Hotjar vs Microsoft Clarity
Both are hosted tools with session replay and heatmaps, and both have generous free plans. The difference is in limits, retention, extra features and who controls the data.
Facts about other products on this page were last checked against their own websites on . Prices and limits change; follow the source links before you decide.
We build Replayowl, a self-hosted replay tool, so we are not neutral about hosting. This page sticks to what each vendor publishes and links to it.
Side by side
| Hotjar | Microsoft Clarity | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 200k monthly sessions, 1 project | Free, no paid plan |
| Volume limit | Set by plan | Up to 100,000 sessions per project per day |
| Paid plans | Growth from $39 per month billed yearly ($49 monthly), from 7k monthly sessions | None |
| Data access on the free plan | 1 month of analytics data | Recordings kept 30 days; favourites and a random sample up to 9 months |
| Heatmaps | Yes; zone-based heatmaps on Growth | Yes, up to 100,000 page views per heatmap, kept up to 9 months |
| Surveys and feedback | Basic surveys on the free plan | No |
| Where data is stored | Not stated on the pricing page | Microsoft Azure |
| Self-hosting | No | No (the tracking code is open source) |
Sources: Hotjar pricing, now at Contentsquare, Clarity FAQ, Clarity terms.
Pick Clarity if
You want replay and heatmaps without paying, at any traffic level a single project can produce. It is the default answer for small and medium sites leaving Hotjar over price.
Pick Hotjar if
You need surveys and feedback widgets alongside replay, or you are already on Contentsquare. Hotjar’s paid plans add more projects, longer data access and journey analysis.
When neither works
Both send your visitors’ sessions to a third party. Under Clarity’s terms, you and Microsoft are independent controllers of the data. If your contracts, security reviews or regulators say session data cannot leave your infrastructure, you need a self-hosted tool. Options are compared in Hotjar alternatives, and Replayowl vs Clarity covers that trade-off in detail.