When it comes to user behavior tracking and web analytics, two popular solutions are Mouseflow and Hotjar. Both tools offer insights into user behavior, helping businesses optimize their websites and web apps for better user experiences and increased conversions. So, which one is the best choice for your business needs?
In this article, we'll discuss the key features of both Mouseflow and Hotjar, as well as some alternatives in the market, equipping you with the necessary information to make an informed choice for your business.
What is Mouseflow?
If you’re looking for a way to get more insights into the behavior of your website visitors, you need a session replay and heatmap software like Mouseflow.
Mouseflow is an all-in-one platform that collects data about user behavior on your website. It provides heatmaps, user feedback, and recordings of how users are interacting with your site, allowing you to gain a deeper understanding of how they navigate and where they may be encountering roadblocks. With Mouseflow, you can make data-driven decisions about how to improve your website's usability and ultimately increase conversions.
What is Hotjar?
Hotjar is an all-in-one feedback and analysis tool for websites and web apps that can help businesses understand their audience and improve user experience. It offers multiple features such as heatmaps, visitor recordings, surveys, and more. With Hotjar, businesses can track user behavior and analyze data to optimize conversions and increase engagement. It allows you to see what users are looking at, how far they scroll, which buttons they click on, and much more. With its user-friendly interface and easy-to-use tools, Hotjar makes it effortless for website owners to gather insights and feedback that help them make informed decisions about their websites.
Hotjar vs. Mouseflow: Which is the better session replay tool?
In this section, we'll discuss which is the better session replay tool. We'll compare the features, pricing, target market, and user reviews of each tool so you have the information you need to make an informed decision about the right one for your team or business.
Features
While both Hotjar and Mouseflow offer session replay tools, they have different features that should be considered when deciding which one is right for you.
Hotjar features
- Heatmaps: Visualize user behavior to understand how they interact with your website. This helps identify optimized areas and elements that might be causing friction.
- Recordings: Watch replays of your users' interactions to see exactly what they see. Use this to gain insights into user habits and potential pain points in the user journey.
- Live feedback: Discover how your users feel about your website or product. Through their live feedback option, which allows users to highlight parts of the page they want improved or that they like, Hotjar makes it easy to understand what your customers are thinking.
- Surveys: Solicit direct feedback from your users to get a deeper understanding of their preferences, needs, and experiences through the AI survey generation tool.
- Interviews: Connect with your users one-on-one to get qualitative data through the Engage program. This provides you with high-quality participants that match what you’re trying to research. This can provide valuable insights into user motivations, frustrations, and desires.
Mouseflow features
- Replay user sessions: With Mouseflow, you have the ability to replay specific user segments to observe their behavior. This can provide critical insights into how users interact with your site and where enhancements can be made.
- Direct user feedback: The platform offers a feature that collects feedback from the users themselves, eliminating assumptions and providing direct insights.
- Heatmap analysis: Mouseflow provides heatmaps to analyze varied user interactions like clicks, scrolls, and hovers. These visual data representations can deliver valuable insights into user engagement.
- Friction score calculation: Unlike Hotjar, Mouseflow introduces a unique friction score to identify patterns from users who may be experiencing difficulties or frustrations while navigating your site. This allows for adjustments to improve user experience.
Pricing
Mouseflow provides a range of pricing options to cater to different needs. They offer a free package that includes access to one website, storage for one month, and 500 user session recordings per month. For more comprehensive features, their paid plans begin at $31 per month. These paid packages include coverage for one website, data retention for three months, and the capacity for 5,000 user session recordings per month.
Hotjar offers a forever free package that includes up to 35 daily sessions and access to automatic data capture tools, and unlimited heatmaps. The paid plan starts at $32 per month and starts from 100 daily sessions.
Target market and use cases
While both Mouseflow and Hotjar offer similar features, they each have their own target market and ideal use cases.
Mouseflow is ideal for small and medium-sized businesses looking to gain insights into user behavior. With its forever free plan and extensive feedback tools, it makes it easy to gain valuable insights into your customer's wants and needs. You’ll be able to understand how users interact with your website and identify areas where the user experience could be improved.
Hotjar targets a wide range of companies, from startups to large enterprises. With its range of features, it makes it easier for companies to find the tools they need to gain insights into user experience. With heatmaps and session recordings, companies can gain real-time insights into customer behavior. Its features are designed to help you identify areas of friction, as well as make informed decisions about changes that could improve customer satisfaction.
User reviews
Hotjar pros
Hotjar has a 4.3 rating on G2. Users enjoy that "Hotjar offers dynamic heatmaps and click tracking,” allowing them to visualize how users interact with their website. These features provide valuable insights into user behavior, helping them identify “popular areas, click patterns, and areas where users may be facing challenges or dropping off." Additionally, users have noted that "Between session replay, feedback surveys, and general surveys, Hotjar can fill multiple gaps in your website's ongoing optimization strategy."
Hotjar cons
Some users have noted that while Hotjar offers a free plan, it comes with limitations on the number of daily page views, snapshots, and recordings. Small businesses with high website traffic may need to upgrade to a paid plan to access the full capabilities of Hotjar. One reviewer also noted: "Hotjar retains data for a limited period, depending on your plan. If you require long-term data analysis or historical insights, you may need to consider alternative data storage options or upgrade to a plan with extended data retention."
Mouseflow pros
Mouseflow has a 4.6-star rating on G2. Users love that "the heatmaps and recordings are incredibly helpful in identifying pain points and opportunities for improvement. The filters and segmentation options are also very useful for drilling down into specific user groups." Additionally, users love "the ability to show solid data to our business around things like usage, click errors, and areas of focus where optimizing the layout should happen.” Some reviewers also note that the “visual aspect of seeing the user journey” is helpful and, with tagging, gives them a sense of the bigger picture of UX on their website.
Mouseflow cons
Users have noted that "the pricing is a bit high" and that "the funnel system is somewhat confusing at first and definitely takes some time and creativity to implement well." Additionally, users have noted that "Some clicks don't show up as recordings.” This may be because the visitor was on the page for an extremely short period of time. Still, reviewers felt that it would be nice to see those too, or at least see where those visitors came from.
Alternative to Hotjar and Mouseflow: Fullview
Are you looking for a session replays solution that is secure, reliable, and cost-effective for your technical support and product development team? If so, Fullview is the perfect alternative to Hotjar and Mouseflow. This platform is designed to simplify your technical support tasks.
- Unlike Hotjar and Mouseflow, Fullview is 100% GDPR compliant. All user data is stored on EU servers (customers can optionally choose US storage if desired), and sensitive data is automatically censored. There are also customizable data blurring options if you need to censor specific kinds of data
- Unlike Hotjar and Mouseflow, Fullview session replays are built around user identity, which means that data is not aggregated or anonymized. You can see exactly which user performed the session, which is why Fullview is great for customer support and product teams that need to diagnose and solve problems individual users are having in their web app.
- Fullview also offers cobrowsing and console logs in addition to session replays. When a support ticket comes in, you can pull up the relevant session recording, see exactly what happened on your user's screen, and jump on a cobrowsing call to resolve the issue. You can view console information like user journey, page views, frustration signals, console errors, device information, and more to troubleshoot with ease.
- Additionally, Fullview is highly cost-effective. It offers a forever free plan which includes four cobrowsing sessions per month for every agent and 1000 session replay recordings a month — well above what Hotjar and Mouseflow offer on their free plan. If you need more options, you can get unlimited integrations, cobrowsing calls, and 10,000+ session replays a month, starting at only $39 per seat.
Wrapping It Up
In summary, Hotjar and Mouseflow are both great platforms for collecting user feedback and understanding user behavior. Depending on your needs, one or the other might be a better fit. However, if you're looking for a secure and reliable session replay tool for technical support and product teams, Fullview is an excellent alternative that can help simplify the process of identifying and resolving customer issues and bugs.
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