The Core Differentiators

When you evaluate Hotjar and Microsoft Clarity, you are not only comparing features. You are comparing pricing models, data policies and how each tool fits into a modern SaaS stack.

Price vs. Privacy (The Free Trap)

Microsoft Clarity is completely free. There are no paid tiers or feature unlocks. The tradeoff is that Microsoft can use the anonymized data collected from your site to improve advertising systems and machine learning models.

For content sites or small blogs, this may be acceptable. For privacy conscious SaaS companies and regulated industries such as healthcare or fintech, this can be a serious concern.

Hotjar uses a classic SaaS pricing model. You pay for features, data limits and privacy controls. As traffic grows, pricing scales up quickly, especially if you want more recordings, more sites or more team seats.

Data Sampling vs. 100 Percent Capture

Sampling is one of the most important technical differences.

• Hotjar often records only a subset of visitors. For example, out of 10,000 visits, you may only see 2,000 recordings. This means the exact session where a VIP customer reports a bug may never be captured.
• Microsoft Clarity usually captures all traffic, but lacks advanced segmentation and filtering that make deep analysis easier.
• FullSession focuses on 100 percent unsampled data capture. You keep full visibility into every session so you can debug issues with confidence.

Fig. 2: A visual funnel where Hotjar records only a small fraction of sessions while FullSession records all of them, avoiding missing critical bug reports.

Feature by Feature Showdown

Hotjar and Microsoft Clarity overlap on core features such as heatmaps and session recordings, but they were built for different primary use cases.

Heatmaps (Static vs Dynamic)

Microsoft Clarity offers standard click and scroll maps. They work well on simple marketing pages, but can struggle with single page applications where content updates without reloading.

Hotjar provides click, scroll and move maps with a polished interface. However, many setups require manual snapshot refreshing to keep reports aligned with current designs.

FullSession goes a step further with interactive heatmaps that track dynamic elements such as dropdown menus, popups and components on React or Vue based apps.

Session Recording (Debugging Capability)

Microsoft Clarity includes robust replay for a free tool and basic filters for signals such as rage clicks and dead clicks. It is useful for high level pattern spotting and light debugging.

Hotjar offers smooth playback and an intuitive player. The downside is limited data retention on lower plans. If you do not investigate a bug quickly, the relevant recording may expire.

FullSession focuses on debugging. You can filter sessions by error events, funnels or user attributes to jump directly to the most impactful recordings.

Feedback and Surveys (The Missing Link)

Microsoft Clarity does not include native feedback or survey tools. You can see what users did, but you cannot ask them why directly inside the product.

Hotjar built its name on incoming feedback widgets, surveys and on page polls. For many marketers, this direct feedback is the main reason they adopt Hotjar.

FullSession combines behavioral data with lightweight feedback options so you can attach voice of customer insights to specific sessions and journeys.

Fig. 1: A split view dashboard with Microsoft Clarity on the left showing basic traffic metrics and FullSession on the right highlighting rage clicks, error rates and funnel drop off charts.

The Third Option: Why FullSession Wins on Value

If you feel caught between a free but data hungry tool and a popular but sampling heavy tool, FullSession acts as the middle path for serious SaaS and product teams.

Unsampled Insights

FullSession records every interaction without aggressive sampling. When a high value customer reports a checkout error, your team can:

• Search that specific user by email or IP, depending on your setup
• Open the exact session recording from the time of the complaint
• See the sequence of clicks, errors and UI states that led to the problem

This reduces guesswork and support back and forth, especially for complex flows such as multi step forms, onboarding or subscription upgrades.

Advanced Funnel Analysis

Neither Hotjar nor Microsoft Clarity offers deep funnel analysis out of the box. FullSession lets you define multi step funnels such as:

• Visit pricing page → Start trial → Complete onboarding
• Add to cart → Shipping → Payment → Thank you page

You can then watch only the recordings of users who dropped off at a specific step. This connects the what (drop off rate) with the why (video evidence of the friction).

See How FullSession Compares – Book a Demo

Comparison Matrix: Hotjar vs Clarity vs FullSession

The table below summarizes the main differences between Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar and FullSession for teams evaluating their analytics and UX stack.

Conclusion: Which Tool Fits Your Stack?

There is no universal winner. The best choice depends on your goals, budget and risk tolerance.

• Use Microsoft Clarity if you are a blogger or small business with zero budget and low privacy sensitivity.
• Use Hotjar if you are a marketer who cares most about surveys, polls and quick user feedback on landing pages.
• Use FullSession if you are a Product Manager or SaaS founder who needs to debug errors, optimize funnels and trust 100 percent of your behavioral data.

Instead of guessing why users drop off, watch what actually happens and fix it with confidence.

Frequently Asked Questions