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Technology · head to head

Aha! vs Hotjar

Aha! logo

Aha!

Technology

Roadmapping software for product builders

From
$59/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
H

Hotjar

E-commerce

Understand how users behave on your site

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Hotjar has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Aha! sold as eight separate products rather than one subscription, so Roadmaps, Discovery, Ideas, Whiteboards, Builder, Develop, Teamwork and Knowledge are each priced per user; Hotjar website performance impact - Hotjar tracking code can cause noticeable slowdowns affecting site speed and Google rankings
  • They diverge on capability: Aha! covers Strategic roadmaps, Hotjar covers Heatmaps.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Aha! and Hotjar actually diverge.

Attributes where Aha! and Hotjar differ
AttributeAha!Hotjar
Starting price$59/monthFree
Free tierNoYes
CategoryTechnologyE-commerce
Founded20132014

Identical on both: pricing model (Unknown), platforms (Web), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Aha!

  • Strategic roadmaps
  • Release planning
  • Idea management
  • Requirements & user stories
  • Visual workflows
  • Gantt charts
  • Pivot tables
  • Custom scorecards

Only in Hotjar

  • Heatmaps
  • Session recordings
  • Feedback widgets
  • Surveys
  • User interviews
  • Conversion funnels
  • Form analytics
  • Rage click detection

Both cover

  • Slack
  • Microsoft Teams
  • SOC2
  • ISO27001
  • GDPR

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Aha!

  • Product roadmapping linked to strategy and goalsnot Hotjar
  • Collecting and scoring customer feedback through Ideasnot Hotjar
  • Customer research and interview analysis with Discoverynot Hotjar
  • Agile delivery tracking with Developnot Hotjar
  • Internal product documentation with Knowledgenot Hotjar

Hotjar

  • User behavior analysisnot Aha!
  • Conversion optimizationnot Aha!
  • UX researchnot Aha!
  • Customer feedbacknot Aha!
  • Usability testingnot Aha!

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Aha!

  • Sold as eight separate products rather than one subscription, so Roadmaps, Discovery, Ideas, Whiteboards, Builder, Develop, Teamwork and Knowledge are each priced per user
  • Roadmaps at $59 per user per month is expensive next to general project tools, and Discovery and Ideas add $39 each
  • The Develop integration with Roadmaps requires the Enterprise or Enterprise+ tier
  • Annual billing is by invoice only; monthly is card

Hotjar

  • Website performance impact - Hotjar tracking code can cause noticeable slowdowns affecting site speed and Google rankings
  • Session recording limits - free and lower-tier plans have monthly session recording caps that must be sampled above the limit
  • Inaccurate heatmaps on dynamic pages - heatmaps fail to display correctly on pages with modals, sticky navigation bars, and pop-up overlays
  • No mobile app - only web-based access available
  • Not real-time analytics - includes slight data processing delay

Pricing, plan by plan

Aha!

$59/month
  • Startup$29/month
    • All premium features
    • Discounted pricing for early-stage startups
  • Premium$59/month
    • Strategy setting
    • Roadmap creation
    • Feature prioritization
  • Enterprise$null/month
    • Unlimited reviewers and viewers
    • Advanced features
  • Enterprise+$null/month
    • Everything in Enterprise plus workflow automation
    • Capacity planning
    • Concierge support

Hotjar

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Hotjar review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Aha! if

  • You need strategic roadmaps.
  • You also want release planning.
Aha! review

Choose Hotjar if

  • You need heatmaps.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want session recordings.
Hotjar review

Questions people ask

Is Aha! or Hotjar better?
Neither clearly leads. Aha! starts at $59/month and Hotjar at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Aha! or Hotjar?
Hotjar has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $59/month for Aha! and Free for Hotjar.
Does Aha! or Hotjar run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Hotjar for free?
Yes. Hotjar has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Aha! starts at $59/month.
What is Aha! best used for?
Aha! is most often used for product roadmapping linked to strategy and goals, collecting and scoring customer feedback through ideas, customer research and interview analysis with discovery, agile delivery tracking with develop. Of those, product roadmapping linked to strategy and goals and collecting and scoring customer feedback through ideas are not what Hotjar is typically brought in for.
What can Aha! do that Hotjar cannot?
Aha! covers Strategic roadmaps, Release planning, Idea management, Requirements & user stories. Hotjar covers Heatmaps, Session recordings, Feedback widgets, Surveys. Both handle Slack, Microsoft Teams, SOC2, ISO27001.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Aha!: Does Aha! have a free tier?

No. Aha! offers a 30-day free trial without requiring a credit card, but there is no permanent free plan. Pricing starts at $59/user/month for Aha! Roadmaps.

Source
Hotjar: Does Hotjar have a free tier?

Yes. Hotjar's free plan (now under Contentsquare) includes 200,000 monthly sessions, 10,000 session replays, and unlimited heatmaps, with no time limit on the free tier.

Source
Aha!: How is Aha! pricing structured?

Aha! uses per-user billing. Premium plan charges all users equally regardless of permission level. Enterprise plans only charge for workspace owners and contributors, with unlimited reviewers and viewers at no additional cost.

Source
Hotjar: Can I export my data from Hotjar?

Yes. Hotjar allows exporting heatmaps as JPG images, survey responses as CSV files, and session recording metadata. Advanced export options are available through the Hotjar API.

Source
Aha!: Can I use Aha! offline?

Aha! is a cloud-based SaaS platform with no offline mode mentioned in documentation. All features require internet connectivity to the cloud servers.

Source
Hotjar: Does Hotjar provide real-time analytics?

No. Hotjar has a slight delay in data processing and does not offer true real-time analytics compared to some competitors.

Source
Aha!: What does Enterprise+ plan include?

Enterprise+ includes workflow automation, capacity planning, custom tables and calculations, advanced license management, account backup and export, anti-virus scanning, IP access control, and concierge white-glove support.

Source
Hotjar: What integrations does Hotjar support?

Hotjar integrates with Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Slack, HubSpot, Jira, Linear, Microsoft Teams, Zapier, and hundreds of other tools through its API and partner integrations.

Source
Aha!: How many integrations does Aha! support?

Aha! Roadmaps offers 40+ integrations including Jira, Azure DevOps, Slack, Salesforce, and Zendesk. Salesforce and Zendesk require additional add-on purchases.

Source
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