Hotjar vs Open Web Analytics comparison

Compare pricing, deployment, product fit, integrations, and capabilities side by side.

Which platform fits your needs?

Choose Hotjar if

Marketers, product teams, and UX researchers who need qualitative behavior data and feedback workflows

Capabilities only listed for Hotjar

GDPR compliant CCPA compliant Free plan Funnels Audience insights Session recordings User feedback Surveys Polls AI insights

Important considerations: Hotjar is now sold through Contentsquare packaging; session allowances, retention, and feature access vary by product and tier.

Choose Open Web Analytics if

Tech-savvy users who want a free, self-hosted analytics solution

Capabilities only listed for Open Web Analytics

Self-hosted Open source Data ownership Retention analytics

Important considerations: Community-maintained software requires self-hosting and technical upkeep; official product documentation and release communication are less active than major alternatives.

Shared capabilities

Real-time data E-commerce tracking Event tracking Behavior analytics Revenue tracking User segments Heatmaps Goals Data export Integrations Custom reports

Attribute	Hotjar	Open Web Analytics
Overview	A behavior analytics and user feedback product, now positioned within Contentsquare, focused on session replay, heatmaps, surveys, interviews, and journey optimization for UX and growth teams.	A GPL-licensed, self-hosted web analytics framework with pageview and event tracking, conversion goals, funnels, segmentation, click heatmaps, visitor paths, and WordPress support.
Pricing	Contentsquare Free is available; Digital Experience Analytics Growth starts at $49/month, with 20% off annual billing; higher tiers are custom	Free, open source
Deployment	Vendor-hosted cloud	Self-hosted
Best for	Marketers, product teams, and UX researchers who need qualitative behavior data and feedback workflows	Tech-savvy users who want a free, self-hosted analytics solution
Operator	Hotjar Limited Subsidiary of Content Square SAS	Open Web Analytics project Independent project
Company base	St Julian's, Malta · European Union	Distributed organization
Organization scale	at least 190 team members · operator, as of 1 Sep 2021	No comparable official organization-size figure was publicly disclosed.
Recent direction	suite consolidation Recent official evidence shows a focus on suite consolidation.	operational reliability Recent official evidence shows a focus on operational reliability.
Key features	Session replay Zone-based heatmaps Journey analysis Funnels Surveys and feedback Interviews AI-assisted insights Integrations and exports	Self-hosted GPL software Pageview and event tracking Conversion goals and funnels Visitor segmentation Click heatmaps Visitor paths Ecommerce tracking WordPress integration
Important considerations	Hotjar is now sold through Contentsquare packaging; session allowances, retention, and feature access vary by product and tier.	Community-maintained software requires self-hosting and technical upkeep; official product documentation and release communication are less active than major alternatives.
Integrations	Shopify, WordPress	WordPress
Fact check	We checked this information against official vendor sources on 2026-08-08.	We checked this information against official vendor sources on 2026-08-08.

Capability matrix

This matrix shows capabilities recorded in our catalog. Not listed means we have not confirmed the capability here. Check the linked vendor sources for plan, deployment, and usage limits.

Attribute	Hotjar	Open Web Analytics
AI insights	Listed	Not listed
Audience insights	Listed	Not listed
Behavior analytics	Listed	Listed
CCPA compliant	Listed	Not listed
Custom reports	Listed	Listed
Data export	Listed	Listed
Data ownership	Not listed	Listed
E-commerce tracking	Listed	Listed
Event tracking	Listed	Listed
Free plan	Listed	Not listed
Funnels	Listed	Not listed
GDPR compliant	Listed	Not listed
Goals	Listed	Listed
Heatmaps	Listed	Listed
Integrations	Listed	Listed
Open source	Not listed	Listed
Polls	Listed	Not listed
Real-time data	Listed	Listed
Retention analytics	Not listed	Listed
Revenue tracking	Listed	Listed
Self-hosted	Not listed	Listed
Session recordings	Listed	Not listed
Surveys	Listed	Not listed
User feedback	Listed	Not listed
User segments	Listed	Listed

Full details: Hotjar Full details: Open Web Analytics