# Contentsquare vs Hotjar (2026)

By Noah — last updated & pricing verified October 27, 2026.

> **Verdict:** Choose Contentsquare if you need Hotjar-style heatmaps, session recordings and surveys today: Contentsquare's Free plan covers 200,000 sessions a month with one month of data, and Growth starts at $39/month billed yearly ($49 billed monthly) for 7,000 monthly sessions. Do not look for Hotjar as a separate product: Contentsquare stopped new Hotjar sign-ups, hotjar.com has redirected to Contentsquare since mid-August 2026, and existing Hotjar customers now sign in through Contentsquare's login. The deciding factor is availability; the trade-off is a broader platform with a moderate learning curve in place of Hotjar's low one.

**Choose Contentsquare if:** You are an existing Hotjar customer: the same credentials sign in through Contentsquare's login, and Hotjar's heatmaps, recordings and surveys continue there; You want to start free: Contentsquare's Free plan covers 200,000 sessions a month with one month of data; You outgrow the Free plan: Growth starts at $39/month billed yearly ($49 billed monthly) for 7,000 monthly sessions; You need analytics for native mobile apps as well as websites, captured without manual event tagging; You want journey and conversion analysis, real-time error and frustration monitoring, and the Sense AI agent in the same platform

**Choose Hotjar if:** Not for new sign-ups: Contentsquare says it is no longer possible to create a new Hotjar account, and hotjar.com redirects to a Contentsquare sign-up page; You only need to reach a legacy account: existing Hotjar customers sign in with the same credentials through Contentsquare's login; You are looking for Hotjar's old free plan: the 35-sessions-a-day, 20-survey-responses-a-month plan has been replaced by Contentsquare's Free, Growth, Pro and Enterprise tiers

## At a glance

|  | Contentsquare | Hotjar |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pricing | Free tier · paid from $39/mo | Pricing not verified |
| License | Freemium | — |
| Best for | Finding where and why visitors drop out of key website or app journeys by combining heatmaps, session replays and funnels on one dataset | no new sign-ups: existing Hotjar customers checking their legacy account or planning the move to Contentsquare's plans |
| Ratings | — | Capterra 4.6/5 (545 reviews) |

## Feature comparison

| Feature | Contentsquare | Hotjar |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Product status | Yes (active; Hotjar sign-ups now land here) | No (no longer sold; hotjar.com redirects to Contentsquare since mid-August 2026) |
| New accounts | Yes (sign-ups on contentsquare.com) | No (new Hotjar accounts cannot be created) |
| Free tier | Yes (200,000 sessions/month, 1 month of data) | No (legacy plan (35 sessions/day, 20 survey responses/month) replaced) |
| Starting paid price | Yes (Growth from $39/mo billed yearly ($49 monthly), 7,000 sessions/mo) | No (no Hotjar plans sold) |
| Higher tiers | Partial (Pro and Enterprise, quoted by traffic volume and modules) | No (discontinued) |
| Existing Hotjar logins | Yes (same Hotjar credentials work at Contentsquare's login) | Partial (legacy accounts reached only through Contentsquare) |
| Heatmaps | Yes (included from the Free plan) | No (continue inside Contentsquare's plans) |
| Session recordings | Yes (Session Replay, from the Free plan) | No (continue as Session Replay in Contentsquare) |
| Surveys and feedback | Yes (surveys from the Free plan, plus Voice of Customer) | No (continue inside Contentsquare's plans) |
| Native mobile app analytics | Yes (no-tag capture for mobile apps) | No (formerly websites only) |
| Journey and conversion analysis | Yes (Product Analytics) | No (discontinued; formerly funnels) |
| Error and frustration monitoring | Yes (real-time (Experience Monitoring)) | Unknown |
| AI insights | Yes (Sense AI agent drafts recommendations) | Unknown |
| Unmoderated user tests | Unknown | No (discontinued; formerly included) |
| Learning curve | Partial (moderate; reviewers report setup needs developer coordination) | Yes (low) |
| External rating | Unknown | Yes (4.6/5 from 545 reviews (Capterra)) |

## Is Hotjar still available?

No, Hotjar is no longer sold as a separate product: Contentsquare stopped new Hotjar sign-ups, and since mid-August 2026 hotjar.com redirects to a Contentsquare sign-up page and hotjar.com/pricing to Contentsquare's pricing page.

Contentsquare acquired Hotjar in 2021 and in 2024 brought the Contentsquare, Heap and Hotjar products together in one platform. By July 2026 hotjar.com described Hotjar as now part of Contentsquare and sent plan and pricing questions to contentsquare.com; Contentsquare now states that Hotjar is now Contentsquare and that new Hotjar accounts cannot be created. Existing Hotjar customers sign in with the same credentials through Contentsquare's login, and Hotjar's heatmaps, recordings (called Session Replay in Contentsquare) and surveys continue inside Contentsquare's Free, Growth, Pro and Enterprise plans.

## What does Contentsquare cost for former Hotjar users?

Former Hotjar users can stay free on Contentsquare's Free plan, which covers 200,000 sessions a month with one month of data, or pay for Growth from $39/month billed yearly ($49 billed monthly) for 7,000 monthly sessions.

Pro and Enterprise sit above Growth, and Contentsquare's listing describes quotes based on traffic volume and the modules selected (Experience Analytics, Product Analytics, Experience Monitoring, Voice of Customer), with a free trial and a sales demo. For scale, Hotjar's old free plan captured 35 sessions a day, roughly 1,050 a month, plus 20 survey responses a month, so the Contentsquare Free plan's session allowance is far larger. Teams that wanted a simple standalone tool now buy into Contentsquare's broader platform and session-based plan structure.

## Which is easier to use, Contentsquare or Hotjar?

Hotjar was easier, with a low learning-curve rating against Contentsquare's moderate one.

Hotjar ran on one tracking script and was quick to install and easy for non-analysts to read, which made Hotjar popular with small and midsize sites. Contentsquare captures interactions without manual event tagging, but reviewers report that setting up webpage mapping and tracking variables takes significant initial effort and close coordination with developers, and some users report that alerts break after a few weeks and need manual reconfiguration. Former Hotjar users who only want heatmaps and recordings should expect more setup than Hotjar needed.

## What does Contentsquare add over Hotjar?

Contentsquare adds no-tag analytics for native mobile apps, journey and conversion analysis, real-time error and frustration monitoring, Conversation Intelligence and the Sense AI agent to the heatmaps, recordings and surveys Hotjar offered.

Sense analyzes session data and drafts recommendations, Conversation Intelligence analyzes customer support interactions at scale, and Voice of Customer collects feedback and sentiment. Contentsquare's listing does not say which of these modules each plan includes, so check before relying on one. Contentsquare reports 3,000+ customers, mostly enterprise and mid-market brands in retail, financial services and travel. Hotjar's unmoderated user tests are one feature the Contentsquare listing does not describe.

## Strengths and weaknesses

### Contentsquare

- Pro: The Free plan includes up to 200,000 sessions a month with heatmaps, funnels, error monitoring and basic surveys, against the 35 sessions a day Hotjar's old free plan captured.
- Pro: Automatic, tag-free capture lets teams analyze clicks, scrolls and form interactions retroactively without defining events in advance.
- Pro: Sense AI answers plain-language questions and summarizes replays and heatmaps, and the MCP server connects the data to ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot.
- Pro: One platform spans heatmaps, session replay, journeys, error and performance monitoring, surveys, product analytics and A/B testing, and Hotjar users log in with their existing credentials.
- Pro: Rated 4.6/5 on G2 and 4.6/5 on Gartner Peer Insights, the scores Contentsquare displays on its site.
- Con: Free keeps only 1 month of data and records replays for 5% of sessions, capped at 10,000 a month.
- Con: Growth pricing scales steeply with traffic, from $49/month at 7,000 sessions to $739/month at 200,000 on monthly billing, and larger volumes need a sales quote.
- Con: APIs, alerts, SAML SSO, Data Connect and revenue attribution are reserved for the custom-quoted Pro and Enterprise plans.
- Con: Hotjar is no longer sold on its own, so teams that wanted a simple standalone tool must adopt Contentsquare's broader platform and session-based plans.

### Hotjar

- Pro: Combined heatmaps, session recordings, surveys and feedback widgets behind one tracking script.
- Pro: Quick to install and easy for non-analysts to read, which made it popular with small and midsize sites.
- Pro: Offered a free plan (35 sessions a day, 20 survey responses a month) so small sites could start without paying.
- Pro: Held a 4.6/5 rating from 545 reviews on Capterra.
- Con: No longer sold: new Hotjar accounts cannot be created, and sign-ups go to Contentsquare.
- Con: hotjar.com and hotjar.com/pricing now redirect to Contentsquare, which sells only its own plans.
- Con: Teams that wanted a simple standalone tool now have to adopt Contentsquare's broader platform and session-based plan structure.

## Which fits your use case?

| Use case | Pick | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Existing Hotjar customer who wants to keep heatmaps and recordings | Contentsquare | Hotjar credentials now sign in through Contentsquare, where heatmaps, Session Replay and surveys continue on every plan from Free to Enterprise. |
| Small site that relied on Hotjar's free plan | Contentsquare | Contentsquare's Free plan covers 200,000 sessions a month with one month of data, against the 35 sessions a day Hotjar's old free plan captured. |
| Marketing team ready to pay for more than the Free plan | Contentsquare | Contentsquare Growth starts at $39/month billed yearly ($49 billed monthly) for 7,000 monthly sessions, and Hotjar plans can no longer be bought. |
| Brand analyzing native mobile apps alongside its website | Contentsquare | Contentsquare captures mobile app interactions without manual tagging, while Hotjar only ever tracked websites. |
| Team that wanted a simple standalone heatmap tool and nothing more | Tie | Neither fits cleanly: Hotjar can no longer be bought, and Contentsquare is a broader platform with a moderate learning curve and session-based plans. |
| Researcher who ran unmoderated user tests in Hotjar | Tie | Hotjar is no longer sold, and Contentsquare's listing does not describe a user-testing feature, so confirm coverage before moving that workflow. |

## Migration FAQ

### Should I use Contentsquare or Hotjar?

Use Contentsquare, because Hotjar is no longer sold and new Hotjar accounts cannot be created. Hotjar's heatmaps, recordings and surveys continue inside Contentsquare, starting with a Free plan of 200,000 sessions a month.

### Is Contentsquare cheaper than Hotjar?

There is no Hotjar price to compare, because Hotjar plans are no longer sold. Contentsquare's Free plan covers 200,000 sessions a month, and Growth starts at $39/month billed yearly ($49 billed monthly) for 7,000 monthly sessions.

### Can Contentsquare replace Hotjar?

Yes, Contentsquare is where Hotjar now lives: Hotjar's heatmaps, recordings (now called Session Replay) and surveys continue inside Contentsquare's Free, Growth, Pro and Enterprise plans. The trade-off is a broader platform with a moderate learning curve, where Hotjar's was low.

### Can I still log in to Hotjar?

Yes, existing Hotjar customers sign in with their same credentials through Contentsquare's login. The hotjar.com site itself has redirected to a Contentsquare sign-up page since mid-August 2026.

### Is Hotjar still free?

No standalone Hotjar free plan exists anymore: the old plan (35 sessions a day, 20 survey responses a month) has been replaced by Contentsquare's Free plan, which covers 200,000 sessions a month with one month of data.

## Neither a match?

- 5 alternatives to Contentsquare: https://findalternative.to/contentsquare
- 5 alternatives to Hotjar: https://findalternative.to/hotjar

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