Hotjar Pricing: Is it Worth Your Money?

Are you exploring behavioral analytics tools for your website? Hotjar might be on your radar, but with so many choices out there, it’s important to weigh the pros and cons before committing.

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Let's cut through the noise and take a closer look at Hotjar's pricing and examine whether it truly delivers the value your business needs to optimize user experience and drive conversions.

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Here's what we'll cover:

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• How Hotjar's pricing works across Observe, Ask, and Engage.
• A breakdown of each plan's features and costs.
• Real user feedback about Hotjar’s pricing.

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Let's get started.

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TL;DR

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• Observe: Free (35 sessions); Plus $39 (100 sessions), Business $99 (500 sessions), Scale $213+ (500+ sessions, funnels, API).
• Ask: Free (20 responses); Plus $48 (250 responses), Business $64 (500 responses, API), Scale $128 (unlimited responses, targeting).
• Engage: Free (0 interviews); Plus $39.20 (3 interviews), Business $440 (12 interviews, screeners), Scale (custom pricing) (20+ interviews, CSM).

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How Does Hotjar’s Pricing Work?

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Hotjar’s pricing is tier-based and depends on the number of sessions, responses, or interviews you need. It offers three main products—Observe, Ask, and Engage—each with multiple pricing plans.

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The higher the tier, the more features you unlock, such as advanced filters, API access, and deeper analytics. Pricing can be paid monthly or yearly, with discounts for annual payments.

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Observe (Heatmaps & Recordings)

Ask (Surveys & Feedback)

Engage (User Interviews & Tests)

Hotjar's Key Features

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Hotjar offers a suite of tools to visualize user behavior and gather feedback. These features help you understand and track user interactions to improve your site. But how do these tools stack up, and where does heatmap offer distinct advantages? Let’s explore.

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Hotjar's Core Capabilities:

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• Heatmaps:
  • Visualizes user clicks, movement, and scrolling.
  • Pinpoints engagement zones and problem areas.
  • Aids in page layout and design optimization.
  • heatmapAI's Difference: Revenue-based heatmaps connect each click to its financial value. Filters by AOV and traffic sources reveal what boosts profit.
• Session Recordings:
  • Records user actions, showing their site journey.
  • Reveals how users navigate and engage with content.
  • heatmapAI's Difference: Comparison modes let you analyze user groups, like purchasers vs. rage clickers, to identify valuable behaviors.
• Surveys and Feedback:
  • Collects user opinions through surveys and feedback tools.
  • Helps identify user pain points and sentiments.
  • heatmapAI's Difference: AI insights give actionable steps to improve copy and layout for higher revenue per session.
• Trends Tracking:
  • Monitors trends like rage clicks and scroll depth over time.
  • Tracks changes in user engagement and frustration.
  • heatmapAI's Difference: Revenue per session (RPS) tracking shows the direct impact of changes on your sales.
• AI Insights:
  • Hotjar lacks AI-driven insights like those offered by heatmapAI.
  • heatmapAI's Difference: AI prediction engine optimizes mobile homepages, collection pages, and product pages (PDPs) for profitability, drawing from broad e-commerce data.

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Hotjar Has Its Flaws...

We analyzed hundreds of Hotjar reviews on different platforms like G2, Trustpilot, Gartner, and Capterra. Here are common user complaints:

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• Limited Session Recordings on Paid Plans:
  • Users often find the session recording limits, even in paid plans, too restrictive. "Limitations even on paid plans are very severe. You have very limited visits to record even on paid plans," one reviewer stated. This constraint can hinder in-depth analysis for high-traffic sites.
• Cost Concerns:
  • Several users express that Hotjar can be expensive, especially for mid-sized businesses. "It is quite an expensive tool. Feedback is very useful, but you do have to pay for it," notes a user. The pricing structure can be a barrier for those seeking comprehensive insights without a large budget.

• Dashboard Navigation:
  • The dashboard's complexity is a point of frustration. "The dashboard experience can be likened to that one cluttered drawer everyone has at home - full of useful stuff, but you need to rummage. A more streamlined navigation would save so much time," one reviewer describes. This makes it difficult to quickly access and analyze data.
• Recording Prioritization:
  • "I don't understand how Hotjar prioritizes the recordings- Like which session to record or not. We faced many issues in the free version as the recorded sessions were always irrelevant or from countries we don't target." Users have experienced issues with the relevancy of recorded sessions, especially in the free version.
• Load Time Impact:
  • "Hotjar increases load time of your website. which is a disadvantage." The tracking scripts add approximately 829ms to load time and increase page weight by 0.47MB. In contrast, heatmapAI's preprocessor snippet is exceptionally lightweight at under 10KB.

heatmapAI Doesn't Charge You Based on Sessions - Making Us Way More Scale-friendly

Unlike Hotjar, heatmapAI uses an Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)-based pricing model, freeing you from session-based limitations. This approach offers significant benefits, especially as your site traffic grows.

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• Predictable Pricing: Our ARR-based pricing model allows you to forecast your costs accurately. You won't face unexpected spikes in expenses due to increased traffic. This is critical for budgeting and financial planning.

• Unlimited Data: Gain access to unlimited heatmaps, scrollmaps, and screen recordings. Analyze every page and experiment without worrying about hitting session limits. This ensures you capture all valuable user data.

• Comprehensive Feature Set: Your subscription includes all of heatmap's features, from revenue-based heatmaps and AI insights to custom filters and site speed tracking. You get the full power of our platform, regardless of your traffic volume.
• AI-Revenue-Driven Insights & Recommendations: Leverage AI-powered insights to connect every click to its financial impact. Our tools analyze your data and provide actionable recommendations to optimize your site's copy, layout, and design, helping you improve revenue per session and maximize profitability.

• Dedicated Support: Enjoy a dedicated Slack channel for direct support. Get your questions answered quickly and efficiently.
• Seamless Integrations: Works with any CMS or custom build. Integrates with leading split-testing platforms. This allows you to include heatmap in your current workflow.
• Data Security and Compliance: 365-day data storage, enhanced security, and custom GDPR implementation. Your data is secure and compliant.
• Unlimited Users: Invite your entire team to collaborate. No extra costs for additional users.
• 14-Day Free Trial: Experience the full power of heatmap with a 14-day free trial. See how our revenue-focused analytics can transform your website optimization.

Frequently Asked Questions About Hotjar

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What does Hotjar cost?

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Hotjar's pricing varies based on the products (Observe, Ask, Engage) and the selected plan (Basic, Plus, Business, Scale). The Basic plan is free, but paid plans range from $32/month for Observe Plus to custom pricing for Scale Engage. Costs increase with higher session/response limits and advanced features. You can mix and match plans for each product.

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Can you use Hotjar for free?

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Yes, Hotjar offers a free Basic plan. This plan includes limited features for Observe, Ask, and Engage, allowing you to get a taste of its capabilities. The free plan is suitable for small sites or those wanting to explore Hotjar's basic functionalities.

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Is Hotjar worth it?

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Whether Hotjar is worth it depends on your needs and budget. It provides valuable insights into user behavior through heatmaps, recordings, and feedback tools. If you need to understand user interactions and improve your site's usability, Hotjar can be a valuable investment. However, if you are an ecommerce business looking to tie revenue to clicks, heatmap is a great alternative. It offers AI-powered insights and the ability to link customer behavior to actual sales, providing a deeper understanding of your customers’ journey.

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Is Hotjar better than Google Analytics?

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Hotjar and Google Analytics serve different purposes.

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• Google Analytics focuses on quantitative data like traffic, page views, and conversions. Hotjar provides qualitative data, showing how users interact with your site through heatmaps, recordings, and feedback. They complement each other.
• Google Analytics tells you what is happening, while Hotjar shows you why. For example, Google Analytics may show a high bounce rate, while Hotjar recordings can reveal the specific usability issues causing it. heatmapAI goes a step further by providing detailed behavioral insights and AI-driven recommendations to increase conversions.