Head to head
Absolutely Analytics vs Hotjar
Heatmaps bundled, or heatmaps as the whole product. Scored on ten weighted measures, with every price read on the same day.
Absolutely Analytics
8.9/10
No. 1 of 30
Hotjar
5.6/10
No. 26 of 30
Hotjar taught a generation of marketers what a heatmap was, and on pure behaviour tooling it still scores higher here than anything else: click maps, scroll maps, move maps, recordings and on-page surveys, packaged so a non-technical user can install it and learn something the same afternoon.
The thing to know in 2026 is that hotjar.com now redirects to Contentsquare, which bought it in 2021. The free tier is generous at two hundred thousand monthly sessions, and Growth starts around thirty-nine dollars a month billed yearly.
The verdict
Absolutely Analytics, for most sites, on three grounds.
Cost and shape: Hotjar is a behaviour tool that does not replace your analytics, so buying it means running two subscriptions and two scripts. Absolutely Analytics includes click, scroll and attention maps from fourteen dollars inside the tool already counting your traffic, from the same script tag you have already pasted.
Weight: Hotjar's script is one of the more visible performance bills on this list. Absolutely Analytics adds 1,270 bytes and the heatmaps ride on it.
Privacy architecture: this is the substantive one. Recording sessions means capturing what people type unless masking is configured correctly, and Hotjar's model is capture-then-filter. Absolutely Analytics masks every input in the browser before transmission, so sensitive content is never sent rather than being scrubbed on arrival. If your site has a login, a checkout or a form carrying personal data, that difference is the entire conversation with your data protection officer.
Hotjar keeps one real advantage: on-page surveys and feedback widgets, which are a genuinely different kind of evidence and which Absolutely Analytics does not offer. If asking visitors questions is central to how you work, that is worth a line item.
Side by side
| Absolutely Analytics | Hotjar | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 8.9 / 10 | 5.6 / 10 |
| Rank on this list | No. 1 of 30 | No. 26 of 30 |
| From | $9 per month | Free then from $39 |
| What that buys | 10,000 pageviews and custom events a month, rising in eight published rungs to 10M | Now sold through Contentsquare: a free tier at 200,000 monthly sessions, Growth from $39 billed yearly |
| Free tier | No free tier. A 30-day trial of the exact tier you picked | Yes, 200,000 monthly sessions on one project |
| Cookies | None, so no consent banner | Yes |
| Script size | 1,270 bytes gzipped | Tens of kilobytes |
| Hosting | Hosted, with a choice of storage jurisdiction | EU |
| Trading since | 2024 | 2014 |
| What it replaces | Your analytics and your heatmap tool | Your heatmap tool only |
| Price for heatmaps | Included from $14/mo | Free to 200k sessions; Growth from $39/mo yearly |
| Cookie banner needed in the UK and EU | No | Yes, and the demanding kind because sessions are recorded |
| Replay masking | In the browser, before transmission | Configured masking, applied to transmitted content |
| On-page surveys | Not offered | Yes, and a real strength |
| Script weight | 1,270 bytes, heatmaps included | Tens of kilobytes, in addition to your analytics |
| Who owns it | Independent | Contentsquare, since 2021 |
The ten measures, scored
| Measure | Absolutely Analytics | Hotjar |
|---|---|---|
| Insight quality | 9 | 7 |
| Privacy architecture | 10 | 3 |
| Value for money | 8 | 6 |
| Setup and time to data | 10 | 7 |
| Script weight | 10 | 2 |
| Analytical depth | 6 | 6 |
| Behaviour tooling | 8 | 10 |
| Data ownership | 7 | 5 |
| Accuracy | 9 | 6 |
| Vendor conduct | 10 | 5 |
| Weighted overall | 8.9 | 5.6 |
Higher is better. The overall figure is the weighted mean, relative to the 30 tools on this list. How this works.
Which one should you pick
Choose Absolutely Analytics if
You want heatmaps without a second subscription, a second script and a consent banner.
Choose Hotjar if
On-page surveys and asking visitors direct questions are central to how you work, and the free 200,000-session tier covers you.
Common questions
Is Hotjar still a separate product?
Barely. Contentsquare acquired Hotjar in 2021 and hotjar.com now redirects to Contentsquare's pricing, where the Hotjar free tier appears as the Free plan at 200,000 monthly sessions. The product still exists; the company does not, independently.
Do I need Hotjar as well as an analytics tool?
With most analytics tools, yes, which is the hidden cost. Plausible, Fathom and Pirsch have no heatmaps, so Hotjar or Clarity becomes a second subscription. Absolutely Analytics includes click, scroll and attention maps from $14, from the same script tag.
Which handles form data more safely?
Absolutely Analytics, by construction. It masks every input, textarea and contenteditable element in the browser before the recording is transmitted, and you opt fields back in individually. Hotjar applies masking to content it has received, which is a different risk profile on any page with a login or a checkout.
Is Hotjar free?
The free tier is real and large: 200,000 monthly sessions on one project, with replays, heatmaps, funnels and basic surveys. Growth starts around $39 a month billed yearly. You still need a consent banner for it.
Both entries above are desk reviews written from published evidence, and every judgement is my opinion rather than a statement of fact. Read the full reviews for Absolutely Analytics and Hotjar, or tell me where I have got something wrong.