Microsoft Clarity vs Hotjar: free limits, data kept and when a paid plan is worth it

Microsoft Clarity vs Hotjar: cost and limits side by side

Microsoft Clarity costs nothing, while Hotjar, now part of Contentsquare, has a Free plan for 200,000 monthly sessions and a Growth plan from $49 a month billed monthly, or $39 a month on yearly payment, at 7,000 sessions, as read on October 30, 2026. A Contentsquare session is a visitor's full journey on the site and ends after 30 minutes of inactivity.

Plerdy counts daily heatmap page views and a total of video sessions, not monthly sessions. The button below opens Plerdy's 14-day trial.

What Clarity gives at no cost, and its documented limits

Microsoft says Clarity is free forever with no traffic limits and no sampling, which means it tracks all traffic instead of a portion. Its FAQ also says Clarity records up to 100,000 sessions per project per day. There is no limit on the number of sites per account. Microsoft names five map types: click, scroll, area, conversion and attention. Is Microsoft Clarity free covers its limits.

The documented limit is control: Clarity says it does not support excluding or suppressing page elements while generating a heatmap, and it keeps most recordings for 30 days.

What Hotjar costs now that it is part of Contentsquare

Hotjar's pricing page now redirects to Contentsquare's, and Contentsquare says it is no longer possible to create a new Hotjar account: new users sign up for free on Contentsquare. Growth is priced by monthly sessions. 10,000 sessions cost $69 a month billed monthly or $55 on yearly payment, and 30,000 cost $159 or $127. The Hotjar vs Contentsquare guide lists every step.

Growth keeps replays for 2 months and analytics for 13. When a Growth plan reaches its session limit, Contentsquare says no new heatmap or funnel data arrives until next month's reset date.

Consent for visitors from the EEA, UK and Switzerland

Microsoft says consent should be obtained for visitors in the EEA, UK and Switzerland, and that a site passes the consent signal to Clarity through the Consent API or a supported consent management platform. Using Clarity without cookie consent breaks no terms, Microsoft says, but it reduces functionality: funnel tracking and session recordings might be affected. Plerdy can be set to start only after the visitor agrees in your consent banner.

When Plerdy is a third option to price

Plerdy suits a shop that wants error monitoring and per-element purchase tracking: its plan cards list both on every plan, Free included. Startup keeps data for 3 months, against 30 days for Clarity's recordings and 13 months for Contentsquare Growth's analytics. Clarity has no trial because nothing is paid; Plerdy's paid plans start with a 14-day trial instead.

Pick Clarity for maps and recordings at no cost, with recordings kept 30 days. Pick Hotjar's Growth plan on Contentsquare for 13 months of analytics at $49 a month billed monthly. Pick Plerdy Startup, $32 billed monthly or $21 billed annually, for e-commerce tracking and error monitoring with 3 months of storage. Compare more in Microsoft Clarity alternatives and Plerdy vs Hotjar.