Head to head
Hotjar vs FullStory
Watch the sessions, or query them. Scored on ten weighted measures, with every price read on the same day.
Hotjar
5.6/10
No. 26 of 30
FullStory
5.7/10
No. 25 of 30
Both record sessions and draw heatmaps, and they are bought by different people for different reasons. Hotjar is a marketer's tool: install it, watch some recordings, ask visitors a question with an on-page survey. FullStory is an analyst's tool: index every interaction so sessions become a dataset you can query.
The distinction sounds academic and decides the purchase.
The verdict
It depends on whether you want to watch or to measure.
Take Hotjar if the job is qualitative and the team is not technical. It is the more approachable product, its free tier is generous at 200,000 monthly sessions, and its on-page surveys and feedback widgets are genuinely better than FullStory's. Asking visitors a direct question is a different kind of evidence from watching them, and Hotjar does it best in this category.
Take FullStory if you need to turn sessions into numbers. Being able to ask for every session containing a rage click on checkout, and then measure what proportion of those converted, is a different capability from scrolling a list of recordings, and at scale it is the one that changes decisions.
Two things apply to both and should be weighed before either. Pricing above FullStory's free tier is quoted rather than published, which makes it hard to compare. And both set cookies and record sessions, so both need the more demanding form of consent, and both mask form contents after receiving them rather than before sending them, which is the distinction a security review will focus on if your pages carry a login or a checkout.
Side by side
| Hotjar | FullStory | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 5.6 / 10 | 5.7 / 10 |
| Rank on this list | No. 26 of 30 | No. 25 of 30 |
| From | Free then from $39 | Free then quoted |
| What that buys | Now sold through Contentsquare: a free tier at 200,000 monthly sessions, Growth from $39 billed yearly | A free tier with a session limit; paid pricing is quoted rather than published |
| Free tier | Yes, 200,000 monthly sessions on one project | Yes, with a monthly session limit |
| Cookies | Yes | Yes |
| Script size | Tens of kilobytes | Tens of kilobytes |
| Hosting | EU | US, with regional options |
| Trading since | 2014 | 2014 |
| Price | Free to 200k sessions; Growth from $39/mo yearly | Free tier with a session limit; paid quoted |
| Pricing transparency | Published | Not published above the free tier |
| Session search and segmentation | Basic filtering | Every interaction indexed and queryable |
| On-page surveys | Yes, the stronger of the two | Basic |
| Frustration signals | Rage and dead clicks | Rage, dead and error clicks, thrashed cursors |
| Masking architecture | Applied after receipt | Applied after receipt, with strong controls |
| Owner | Contentsquare, since 2021 | Independent |
The ten measures, scored
| Measure | Hotjar | FullStory |
|---|---|---|
| Insight quality | 7 | 7 |
| Privacy architecture | 3 | 4 |
| Value for money | 6 | 5 |
| Setup and time to data | 7 | 6 |
| Script weight | 2 | 2 |
| Analytical depth | 6 | 8 |
| Behaviour tooling | 10 | 9 |
| Data ownership | 5 | 6 |
| Accuracy | 6 | 6 |
| Vendor conduct | 5 | 5 |
| Weighted overall | 5.6 | 5.7 |
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 Hotjar if
The work is qualitative, the team is not technical, and asking visitors direct questions matters as much as watching them.
Choose FullStory if
You have the scale and the budget to treat sessions as a dataset, and you want quantitative answers from qualitative material.
Common questions
Is FullStory better than Hotjar?
For quantitative analysis of session data, yes: it indexes every interaction so you can query behaviours rather than browse recordings. For approachability, on-page surveys and published pricing, Hotjar is better. They are aimed at different buyers.
How much does FullStory cost?
It does not publish pricing above its free tier, so a comparison means a sales conversation. Hotjar publishes its Growth plan from around $39 a month billed yearly, through Contentsquare.
Do both need a cookie banner?
Yes, in the UK and EU, and the more demanding form of consent because both record sessions rather than counting visits. Neither is a route out of the consent problem.
Which is safer for pages with forms?
Both mask form contents, and both do it after receiving the data rather than before it leaves the browser, so a misconfiguration exposes real input. Tools that mask in the browser before transmission have a materially different risk profile on a checkout or login page.
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 Hotjar and FullStory, or tell me where I have got something wrong.