Comparison · Analytics
Best heatmap tools for small sites
Five tools, honest pricing, and which ones stay free as your traffic grows.
- 5 tools compared
- Real prices
- Free tier limits noted
Best heatmap tools for small sites: which one should you pick?
Hotjar is the best starting point for small sites — free tier included, easy setup, and both heatmaps and session recordings in one tool. Microsoft Clarity is a genuinely good free alternative with no traffic limits, worth using even alongside a paid tool.
Last updated 3 August 2026
| Tool | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Hotjar | Small sites wanting heatmaps and recordings in one easy tool | Free tier available, paid from about $32 a month |
| Microsoft Clarity | Sites wanting unlimited free heatmaps and recordings | Free, no session limits |
| Crazy Egg | Sites wanting A/B testing bundled with heatmaps | From about $29 a month |
| Lucky Orange | Small ecommerce sites wanting live chat plus heatmaps | From about $18 a month |
| Mouseflow | Sites wanting funnel and form analytics alongside recordings | Free tier available, paid from about $31 a month |
Heatmaps show where visitors click and scroll; session recordings show individual visits play back like a video. For a small site, the real value is usually the recordings — watching ten sessions of people abandoning your checkout tells you more than an aggregate scroll map.
Most tools in this space cap free usage by monthly sessions, which matters a lot for a small site trying to stay free long-term versus one that will outgrow the free tier within a few months.
How we judged them
What matters when you're small.
Free tier session limits
Check the monthly session cap on the free plan against your actual traffic, not your goal traffic. Some free tiers reset data older than 30 days, limiting how much history you can review.
Setup and script weight
A heatmap script that noticeably slows page load will hurt the conversion rate you're trying to improve. Check reported script impact before installing on a critical page like checkout.
Filtering recordings usefully
With any meaningful traffic, you need to filter recordings by page, device, or behaviour (rage clicks, dead clicks) rather than watching them in raw chronological order.
Privacy and consent handling
Session recordings capture what looks like user input. Check that the tool masks form fields and sensitive data by default and supports your region's consent requirements.
The picks
What each one is actually good at.
Hotjar
Free tier available, paid from about $32 a monthBest for: Small sites wanting heatmaps and recordings in one easy tool
The most polished setup experience and a genuinely useful free tier for low-traffic sites. Paid tiers get pricier faster than competitors once you're past a few thousand sessions a month.
Microsoft Clarity
Free, no session limitsBest for: Sites wanting unlimited free heatmaps and recordings
Genuinely free with no traffic cap, which is unusual in this category. The interface and filtering are less refined than Hotjar's, but the price makes it worth running alongside any paid tool.
Crazy Egg
From about $29 a monthBest for: Sites wanting A/B testing bundled with heatmaps
Includes basic A/B testing alongside heatmaps, which is convenient if you don't want a separate testing tool. Recording quality and filtering are a step behind Hotjar's.
Lucky Orange
From about $18 a monthBest for: Small ecommerce sites wanting live chat plus heatmaps
Bundles live visitor chat with heatmaps and recordings, useful for a small store handling support inline. Less polished analytics reporting than dedicated tools like Hotjar.
Mouseflow
Free tier available, paid from about $31 a monthBest for: Sites wanting funnel and form analytics alongside recordings
Form analytics (which fields cause abandonment) is more detailed than most competitors'. The interface has a steeper learning curve than Hotjar's for a first-time user.
Skip
What we'd leave alone.
- Any heatmap tool with no free trial or free tier for a site under a few thousand monthly visitors — there's no reason to pay before confirming the recordings are actually useful.
- Tools that don't clearly state data retention periods on the free tier — some purge session history after just a few days, which limits how useful the free plan really is.
- Heatmap-only tools with no session recording option if you're trying to diagnose a specific conversion problem — aggregate heatmaps alone rarely explain why people are dropping off.
Questions
Common questions.
Do heatmap scripts slow down my site?
Most add a small, measurable delay, generally under 100ms if implemented correctly with async loading. Avoid installing directly on your checkout page if load speed there is critical; test on a staging environment first.
How many session recordings should I watch before drawing conclusions?
Fifteen to twenty recordings of the specific flow you're investigating (like checkout abandonment) is usually enough to spot a repeated pattern, rather than reacting to one unusual visitor.
Is Microsoft Clarity really free with no catch?
Yes, it has no session cap or paid tier at all, funded as part of Microsoft's broader ad and Bing ecosystem. The trade-off is a less refined interface and fewer integrations than paid competitors.
Do I need both Clarity and Hotjar?
Not strictly, but running Clarity as an unlimited free backup alongside a paid tool's trial period is a reasonable way to keep historical data if you later downgrade or cancel the paid tool.
How do these tools handle sensitive form data like passwords or payment fields?
Reputable tools mask input fields by default so recordings show asterisks instead of typed content. Confirm this setting is on, especially before enabling recordings on account or checkout pages.
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