Before you can optimize a page’s conversion rate, you need to see how people actually use it — where they click, how far they scroll, and where they get stuck. Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity, and FullStory have long been the three most-recommended tools for exactly that: heatmaps and session replay. But one major thing changed in this category that a lot of comparison articles haven’t caught up to yet — Hotjar, as an independent product, doesn’t really exist anymore.
At a Glance
| Tool | Free plan | Entry paid price | Session replay on free tier | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hotjar (now Contentsquare) | 200,000 sessions/month, 1 month data, 1 project | Growth from $39/month (shown discounted from $49) | Yes — 5% of sessions, max 10,000, 1 month access | Teams fine with Hotjar’s identity and features living on inside a larger Contentsquare platform |
| Microsoft Clarity | Free forever, no traffic cap stated | None — there is no paid tier | Yes, included in the free product | Anyone who wants heatmaps and session recordings at zero cost with no catch |
| FullStory | 30,000 sessions/month, 12 months retention, up to 10 users | Custom quote only (Business/Advanced/Enterprise analytics tiers) | Yes, included in FullStoryFree | Teams that outgrow a basic heatmap tool and need deeper product analytics, dashboards, and AI-assisted insight (StoryAI) |
Short Verdict
Microsoft Clarity is the easiest recommendation if budget is the main concern: it’s genuinely free with no stated traffic cap and no paid tier gating features behind a paywall. Hotjar’s identity has been absorbed into Contentsquare — new accounts can no longer even be created on hotjar.com — and the resulting Contentsquare Free plan is actually more generous on session volume than Hotjar’s old free plan ever was, which is a rare case of a product getting better specs after being acquired. FullStory remains the deepest tool of the three once you move past simple heatmaps into full product analytics, debugging, and AI-assisted session insight, but every paid tier requires a sales conversation rather than a published price.
What Each One Actually Is (and the Hotjar/Contentsquare Change)
Here’s the detail worth leading with: Contentsquare’s own page confirms that “Hotjar is now Contentsquare,” that “the two platforms have merged into a single, more powerful experience intelligence platform,” and explicitly states “it’s no longer possible to create a new account on Hotjar.” Visiting hotjar.com now redirects directly to a Contentsquare landing page, and hotjar.com/pricing redirects straight to contentsquare.com/pricing. Existing Hotjar customers log in through Contentsquare’s own login page. Practically, this means a 2026 “Hotjar” comparison is really a Contentsquare comparison — the Hotjar brand survives mainly as a product-line name (heatmaps and session replay now sit under Contentsquare’s “Experience Analytics” product) rather than as a separate company or a separately purchasable product.
Contentsquare’s Experience Analytics (the direct descendant of Hotjar) offers a free tier with 200,000 monthly sessions, one month of data access, one project, and replays, heatmaps, and funnels included. That’s a significant jump from Hotjar’s old free plan, which Contentsquare’s own page describes as having capped out at 35 sessions per day and 20 survey responses per month. The paid Growth tier starts at $39/month (shown marked down from $49) and scales with session volume up into the 240,000+/month range, adding 13 months of data access, 3 projects, and zone-based heatmaps. Pro and Enterprise tiers require a demo and custom pricing.
Microsoft Clarity is Microsoft’s free user-behavior analytics tool, offering heatmaps, session recordings, and dashboards. Its own pricing page headline is simply “It’s free, forever,” and its homepage states it’s “built to grow with your business” with “no limits on traffic.” There’s no paid tier, no feature gate, and no session cap stated anywhere we could find on Microsoft’s own pages — a genuinely unusual position in this category, where every other major competitor monetizes through session-volume limits.
FullStory takes the opposite approach from Clarity: a capable permanent free plan (FullStoryFree) as the entry point, with every meaningful upgrade path routed through a sales conversation rather than a published price. FullStoryFree includes 30,000 sessions per month, 12 months of data retention, up to 10 users, Session Replay, basic analytics, and debugging tools — notably more generous retention than either Hotjar’s old or new free tiers. Paid analytics tiers (Business, Advanced, Enterprise) all require requesting a demo, as do its separate Workforce (internal tool-adoption analytics) and Anywhere (data warehouse/activation) products.
Pricing Breakdown
| Product | Plan | Price | Key limits/inclusions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contentsquare (Hotjar) | Free | $0/month, forever | 200,000 sessions/mo, 1 month data, 1 project, replays/heatmaps/funnels included |
| Contentsquare (Hotjar) | Growth | From $39/month (discounted from $49) | 7,000 to 240,000+ sessions/mo tiers, 13 months data, 3 projects, zone-based heatmaps; 15-day free trial, 30-day money-back guarantee |
| Contentsquare (Hotjar) | Pro / Enterprise | Custom quote | Form analysis, higher session replay capture (up to 100%), advanced features |
| Microsoft Clarity | Free (only tier) | $0, forever | No stated traffic limit; heatmaps, session recordings, dashboards |
| FullStory | FullStoryFree | $0/month | 30,000 sessions/mo, 12 months retention, up to 10 users; Session Replay, basic analytics, debugging |
| FullStory | Business / Advanced / Enterprise | Custom quote only — “Request pricing & demo” | Dashboards, StoryAI, deeper product analytics; exact feature gating by tier not published |
Pros
- Hotjar/Contentsquare: A free tier that’s now more generous than Hotjar’s standalone free plan ever was, plus a published, if higher, Growth starting price for teams that outgrow it.
- Microsoft Clarity: Genuinely free with no session cap stated anywhere on Microsoft’s own pages — the only tool of the three with zero pricing friction at any scale.
- FullStory: The most generous free-tier data retention (12 months) of the three, plus the deepest paid feature set once you need product analytics and AI-assisted insight (StoryAI) rather than just heatmaps.
Cons
- Hotjar/Contentsquare: Existing Hotjar users are now Contentsquare customers whether they chose that transition or not — “no longer possible to create a new account on Hotjar” means the standalone product is effectively gone.
- Microsoft Clarity: Being free means no dedicated account manager, enterprise SLA, or the deeper product-analytics and AI features that paid competitors like FullStory offer.
- FullStory: Every paid tier is hidden behind “contact sales,” so there’s no way to self-serve budget for an upgrade the way Contentsquare’s published Growth price allows.
Who It’s a Good Fit For
Pick Microsoft Clarity if you want heatmaps and session recordings with zero budget approval needed and don’t require enterprise support or deep product analytics. Pick Contentsquare (what used to be Hotjar) if you want a free tier with generous session volume and a clear, published path to a paid plan as you grow. Pick FullStory if you’re past basic heatmaps and need genuine product analytics, long data retention, and are prepared to go through a sales conversation to get there.
Who Should Look Elsewhere
If you specifically want the standalone “Hotjar” product and brand as it existed a few years ago, that option no longer exists — you’ll be a Contentsquare customer either way, so evaluate the merged platform on its current merits rather than Hotjar’s old reputation. Teams that want transparent, self-serve pricing at every tier (not just the entry tier) should be cautious with FullStory, since nothing beyond its free plan is published.
Bottom Line
The most important finding in this comparison isn’t a pricing detail — it’s that “Hotjar” as an independently branded, independently purchasable product is gone, folded into Contentsquare’s Experience Analytics line as of this research. For most people comparing heatmap tools for CRO work in 2026, the realistic three-way choice is: free-forever with no frills (Microsoft Clarity), free-with-a-generous-paid-upgrade-path (Contentsquare/Hotjar), or free-to-start-then-sales-gated-for-everything-else (FullStory). None of the three is a wrong choice, but go in knowing which of those three trade-offs you’re actually signing up for.
FAQ
- Is Hotjar still a separate product from Contentsquare? No. Contentsquare’s own page states the two platforms have merged, and new accounts can no longer be created directly on hotjar.com — hotjar.com now redirects to Contentsquare.
- Is Microsoft Clarity really free with no catch? Based on Microsoft’s own pricing and homepage copy (“It’s free, forever,” “no limits on traffic”), yes — there is no paid tier at all for Clarity.
- Does FullStory have any published pricing beyond the free plan? No — every tier above FullStoryFree (Business, Advanced, Enterprise, plus the separate Workforce and Anywhere products) requires requesting a demo and custom quote.
- Which has the most generous free tier by session volume? Contentsquare’s current free plan, at 200,000 sessions/month, well above FullStory’s 30,000/month — though Microsoft Clarity’s free tier has no stated session cap at all, which arguably makes it the most generous by that specific measure.
- Which has the longest data retention on its free plan? FullStoryFree, at 12 months, versus 1 month on Contentsquare’s free tier.
Sources
- Contentsquare — “Hotjar is now Contentsquare”
- Contentsquare — Pricing
- Microsoft Clarity — Pricing (“It’s free, forever”)
- FullStory — Pricing
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