Is Hotjar or Maxio better?

Neither clearly leads. Hotjar starts at Free and Maxio at $599/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Hotjar or Maxio?

Hotjar has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Hotjar and $599/month for Maxio.

Does Hotjar or Maxio run on more platforms?

Hotjar runs on Web. Maxio runs on web, api.

Can I use Hotjar for free?

Yes. Hotjar has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Maxio starts at $599/month.

What is Hotjar best used for?

Hotjar is most often used for user behavior analysis, conversion optimization, ux research, customer feedback. Of those, user behavior analysis and conversion optimization are not what Maxio is typically brought in for.

What can Hotjar do that Maxio cannot?

Hotjar covers Heatmaps, Session recordings, Feedback widgets, Surveys. Maxio covers Usage-based billing, Subscription management, Revenue recognition, SaaS metrics dashboards.

E-commerce · head to head

Hotjar vs Maxio

Hotjar

E-commerce

Understand how users behave on your site

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Maxio

E-commerce

Billing and financial reporting platform for B2B SaaS companies

From: $599/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Hotjar has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Hotjar website performance impact - Hotjar tracking code can cause noticeable slowdowns affecting site speed and Google rankings; Maxio entry-level Grow plan starts at $599/month, making it costly for very early-stage startups.
They diverge on capability: Hotjar covers Heatmaps, Maxio covers Usage-based billing.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Hotjar and Maxio actually diverge.

Attributes where Hotjar and Maxio differ
Attribute	Hotjar	Maxio
Starting price	Free	$599/month
Pricing model	Unknown	subscription
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	Web	web, api
Category	E-commerce	Unknown
Founded	2014	Unknown

Identical on both: 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 Hotjar

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

Only in Maxio

Usage-based billing
Subscription management
Revenue recognition
SaaS metrics dashboards
Dunning and collections
Accounting and CRM integrations

What people use each for

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

Hotjar

User behavior analysisnot Maxio
Conversion optimizationnot Maxio
UX researchnot Maxio
Customer feedbacknot Maxio
Usability testingnot Maxio

Maxio

Billing for B2B SaaS companies with complex contractsnot Hotjar
Usage-based and hybrid pricing meteringnot Hotjar
GAAP/IFRS revenue recognition for finance teamsnot Hotjar
SaaS metrics reporting for investors and boardsnot Hotjar

Where each one falls short

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

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

Maxio

Entry-level Grow plan starts at $599/month, making it costly for very early-stage startups.
Pricing above the Grow tier requires a custom quote rather than transparent self-serve pricing.
Focused specifically on B2B SaaS billing, so it lacks general e-commerce checkout or consumer payment features found in platforms like FastSpring.
Advanced features like multi-entity support and expense amortization are gated behind paid add-ons.

Pricing, plan by plan

Hotjar

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Hotjar review.

Maxio

$599/month

Grow$599/month
- For businesses up to $100k in monthly billings
- Usage-based and recurring billing
- Automated invoicing and dunning
Scale$undefined/month
- For businesses over $100k in monthly billings
- Advanced revenue management add-ons
- Multi-entity support

Which should you pick?

Choose Hotjar if

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

Hotjar review

Choose Maxio if

You need usage-based billing.
You work on web, api.
You also want subscription management.

Maxio review

Questions people ask

Is Hotjar or Maxio better?: Neither clearly leads. Hotjar starts at Free and Maxio at $599/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Hotjar or Maxio?: Hotjar has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Hotjar and $599/month for Maxio.
Does Hotjar or Maxio run on more platforms?: Hotjar runs on Web. Maxio runs on web, api.
Can I use Hotjar for free?: Yes. Hotjar has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Maxio starts at $599/month.
What is Hotjar best used for?: Hotjar is most often used for user behavior analysis, conversion optimization, ux research, customer feedback. Of those, user behavior analysis and conversion optimization are not what Maxio is typically brought in for.
What can Hotjar do that Maxio cannot?: Hotjar covers Heatmaps, Session recordings, Feedback widgets, Surveys. Maxio covers Usage-based billing, Subscription management, Revenue recognition, SaaS metrics dashboards.

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

Maxio: What does Maxio cost?

Maxio's Grow plan costs $599/month for businesses with up to $100k in monthly billings. Businesses above that threshold need the Scale plan, which requires a custom quote from Maxio's sales team.

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

Maxio: Is there a free plan?

No, Maxio does not offer a free plan. The Grow plan at $599/month is the entry point, with unlimited users included at no extra cost.

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

Maxio: What does Maxio integrate with?

Maxio integrates with accounting systems like QuickBooks, Xero, and NetSuite, CRMs including Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive, and 20+ payment gateways alongside its own Maxio Payments.

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

Hotjar vs Maxio

Hotjar

Maxio

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Hotjar

Only in Maxio

What people use each for

Hotjar

Maxio

Where each one falls short

Hotjar

Maxio

Pricing, plan by plan

Hotjar

Maxio

Which should you pick?

Choose Hotjar if

Choose Maxio if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Hotjar

More on Maxio

Keep looking

Other head to heads