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Nonprofit & Fundraising · head to head

Donorbox vs Hotjar

Donorbox logo

Donorbox

Nonprofit & Fundraising

Online fundraising platform for nonprofits

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
H

Hotjar

E-commerce

Understand how users behave on your site

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Donorbox standard plan charges 2.95-3.95% platform fee per donation on top of payment processor fees (2.2-2.49% + card processing); Hotjar website performance impact - Hotjar tracking code can cause noticeable slowdowns affecting site speed and Google rankings
  • They diverge on capability: Donorbox covers Custom donation forms, Hotjar covers Heatmaps.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Donorbox and Hotjar actually diverge.

Attributes where Donorbox and Hotjar differ
AttributeDonorboxHotjar
Pricing modelfreemiumUnknown
CategoryNonprofit & FundraisingE-commerce
Founded20162014

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

  • Custom donation forms
  • Peer-to-peer fundraising
  • Payment processing
  • Donor management
  • Stripe
  • PayPal
  • Mailchimp
  • Web support

Only in Hotjar

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

Both cover

  • Zapier

What people use each for

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

Donorbox

  • Small to mid-sized nonprofits needing affordable donation processing in 96+ countriesnot Hotjar
  • Organisations seeking integrated event ticketing and peer-to-peer fundraisingnot Hotjar
  • Multi-channel giving strategies including text-to-give and membership programmesnot Hotjar

Hotjar

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

Where each one falls short

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

Donorbox

  • Standard plan charges 2.95-3.95% platform fee per donation on top of payment processor fees (2.2-2.49% + card processing)
  • Premium plan pricing requires contacting sales, not displayed publicly
  • Pro plan limited to growing organisations; larger nonprofits must upgrade to Premium with custom pricing

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

Donorbox

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Donorbox review.

Hotjar

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Hotjar review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Donorbox if

  • You need custom donation forms.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want peer-to-peer fundraising.
Donorbox review

Choose Hotjar if

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

Questions people ask

Is Donorbox or Hotjar better?
Neither clearly leads. Donorbox 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, Donorbox or Hotjar?
Donorbox starts at Free and Hotjar at Free.
Does Donorbox or Hotjar run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Donorbox for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Donorbox best used for?
Donorbox is most often used for small to mid-sized nonprofits needing affordable donation processing in 96+ countries, organisations seeking integrated event ticketing and peer-to-peer fundraising, multi-channel giving strategies including text-to-give and membership programmes. Of those, small to mid-sized nonprofits needing affordable donation processing in 96+ countries and organisations seeking integrated event ticketing and peer-to-peer fundraising are not what Hotjar is typically brought in for.
What can Donorbox do that Hotjar cannot?
Donorbox covers Custom donation forms, Peer-to-peer fundraising, Payment processing, Donor management. Hotjar covers Heatmaps, Session recordings, Feedback widgets, Surveys. Both handle Zapier.

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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Related pages

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