Is Hotjar or Spendesk better?

Neither clearly leads. Hotjar starts at Free and Spendesk at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Hotjar or Spendesk?

Hotjar has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Hotjar and $29/month for Spendesk.

Does Hotjar or Spendesk run on more platforms?

Hotjar runs on Web. Spendesk runs on Web, Mobile iOS, Mobile Android.

Can I use Hotjar for free?

Yes. Hotjar has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Spendesk starts at $29/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 Spendesk is typically brought in for.

What can Hotjar do that Spendesk cannot?

Hotjar covers Heatmaps, Session recordings, Feedback widgets, Surveys. Spendesk covers Company cards, Expense management, Invoice payments, Budget management.

Software · head to head

Hotjar vs Spendesk

Hotjar

Software

Understand how users behave on your site

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Spendesk

Software

Smart spend management for modern teams

From: $29/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; Spendesk no publicly available pricing, requires custom quote
They diverge on capability: Hotjar covers Heatmaps, Spendesk covers Company cards.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Hotjar and Spendesk actually diverge.

Attributes where Hotjar and Spendesk differ
Attribute	Hotjar	Spendesk
Starting price	Free	$29/month
Pricing model	Unknown	subscription
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	Web	Web, Mobile iOS, Mobile Android
Founded	2014	2016

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

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 Spendesk

Company cards
Expense management
Invoice payments
Budget management
Spend analytics
Xero
Sage
NetSuite

What people use each for

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

Hotjar

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

Spendesk

Expense managementnot Hotjar
Spend controlnot Hotjar
Finance automationnot 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

Spendesk

No publicly available pricing, requires custom quote
Strong European presence but limited in some non-EU markets
High implementation costs due to extensive integration requirements

Pricing, plan by plan

Hotjar

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Hotjar review.

Spendesk

$29/month

EssentialsFree
- Virtual cards
- Expense tracking
- Approvals

Which should you pick?

Choose Hotjar if

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

Hotjar review

Choose Spendesk if

You need company cards.
You work on Web, Mobile iOS, Mobile Android.
You also want expense management.

Spendesk review

Questions people ask

Is Hotjar or Spendesk better?: Neither clearly leads. Hotjar starts at Free and Spendesk at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Hotjar or Spendesk?: Hotjar has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Hotjar and $29/month for Spendesk.
Does Hotjar or Spendesk run on more platforms?: Hotjar runs on Web. Spendesk runs on Web, Mobile iOS, Mobile Android.
Can I use Hotjar for free?: Yes. Hotjar has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Spendesk starts at $29/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 Spendesk is typically brought in for.
What can Hotjar do that Spendesk cannot?: Hotjar covers Heatmaps, Session recordings, Feedback widgets, Surveys. Spendesk covers Company cards, Expense management, Invoice payments, Budget management.

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

Spendesk: What is included in Spendesk's platform?

Spendesk combines corporate cards, a mobile receipts app, approval workflows, automated reconciliation, accounts payable, procurement, and spend controls into one platform.

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

Spendesk: How does Spendesk handle expense receipts?

Spendesk captures receipts via mobile photo upload with OCR technology, automatically matching receipts to transactions and generating automated expense reports with 98% of expense receipts collected on time.

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

Spendesk: What integrations does Spendesk offer?

Spendesk integrates with accounting software including Sage, Xero, NetSuite, and SAP, plus HR systems and tools like Slack for comprehensive spend management.

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

Spendesk: Is Spendesk profitable?

Yes. Spendesk became the first spend management platform to reach profitability in 2025, processing over £10 billion in spend across 35+ countries.

Source

Spendesk: What is Spendesk's valuation?

Spendesk is a unicorn company with a valuation of $1.5 billion, with 2025 revenue of $52 million ARR.

Source

Spendesk: How much time can Spendesk save on bookkeeping?

Organizations using Spendesk save an average of 4 days per month on bookkeeping, equivalent to over 380 hours per year returned to the business.

Source

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Hotjar vs Spendesk

Hotjar

Spendesk

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Hotjar

Only in Spendesk

What people use each for

Hotjar

Spendesk

Where each one falls short

Hotjar

Spendesk

Pricing, plan by plan

Hotjar

Spendesk

Which should you pick?

Choose Hotjar if

Choose Spendesk if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Hotjar

More on Spendesk

Keep looking

Other head to heads