UserProofHotjar alternative for founders who build with Claude Code
If you are a founder who builds with Claude Code and uses Hotjar mainly to find out why visitors leave, UserProof is the alternative built for that job: it records real sessions and hands your agent one fix with the file and line. It is free for 3 sites and 5,000 recorded visits a month, then $29 for 50,000. Hotjar still wins on heatmaps, surveys and free session volume.
One number only this page shows: Hotjar’s Free plan replays 5% of sessions, up to 10k. At 5,000 sessions a month that is about 250 recordings, against 5,000 on UserProof Free (our arithmetic from both pricing pages).
Jump to: which to pick · comparison · cost at real volumes · why people switch · where Hotjar still wins · FAQ
Hotjar alternatives: which tool for which reader
| If you | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You build in Claude Code and want a fix, not a dashboard | UserProof | One ranked fix with the file and line, then a check that it worked. |
| You need heatmaps or surveys for a marketing or design team | Hotjar | Both are on every plan, including Free; UserProof has neither. |
| You want sessions and heatmaps for free with no volume cap | Microsoft Clarity | No traffic limits and no paid tier stated. |
| You want replay inside product analytics | PostHog | First 5,000 recordings a month free, then usage priced. |
UserProof vs Hotjar, 13 rows
Hotjar cells quote Contentsquare’s pricing page (https://contentsquare.com/pricing/) as read October 20, 2026. UserProof cells come from our pricing page and plan limits in our code.
| Hotjar (Contentsquare) | UserProof | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 200k monthly sessions, 1 project | 3 sites, 5,000 recorded visits a month |
| Share of sessions replayed on Free | 5% of sessions captured (max. 10k) | Every visit up to the 5,000 plan limit |
| First paid step | Growth from $39 a month billed yearly ($49 monthly), 7k monthly sessions | Pro, $29 a month, 50,000 visits |
| Replay capture on the first paid plan | 15% of sessions captured (min. 20k) | Every visit up to 50,000 a month |
| Replay retention | 1 month on Free, 2 months on Growth | 7 days on Free, 90 days on Pro and Scale |
| Heatmaps | Included on every plan | None |
| Surveys and feedback | Free: 100 responses a month; Growth surveys from $79 a month | None |
| Agent access | MCP on Free (up to 300 tool calls a month); Sense AI chat and replay summaries on Growth | Claude Code plugin and MCP tools, unlimited analyses on every plan |
| What you get out | Sessions, heatmaps, funnels and AI summaries you read | One ranked fix with the file and line, then a check afterward |
| Sites per plan | 1 project on Free, 3 on Growth | 3 sites on Free, unlimited on Pro and Scale |
| Trial and refund | 15-day Growth trial, no payment details; 30-day money-back on Growth | No trial needed; the Free plan is the trial. Cancel any time from the billing link |
| Coding agents named | MCP clients; the pricing page does not list which | Claude Code only today |
| Track record | Contentsquare says it serves 3,000 enterprise and mid-market brands and 1.3+ million websites | Launched October 2026 |
Cost at real volumes
Three monthly volumes a small site really has. Hotjar bills on sessions and UserProof on recorded visits, which are close but not identical units.
| Monthly volume | Hotjar | UserProof |
|---|---|---|
| 5,000 sessions or visits | Free, $0. Replay on 5%, about 250 recordings | Free, $0. All 5,000 recorded |
| 7,000 | Free covers it, about 350 recordings; Growth from $39 a month billed yearly ($49 monthly) for 7k sessions | Pro, $29 a month, records all 7,000 (Free keeps 1 in 4 past 5,000) |
| 50,000 | Growth has tiers at 45k and 60k sessions; those prices appear only in the page’s calculator, not in the text we read | Pro, $29 a month |
| Fine print | On Free and Growth, hitting the session limit stops new heatmap and funnel data until the monthly reset. No annual contract needed on Growth; annual billing saves 20% | Past a plan’s visits, recording continues at 1 in 4 until the 1st of the month. No contract |
Why people leave Hotjar for a tool like this
You read sessions and still have to decide what to change
Hotjar’s plans are built to show you behavior: replays, heatmaps, funnels, and on Growth AI summaries of replays and heatmaps. The decision stays with you. UserProof counts dead clicks, rage clicks and errors from recorded events and gives Claude Code the one change most likely to move your signup or booking goal, with the file and line.
The free replay is a sample
Free replay captures 5% of sessions up to 10k a month. At 5,000 sessions a month, a bug that hits one visitor in twenty appears in about 12 of Hotjar Free’s 250 recordings, against about 250 of 5,000 on UserProof Free (our arithmetic). A plan that records every visit up to its limit keeps all of them.
Your coding agent is the one doing the work
Hotjar’s Free MCP allowance is 300 tool calls a month. UserProof’s analyses, scans and fix checks are unlimited on every plan, so the agent can check a fix as often as it needs.
You have no traffic yet
Heatmaps and replays need visitors. UserProof can scan your live site before any arrive and name the broken elements with the file and line, so a new launch gets findings on day one.
Where Hotjar still wins
| Need | Why Hotjar fits better |
|---|---|
| Heatmaps and click maps | On every plan, with zone-based heatmaps on Growth. UserProof has none. |
| Surveys and feedback widgets | Free includes 100 responses a month and 3 widgets or surveys. UserProof has no surveys. |
| A big free session allowance | 200k monthly sessions on Free, with funnels and error monitoring included. UserProof Free stops at 5,000 recorded visits. |
| A team that is not in Claude Code | Marketing and design teams read the dashboard directly. UserProof works only through Claude Code today. |
| Track record and integrations | Contentsquare lists 7 pre-built integrations on Free and 9 on Growth, on the pricing page. UserProof launched in October 2026. |
Other Hotjar alternatives
We rank 12 replay tools for Claude Code builders, with prices and a source for each, on our comparison of session replay tools for AI coding agents. The two closest to a Hotjar swap are Microsoft Clarity, which is free with heatmaps, and PostHog, which prices replay by recording.
Set up UserProof from the home page See pricing
FAQ
What is a free Hotjar alternative?
Microsoft Clarity is free with no traffic cap stated and no paid tier (its FAQ, read October 20, 2026). UserProof is free for 3 sites and 5,000 recorded visits a month. Hotjar’s own Free plan is also $0, but its replay captures 5% of sessions, up to 10k. See the Clarity comparison.
How much does Hotjar cost in 2026?
Free is $0 and covers up to 200k monthly sessions, with replay on 5% of them. Growth starts at $39 a month billed yearly ($49 billed monthly) for 7k monthly sessions, per Contentsquare’s pricing page on October 20, 2026. Pro and Enterprise are custom priced.
Does Hotjar have an MCP server for coding agents?
Contentsquare’s pricing page lists MCP on the Free plan with up to 300 tool calls a month, and up to 36k a year on Growth. We did not test what an agent can read through it.
Is UserProof a full Hotjar replacement?
No. UserProof has no heatmaps or surveys and works with Claude Code only today. It replaces Hotjar for one job: finding what stops visitors converting and handing your agent the fix. If your team needs heatmaps or surveys, keep Hotjar or use Clarity for those.
Can I run UserProof and Hotjar on the same site?
Yes, both are script tags. Running two recorders adds page weight and two sets of numbers, so most teams pick one. If you keep Hotjar for heatmaps, UserProof’s Free plan costs nothing to try beside it.
Sources
- Hotjar (Contentsquare): Contentsquare pricing, read October 20, 2026 (plans, session limits, replay capture, retention, MCP allowance, trial and refund terms)
- UserProof: UserProof pricing, read October 20, 2026 (plans, limits, retention)
Corrections
If a Hotjar price or limit here is out of date, Contentsquare’s page is the source of truth. Report it through our GitHub issues. We re-read these pages every quarter.