The Hotjar alternative that tells you what to fix.
Heatmaps and session replay, like Hotjar. Neo reads the sessions for you and names what to change first.
14 days free, no card. Runs next to Hotjar.
Which one fits you.
Pick Hotjar if
You want recordings, heatmaps and surveys in one account, and a free plan to start on.
- You ask visitors questions with surveys or a feedback button every week
- Your budget is zero and one month of data history is enough
- You expect to grow into an enterprise analytics platform
Pick GrainQL if
You want to ask why a number dropped and get the cause, with the recordings as proof.
- Nobody on your team has time to watch recordings
- You want the analyst included at $29, not on a higher plan
- You want a published price that does not change with session counts
What actually differs.
Three situations where the choice shows.
Who reads the recordings.
Checkout conversions fell on Monday. You have hundreds of new recordings and one free hour.
Hotjar
Hotjar's free plan in Contentsquare gives you the recordings and heatmaps. Sense Chat and AI summaries of recordings start on the paid Growth plan.
GrainQL
Neo is on every plan. Ask why checkout fell and Neo names the cause in about 3 seconds, with the recordings attached. One customer found 700+ form interactions and zero submissions in 4 minutes.
What your bill is made of.
You bought Hotjar as one tool with one price. Now you are working out what the same setup costs next year.
Hotjar
Hotjar is now sold as three Contentsquare products, each with its own plans. Recordings and heatmaps are one product, surveys are another, and both are sized by monthly volume.
GrainQL
GrainQL has one product and three published prices, from $29 to $299 a month. You pay by monthly visitors, with unlimited events per visitor and no overages.
How far a question goes.
Signups are down 20% this week. You do not know if it is the form, one traffic source or mobile visitors.
Hotjar
Hotjar's parent offers Sense Analyst, an agent that builds and runs an analysis plan. It is a lite beta on Growth and an add-on on the custom-priced Pro plan.
GrainQL
Neo runs a Deep Investigation on every plan. It compares segments, clusters sessions, analyzes the funnel and writes a report you share with a link.
Row by row.
Checked against Hotjar's own site in October 2026.
Finding the cause
Seeing the evidence
Hearing from visitors
Setup and plans
What it costs.
Contentsquare's free plan costs less than GrainQL, which has no free plan. It keeps one month of data and leaves out Sense Chat and AI summaries.
Hotjar
Hotjar is now sold as Contentsquare. The free plan covers 200,000 monthly sessions. Paid Experience Analytics starts from $49 a month, billed annually. Surveys are a separate product.
GrainQL
From $29 a month for 50,000 monthly visitors. Billed by visitors, with unlimited events per visitor. Every feature is on every plan.
See every planWhen Hotjar is the better pick.
Fair is fair.
You need to ask visitors directly.
Surveys, a feedback button and interview invites are part of the Hotjar toolset inside Contentsquare. GrainQL has none of them. If feedback is your main job, stay.
You need a free plan.
Contentsquare's free plan includes replays, heatmaps and funnels for 200,000 monthly sessions. GrainQL has a 14-day trial and then starts at $29 a month.
You are heading for enterprise scale.
Contentsquare has Pro and Enterprise plans, journey analysis and error monitoring. GrainQL is a younger product with fewer integrations and a smaller community.
Try both for two weeks.
The GrainQL script runs next to the Hotjar or Contentsquare tag. Nothing has to be removed. Run both for two weeks and compare what each one tells you.
- 1
Add the GrainQL tag.
Paste one script tag in the head, or add it in GTM. It takes about two minutes. Keep your surveys and feedback button running where they are.
- 2
Ask both the same question.
Take one real drop from this month. Work it out your usual way in Hotjar. Then ask Neo. Compare the answers and the time each took.
- 3
Decide before the trial ends.
If Neo found what you would have missed, move replay and heatmaps to GrainQL. If you mostly needed surveys, stay where you are.
Get the side-by-side test plan.
One page on running GrainQL next to Hotjar: what to install, what to compare, how to decide.
Questions.
Not for new accounts. Contentsquare acquired Hotjar in 2021 and has merged the two platforms. New users now sign up for Contentsquare, where the Hotjar tools live. Existing Hotjar users can still log in.
Try it next to Hotjar.
One script tag, two minutes. Ask Neo what to fix and check the recordings it attaches.