Is Hotjar or Plausible better?

Neither clearly leads. Hotjar starts at Free and Plausible at $9/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Hotjar or Plausible?

Hotjar has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Hotjar and $9/month for Plausible.

Does Hotjar or Plausible 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. Plausible starts at $9/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 Plausible is typically brought in for.

What can Hotjar do that Plausible cannot?

Hotjar covers Heatmaps, Session recordings, Feedback widgets, Surveys. Plausible covers Page view tracking, Goal tracking, Real-time analytics, Outbound link click tracking. Both handle Cloud deployment.

E-Commerce · head to head

Hotjar vs Plausible

Hotjar

E-Commerce

Understand how users behave on your site

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Plausible

Marketing

Simple, privacy-friendly analytics

From: $9/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; Plausible there is no free tier, only a 30 day trial
They diverge on capability: Hotjar covers Heatmaps, Plausible covers Page view tracking.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Hotjar and Plausible actually diverge.

Attributes where Hotjar and Plausible differ
Attribute	Hotjar	Plausible
Starting price	Free	$9/month
Pricing model	Unknown	subscription
Free tier	Yes	No
Category	E-Commerce	Marketing
Founded	2014	2018

Identical on both: 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 Hotjar

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

Only in Plausible

Page view tracking
Goal tracking
Real-time analytics
Outbound link click tracking
Privacy-focused
No cookies
Web support
20+ languages language support

Both cover

Cloud deployment

What people use each for

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

Hotjar

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

Plausible

Privacy-focused web analytics without cookies or personal datanot Hotjar
A Google Analytics replacement that needs no consent bannernot Hotjar
Self-hosted analytics on your own infrastructurenot Hotjar
EU-hosted measurement for data residency requirementsnot 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

Plausible

There is no free tier, only a 30 day trial
Paid plans are metered on monthly pageviews, so a traffic spike moves you up a plan
Self-hosting is possible but means running and updating the service yourself
Deliberately simple, so there are no user-level profiles or funnel-by-individual reports the way a cookie-based analytics tool provides

Pricing, plan by plan

Hotjar

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Hotjar review.

Plausible

$9/month

Starter$9/month
- Up to 10k monthly pageviews
- 1 site
- 3 years data retention
Growth$14/month
- Up to 3 sites
- Up to 3 team members
Business$19/month
- Up to 10 sites
- Up to 10 team members
- 5 years data retention
Enterprise$null/custom
- 10+ sites
- Custom pricing

Which should you pick?

Choose Hotjar if

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

Hotjar review

Choose Plausible if

You need page view tracking.
You also want goal tracking.

Plausible review

Questions people ask

Is Hotjar or Plausible better?: Neither clearly leads. Hotjar starts at Free and Plausible at $9/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Hotjar or Plausible?: Hotjar has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Hotjar and $9/month for Plausible.
Does Hotjar or Plausible 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. Plausible starts at $9/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 Plausible is typically brought in for.
What can Hotjar do that Plausible cannot?: Hotjar covers Heatmaps, Session recordings, Feedback widgets, Surveys. Plausible covers Page view tracking, Goal tracking, Real-time analytics, Outbound link click tracking. Both handle Cloud deployment.

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

Plausible: How much does Plausible Analytics cost?

Plausible offers plans starting at $9/month for the Starter tier, $14/month for Growth, and $19/month for Business. Enterprise pricing is custom. All plans include a 30-day free trial without requiring a credit card.

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

Plausible: Is there a free version of Plausible?

Plausible does not offer a free plan; however, all paid plans include a 30-day free trial with full access to features.

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

Plausible: What is the difference between Plausible's pricing tiers?

The Starter plan covers up to 10k monthly pageviews for 1 site. Growth adds up to 3 sites and 3 team members. Business expands to 10 sites, 10 team members, and includes advanced features like API access and 5 years data retention.

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 Plausible

Hotjar

Plausible

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Hotjar

Only in Plausible

Both cover

What people use each for

Hotjar

Plausible

Where each one falls short

Hotjar

Plausible

Pricing, plan by plan

Hotjar

Plausible

Which should you pick?

Choose Hotjar if

Choose Plausible if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Hotjar

More on Plausible

Keep looking

Other head to heads