Hotjar Free Plan: Exactly What's Included and Where the Limits Hurt
Hotjar's free plan gives you real heatmaps and session recordings, but caps you at 35 sessions per day and 20 survey responses per month. Here is exactly what that means for your site.
What Free Includes
Observe Basic (Free)
- ✓Click, move, and scroll heatmaps
- ✓Session recordings (watch real users)
- ✓Automatic data capture
- ✗35 sessions/day limit
- ✗No filtering or segmentation
- ✗No funnels or trends
Ask Basic (Free)
- ✓On-site surveys
- ✓Feedback widget
- ✓3 active surveys at a time
- ✗20 responses/month limit
- ✗Hotjar branding on surveys
- ✗No logic branching
Session Sampling Reality
At 35 sessions per day, the percentage of your traffic that Hotjar captures depends entirely on your visitor count:
| Daily Visitors | Captured | Rate | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 35 | 35% | Good enough |
| 200 | 35 | 17.5% | Usable |
| 500 | 35 | 7% | Missing segments |
| 1,000 | 35 | 3.5% | Significant blind spots |
| 2,000 | 35 | 1.75% | Unreliable |
| 5,000 | 35 | 0.7% | Essentially useless |
| 10,000 | 35 | 0.35% | Need to upgrade |
When Free Is Enough vs When to Upgrade
Free works for
- Sites with under 500 daily visitors
- MVP or pre-launch testing
- Personal projects or side businesses
- Quick usability spot-checks
- Convincing your team to invest in UX
Upgrade when
- 1,000+ daily visitors (under 3.5% sample)
- Need ongoing UX monitoring
- Need segment filtering (paid-only)
- Need conversion funnels (Business tier)
- Need 20+ survey responses/month
Free Alternatives
Microsoft Clarity (Best Free Alternative)
Completely free, unlimited sessions, no sampling. Includes heatmaps, recordings, rage click detection, scroll depth. Lacks surveys and feedback. For basic behavior analytics, Clarity replaces Hotjar Observe at zero cost.
Full comparison →PostHog (Open Source)
Free tier: 5K session replays/mo, 1.5K survey responses, 1M analytics events. Open source, self-hostable. Covers both heatmaps and surveys in one free tool.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 35 daily sessions enough?▼
For sites with under 200 daily visitors, 35 sessions captures 17%+ of your traffic, which is usually enough for qualitative insights. For sites with 1,000+ visitors, you capture under 3.5%, which means you might miss important user segments entirely. The threshold where free stops being useful is roughly 500 daily visitors.
Can I increase the free plan session limit?▼
No. The 35 daily session limit is fixed on the Observe Basic plan. The only way to increase it is upgrading to Plus (100 sessions/day), Business (500), or Scale (1,500+). Microsoft Clarity offers unlimited free sessions as an alternative.
Does the free plan include heatmaps?▼
Yes. The free Observe Basic plan includes click, move, and scroll heatmaps. Heatmaps are generated from the sessions that Hotjar captures (up to 35/day). More sessions mean more accurate heatmap data.
What's the best free Hotjar alternative?▼
Microsoft Clarity. It offers unlimited heatmaps and session recordings completely free with no session caps. It also includes rage click detection and scroll depth tracking. Clarity lacks surveys and feedback widgets, so you would need Hotjar Ask or another tool for user feedback.