Master Hotjar with our step-by-step tutorial, detailed feature walkthrough, and expert tips.
Explore the key features that make Hotjar powerful for data & analytics workflows.
Click, scroll, and move heatmaps that show exactly where users interact with pages, revealing attention patterns and engagement gaps
Discovering that only 15% of visitors scroll past the fold on the pricing page, indicating critical content needs to be moved higher
Video playback of individual user sessions showing clicks, scrolling, navigation, and hesitation patterns throughout their visit
Watching recordings of users who abandoned checkout to identify the specific form field or step causing confusion and drop-off
On-page feedback collection allowing visitors to rate their experience and leave contextual comments on specific pages
Placing a feedback widget on the help center to identify which support articles are unhelpful and need rewriting
Targeted surveys triggered by user behavior like exit intent, time on page, or scroll depth to capture opinions at key moments
Triggering an exit-intent survey on the pricing page asking visitors why they're leaving without purchasing
Recruit and schedule interviews with actual site visitors for moderated user research sessions with built-in video conferencing
Recruiting 10 users who completed a purchase for 30-minute interviews about their buying decision process
Conversion funnel visualization and trend tracking integrated with heatmaps and recordings for comprehensive conversion analysis
Building a sign-up funnel, identifying the highest drop-off step, then viewing heatmaps and recordings of that specific page
Hotjar's tracking script is loaded asynchronously and is approximately 40KB. Most sites see no noticeable performance difference. Session recording does use some client-side resources, so performance-sensitive sites should test thoroughly in staging before deploying to production.
Google Analytics focuses on quantitative metrics — traffic sources, pageviews, bounce rates, conversions as numbers. Hotjar focuses on qualitative and visual insights — seeing how users interact with pages through heatmaps and recordings, and hearing why through feedback and surveys. Most teams use both together: GA for what happened, Hotjar for why.
Hotjar automatically suppresses keystroke recording in form fields by default and provides CSS-based suppression rules to exclude specific page elements from recordings. You can configure additional exclusion zones for sensitive content areas. Hotjar is GDPR-compliant and offers consent management tools.
Hotjar's free Basic plan captures up to 35 sessions per day for recordings and heatmap data. This is sufficient for low-traffic sites and initial testing but will miss the majority of sessions on busier sites. Paid Observe plans start at $39/month for 100 daily sessions, scaling up to 500+ daily sessions on Business plans.
Contentsquare acquired Hotjar and integrated it into their broader digital experience analytics suite. Hotjar continues to operate as its own product with its own pricing, but now includes AI-powered features from Contentsquare such as automated behavior analysis, rage click detection, and more sophisticated session analysis tools.
Now that you know how to use Hotjar, it's time to put this knowledge into practice.
Sign up and follow the tutorial steps
Check pros, cons, and user feedback
See how it stacks against alternatives
Follow our tutorial and master this powerful data & analytics tool in minutes.
Tutorial updated March 2026