Crazy Egg vs Hotjar
Omar Sheriff
Last updated on
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The short answer
Crazy Egg and Hotjar are both long-running heatmap and session-recording tools that grew into broader behavior-analytics suites, but they now sit on opposite sides of an ownership divide. Crazy Egg, founded in 2006 by Hiten Shah and Neil Patel, remains an independently operated, bootstrapped company with a fully itemized self-serve pricing page across four tiers ($29 to $599/mo) and native unlimited A/B testing and error tracking built into the same product. Hotjar, founded in 2014, was acquired by Contentsquare in September 2021 and then fully merged into Contentsquare Group on 1 July 2025, so it no longer operates as a standalone company; its dedicated pricing page now 308-redirects into Contentsquare’s general pricing, and reviewers cite post-merger price increases and confusing tiers as a recurring complaint. Hotjar counters with real scale advantages: a claimed 1,306,323 websites versus Crazy Egg’s 449,000+, a larger and more internationally recognizable client roster, and a materially bigger, higher-scoring review base on Capterra (543 reviews at 4.6/5 versus Crazy Egg’s 86 at 4.4/5). Both tools now offer a free plan, though Hotjar’s includes capped heatmaps and session recordings while Crazy Egg’s free plan covers web analytics, instant heatmaps, conversion analytics, and surveys without session recordings. Both public G2 ratings come from search-indexed snapshots rather than a live confirmed fetch, so treat those two figures as directional only.
If you want every price tier itemized on the vendor’s own site with no “Contact Sales” gate, native unlimited A/B testing and error tracking bundled into the same product rather than split across separate lines, and an independently run company with no ownership transition to navigate, Crazy Egg’s four tiers ($29 to $599/mo) are the more predictable pick.
If you want a free plan that already includes heatmaps and session recordings (capped at 35 daily sessions), the larger installed base (1,306,323 sites versus 449,000+) and client roster (Ryanair, TomTom, HubSpot Academy), and a much bigger, higher-scoring third-party review sample (543 Capterra reviews at 4.6/5), Hotjar is the stronger fit, provided you’re comfortable evaluating a Contentsquare product line rather than an independent vendor.
At a glance
| Crazy Egg | Hotjar | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2006 (Hiten Shah, Neil Patel) | 2014 (David Darmanin, Marc von Brockdorff, Jonathan Vella) |
| Category | All-in-one CRO suite (heatmaps, recordings, A/B testing, surveys) | Behavior-analytics suite, now a Contentsquare product line |
| Starting price | $0/mo free plan (no recordings); paid from $29/mo (Starter), 5,000 pageviews/mo | $0/mo (Basic/Free, up to 35 daily sessions, per third-party estimate) |
| Ownership | Independent, bootstrapped, not VC-funded | Acquired by Contentsquare Sept 2021; fully merged into Contentsquare Group 1 July 2025 |
| Public rating | G2 4.2/5 (127+ reviews); Capterra 4.4/5 (86 reviews) | G2 4.3/5 (count unconfirmed); Capterra 4.6/5 (543 reviews) |
| Scale claim | 449,000+ websites | 1,306,323 websites in 180+ countries |
| Best for | Buyers wanting itemized pricing and an independent vendor | Buyers wanting a fuller free tier, bigger scale, and a larger review base |
Vendor profile
Crazy Egg
Crazy Egg was founded in 2006 by Hiten Shah and Neil Patel and is headquartered in Cerritos, California per Tracxn, though some aggregators list the adjacent city of La Mirada, CA. It remains an independently operated, bootstrapped company with no publicly disclosed VC funding and roughly 42 employees as of June 2026, per Tracxn (LinkedIn lists an “11-50 employees” band). The product covers heatmaps, session recordings, A/B testing, error tracking, on-site surveys, CTAs and popups, web analytics, and AI-generated analysis of heatmaps and recordings, positioned as an all-in-one CRO suite rather than a single-purpose tool. Case studies published on Crazy Egg’s own site cite named customers including Intuit, Sendible, WallMonkeys, Miller and Smith, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, with a Happy Trail case study titled “How Crazy Egg Helped Happy Trail Save Over $90,000 in Sales Over Four Months” and a WallMonkeys case study claiming a 550% conversion-rate increase. A verified Capterra review calls it “one of the easiest heatmap tools I’ve ever used,” while other reviewers flag a complaint worth weighing: that the pricing display foregrounds the monthly figure with “billed annually” in smaller text, since every paid Crazy Egg tier bills annually with no month-to-month option.
- Vendor
- Crazy Egg (crazyegg.com)
- Founded
- 2006 (Hiten Shah, Neil Patel)
- HQ
- Cerritos, CA per Tracxn (some aggregators list nearby La Mirada, CA)
- Team size
- ~42 employees per Tracxn (June 2026); LinkedIn lists an 11-50 band
- Ownership
- Independent, bootstrapped, not VC-funded per Crunchbase
- Public rating
- G2 reported 4.2/5 (127+ reviews); Capterra 4.4/5 (86 reviews, 93% positive); direct G2 fetch returns HTTP 403, taken from search snapshot
Hotjar
Hotjar was founded in 2014 by David Darmanin (Founder & Chairman), Marc von Brockdorff, and Jonathan Vella, originally headquartered in Malta. Contentsquare announced its acquisition of Hotjar on 1 September 2021, and the two initially continued to operate independently; as of 1 July 2025, Hotjar fully merged into Contentsquare Group and no longer operates as a standalone legal entity; billing and legal terms now run through Contentsquare, and buyers evaluating “Hotjar” today are effectively evaluating a Contentsquare product line rather than an independent company. Team-size estimates vary widely post-merger, from roughly 114 to 200 depending on the aggregator, with LinkedIn showing a “201-500 employees” band that reflects the larger combined Contentsquare-Hotjar org. The product covers heatmaps, session recordings/replay, on-site surveys and feedback widgets, funnels, and user interviews/testing. Hotjar’s own customers page lists 50+ named case-study companies including TomTom, Ryanair, Razorpay, HubSpot Academy, and Matalan, and the homepage claims the tool is “Trusted by 1,306,323 websites in 180+ countries.” A verified Capterra reviewer (Peter C, Regional Director) says Hotjar “has provided us with such incredible insights about how prospects and customers actually interact with our website,” while another (Mihail I, Senior Product Manager) flags a direct merger-related complaint: “After the product was acquired the price was instantly increased while the pricing tiers became extremely hard to follow.”
- Vendor
- Hotjar (hotjar.com), now a Contentsquare product line
- Founded
- 2014 (David Darmanin, Marc von Brockdorff, Jonathan Vella)
- HQ
- Originally Malta; fully merged into Contentsquare (Paris/New York) as of July 1, 2025
- Team size
- ~114-200 depending on aggregator; LinkedIn shows a 201-500 band reflecting the combined Contentsquare-Hotjar org
- Ownership
- No longer independent; acquired by Contentsquare Sept 2021, fully merged into Contentsquare Group 1 July 2025
- Public rating
- G2 reported 4.3/5 (review count unconfirmed); Capterra 4.6/5 (543 reviews); direct G2 fetch returns HTTP 403, taken from search snapshot
Pricing: what you'll actually pay
Crazy Egg publishes a free plan plus all four paid tiers directly on its own pricing page, verified live as of August 2026. Hotjar’s dedicated pricing page now 308-redirects to Contentsquare’s general pricing page with no Hotjar-specific tiers shown, so every Hotjar figure below is a third-party aggregator estimate that should be re-verified live before you rely on it.
| Crazy Egg | Hotjar | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | $0/mo, no credit card: web analytics, instant heatmaps, conversion analytics, surveys (no session recordings; limits not published) | $0/mo (Basic/Free), up to 35 daily sessions incl. heatmaps and recordings (third-party estimate) |
| Entry paid tier | $29/mo (Starter), 5,000 pageviews/mo, 5 Heatmap Reports, 50 Recordings/mo, 6 months recording storage | ~$49/mo (Growth, billed annually), up to 7,000 sessions (third-party estimate) |
| Mid tier | $99/mo (Plus), 150,000 pageviews/mo, 75 Heatmap Reports, 1,000 Recordings/mo, unlimited A/B testing/CTAs/error tracking | Growth scales with session volume (third-party estimate) |
| Upper self-serve tier | $249/mo (Pro), 500,000 pageviews/mo, 100 Heatmap Reports, 5,000 Recordings/mo, advanced targeting | ~$739/mo (Growth at 200,000+ sessions, third-party estimate) |
| Top published tier | $599/mo (Enterprise), 1,000,000 pageviews/mo, 200 Heatmap Reports, 10,000 Recordings/mo, SAML SSO | Pro and Enterprise: custom / “Contact Sales,” not publicly listed |
| Billing model | Annual billing only on all paid tiers; no month-to-month option; no overages | Usage/session-based; Growth payable monthly at a higher rate per third-party aggregators |
| Free trial | All paid plans free for 30 days, no credit card required | Trial available on paid tiers alongside the free Basic plan |
Capability comparison
Both tools cover the same core job: heatmaps and session recordings to see how visitors actually use a page. The gaps show up in whether A/B testing and error tracking live inside the same product or a separate one, what each free plan actually includes, and how easy standalone pricing is to find. Crazy Egg wins on itemized pricing and bundled testing tools; Hotjar wins on a richer free tier, funnels, and user-interview features.
| Service | Crazy Egg | Hotjar |
|---|---|---|
| Heatmaps & session recordings | ✓ | ✓ |
| On-site surveys & feedback widgets | ✓ | ✓ |
| A/B testing native to the product | ✓ (unlimited, Plus tier and up) | Partial (split into separate Contentsquare product lines post-merger) |
| Error tracking | ✓ (unlimited, Plus tier and up) | Not listed as a standalone Hotjar feature |
| AI-generated heatmap/recording analysis | ✓ (all tiers) | Not itemized on the fetched pages |
| Funnels | Not listed as a standalone feature | ✓ |
| User interviews / testing | ✕ | ✓ |
| Free tier | Partial (Free plan: web analytics, instant heatmaps, conversion analytics, surveys; no session recordings) | ✓ (Basic/Free, up to 35 daily sessions incl. heatmaps and recordings) |
| Session recordings on the free plan | ✕ | ✓ (capped) |
| Itemized self-serve pricing page | ✓ (all 4 paid tiers listed with exact limits) | ✕ (redirects to Contentsquare’s general pricing page) |
| Monthly billing option | ✕ (annual billing only, all paid tiers) | Partial (Growth tier payable monthly at a higher rate, per third-party estimates) |
| Named enterprise-recognizable clients | Intuit, Sendible, WallMonkeys, Miller and Smith, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty | TomTom, Ryanair, Razorpay, HubSpot Academy, Matalan |
| Scale claim (installs) | 449,000+ websites | 1,306,323 websites in 180+ countries |
Decision matrix - who fits which side
| Criterion | Crazy Egg | Hotjar |
|---|---|---|
| Need itemized, no-“Contact Sales” self-serve pricing | ✓ | ✕ |
| Want session recordings on a free plan | ✕ | ✓ |
| Want a free plan of any kind | ~ | ✓ |
| Want an independently run vendor, no ownership transition | ✓ | ✕ |
| Need the largest installed base / client roster | ✕ | ✓ |
| Want native, unlimited A/B testing and error tracking bundled in | ✓ | ~ |
| Want the largest, highest-scoring third-party review base | ✕ | ✓ |
| Need predictable pageview-based tiers over usage-based pricing | ✓ | ~ |
| Want month-to-month billing flexibility | ✕ | ~ |
| Want funnels or built-in user-interview tooling | ✕ | ✓ |
| Want R&D backing of a larger parent company | ✕ | ✓ |
| Need longer entry-tier recording storage relative to price | ✓ | ~ |
Check = clear edge. Tilde = capable but not the stronger pick. Cross = outside the model.
Strengths & tradeoffs
Both tools do the core job of heatmap and session-recording analysis competently. The real differences are ownership structure, pricing transparency, and whether testing tools live in the same product or a separate one, and each side wins rows the other does not.
| Axis | Crazy Egg | Hotjar |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing transparency | All 4 tiers itemized on the vendor’s own pricing page | Dedicated pricing page redirects into Contentsquare’s general pricing; no standalone Hotjar tiers shown |
| Ownership/independence | Independent, bootstrapped since 2006, no VC funding | Acquired by Contentsquare Sept 2021, fully merged into Contentsquare Group 1 July 2025; no longer a standalone company |
| Free tier | Free plan with web analytics, instant heatmaps, conversion analytics, surveys; no session recordings | Basic/Free tier at $0/mo, up to 35 daily sessions including heatmaps and recordings (third-party estimate) |
| Testing tools | Unlimited A/B testing and error tracking bundled into the same product | Testing/analysis split into separate Contentsquare product lines post-merger |
| Scale claim | 449,000+ websites | 1,306,323 websites in 180+ countries |
| Client roster | Intuit, Sendible, WallMonkeys, Miller and Smith, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty | TomTom, Ryanair, Razorpay, HubSpot Academy, Matalan |
| Billing flexibility | Annual only on all paid tiers | Growth tier payable monthly at a higher rate, per third-party aggregators |
| Review base (Capterra) | 4.4/5, 86 reviews, 93% positive | 4.6/5, 543 reviews, a materially larger sample |
| Post-acquisition friction | None reported; independent company | Reviewers cite post-merger price increases and confusing tier changes |
| Team size | ~42 employees per Tracxn (June 2026), small independent team | ~114-200 depending on aggregator, inside a larger Contentsquare org |
Ratings & track record
| Metric | Crazy Egg | Hotjar |
|---|---|---|
| G2 rating (as reported) | 4.2/5 (127+ reviews) | 4.3/5 (review count unconfirmed) |
| Capterra rating | 4.4/5 (86 reviews, 93% positive) | 4.6/5 (543 reviews) |
| Founded | 2006 | 2014 |
| Ownership | Independent, bootstrapped | Acquired by Contentsquare (Sept 2021), fully merged into Contentsquare Group (1 July 2025) |
| Scale claim | 449,000+ websites | 1,306,323 websites in 180+ countries |
| Notable signal | Unchanged, independent ownership since founding in 2006 | Backed by Contentsquare’s larger combined R&D/engineering org post-merger |
Both vendors’ G2 review pages returned HTTP 403 on direct fetch, so the G2 figures above come from search-indexed snapshots rather than a first-hand confirmed screenshot, and both should be re-checked live before you rely on them. On Capterra, where both pages were fetched directly, Hotjar has a clear edge on both score and sample size: 543 reviews at 4.6/5 versus Crazy Egg’s 86 at 4.4/5. That gap tracks with Hotjar’s larger scale claim and wider country coverage, though Crazy Egg’s smaller sample still reflects a strong majority-positive sentiment (93% positive, 5% neutral, 2% negative, per Capterra’s breakdown; Capterra does not publish an equivalent breakdown on Hotjar’s page). For a wider view of the category, see our roundup of the best heatmap and session recording tools for SaaS .
Both tools’ data is sourced from publicly available information, verified against vendor pricing pages, vendor case-study pages, Capterra, and third-party company profiles on 7 August 2026. Direct G2 review-page fetches returned HTTP 403 for both vendors; the G2 ratings above come from search-indexed snapshots and should be re-checked live before relying on them. Hotjar’s pricing figures are third-party aggregator estimates, since its dedicated pricing page now redirects into Contentsquare’s general pricing with no Hotjar-specific tiers shown; verify live before relying on them. Team size and HQ figures are flagged where sources vary rather than resolved to a single number. This comparison is independent; we take no affiliate or referral fees from either vendor.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Crazy Egg and Hotjar?
Is Crazy Egg better than Hotjar?
Which is cheaper, Crazy Egg or Hotjar?
Does either tool have a free plan?
Which tool has the better review score?
Is Hotjar still an independent company?
Where can I find more options beyond Crazy Egg and Hotjar?
Sources and references
- Crazy Egg homepage (accessed August 2026)
- Crazy Egg pricing (accessed August 2026)
- G2: Crazy Egg reviews (accessed August 2026)
- Capterra: Crazy Egg reviews (accessed August 2026)
- Tracxn: Crazy Egg company profile (accessed August 2026)
- Crunchbase: Crazy Egg organization profile (accessed August 2026)
- Neil Patel: about page (co-founder confirmation) (accessed August 2026)
- Mixergy: Neil Patel interview on founding Crazy Egg (accessed August 2026)
- Crazy Egg: case studies (accessed August 2026)
- FeaturedCustomers: Crazy Egg vendor page (accessed August 2026)
- LinkedIn: Crazy Egg company page (accessed August 2026)
- Hotjar homepage (accessed August 2026)
- Hotjar pricing (redirects to Contentsquare) (accessed August 2026)
- G2: Hotjar reviews (accessed August 2026)
- Capterra: Hotjar reviews (accessed August 2026)
- Tracxn: Hotjar company profile (accessed August 2026)
- Growjo: Hotjar company profile (accessed August 2026)
- LinkedIn: Hotjar company page (accessed August 2026)
- Hotjar: customers page (accessed August 2026)
- Hotjar Help Center: merger into Contentsquare (billing and legal changes) (accessed August 2026)
- Contentsquare: press release, Contentsquare acquires Hotjar (accessed August 2026)
- CleverX: Hotjar pricing plans explained (2026) (accessed August 2026)
- UserCall: Hotjar pricing breakdown (accessed August 2026)
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