Best Free Website Heatmap Tools in 2026: Free Plan Limits Compared

Short answer

Microsoft Clarity is the best free heatmap tool for most small business websites: it is free forever with no traffic limits, and it includes click maps, scroll maps and session recordings. If you want a bigger free toolset from a paid-product vendor, Contentsquare Free (where Hotjar users are now being sent) allows up to 200,000 sessions a month. Every figure below was checked on the vendor's own site in October 2026, and free plans change often, so confirm before you commit.

Free heatmap tool limits compared (as of October 2026)

Tool	Free sessions / traffic	Data kept	Heatmap types	Recordings	Sites
Microsoft Clarity	No traffic limits	Heatmap data 9 months; recording playback 30 days	Click and scroll heatmaps	Yes	Unlimited projects
Contentsquare Free	Up to 200,000 sessions/month	1 month	Heatmaps included (zone-based heatmaps and summaries are not)	Yes, but 5% of sessions captured (max 10,000)	1 project
Hotjar (legacy free plan)	35 sessions/day (roughly 1,050 a month)	Not confirmed	Heatmaps (see note)	Yes (see note)	New sign-ups closed
Mouseflow	500 sessions/month	1 month	Click, scroll and geo heatmaps	Yes	1 website
PostHog	5,000 web recordings/month	Recordings 1 month	Heatmap, scroll map and click map; free plan collects data for up to 3 pages you choose	Yes	1 project
Crazy Egg	No free plan: 30-day free trial	Recordings stored 6 months on Starter	Paid heatmap reports (5 on Starter)	50/month on Starter	Unlimited domains

A few notes on reading this table:

• Hotjar: the 35-sessions-a-day figure comes from Contentsquare's Hotjar comparison page. That page also says it is no longer possible to create a new Hotjar account and that new users can sign up for free on Contentsquare. Hotjar's help center also describes the Hotjar Free plan as sunsetting in favor of Contentsquare Free, so treat the old plan as legacy.
• Smartlook: Smartlook is being wound down as a standalone product (end of new sales was 31 May 2026, and the platform is due to be decommissioned on 30 September 2027), so it is not worth starting on now.
• PostHog: heatmaps there are a developer-leaning feature. On the free plan PostHog collects heatmap data for up to three pages you choose, and viewing heatmaps in the toolbar needs a pay-as-you-go plan.
• Crazy Egg: the $29 Starter price is per month when billed annually and covers 5,000 tracked pageviews.

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What the main heatmap types show

• Click maps show where visitors click or tap, including things that look clickable but are not links.
• Scroll maps show how far down the page visitors get, so you can see whether your main call to action sits where most people have already left.
• Move (mouse movement) maps show where cursors travel. PostHog's heatmap view includes movement. Treat it as a weaker signal than clicks, since a cursor can rest anywhere.
• Session recordings are replays of individual visits. They are not heatmaps, but most free tools bundle them, and they explain why a heatmap looks the way it does.
• Rage clicks and dead clicks flag repeated clicking on something that does nothing. Clarity and PostHog both surface these.

Heatmaps often reveal what Google Analytics cannot: a page may have solid traffic while visitors scroll straight past your button. If you are still setting up analytics, start with how to set up Google Analytics.

Which free heatmap tool should you pick?

Microsoft Clarity: the default choice

No traffic limits, unlimited projects and no price to weigh up. Choose it if you run a normal small business site and want click maps, scroll maps and recordings without watching a usage meter. The main limit to plan around is that recording playback is kept for 30 days, so favorite or label any session you want to keep (those are kept for 9 months).

Contentsquare Free: if you are a Hotjar user, or want a larger free tier

A generous session allowance (200,000 a month) but only one project, one month of data, and recordings sampled at 5% of sessions. It suits a single main website where you mostly want heatmaps. Hotjar users who have been waiting for the move can check the status on Hotjar's own site.

Mouseflow: tiny free plan, tidy tools

500 sessions a month on one site is enough for a small page you want to examine briefly, but a busy site will hit the cap quickly. Paid plans listed on its pricing page start at $25 a month.

PostHog: for teams that already use it

Better if a developer is on the team and you want heatmaps, recordings and analytics in one product. It is more than most small business owners need.

Crazy Egg: only if you want testing too

It has no free plan, only a 30-day trial. It makes sense if you want A/B testing next to heatmaps. Read what A/B testing is and how it works first to see whether you are ready for that.

How to install a heatmap tool

All of these work the same basic way: you create an account, add your site, and the tool gives you a short tracking script.

1. Paste the script into the <head> of every page, usually through your site builder's "custom code" or "header scripts" setting.
2. Use Google Tag Manager if you already have it: add a Custom HTML tag with the script and trigger it on all pages. See how to use Google Tag Manager.
3. Use a plugin or app on WordPress or Shopify if the vendor offers one, which avoids touching code.

Data usually starts appearing within minutes, but heatmaps need enough visits to mean anything.

Privacy and consent

Heatmap tools record behavior on your site, so they fall under your privacy policy and, for some visitors, consent rules.

• Mask sensitive content. Clarity does not upload masked data, and input boxes are masked in every masking mode. You can mask or unmask other parts of a page. Check the masking settings before you leave recordings running on pages with forms or account details.
• Cookie consent. Clarity requires explicit consent signals for visitors in the EEA, UK and Switzerland. Without consent, sessions fragment and features such as full session recordings may be limited, but using it without consent does not break Clarity's terms.
• Update your privacy policy to name the tool, and tell visitors what is recorded.

This is general information, not legal advice. If you have a lot of EU visitors, ask someone qualified.

How many sessions do you need?

There is no universal number. As a rough rule of thumb, aim for a few hundred sessions on the specific page you are studying, and compare mobile and desktop separately because people behave differently on each. On a low-traffic site, the better move is to watch 5 to 10 recordings of individual visits rather than trust a thin heatmap.

What to fix based on what you see

• Scroll map shows most visitors stopping before your button. Move the call to action higher, or shorten the content above it.
• Click map shows clicks on things that are not links (an image, a heading, a price). Make it a link, or remove the confusion.
• Lots of clicks on a menu item you do not care about. Simplify the navigation so it leads people toward the pages that earn money.
• Rage clicks on a button. Check it actually works on mobile before changing anything else.
• A big gap between mobile and desktop. Fix the mobile layout first, since a different screen often means a different page.

Change one thing at a time and look again a couple of weeks later, so you know what made the difference.

Don't have a site to test yet?

Heatmaps only help once a live website is getting traffic. If you are still getting set up, start with a beginner-friendly host. Bluehost includes a free domain and one-click WordPress, so you can be live and collecting heatmap data the same day.

Related questions

• What is A/B testing and how does it work?
• How to track goal conversions in Google Analytics
• How do I know if my website is working?
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