Microsoft Clarity vs Hotjar: Choosing the Right UX Analytics Tool

Understanding how users interact with your website is crucial for improving user experience and conversion rates. Two popular tools that provide these insights are Microsoft Clarity and Hotjar. In this comparison, we’ll examine these platforms to help you choose the right one for your needs.

What Are UX Analytics Tools?

UX (User Experience) analytics tools help you understand how visitors interact with your website by:

• Recording user sessions so you can watch how real visitors navigate your site
• Creating heatmaps that show where users click, move, and scroll
• Collecting user feedback through surveys and polls
• Identifying usability issues and conversion barriers

Microsoft Clarity: Overview

Microsoft Clarity is a free user behavior analytics tool launched by Microsoft in 2020. It provides heatmaps, session recordings, and insights dashboards to help you understand how users interact with your website.

Key Features of Microsoft Clarity

1. Session Recordings: Watch recordings of actual users navigating your site
2. Heatmaps: See where users click, scroll, and hover
3. Insights Dashboard: Get an overview of user behavior metrics
4. Rage Clicks Detection: Identify when users repeatedly click in frustration
5. Dead Clicks: See where users click on non-interactive elements
6. Excessive Scrolling: Identify when users scroll more than expected
7. Quick Back Detection: See when users quickly go back after landing on a page
8. Filter Capabilities: Filter recordings by device, country, duration, and more
9. Privacy Controls: Anonymous data collection with automatic PII redaction

Pros of Microsoft Clarity

• Completely free with no usage limits
• Low impact on site performance (small JavaScript file)
• Simple setup process
• Integrates with Google Analytics
• Clean, intuitive interface
• AI-powered insights

Cons of Microsoft Clarity

• Fewer advanced features compared to paid alternatives
• Limited customization options
• No A/B testing capabilities
• No direct user feedback tools (surveys, polls)
• Less mature platform (newer to the market)

Hotjar: Overview

Hotjar is a well-established behavior analytics and user feedback platform founded in 2014. It offers heatmaps, recordings, surveys, and feedback tools to help you understand user behavior.

Key Features of Hotjar

1. Heatmaps: Click, move, and scroll maps
2. Session Recordings: Watch recordings of user interactions
3. Conversion Funnels: Analyze where users drop off in your conversion process
4. Form Analysis: See where users abandon forms
5. Feedback Polls: Collect user feedback through on-site polls
6. Surveys: Create and distribute surveys to understand user needs
7. Incoming Feedback: Allow users to provide feedback on specific page elements
8. User Recruiting: Find participants for user testing
9. Advanced Filtering: Filter data by device, user attributes, and behaviors

Pros of Hotjar

• Comprehensive suite of tools beyond just analytics
• More mature platform with regular updates
• Advanced filtering and segmentation
• Direct user feedback collection
• Robust documentation and support
• Team collaboration features

Cons of Hotjar

• Free plan has significant limitations
• Paid plans can be expensive for high-traffic sites
• Can impact site performance more than lighter alternatives
• Learning curve for advanced features

Detailed Feature Comparison

Pricing

Microsoft Clarity:

• Free for all features with no recording or traffic limits
• No paid tiers

Hotjar:

• Free Basic plan with limitations (limited recordings, 3 heatmaps, basic features)
• Plus plan: from $32/month for 100 daily sessions
• Business plan: from $80/month for 500 daily sessions
• Scale plan: Custom pricing for high-volume sites

Session Recordings

Microsoft Clarity:

• Unlimited recordings
• Automatic rage click, dead click, and excessive scroll detection
• Simple filtering options
• Up to 90 days of data retention

Hotjar:

• Limited recordings on free plan
• More advanced filtering options
• User attributes tagging
• Data retention varies by plan (365 days on higher plans)

Heatmaps

Microsoft Clarity:

• Click, scroll, and area heatmaps
• Unlimited heatmaps
• Segmentation by device type
• Simple setup process

Hotjar:

• Click, move, and scroll heatmaps
• Limited number of heatmaps on free plan
• More advanced segmentation options
• Ability to create heatmaps for specific user segments

Feedback Collection

Microsoft Clarity:

• No built-in feedback collection tools

Hotjar:

• On-page feedback widgets
• Survey tools
• Form analysis
• Recruitment for user testing

Performance Impact

Microsoft Clarity:

• Minimal impact on page load times
• Script size: ~20KB

Hotjar:

• Moderate impact on page load times
• Script size: ~40KB

Data Privacy

Microsoft Clarity:

• GDPR compliant
• Automatic PII redaction
• Easy data anonymization settings
• Microsoft privacy framework

Hotjar:

• GDPR, CCPA compliant
• Customizable data masking
• Consent management options
• Privacy-by-design approach

Implementation Comparison

Setting Up Microsoft Clarity

1. Create a free Microsoft Clarity account at clarity.microsoft.com
2. Add your website and get your tracking code
3. Add the tracking script to your website’s <head> section:

<!-- Microsoft Clarity Code -->
<script type="text/javascript">
    (function(c,l,a,r,i,t,y){
        c[a]=c[a]||function(){(c[a].q=c[a].q||[]).push(arguments)};
        t=l.createElement(r);t.async=1;t.src="https://www.clarity.ms/tag/"+i;
        y=l.getElementsByTagName(r)[0];y.parentNode.insertBefore(t,y);
    })(window, document, "clarity", "script", "YOUR_CLARITY_PROJECT_ID");
</script>

4. Wait a few hours for data to start appearing in your dashboard
5. Configure masking settings for sensitive data (optional)

Setting Up Hotjar

1. Create a Hotjar account at hotjar.com
2. Add your website and get your tracking code
3. Add the tracking script to your website’s <head> section:

<!-- Hotjar Tracking Code -->
<script>
    (function(h,o,t,j,a,r){
        h.hj=h.hj||function(){(h.hj.q=h.hj.q||[]).push(arguments)};
        h._hjSettings={hjid:YOUR_HJID,hjsv:6};
        a=o.getElementsByTagName('head')[0];
        r=o.createElement('script');r.async=1;
        r.src=t+h._hjSettings.hjid+j+h._hjSettings.hjsv;
        a.appendChild(r);
    })(window,document,'https://static.hotjar.com/c/hotjar-','.js?sv=');
</script>

4. Configure privacy settings to mask sensitive information
5. Set up your first heatmap or recording

Which Tool Should You Choose?

Choose Microsoft Clarity if:

• You need a completely free solution without limitations
• You have a small team or are a solo developer
• You primarily need heatmaps and session recordings
• Site performance is a top concern
• You don’t need direct user feedback tools
• You’re already using Microsoft products

Choose Hotjar if:

• You need comprehensive UX research tools beyond just analytics
• User feedback collection is important for your strategy
• You want more advanced filtering and segmentation options
• You need longer data retention
• Team collaboration features are important
• You’re willing to pay for advanced capabilities

Conclusion

Both Microsoft Clarity and Hotjar are excellent tools for understanding user behavior on your website. Microsoft Clarity stands out with its completely free offering and lightweight implementation, while Hotjar provides a more comprehensive suite of UX research tools at a cost.

For smaller sites or those just starting with UX analytics, Microsoft Clarity is an excellent choice that won’t impact your budget. For larger organizations or those requiring deeper insights and user feedback, Hotjar’s more robust feature set may justify the investment.

Many professionals even use both tools in tandem, leveraging the strengths of each platform for a more complete understanding of user behavior.