How much does Hotjar cost in 2026?

Growth, 7k sessions a month: $39 a month on annual billing ($49 billed monthly). 200,000 sessions a month, 1 project and 1 month of data. Checked October 26, 2026.

What is a cheaper alternative to Hotjar?

Microsoft Clarity (Free, with no traffic limits), PostHog (Free every month: 5,000 recordings and 1 million events; pay as you go after), OpenReplay (Free to self-host; managed cloud from $199/mo). Heatmaps and session recordings with no session cap, but you give up Hotjar’s survey and feedback tools.

Heatmaps and session recordings

Should you build your own Hotjar?

Q: Should you build your own Hotjar?

Switch. Hotjar’s pricing now sits on Contentsquare. The Free plan covers up to 200,000 sessions a month, and Growth starts at $39 a month for 7,000 sessions on yearly billing ($49 monthly). Microsoft Clarity records sessions and draws heatmaps for $0 with no traffic cap. A homemade recorder would cost about $5,200 over three years, and the recordings carry privacy risk you’d own.

Switch to Microsoft Clarity. It records sessions and draws heatmaps for $0, with no traffic cap.

SWITCH

Short answer

Hotjar’s pricing now sits on Contentsquare. The Free plan covers up to 200,000 sessions a month, and Growth starts at $39 a month for 7,000 sessions on yearly billing ($49 monthly). Microsoft Clarity records sessions and draws heatmaps for $0 with no traffic cap. A homemade recorder would cost about $5,200 over three years, and the recordings carry privacy risk you’d own.

Buy for 3 years: $1,404
Build and run for 3 years: $5,185
Verdict: SWITCH

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Cheaper options

FreeMicrosoft ClarityFree, with no traffic limitsHeatmaps and session recordings with no session cap, but you give up Hotjar’s survey and feedback tools.FreePostHogFree every month: 5,000 recordings and 1 million events; pay as you go afterSession replay plus product analytics in one open-source tool, though it is built for developers and takes more setup.Open sourceOpenReplayFree to self-host; managed cloud from $199/moSession replay you run yourself, so you pay in server upkeep and handle privacy settings.

Hotjar pricing in 2026

Plan	Billed yearly	Billed monthly
Growth, 7k sessions a month Typical	$39/mo	$49/mo

Free plan: 200,000 sessions a month, 1 project and 1 month of data

Paying too much? Hotjar’s Free plan already covers up to 200,000 sessions a month with replays, heatmaps and funnels. Growth adds 13 months of data, three projects, zone-based heatmaps and journey analysis.

Hotjar’s pricing page now redirects to Contentsquare, which says its plans include Hotjar’s tools. Growth is $39 a month billed yearly or $49 billed monthly at 7,000 sessions, read in USD. Higher session tiers cost more, and the older Plus, Business and Scale plans are no longer listed. Checked October 26, 2026.

Run your own numbers

Defaults are a typical small team at $30/hour. Change anything.

If you buy Hotjar

Plan

If you build it

Your time, $ per hour

Hours to build

Upkeep, hours per month

Hosting and services, $ per month

Buy

$1,404

Build

$5,185

Buying is about $3,781 cheaper over 3 years.

3-year totals. Building includes your time, upkeep, running costs and one month of an AI app builder ($25). Change any number to match your situation.

What you’d build

A tracking script that records clicks, scrolls and page changes (e.g. rrweb)
A session replay player
Click and scroll heatmaps per page
Storage with a 30-day retention rule

Our estimate for hosting plus storage for recordings at small-site volume.

What you’d give up

Surveys and feedback widgets
Rage-click and error detection
Funnels, journeys and AI summaries
Privacy masking tuned for every kind of site

Risks the price doesn’t show

PrivacyHigh

Recordings can capture personal data, so consent and masking (GDPR) are your problem.

StorageMedium

Recordings are large, and storage and bandwidth costs grow quickly.

PerformanceMedium

The script must not slow your site or break on unusual pages.

When the verdict flips

Switch to BUY if you need 13 months of data, journey analysis or a vendor contract for a regulated site. That’s what Growth adds over the free plan.

Sources

Hotjar pricing (now on Contentsquare) · Contentsquare plan changes

Build hours are our estimates for one person using an AI app builder. How we score. Spotted a wrong price? Tell us on X @BuildictHQ.

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