Hotjar alternatives: what Clarity, Mouseflow and 99takes show you
Well-known Hotjar alternatives are Microsoft Clarity, which Microsoft offers for free, and Mouseflow; like Hotjar, both record real visits. 99takes, by contrast, shows before launch why readers from your audience hesitate. Here is what each tool needs and when it fits.
350 credits to start, no payment details99takes isn’t a heatmap tool. It doesn’t record visits, so it doesn’t replace Hotjar 1:1.
Show: what real visitors do, where they click and how far they scroll
Need: a live page, visitors and, in the EU and UK, usually their consent
Don’t show: why someone left
Shows: why readers from your audience hesitate, with a score and an objection per persona
Needs: your copy or a URL, drafts included, no visitors
Doesn’t show: what real visitors do
What bothers teams about heatmap tools
If you’re looking for a Hotjar alternative, one of these reasons usually applies. It’s rarely the tool itself: Hotjar shows real behavior, and that’s what it’s built for. The question is whether that’s what you need right now.
The subscription isn’t worth it for you
A heatmap tool costs money, and on a small budget that money has to come from somewhere else. That stings even more if you only open the recordings now and then.
Your traffic is too low for a clear picture
A heatmap built from a handful of visits shows chance more than a pattern. For new pages and for offers aimed at a small audience, it takes a long time to collect enough visits.
Some visitors are missing from the data
In the EU and UK, recordings usually start only after visitors consent in the cookie banner. Anyone who declines doesn’t show up, and you can’t tell whether the people who agreed are typical of everyone else.
Reviewing takes time
Each recording runs as long as the visit itself. Afterwards you know where someone left, but you have to guess why.
Hotjar vs. Clarity vs. Mouseflow vs. 99takes
The three heatmap tools answer the same question in similar ways. 99takes answers a different one. We’ve left out vendor prices on purpose because they change; you’ll find them on the vendors’ sites.
| Tool | What it shows | Needs traffic | Needs consent | When it makes sense |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 99takes | Where readers from your audience get stuck and why, with a score and an objection per persona | No | No, no visitor data | Before launch, with little traffic, and when you want to know why |
| Hotjar | Heatmaps, session recordings, on-page surveys and feedback, user interviews | Yes, real visitors | Usually, in the EU and UK | A live page with enough visitors, when you want behavior and feedback in one place |
| Microsoft Clarity | Heatmaps and session recordings, free | Yes, real visitors | Usually, in the EU and UK | A live page on a small budget, to find usability problems |
| Mouseflow | Heatmaps, session replay, funnels, form analytics, feedback surveys | Yes, real visitors | Usually, in the EU and UK | A live page with enough visitors; covers much the same as Hotjar |
Features as listed on the vendors’ websites, retrieved October 12, 2026: Hotjar (part of Contentsquare), Microsoft Clarity, Mouseflow. Whether you need consent depends on where your visitors are; check with your privacy counsel. This is not legal advice.
When a heatmap is enough, and when 99takes is the better fit
- your page is live and gets regular traffic
- you’re looking for usability problems, such as clicks on elements that aren’t links
- you want to know how far visitors scroll
- enough visitors accept your consent banner, where you need one, for the data to mean something
- the page isn’t live yet or gets little traffic
- you know where visitors leave, but not why
- you want to compare two versions before you put budget behind one
- you write for business buyers and your audience is small
What you see instead of a heatmap
A heatmap might show that hardly anyone scrolls down to the pricing section. 99takes shows what individual readers from your audience are thinking before they get there.
Clarity and 99takes together
If your budget is tight, use both: Clarity costs nothing and shows where visitors leave the live page. 99takes shows you in advance where your audience gets stuck, and you only pay for the runs you start.
You check: a draft or a new version with personas from your audience
You get: the objections per persona and which version is ahead
Cost: credits, with the price shown before every run
You see: where real visitors click and where they drop off
You get: the spot to focus the next version on
Cost: none, according to Microsoft
When Clarity shows a spot where many visitors leave, write a new version for it and run it through 99takes again before it goes live.
How 99takes works
You create an account at run.99takes.com and connect 99takes to Claude (setup guide). There you pick a ready-made audience or set up your own with 10 to 14 personas, researched from public customer voices. Then you give it a URL or paste in two versions, and each persona tells you, with a score and an objection, where they get stuck.
More on this: how it works, synthetic users and, if you don’t have the traffic for tests either, A/B test alternatives and the A/B test calculator. For improving a page as a whole: landing page optimization and conversion rate optimization.
Find out before launch where your audience gets stuck
Personas from your audience read your page in Claude and tell you where they get stuck. You don’t need traffic or consent from your visitors.
Start for free 350 credits to start, no payment details · Rather have us do it? a study at a fixed price of €990 or a retainer from €1,500 a month, both net, plus VAT.Frequently asked questions about Hotjar alternatives
What is a good Hotjar alternative?
That depends on what Hotjar isn’t giving you. If you want heatmaps and recordings without a subscription, Microsoft Clarity is the obvious choice, because Microsoft offers it for free. Mouseflow covers much the same ground as Hotjar. If you want to know why readers from your audience hesitate before the page goes live, 99takes is the better fit. It doesn’t record visits; personas read your page instead.
Is Microsoft Clarity really free?
Yes. On its own website Microsoft calls Clarity free forever (retrieved October 12, 2026). Clarity offers heatmaps and session recordings. Microsoft doesn’t list on-page surveys there.
Do Hotjar and Clarity need a consent banner?
In the EU and UK, session recording and analytics tools usually need consent under ePrivacy/GDPR rules; check with your privacy counsel. Visitors who decline in the banner won’t show up in your heatmaps and recordings.
Does 99takes need consent from your visitors?
No. 99takes adds nothing to your site and never sees your visitors. It reads the copy you give it in Claude, or the public page at a URL.
Does 99takes replace Hotjar?
Not 1:1. Hotjar shows what real visitors do on the live page, and 99takes has nothing equivalent for that. 99takes shows where readers from your audience get stuck and why, including on drafts and pages with no traffic. If you need both, use both: for example, 99takes before launch and Clarity after.
Is 99takes an alternative to UserTesting?
For part of the job, yes. In a user test, real people use your page while you watch or record them, which surfaces usability problems nobody expected. 99takes doesn’t involve participants: personas from your audience read the page and say where they hesitate and why, before launch and with no recruiting. If you need to see real people work through an interface, a user test is still the right method.
What does 99takes cost?
You start with 350 credits for 30 days, without payment details. Comparing two versions with 12 personas costs about 73 credits, or about 19 1:1. 99takes tells you the price before every run.