Hotjar alternatives.
Hotjar now redirects to Contentsquare, and new Hotjar accounts can no longer be made. If you came looking for Hotjar, these are the tools people use instead, from free recorders to paid toolkits. Moxel is on the list, and it is the odd one out: it records nothing.
7 tools, each checked against its own site in November 2026.
SHORT ANSWER
Pick by what you need.
- Closest to Hotjar
- Contentsquare, which Hotjar became. Existing Hotjar logins work there.
- Free
- Microsoft Clarity is free forever. Contentsquare and Mouseflow have free plans.
- Self-hosted
- PostHog and Matomo can run on your own server.
- Form fields
- Mouseflow and Moxel show every field. Lucky Orange has Form Analytics on every plan. Matomo sells it as an add-on.
- No recordings, no cookies
- Moxel. It counts what people do instead of recording them.
Comparing two of them directly? Hotjar vs Microsoft Clarity · Hotjar vs Lucky Orange · Moxel vs Hotjar
HOW WE CHOSE
What counted.
- Each tool has to record sessions, draw heatmaps, or answer the question people used Hotjar for: where do visitors get stuck.
- We read each tool's own site and docs in November 2026. Where a page did not say something, we left it out.
- We do not quote prices. They change. Each entry says free or paid, and links to the tool's own page.
- The order is who each tool suits, closest to Hotjar first. It is not a ranking.
- Moxel's maker wrote this page. We say so, and we say where Moxel is the wrong choice.
THE LIST
Who each one suits.
01Hotjar
BEST FORAnyone who liked Hotjar and wants the closest thing, with a free plan.
Hotjar is now part of Contentsquare, so this is where a Hotjar sign-up goes. The free plan covers up to 200,000 sessions a month, with heatmaps, funnels, surveys and recordings of 5% of sessions, up to 10,000. Existing Hotjar logins still work.
- Price
- Free plan, paid plans
- Cookies
- Yes
- Open source
- No
- Host it yourself
- No
- Forms
- Form analysis is not on the free plan
Skip it if you want form analysis or zone-based heatmaps for free. Both sit on paid plans.
02Microsoft Clarity
BEST FORAnyone who wants recordings and heatmaps with a budget of zero.
Microsoft says Clarity is free forever, with no limits on traffic. It records sessions, draws heatmaps and builds funnels from one script tag.
- Price
- Free
- Cookies
- Yes
- Open source
- No
- Host it yourself
- No
- Forms
- Seen in recordings, one visitor at a time
Skip it if you do not want cookies. Clarity sets them, and in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland it needs a consent signal first.
03Mouseflow
BEST FORA site that wants recordings, heatmaps and field-level form data in one tool.
Mouseflow records sessions, draws several kinds of heatmap, and shows hesitation time, blank submissions and drop-off for each form field. Its free plan covers 500 sessions a month with one funnel.
- Price
- Free plan, paid plans
- Cookies
- Not stated on its site
- Open source
- No
- Host it yourself
- No
- Forms
- Every field: hesitation time, blank submissions and drop-off
Skip it if you have real traffic and want free. On the free plan, tracking stops when the 500 sessions run out, until the next refill.
04Lucky Orange
BEST FORA store that wants recordings, heatmaps, surveys and live chat together.
Lucky Orange puts recordings, heatmaps, funnels, form analytics, surveys and live chat in every plan, with Discovery AI flagging what to fix first. It has a 7-day trial.
- Price
- Paid, after a 7-day trial
- Cookies
- Yes
- Open source
- No
- Host it yourself
- No
- Forms
- Form Analytics, which spots most form submits on its own
Skip it if you want a free plan or no cookies. It lists no free plan, and it keeps a visitor ID cookie for two years.
05PostHog
BEST FORA product team that wants recordings and heatmaps next to product analytics.
PostHog has session replay and heatmaps alongside product analytics, feature flags and experiments, with a free monthly allowance. It is open source and can be self-hosted.
- Price
- Free allowance, then paid by use. Free to self-host
- Cookies
- Optional
- Open source
- Yes
- Host it yourself
- Yes
- Forms
- Clicks and submits are captured. The form report is yours to build.
Skip it if you are one person who wants an answer, not a workspace to set up.
06Matomo
BEST FORA team that wants heatmaps and recordings on its own server.
Matomo is open source and free to self-host. Heatmaps, session recordings and form analytics are premium features on top of the free Community plan.
- Price
- Free to self-host, paid Cloud and premium features
- Cookies
- Optional
- Open source
- Yes
- Host it yourself
- Yes
- Forms
- Field-level form analytics, as a paid feature
Skip it if you want a short setup. Matomo uses first-party cookies by default, and you have to configure it for consent-free use.
07Moxel
BEST FOROne person who used Hotjar to find where people get stuck, and would rather have the count than the footage.
Moxel records nothing. It counts every visitor's path through your forms and checkout: which field people stop on, how long each takes, which ones show an error. Each finding names the element and the fix. It sets no cookies.
- Price
- Paid, after a 30-day free trial with no card
- Cookies
- None
- Open source
- No
- Host it yourself
- No
- Forms
- Every field: where people stop, how long each takes, which ones show an error
Skip it if you want to watch sessions or see heatmaps. Moxel has neither, and no free plan after the trial.
SIDE BY SIDE
All of them at once.
| Tool | Price | Cookies | Open source | Host it yourself | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hotjar | Price: Free plan, paid plans | Cookies: Yes | Open source: No | Host it yourself: No | Anyone who liked Hotjar and wants the closest thing, with a free plan. |
| Microsoft Clarity | Price: Free | Cookies: Yes | Open source: No | Host it yourself: No | Anyone who wants recordings and heatmaps with a budget of zero. |
| Mouseflow | Price: Free plan, paid plans | Cookies: Not stated on its site | Open source: No | Host it yourself: No | A site that wants recordings, heatmaps and field-level form data in one tool. |
| Lucky Orange | Price: Paid, after a 7-day trial | Cookies: Yes | Open source: No | Host it yourself: No | A store that wants recordings, heatmaps, surveys and live chat together. |
| PostHog | Price: Free allowance, then paid by use. Free to self-host | Cookies: Optional | Open source: Yes | Host it yourself: Yes | A product team that wants recordings and heatmaps next to product analytics. |
| Matomo | Price: Free to self-host, paid Cloud and premium features | Cookies: Optional | Open source: Yes | Host it yourself: Yes | A team that wants heatmaps and recordings on its own server. |
| Moxel | Price: Paid, after a 30-day free trial with no card | Cookies: None | Open source: No | Host it yourself: No | One person who used Hotjar to find where people get stuck, and would rather have the count than the footage. |
No prices for other tools on purpose. They change, and a stale number is a wrong one. Each tool's own site has today's.
Work at one of these companies and see something wrong or out of date here? Email moxelmail@gmail.com and we will fix it. Every page that mentions you updates at once.
QUESTIONS
Asked a lot.
- What happened to Hotjar?
- Hotjar is now part of Contentsquare. hotjar.com sends you to Contentsquare, and new Hotjar accounts can no longer be made. Existing users log in with the same details.
- What is the best free Hotjar alternative?
- Microsoft Clarity is free forever, with recordings and heatmaps. Contentsquare, which Hotjar became, has a large free plan. Mouseflow has a small free plan of 500 sessions a month.
- Is there a Hotjar alternative without cookies?
- Clarity, Contentsquare and Lucky Orange set cookies, and Matomo does by default. Moxel sets none, and it records no sessions either. If you need recordings, expect cookies and a consent banner in the EU and UK.
- Which Hotjar alternative has form analytics?
- Mouseflow shows each field. Lucky Orange has Form Analytics on every plan. Matomo sells it as a premium feature, and Contentsquare keeps it off the free plan. Moxel tracks every field on every plan.
KEEP READING
One tool at a time.
Each comparison page says where the other tool is the better pick. They are all on the compare page. The other lists: Google Analytics alternatives, Form analytics tools. Why people leave forms and checkouts, with sources, is in the field guide.