Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Google Analytics VS Hotjar

Compare Google Analytics VS Hotjar and see what are their differences

Google Analytics logo Google Analytics

Improve your website to increase conversions, improve the user experience, and make more money using Google Analytics. Measure, understand and quantify engagement on your site with customized and in-depth reports.

Hotjar logo Hotjar

The #1 Leader in Heatmaps, Recordings, Surveys & More. Sign up for a 15-day free trial and start learning from real user behavior today!
  • Google Analytics Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-26
  • Hotjar Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-23

Hotjar's product experience insights make it easy to understand what users are really doing on your site.

  • Visualize behavior on your site with Heatmaps

  • Eliminate guesswork with user Recordings

  • Understand the reasons behind behavior with Surveys and Incoming Feedback

Hotjar

Website
hotjar.com
$ Details
freemium €39.0 / Monthly (Starting at: 3,000 Recordings per month with unlimited Heatmaps)
Release Date
2014 June

Google Analytics features and specs

  • Comprehensive Data Collection
    Google Analytics offers extensive data collection capabilities, allowing you to track various metrics and derive insights on user behavior, traffic sources, and more.
  • Integration with Other Google Services
    It easily integrates with other Google services like Google Ads, Google Search Console, and Google Tag Manager, providing a cohesive ecosystem.
  • Free Tier Available
    A robust free tier is available that meets the needs of many small- to medium-sized businesses, making it accessible without financial investment.
  • Customizable Reports and Dashboards
    Users can create customized reports and dashboards to focus on the specific metrics and KPIs important to their business.
  • Advanced Segmentation
    The platform allows for advanced segmentation of user data, enabling detailed analysis of different user groups and behaviors.
  • Real-Time Data
    Google Analytics provides real-time reports, facilitating immediate analysis and quicker decision-making.
  • E-commerce Tracking
    Special features for e-commerce websites allow you to track transactions, revenue, and other e-commerce-related metrics effectively.

Possible disadvantages of Google Analytics

  • Complex Interface
    The interface can be overwhelming and difficult to navigate for beginners, requiring a steep learning curve.
  • Data Sampling
    For large datasets, Google Analytics may use data sampling, which can compromise the accuracy and precision of your reports.
  • Privacy Concerns
    There are ongoing privacy concerns about data sharing and user tracking, which have led to legal scrutiny in some regions.
  • Limited Free Tier
    While the free tier is powerful, it has limitations on data collection and features, which may require upgrading to the paid tier for larger businesses.
  • Dependence on Third-Party Cookies
    Google Analytics heavily relies on third-party cookies, which are increasingly being restricted by browsers and privacy regulations.
  • Lag in Data Processing
    There can be a delay in data processing and updates, which may hinder timely decision-making.
  • Limited Customer Support
    Customer support for the free tier is limited, often requiring users to rely on community forums and online resources for assistance.

Hotjar features and specs

  • Heatmaps
    Visually represent where users click, move, and scroll on your site. With this context, you'll learn how users really behave.
  • Recordings
    Live playbacks of users on your site.
  • Surveys
    Bring the voice-of-customer to your decision making.
  • Incoming Feedback
    A real-time suggestion box on your site, that lets users express frustration or delight about individual parts of your site.

Google Analytics videos

Google Analytics Review

More videos:

  • Review - Google Analytics, Ultimate Beginner’s Guide
  • Review - Google Analytics Review

Hotjar videos

What is Hotjar?

More videos:

  • Review - Invision prize Hotjar's straightforward, shareable insights
  • Tutorial - Why you should be using Hotjar Analytics
  • Tutorial - Google Analytics vs. Hotjar - Which one should you use?

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Google Analytics and Hotjar)
Analytics
78 78%
22% 22
Web Analytics
67 67%
33% 33
Heatmaps
0 0%
100% 100
Mobile Analytics
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Google Analytics and Hotjar. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Google Analytics and Hotjar

Google Analytics Reviews

10 Best Mixpanel Alternatives for Product Analytics in 2024
Google Analytics is a popular digital insights platform that allows website owners to monitor multiple aspects of their user analytics, online performance, and more. Use the paid or free plan to optimize your website with user behavior insights to get higher conversion rates.
Source: clickup.com
Best Mixpanel Alternatives for SaaS
GA 360 (now GA4) provides higher data limits, BigQuery integration, service level agreements, custom variables, and a dedicated support team. The cost of Google Analytics 360 starts from $12,500 per month and $150,000 per year. Google suggests that the cost of Google Analytics 4 360 starts at a retail price of USD $50,000/year, which entitles customers to 25 million events...
Source: userpilot.com
Top 5 Plausible Analytics Alternatives in 2024
It allows you to bring in data from 17+ sources including multiple shopping carts, payment gateways, Google Analytics, and email marketing platforms.
Source: www.putler.com
Top 9 Plausible Analytics alternatives in 2024
Google Analytics, a prominent player, offers extensive functionalities, making it suitable for businesses needing comprehensive data analysis. Its versatility spans from tracking website traffic, user demographics, and behavior to providing insights on conversion rates and traffic sources.
Source: usermaven.com
Top 5 Self-Hosted, Open Source Alternatives to Google Analytics
Choosing the right open source, self-hosted alternative to Google Analytics depends on your specific needs, whether it's for enhanced privacy, detailed data insights, or ease of use. Each of these tools offers unique strengths, empowering website owners with the flexibility and control needed in today's digital landscape.
Source: zeabur.com

Hotjar Reviews

  1. Kris Leviss
    · Founder at KrisLess ·
    Love it

    I've been using Hotjar for a few months, and it's been a perfect tool for understanding how users interact with my website. The heatmaps and session recordings are especially helpful for identifying problem areas, and the feedback polls give me direct insights from visitors. The platform is easy to navigate, but I’ve noticed the session recordings can be a bit glitchy at times, and the free version is quite limited. Despite these small issues, Hotjar has definitely helped me improve user experience and optimize my site’s performance.

    👍 Pros:    Intuitive user interface|Good session recordings|Useful feedback tools
    👎 Cons:    Free plan is limited|Occasional recording glitches|Data processing can be slow
  2. Prema Toppo
    · SEO Specialist at TechUp Labs ·
    Must have tool

    Hotjar has been our go-to for optimizing UI, reducing bounce rates, and refining CTAs. Its powerful insights have been instrumental in enhancing user experience. A staple tool for data-driven decisions!

  3. Feeling disappointed

    I don't like the service. It is very slow and very expensive. Not recommended it to others.

    🏁 Competitors: WatchThemLive

10 Best Mixpanel Alternatives for Product Analytics in 2024
Hotjar is an all-in-one feedback and analytics software suite to optimize your website and make data-driven decisions. Hotjar Observe is the suite’s most popular Mixpanel alternative—pair it with Hotjar Ask, Hotjar Engage, and Hotjar Funnels for all the tools you need to succeed. 😎
Source: clickup.com
7 best Mixpanel alternatives to understand your users
💡 Pro tip: you don't need to choose between Hotjar and Mixpanel. With the Hotjar-Mixpanel integration, you not only identify what's happening on your website (e.g. users frequently add certain items to their cart), but you'll also understand why it's happening (e.g. Hotjar's heatmaps and recordings show users are attracted to a particular promotional banner).
Source: www.hotjar.com
The best Hotjar alternatives & competitors, compared
Sprig is a decent replacement for Hotjar, especially if you find Hotjar's survey tools lacking. It's support for mobile apps is another key differentiator.
Source: posthog.com
11 Hotjar alternatives and competitors in 2024
Hotjar features primarily focus on how users interact with your website rather than gaining in-depth insights that can explain why they interact that way. As a strictly-quantitative data tool, Hotjar only gives you half the answers. While you can run user surveys with Hotjar, the tool lacks many other research methods—such as card sorting, tree testing, user interviews, and...
Source: maze.co
12 Hotjar alternatives for website and mobile app analytics
Since Plerdy has a much broader scope, its pricing plans differ, depending on what you want to use. The plans for their behavior analytics tools aren’t as cost-effective as Hotjar’s. For example, the $39/month Hotjar plan captures 3,000 recordings, whereas Plerdy’s $47/month plan captures only 2,000, with a much shorter storage period.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Google Analytics should be more popular than Hotjar. It has been mentiond 36 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Google Analytics mentions (36)

  • Navigating the Digital Landscape: The Role of Website Analytics in Measuring Performance
    Let’s discuss Google Analytics in particular and other tools in general, which are available online to measure the website performance. Source: over 1 year ago
  • 10 BEST FREE SEO REPORTING TOOLS
    Google Analytics: A free tool from Google that provides in-depth website analytics and performance metrics, including traffic sources, user behavior, and conversions. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Affiliate Marketing Automation: How to Save Time and Improve Your Results?
    Automating your affiliate marketing has a clear advantage: scalability. As your affiliate network grows, manual management becomes difficult. Automation makes it easier to handle a larger volume of affiliates, communicate with them, and monitor their performance. This means that your affiliate program can grow without sacrificing efficiency. You can also use automation tools to track and report affiliate... Source: over 1 year ago
  • Which tool do you use the most for SEO?
    Google Analytics: It provides in-depth insights into website traffic, user behavior, conversions, and other important metrics. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • The dos and don'ts of website redesigns and migrations
    Implement a robust website analytics tool, such as Google Analytics, to track key metrics and gather insights about user behavior. Set up goals and conversion tracking to measure the impact of your website redesign or migration on your business objectives. Source: almost 2 years ago
View more

Hotjar mentions (13)

  • The Best 100 Free UI/UX Resources for Every Designer & Developer
    Hotjar Hotjar.com Heatmaps, session recordings, and feedback polls (free basic plan). - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • A list of SaaS, PaaS and IaaS offerings that have free tiers of interest to devops and infradev
    Hotjar — Website Analytics and Reports . Free Plan allows 2000 pageviews/day. One hundred snapshots/day (max capacity: 300). Three snapshot heatmaps can be stored for 365 days. Unlimited Team Members. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • What do I do after ProductHunt?
    So you can use heatmapping software such as Crazy Egg and Hotjar to see how your end users use your website. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Lots of Traffic but no sales
    If you have installed a heat map like hotjar.com then I will tell you that I used that for a month and found 5 or so dead ends where users were not getting to the cart or clicking on things that where not informative enough to lead to the next action. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Anyone willing to provide feedback on my newly created website?
    Install hotjar.com - it's free. It's a heatmap that tracks how people navigate around your site. Why this matters? You can see where people drop off on your site (specifically, what content they see/don't see). Then, you can make informed decisions on what content is landing and what needs to change. Source: about 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Google Analytics and Hotjar, you can also consider the following products

Matomo - Matomo is an open-source web analytics platform

Smartlook - Qualitative analytics for websites and mobile apps Start understanding the 'whys' of your users' behaviors with clear, visual insights. With session recordings and event tracking, you get the complete picture.

Mixpanel - Mixpanel is the most advanced analytics platform in the world for mobile & web.

FullStory - Meet FullStory, the app that captures all your customer experience data in one powerful platform.

Adobe Analytics - Adobe Analytics is an industry-leading solution that empowers you to understand your customers as people and steer your business with customer intelligence.

Plausible.io - Plausible Analytics is a simple, open-source, lightweight (< 1 KB) and privacy-friendly web analytics alternative to Google Analytics. Made and hosted in the EU, powered by European-owned cloud infrastructure 🇪🇺