We Compared Hotjar vs Google Analytics - Here's the Winner
Hotjar vs Google Analytics: Compare features, insights, and pricing to find the best tool for optimizing your website and improving conversions.
Picking the perfect analytics tool can be a real headache. Do you go with the industry giant, Google Analytics? Or maybe something more specialized like Hotjar?
But hold on. There's a third option you might not know about: heatmap.
In this guide, we'll break down the key differences between Hotjar and Google Analytics, and show you how heatmap can give you the revenue-focused insights you need to truly optimize your website.
TL;DR - Hotjar or Google Analytics? (Maybe Neither)
Here's the lowdown on each tool:
- Go with Hotjar if: You want a user-friendly tool for visualizing user behavior and gathering feedback, but don't mind potentially higher costs as your website traffic grows.
- Go with Google Analytics if: You need a free, comprehensive tool for analyzing website traffic and understanding user demographics.
- Go with heatmap if: You're serious about optimizing your website for revenue and want AI-powered insights to guide your decisions.
Why teams choose heatmap.com over other analytics tools
Still not sure? Let's talk further about the unique features, pros and cons, pricing, and user reviews of Hotjar and Google Analytics to help you make the best decision for your business.
What is Google Analytics?
G2 Rating: 4.5/5 ⭐️
Best for: Teams who want the deep dive on their website data – think traffic sources, conversions, and user demographics.
Google Analytics is like the OG of website analytics. It's the tool everyone knows (and probably uses). You get a ton of data about your website visitors – where they come from, what they do, and how they interact with your content.
And the best part? There's a free version that gives you a solid foundation for tracking your website's performance. If you need more advanced features, you can always upgrade to Google Analytics 360 (GA360).
Google Analytics Key Features
- Event-based tracking (GA4): Track specific actions users take on your website, like button clicks, form submissions, and video plays. This helps you understand exactly how people are engaging with your content.
- Real-time reporting: See what's happening on your website right now. How many people are online? Where are they coming from? Which pages are they viewing? It's like having a live feed of your website activity.
- Acquisition and audience segmentation: Figure out where your traffic is coming from (search engines, social media, referrals) and create custom segments based on user behavior, demographics, and more. This helps you tailor your content and marketing efforts to specific audiences.
- Customizable conversion funnels: Track the steps users take to complete a desired action, like making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. Identify any bottlenecks or drop-off points in the process and optimize your funnel for better conversions.
- Extensive integration options: Connect Google Analytics with other Google products like Google Ads, Search Console, and Data Studio. This gives you a holistic view of your online marketing performance.
While Google Analytics is great for big picture data, it doesn't always tell you why users behave the way they do.
What is Hotjar?
G2 Rating: 4.5/5 ⭐️
Best for: Teams who want to get inside their users' heads and understand why they do what they do on your website.
Hotjar is all about visualizing user behavior. Think of it as getting a "behind-the-scenes" look at how people actually interact with your website.
With Hotjar, you can see where users click, how far they scroll, and even watch recordings of their sessions. This helps you identify usability issues, understand user preferences, and optimize your website for a better experience.
Hotjar's Key Features
- Heatmaps (click, move, and scroll): See where users are clicking, moving their mouse, and scrolling on your pages. This helps you identify popular areas, potential distractions, and areas of interest.
- Session recordings: Watch recordings of real user sessions to see how people navigate your website. This can uncover unexpected behavior, usability issues, and areas for improvement.
- Surveys and feedback widgets: Get direct user feedback from your users with customizable surveys and feedback widgets. Ask targeted questions to understand their needs, preferences, and pain points.
- User segmentation and advanced targeting: Segment users based on their behavior, demographics, and other criteria. This allows you to target specific user groups with personalized messages and offers.
- Easy integration with website platforms: Hotjar integrates with popular website platforms like WordPress, Shopify, and Squarespace, making it easy to get started.
Hotjar is a powerful tool for understanding user behavior, but it can be limited when it comes to tying those behaviors to revenue.
What Users Like About Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a popular choice for a reason. Here's what users love about it:
- Comprehensive traffic and conversion tracking: Get the full picture of your website traffic – where visitors come from, which pages they visit, and how they interact with your content. You can even track specific actions like button clicks and form submissions to see what's driving conversions.
- Free and widely accessible: It's free. Need I say more? This makes it a great option for businesses of all sizes, from solopreneurs to large enterprises.
- Detailed data segmentation and visualization options: Slice and dice your data in countless ways to get a deeper understanding of your audience. Create custom reports and dashboards to visualize your data in a way that makes sense to you.
- Easy setup for Shopify stores: If you're running your online store on Shopify, setting up Google Analytics is a breeze. They have a seamless integration that makes it super easy to get started.
- Tons of integrations: Connect Google Analytics with other Google products like Google Ads and Search Console to get a holistic view of your online marketing performance.
Considerations Before Using Google Analytics
While Google Analytics is a powerful tool, it does have some drawbacks:
- Steep learning curve (especially for GA4): GA4, the latest version of Google Analytics, has a completely different interface and data model than the previous version. It can take some time to get used to it, especially if you're not familiar with web analytics tools.
- Limited insights into user motivations and behavior: Google Analytics tells you what users are doing on your website, but it doesn't always tell you why. You might see that people are bouncing from a particular page, but you won't necessarily know the reason behind it.
- Requires setup for custom tracking events: If you want to track specific actions on your website, like button clicks or video plays, you'll need to set up custom events. This can be a bit technical and time-consuming.
- Data can be overwhelming: Google Analytics can throw a lot of data at you. It can be overwhelming to sift through all the reports and metrics, especially if you're not sure what you're looking for.
- Limited customization for non-technical users: While there are some basic customization options, creating truly custom reports and dashboards can require some technical expertise.
What Users Like About Hotjar
Hotjar is a favorite among website owners and UX professionals for good reason. Here's what people love about it:
- Intuitive interface and robust visualization tools: Hotjar makes it easy to understand user behavior with its visual heatmaps, session recordings, and other user-friendly tools. Even if you're not a data expert, you can quickly grasp what's happening on your website.
- Feedback widgets and surveys help gather qualitative insights: Go beyond just numbers and get direct feedback from your users. Hotjar's feedback tools let you ask targeted questions and understand the "why" behind user behavior.
- Heatmaps and session recordings reveal user behavior patterns: See exactly how users interact with your website. Identify popular areas, potential pain points, and opportunities to improve the user experience.
- Easy implementation: Adding Hotjar to your website is super simple. Just add a snippet of code, and you're ready to go.
Considerations Before Using Hotjar
While Hotjar is a valuable tool, there are a few things to keep in mind:
- Higher costs as traffic scales: Hotjar's pricing is based on the number of page views you track. This means that as your website traffic grows, so will your Hotjar bill.
- Limited data retention on free plans: If you're on a tight budget and opt for Hotjar's free plan, you'll have limited data retention. This means you won't be able to access historical data after a certain period.
- May slow down website performance: Hotjar's tracking scripts can sometimes impact your website's loading speed. While this is usually minimal, it's something to be aware of, especially if site speed is a top priority for you.
- Session recordings can be time-consuming to analyze: While session recordings are incredibly valuable, watching them can be time-consuming. You'll need to dedicate time to sift through recordings and identify key insights.
What actual Hotjar users have to say
- Positive review: "We used Hotjar to track the number of users logging into our platform and how they used it. It was beneficial to see how they were using the platform so that we could make changes to it, clarify things where needed, and improve the user experience." - Maria M., Administrator in Software Company.
- Critical review: "While I initially liked Hotjar's heatmaps and session recordings for understanding user behavior on our website... the biggest drawback was its impact on our website's loading speed – it slowed things down significantly. Plus, it wasn't compatible with our HubSpot forms, which limited its usefulness for us... performance issues and lack of integration were deal-breakers." - Patrick Eng, Marketing Technologist.
What actual Google Analytics users have to say
- Positive review: "What I like most about Google Analytics is how it shows what users do on a site with a lot of detail. It helps to see how people use the website or app, find patterns, and improve things based on the data. The simple dashboards and reports make it easy to follow the important numbers, so businesses can keep getting better. It’s a really useful tool for helping things grow." - Bojan V., Digital Technology Specialist
- Critical review: "It's one of the most powerful tools to get audience insights and user journeys, but if you're new to analytics, you'll find some features and settings a bit complicated. Reporting is complex." - Narendra Singh S., Marketing Executive.
What people are saying about heatmap 🔥
- "$71,286 per month in revenue with 97% significance." - Spencer Pawliw after he downloaded heatmap, waited for 5k sessions, and reorganized products based on the highest revenue per session from top left to bottom right.
- "We're up 23% YoY" - Ashvin Melwani. "With heatmap, I've been able to figure out what elements actually increase AOV and optimize our landing pages to drive more first purchase profitability..."
- "Heatmap is a non-negotiable for all Ecom stores!" - Oliver Kenyon.
Comparing Hotjar and Google Analytics Pricing
Choosing the right analytics tool often comes down to budget. Let's break down the pricing plans for Hotjar, Google Analytics, and (of course) heatmap to see how they stack up.
Hotjar, Google Analytics, and heatmap offer distinct pricing models tailored to different needs.
Hotjar provides a freemium structure, starting free for up to 35 daily sessions and scaling to $213/month for 10,000 sessions. Google Analytics offers GA4 for free, suitable for most businesses, while GA360 requires custom pricing for advanced enterprise features.
heatmap, on the other hand, focuses on revenue-based pricing, starting at $89/month for businesses with up to $1M ARR, making it ideal for growth-focused users.
Here's the bottom line:
- Hotjar: Offers a good free plan for small businesses, but costs can climb quickly as your website traffic grows. Advanced features are locked behind higher-priced plans.
- Google Analytics: The free version (GA4) is a solid choice for most businesses. But if you need advanced features and enterprise-level support, be prepared to pay a premium for GA360.
- heatmap.com: Our revenue-based pricing means you only pay more when you're making more money. All our plans come packed with valuable features, and there are no hidden fees or surprises. It's the perfect choice for businesses that want to scale their analytics with their revenue.
Still not sure which tool is right for you? All platforms offer free trials or free plans, so you can test-drive them and see which one you prefer.
Try the Best Hotjar/Google Analytics Alternative: heatmap
Want the best of both worlds (Google Analytics and Hotjar)? heatmap combines Hotjar's user-friendly insights with the data-driven power of Google Analytics and then takes it up a notch.
We're not just another analytics tool. heatmap is built for businesses that want to make more money. We help you understand exactly how every element on your website impacts your bottom line, so you can make data-driven decisions that actually move the needle.
Why teams choose heatmap.com over other analytics tools 🏆
Features most loved by heatmap users
Don't just take our word for it. Here's what real heatmap users are saying:
- Revenue-focused insights that actually make a difference: See exactly how every element on your website impacts your bottom line. No more guessing games.
- Mind-blowing revenue attribution: Uncover the hidden revenue drivers on your website and understand what's really making you money.
- Easy to install and use: Get started in minutes with our simple script and intuitive interface. No technical expertise required.
- Amazing customer support: Our team is always ready to help, whether you need assistance with setup, troubleshooting, or just have a question about your data.
- Real-time visualizations that make data come alive: See visitor behavior unfold before your eyes with our interactive heatmaps and scrollmaps.
- Perfect for e-commerce businesses: Optimize your product pages, checkout process, and overall website experience to drive more sales.
- Great for both beginners and experienced analysts: Whether you're new to analytics or a seasoned pro, heatmap makes it easy to understand your data and make informed decisions.
Level Up Your Analytics with the Right Tool for the Job
Choosing the right analytics tool can make all the difference in understanding your website visitors and boosting your revenue. Whether you go with Google Analytics, Hotjar, or heatmap, the key is to pick the platform that best aligns with your needs and budget.
Here are the key takeaways to remember:
- Google Analytics is a great free option for comprehensive website data, but it can be complex and lacks visual insights.
- Hotjar excels at analyzing user behavior and gathering user feedback, but it can get pricey as your traffic scales.
- heatmap offers a unique revenue-focused approach with AI-powered insights and scale-friendly pricing.
If you're ready to unlock the secrets of your website and skyrocket your revenue, heatmap gives you the power to understand and track user behavior, optimize your website, and make data-driven decisions that impact your bottom line.
heatmap is the best Hotjar and Google Analytics alternative - try it for free
Heatmap.com is the only on-site analytics platform that ties revenue to every pixel on every page of your website. Finally, you can optimize for buyer behavior instead of site traffic.
Spencer Pawliw
@spencepawliw+ $71,286 per month in revenue with 97% significance.
How You Can Do It:
1: Download heatmap.com
2: Wait for 5k sessions
3: Reorganize products based on the highest revenue per session from top left to bottom right.
How You Can Do It:
1: Download heatmap
2: Wait for 5k sessions
3: Reorganize products based on the highest revenue per session from top left to bottom right.
You made it all the way down here?
Might as well give us a shot, right? It'll change the way you approach CRO. We promise. In fact, our friend Nate over at Original Grain used element-level revenue data from heatmap to identify high-impact areas of his website to test, resulting in a 17% lift in Revenue per Session while scaling site traffic by 43%. Be like Nate. Try heatmap today.
