code to your site and hit go. I love seeing the recordings of my users and I appreciate that Hotjar has an option where you can speed up the recordings so I can see more and they indicate every time there is a scroll or click. Cons There isn't really anything that I don't like about. I do with that it would integrate with Google Analytics so I can view only recordings that completed a conversion objective. At the moment it's hard to see which recordings are more valuable. Review Source Response from ContentSquare January 2, 2020 Hey Shaun! Thanks so much! We're doing everything we can to make Hotjar as easy as possible. If you reach out to me \[louis@hotjar.com\], I'll send you a little something as a token of our appreciation. Louis Similar Products Featured ## Related categories [User Testing](https://www.capterra.com/user-testing-software/)[Customer Experience](https://www.capterra.com/customer-experience-software/)[Customer Journey Mapping Tools](https://www.capterra.com/customer-journey-mapping-tools-software/) ## Send me user reviews about this product ### Fill out the form and we'll send a list of the top-rated software based on real user reviews directly to your inbox.