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Hotjar vs PostHog

A side-by-side look at Hotjar and PostHog: what each costs to start, whether there is a free plan, how easy they are to pick up, and which features and integrations they cover.

Which should you choose?

Choose Hotjar if

  • Marketers and UX teams diagnosing why landing pages underperform
  • Ecommerce stores looking for checkout friction
  • Small teams that want heatmaps and surveys without training

Choose PostHog if

  • Startups and product teams that want one tool for analytics, replay and flags
  • Engineering-led companies comfortable with events and SQL
  • Teams needing EU data hosting for product analytics

Cheapest to start

Not comparable

Free plan

Hotjar, PostHog

Highest editor rating

PostHog · 4.5

Comparison of Hotjar and PostHog
CompareHotjar
Free planYes
Free trialNo
Starting priceFrom $39/mo
Editor rating4.2
Ease of useVery easy (5/5)
CategoryAnalytics
Pricing modelObserve, Ask and Engage are priced separately, each with a free Basic tier. Observe Plus is approximately $39 per month ($32 billed annually), Business from about $99 ($80 annually) and Scale from about $213 ($171 annually).
Plans
  • Observe Basic Free
  • Observe Plus $39/mo
  • Observe Business $99/mo
  • Observe Scale $213/mo
PlatformsWeb, Browser extension
IntegrationsGoogle Analytics, HubSpot, Jira, Microsoft Teams, Shopify, Slack, WordPress, Zapier
Best for
  • Marketers and UX teams diagnosing why landing pages underperform
  • Ecommerce stores looking for checkout friction
  • Small teams that want heatmaps and surveys without training
Pros
  • Installs in minutes with a script, Shopify app or WordPress plugin
  • Free Basic tiers for heatmaps, recordings and surveys
  • Recordings filterable by rage clicks, errors and custom events
  • Surveys and feedback widgets in the same tool as recordings
  • Integrations with Google Analytics, HubSpot, Slack and Jira
Cons
  • Observe, Ask and Engage are billed separately, so the full suite adds up
  • Daily session caps mean busy sites need higher tiers for full coverage
  • Data retention is limited to 365 days
  • Not a substitute for quantitative traffic or product analytics
A/B testingNo
AI assistantYes
API accessNo
Audience segmentationYes
Custom event trackingYes
Feature flagsNo
Forms & surveysYes
FunnelsYes
GDPR compliance toolsYes
HeatmapsYes
Reporting & dashboardsYes
Roles & permissionsYes
Self-hosting optionNo
Session replayYes
SSO / SAMLYes
TemplatesYes
WebhooksNo

Common questions

Does Hotjar or PostHog have a free plan?
Both do. Hotjar and PostHog each offer a free tier, so you can try either without paying.
Which is easier to use, Hotjar or PostHog?
In VERILO's editorial assessment Hotjar is the easier of the two, scoring 5 out of 5 against 3 for PostHog. That is a judgement about how quickly a new team gets productive, not a measured benchmark.

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