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Keeping track of your website interaction is critical if you own an online business. The better you understand your clients’ online experience, the easier it will be to optimize your website & increase conversions. With technologies like Mouseflow and Hotjar, learning more about user behavior has become easier. But which is better or more suited to your needs? Let’s explore.
What is Hotjar?
Hotjar is a collection of analytic tools for gathering qualitative data. Heatmaps, funnel tracking, user polls, surveys, and other tools are available. This type of technology isn’t entirely new. Before Hotjar, you had to collect these features from various sources. All you have to do to get started with Hotjar is install a tiny script on your site. It’s pretty simple. You already have everything it takes to add Hotjar if you’ve ever added Google Analytics to your site.
The history and mission of Hotjar
In 2014, five co-founders formed a hot jar to make behavior analytics more accessible to everyone. Before joining Hotjar, CEO David Darmanin worked in conversion optimization and employed various methods to analyze user behavior better.
What is Mouseflow?
Mouseflow is a website experience optimization tool used by over 165,000 digital marketing, UX, Product, Startups, and Enterprise clients. With Mouseflow, you can see what happens between your visitors’ clicks by watching video recordings of their sessions, create six different types of heatmaps for all of your pages automatically to see what catches their attention, set up funnels to see where and why your visitors drop off, and use form analytics to improve your lead generation.
History and mission of Mouseflow
In 2009, Lasse Schou founded Mouseflow. Before launching Mouseflow, Lasse had a background in computer science and built websites for clients. Even though Google Analytics was well-known, Lasse believed that no tools could illustrate how visitors used websites. Lasse eventually founded Mouseflow since he needed a similar tool as an entrepreneur. Mouseflow’s product is described as a tool for serious marketers. Session recordings, heatmaps, funnel and form analytics, and user feedback polls are just a few of the capabilities available. Mouseflow will assist you in better understanding user behavior to learn how to improve user experience and conversions.
Mouseflow vs. Hotjar Comparison Chart
S.No. | Hotjar | Mouseflow |
1. | Session recording is done indefinitely. | Each page's heatmap is created manually. |
2. | The funnels of conversion are not sampled. | The funnels of conversion are sampled. |
3. | It is not necessary to activate Form Analytics. | After configuration, Form Analytics begins its analysis. |
4. | Heatmaps, funnels, recordings, and forms are limited unless you subscribe to the Enterprise Plan. | All paying clients have unlimited heatmaps, funnels, recordings, and forms. |
5. | One month data retention policy. | 365-day data retention policy. |
6. | A free trial is available. | A free trial is available. |
7. | Web-based and Windows Phone platforms are supported. | App Web-based, iPhone app, and Android app are all supported platforms. |
8. | Customizable reporting and analytics video lessons and ad hoc reporting. | Customer surveys and organized consumer feedback are unique qualities. |
Hotjar vs Mouseflow: Detailed Differences
1. Integrations
Mouseflow and Hotjar both allow connection with several different web platforms. In terms of integrations, both Mouseflow and Hotjar support a variety of web platforms. Mouseflow, however, has more integration options than Hotjar. Mouseflow is compatible with many third-party programs, including customer relationship management software, website software, and other data and analytics reporting tools.
2. Session Recording and Replay
Mouseflow and Hotjar have one key difference: Hotjar samples your recordings, but Mouseflow does not. You can observe exactly how users interact with your web pages by recording and replaying sessions. Hotjar, unlike Mouseflow, records in batches and needs you to continue selecting the amount of data you wish to record before resetting the recording after you’ve hit the limit. Hotjar does an excellent job organizing information for you right out of the box in their dashboards and session recording players.
Hotjar’s software allows you to bookmark individual recordings, review entry and exit pages, as well as other information such as session duration and page views. The recording dashboard in Mouseflow, on the other hand, provides a summary of your recordings, including the referrer URL, recording duration, number of pages in the recording, tags, and more.
3. Heatmaps
The heatmap is another feature shared by Mouseflow and Hotjar. If you work in CRO, UX/UI, or marketing, you’ll need this tool because heatmaps show you where your viewers often click and how far they scroll down your pages.
The main difference between Hotjar’s and Mouseflow’s heatmaps is that with Mouseflow, you may use the platform’s advanced filtering tools to evaluate data according to your requirements. Meanwhile, Hotjar’s heatmap tool’s power resides in its overlay of clicks, movement, and scroll, as well as the ability to review device activity.
4. Conversion Funnels
Understanding website performance necessitates the creation of conversion funnels. Visitors can create funnels and review sessions on Mouseflow and Hotjar, but there are some distinctions. The filtering options in Mouseflow are so vast that you may utilize them throughout your funnel for a more in-depth examination. You may also edit your funnels at any time without losing any data with Mouseflow. However, when you edit your funnels using Hotjar, you lose traffic older than 90 days.
5. Form Analytics
This feature allows you to analyze all of your website’s forms in a funnel-like fashion. Form analytics are available in Mouseflow and Hotjar; however, Mouseflow’s is quicker to set up. While Mouseflow and Hotjar offer funnel-style analysis, Mouseflow makes setting up your form analytics more accessible.
To begin your study with Mouseflow, you don’t need to set up and enable form analytics. You may set up form analytics and analyze the results as soon as you start recording your website. It isn’t possible with Hotjar because the platform requires you to set the sample size and activate it before you can begin collecting data.
6. Pricing
The cost is one of the most significant distinctions between Mouseflow and Hotjar. For starters, Mouseflow uses a credit system. You will continue to pay for the service every month on the Starter Plan. However, you are only given a set number of credits each month, depending on your plan.
As a result, Hotjar’s pricing rises. Fortunately, the site provides a free plan for those just getting started. If you’re a beginner, you can keep this plan for as long as you want, but it has limited features. The Basic Plan, the $29-Plus plan, and the $89 to $989-Business Plan are the three plans offered by Hotjar.
Mouseflow features five plans, unlike Hotjar, which only has three. There’s also a Free Plan, a $29 Starter Plan, a $99 Growth Plan, a $399 Pro Plan, and the Enterprise Plan, which is the most expensive of them all.
Conclusion
Mouseflow and Hotjar are excellent tools for analyzing client data and answering queries regarding user activity. The question of which one provides better value for your money, on the other hand, boils down to how you intend to apply what you learn from these tools.
Mouseflow can be helpful if you want to analyze user activity and monitor your visitors’ actions over a short period. Hotjar can help you with that as well. Still, it’s designed to give you long-term insights so you can better analyze user behavior, plan what adjustments to make on your website, and work out how to improve your site visitors’ overall experience in the long run.
