Hotjar vs Lucky Orange (Tried, Compared) - Here's the Winner

Choosing the right website analytics tool can feel like trying to find a needle in a haystack. In this guide, we're comparing two popular options: Hotjar and Lucky Orange — and introducing a third, heatmap. We'll break down features, pricing and pros and cons of web analytics features based on real user reviews so you can decide which one is the perfect fit for your needs.
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TL;DR- Hotjar or Lucky Orange? (Maybe Neither)

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• Go with Lucky Orange if you prioritize affordability and want all features included in every plan. It's a good option for businesses seeking a comprehensive tool without the complexity of tiered pricing, but be mindful of potential limitations in data storage, customization, and the expensive costs with high-volume websites.
• Go with Hotjar if you need a well-known platform with a wide range of features and a free plan to get started. It's a solid choice for basic website analysis and user feedback, but be prepared for potentially higher costs as your traffic grows.
• Go with heatmap if you're serious about maximizing your website's revenue. It's the only platform that directly ties user behavior to revenue, providing AI-powered insights and actionable recommendations to optimize your website for profitability. Plus, with a generous free plan and transparent pricing based on your revenue, heatmap is a smart choice for any business.

Here's a summary of why we recommend the above:
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Still not sure? Let's explore further into the unique features, pros and cons, pricing, and user reviews of the Lucky Orange vs Hotjar platforms to help you make the best decision for your business.
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What's Hotjar?

G2 Rating: 4.3/5 (306 reviews)

Best for: Website owners, UX designers, and marketers who want to understand and analyze user behavior, collect feedback, and optimize their website for conversions.

Hotjar is a powerful user behavior analytics tool known for its user interactions through its visual insights and user feedback capabilities. With a strong emphasis on understanding user experience, it supports businesses in creating websites that are both engaging and effective.
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Hotjar's key features

Hotjar's key features include:
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• Heatmaps & Recordings: Visualize user behavior with heatmaps showing clicks, movements, scroll depth, and watch session replays for detailed interaction insights.
• Form Analysis & Conversion Funnels: Analyze user form interactions, identify potential friction points, and track user progress through sales funnels to optimize completion and conversion rates.
• Dashboard Insights & Visitor Profiles: Get a snapshot of key metrics like visitor count and conversion rates, along with individual visitor behavior and demographics for personalized experiences.
• Collect Feedback: Gather on-page feedback with visual widgets that allow users to rate their experience and provide comments.
• Track Conversion Funnels: Track user progress through your sales funnel and identify bottlenecks hindering conversions.

Now let's take a look at what Lucky Orange has to offer.
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What's Lucky Orange?

G2 Rating: 4.6/5 (235 reviews)
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Best for: Marketers seeking in-depth website visitor behavior analysis and user feedback tools.
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Lucky Orange is a popular website analytics and user feedback tool known for its comprehensive suite of features. With a strong emphasis on visualizing and analyzing user behavior, it supports businesses in understanding and optimizing their website for improved conversions.
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Lucky Orange's key features

Lucky Orange's key features include:
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• Session Recordings & Heatmaps: Replay real user sessions and visualize user clicks, movements, and scroll depth to uncover areas of interest and potential UX issues.
• Form Analytics & Conversion Tracking: Evaluate user form interactions to find friction points and monitor progress through conversion funnels to enhance completion rates and user flow.
• Dashboard Metrics & Visitor Insights: Access an overview of essential website metrics such as visitor count and conversion rates, with detailed visitor profiles for more tailored experiences.
• Surveys & Live Interaction: Use customizable surveys and polls for user feedback and engage with visitors in real-time through live chat for instant support.
• Targeted Announcements: Deliver important updates or promotions directly to your visitors with targeted announcements for improved user engagement.

Next, we analyzed over 600+ user reviews of Hotjar and Lucky Orange from G2, TrustPilot, Gartner and more to identify common pros and critiques from actual users of web apps.

Here's what we found:
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What users like about Hotjar

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• User-Friendly Interface - Many users appreciate Hotjar's intuitive and easy-to-navigate design, making it accessible to team members of all technical levels.
• Effective Heatmaps and Recordings - The heatmaps and session recordings are frequently highlighted as invaluable tools for understanding user behavior and improving website user experience.
• Valuable User Feedback Tools - Hotjar's surveys and feedback polls are praised for being easy to implement and providing direct insights to make data-driven decisions.
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Considerations before purchasing Hotjar

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• Data Gaps and Incomplete Tracking: Users report inconsistencies in data collection, such as missed user sessions and capturing "fake" traffic, which can hinder accurate analysis.
• Complexity in Gaining Actionable Insights: While session recordings and heatmaps are informative, several users find it difficult to convert these observations into actionable changes without additional analysis.
• Customer Support Issues: Users have noted that Hotjar's customer support can be unresponsive, which can delay issue resolution and user assistance.
• Pricing Concerns: Hotjar's pricing is considered high by many, with important features often locked behind higher-tier plans or paywalls.

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👋 How heatmap is different: heatmap stands out with reliable data collection, eliminating "fake" traffic and missed sessions for trustworthy insights. Its built-in AI tools offer clear data-based recommendations. Users appreciate its responsive customer support and transparent, competitive pricing without hidden fees. The intuitive interface ensures accessible navigation, making data analysis straightforward for teams of all sizes.

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What users like about Lucky Orange

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• Quick and Easy Integration: Users highlight the seamless integration process, particularly for platforms like Shopify, which requires minimal effort and coding knowledge.
• Cost-Effective for Small Businesses: Users note that Lucky Orange provides great value for its price, often outperforming or matching more expensive competitors in terms of insights and data accessibility.

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Considerations before purchasing Lucky Orange

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• Data Accuracy and Session Recording Issues: Users report that session recordings can be inconsistent or missing, leading to potential data inaccuracies. This can result in incomplete or unreliable insights for analysis.
• Performance and Speed Concerns: The platform can slow down websites and may itself be slow to load, particularly when accessing real-time data or session recordings. This can be a hindrance to efficient use, especially for those needing quick, on-the-fly data.
• Expensive for High-Volume Use: The pricing structure can become costly as website traffic increases, with additional charges for storage or higher data access. This may make it less appealing for small businesses or those with multiple sites.
• User Interface and Usability Issues: While generally user-friendly, the UI has been described as clunky and in need of a refresh. Users also mentioned that some features do not function as expected without additional configuration, which could impact user experience.

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☝️ With heatmap, your platform operates with minimal impact on website performance and loading speed, ensuring efficient use. Pricing is not session-based but proportional to your annual revenue, making it more scale-friendly for businesses. You also enjoy consistent data accuracy, reducing missed or incomplete session recordings common with Lucky Orange.

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What actual Hotjar users have to say

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• 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.

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What actual Lucky Orange users have to say

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• Positive review: "I like the fact that I can tell at a glance where my site visitors are from, where they landed on my site, and exactly which pages they visited, enabling me to constantly tweak and optimize my site effectively. I love the alert sound when a customer visits my site, and I can track their activity in real time. I really would not be without Lucky Orange and all the features it offers at a very affordable price." - Carol-Ann, Small Business Owner
• Critical review: "Lucky Orange is great at helping you visualize traffic behavior and engagement with your website in real-time. However, a lot of the data from sessions weren't attributable to a source, and many of the screen recordings showed up blank. For the times this platform did what it was intended to do, it was awesome, but nearly half of the recorded sessions are simply unusable. - Samuel, Retail Owner

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What people are saying about heatmap 🔥

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• "$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.

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Comparing Hotjar and Lucky Orange's Pricing

Both Hotjar and Lucky Orange offer a variety of pricing plans to suit many different user groups' needs and budgets. But which one gives you the best bang for your buck?
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Lucky Orange keeps things simple with a free plan for those just starting out (100 monthly sessions). Need more? Their paid plans start at $39/month for 5,000 monthly sessions and go up to $899/month for 300,000 sessions. They also have an Enterprise plan for those who need a custom solution. Every Lucky Orange plan includes all their features, which is pretty sweet.
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Hotjar, on the other hand, structures its pricing a bit differently. They offer a free plan with basic features like heatmaps and recordings, but with limited filters and no funnels. Paid plans start at $39/month for the Plus plan and climb to $99/month for the Business plan, which unlocks more advanced features like a user behavior analytics service with filters and frustration scores. Their top-tier Scale plan, at $213/month, gives you the whole shebang, including funnels, trends, and a dedicated customer success manager.
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Let's break down the costs and features of each platform:
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Here's the bottom line:
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• Lucky Orange offers a more straightforward pricing structure with all features included in every plan, but costs scale with sessions, which doesn't always mean revenue. Additional storage and features push costs higher, impacting scalability for high-traffic sites.
• Hotjar offers a wider range of advanced features and more flexibility in its higher-priced plans. But costly for high-volume users with tiered session-based pricing. Advanced features locked behind premium plans increase expenses. Less budget-friendly for scaling companies compared to revenue-based alternatives.
• heatmap: Scale-friendly pricing moves up with actual revenue, not vanity traffic. No hidden fees or session-based costs. Ideal for ecommerce businesses and teams seeking maximum insight without unpredictable pricing.

Still not sure which tool is right for you? All platforms offer free trials, so you can test-drive them and see which one you prefer.
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Try the Best Lucky Orange/Hotjar Alternative: heatmap

Best for: Ecommerce businesses and marketers seeking to boost revenue through AI-powered website optimization. heatmap goes beyond traditional web analytics software by tying revenue to every click, providing actionable insights to maximize your website's profitability.
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heatmap is a revenue-focused analytics platform that shows exactly how every element on web page of your website impacts sales. You can record user sessions, study how website visitors interact, and get AI-backed insights based on the customer journey to improve CRO.
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Unlike traditional tools that focus on vanity metrics like pageviews, heatmap provides a clear picture of how user behavior translates into revenue.
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What sets Heatmap apart from Lucky Orange or Hotjar 🏆

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• Revenue-centric approach: heatmap ties revenue to every click and interaction, providing a clear understanding of which elements on your website are driving the most value.
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• AI-powered insights: One of the BIGGEST complaints with tools like Hotjar and Lucky Orange? Users don't know what to do with the data. heatmap's AI engine analyzes behavioral data from visitor recordings and provides actionable recommendations to optimize your pages for increased revenue (ie., copy tweaks, reordering sections, enhancing images, and more).
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• Session recordings that don't fall short: Unlike Hotjar and Lucky Orange, which may miss or inconsistently record sessions, heatmap provides reliable, seamless user recordings for accurate analysis and optimization, giving teams clear, actionable data to enhance their websites.
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• Focus on ecommerce: heatmap is specifically designed for ecommerce businesses, with features and insights tailored to the needs of online retailers.
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Other useful features of heatmap
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• Comparison Mode: Compare different user segments to understand their behavior and preferences.
• JavaScript Error Tracking: Identify and resolve JavaScript errors that impact site performance.
• Rage Click & Top Page Analysis: Find and fix usability issues that frustrate users.
• Privacy-Focused Analytics: heatmap is GDPR and CCPA-compliant—just like Google Analytics, ensuring user privacy.
• Site Speed Tracking: Monitor your website's performance and get recommendations for improvement.

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What Heatmap users love

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• The revenue-focused insights: heatmap provides a clear and direct link between real-time user behavior and revenue, empowering you to make data-driven decisions that boost your bottom line.
• A stupid-simple interface and setup: heatmap is praised for its intuitive, easy-to-navigate interface, accessible to users of all technical skill levels. Installing heatmap on your website is a breeze, requiring only a simple script and minimal setup time.
• World-class real time support: You get email, live chat, dedicated Slack channel, and a customer success manager. Users consistently highlight our responsive and helpful customer support teams, ensuring you get the assistance you need when you need it.
• Integrates with EVERY CRM and major ecommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and even custom websites.

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