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News & Media · head to head

Apple News vs Hotjar

Apple News logo

Apple News

News & Media

All the news you want. From sources you trust.

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
H

Hotjar

News & Media

Understand how users behave on your site

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Apple News apple News+ costs $12.99 per month in USD after the first month, or is included only via the $39.95 per month USD Apple One Premier bundle; Hotjar website performance impact - Hotjar tracking code can cause noticeable slowdowns affecting site speed and Google rankings
  • They diverge on capability: Apple News covers Curated news feed, Hotjar covers Heatmaps.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Apple News and Hotjar actually diverge.

Attributes where Apple News and Hotjar differ
AttributeApple NewsHotjar
Pricing modelfreemiumUnknown
PlatformsIos, MacosWeb
CategoryNews & MediaUnknown
Founded19762014

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Apple News

  • Curated news feed
  • Premium magazines
  • Audio stories
  • Personalization
  • Offline reading
  • iCloud
  • Apple One bundle
  • Siri

Only in Hotjar

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

What people use each for

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

Apple News

  • Daily news readingnot Hotjar
  • Magazine subscriptionnot Hotjar
  • News discoverynot Hotjar
  • Staying informednot Hotjar

Hotjar

  • User behavior analysisnot Apple News
  • Conversion optimizationnot Apple News
  • UX researchnot Apple News
  • Customer feedbacknot Apple News
  • Usability testingnot Apple News

Where each one falls short

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

Apple News

  • Apple News+ costs $12.99 per month in USD after the first month, or is included only via the $39.95 per month USD Apple One Premier bundle

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

Apple News

Free
  • Apple NewsFree
    • Free news articles
    • Personalized feed
    • Topic following
  • Apple News+$12.99/month
    • Premium magazines
    • Major newspapers
    • Audio stories

Hotjar

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Hotjar review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Apple News if

  • You need curated news feed.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Ios, Macos.
  • You also want premium magazines.
Apple News review

Choose Hotjar if

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

Questions people ask

Is Apple News or Hotjar better?
Neither clearly leads. Apple News starts at Free and Hotjar at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Apple News or Hotjar?
Apple News starts at Free and Hotjar at Free.
Does Apple News or Hotjar run on more platforms?
Apple News runs on Ios, Macos. Hotjar runs on Web.
Can I use Apple News for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Apple News best used for?
Apple News is most often used for daily news reading, magazine subscription, news discovery, staying informed. Of those, daily news reading and magazine subscription are not what Hotjar is typically brought in for.
What can Apple News do that Hotjar cannot?
Apple News covers Curated news feed, Premium magazines, Audio stories, Personalization. Hotjar covers Heatmaps, Session recordings, Feedback widgets, Surveys.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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
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
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
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
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