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Session replay and heatmaps · October 2026 Edition

Hotjar vs Fullstory

Five of fourteen models named Hotjar first on the direct prompt; two named Fullstory. Both were named by all fourteen models and Hotjar carries 62 labels and Fullstory 53, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Hotjar

accepted challenger

By Contentsquare, Paris, France, founded 2008. Named in nine categories this edition.

Fullstory

criticized challenger

Named in four categories this edition.

First-choice share16%9%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate23%42%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#3A position in a field of 10; printed, not drawn.
Labels6253A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Hotjar reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Microsoft Clarity vs Hotjar · Microsoft Clarity vs Fullstory · Hotjar vs PostHog

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the session replay and heatmaps page.

By framing

How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
HotjarFirst choices, of fourteen modelsFullstory
Direct521 against Hotjar · 7 against Fullstory
Paraphrase301 against Fullstory
Comparative421 against Fullstory
Budget-constrained002 against Hotjar · 2 against Fullstory
Scale-constrained13
Negative0111 against Hotjar · 11 against Fullstory
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.

Across every category in the October 2026 Edition, Hotjar and Fullstory were named in the same answer 134 times, of the 337 answers naming Hotjar and the 238 naming Fullstory. In those answers Fullstory took the first choice twenty-four times and Hotjar fourteen.

Every model, every framing

The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Hotjar and Fullstory stood in it.
ModelDirectParaphraseComparativeBudget-constrainedScale-constrainedNegative
Claude Haiku 4.5
GPT-5.4 mini
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Perplexity Sonar
Grok 4.1 Fast
Mistral Small
DeepSeek V4 Flash
Llama 4 Maverick
Qwen 3.7 Flash
Kimi K2
GLM 4.7 FlashX
MiniMax M2.5
GPT-6 Luna
Muse Glimmer 30B
Hotjar Fullstory first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Hotjar on the left and Fullstory on the right.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Hotjar and Fullstory stood in it.

Hotjar first, Fullstory an alternative

5 of 14 modelsFullstory was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
Grok 4.1 FastHotjar alternatives: LogRocket, Microsoft Clarity, Mouseflow
Mistral SmallHotjar, Lucky Orange alternatives: Fullstory, PostHog, UXCam
Qwen 3.7 FlashHotjar alternatives: LogRocket, Matomo
Kimi K2Hotjar alternatives: LogRocket, Mouseflow, Smartlook
GLM 4.7 FlashXHotjar alternatives: Crazy Egg, Fullstory, Microsoft Clarity, Mouseflow

Fullstory first, Hotjar an alternative

2 of 14 modelsHotjar was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
Perplexity SonarFullstory alternatives: Hotjar, LogRocket
Muse Glimmer 30BFullstory alternatives: Contentsquare, Heap, Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity, PostHog, VWO

Neither was the first choice, one was named

5 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.
Claude Haiku 4.5Mouseflow alternatives: Hotjar
DeepSeek V4 FlashPostHog alternatives: Hotjar, LogRocket, Microsoft Clarity, Mouseflow
Llama 4 MaverickSmartlook alternatives: Adobe Analytics, Fullstory
MiniMax M2.5Mixpanel alternatives: Fullstory, PostHog, UXCam
GPT-6 LunaPostHog alternatives: Fullstory, Hotjar

Neither was named

2 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.
GPT-5.4 miniContentsquare, Mouseflow alternatives: LogRocket
Gemini 3.5 FlashPendo alternatives: LogRocket, Mouseflow, PostHog

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Hotjar leads by six points.
Hotjar6%#2 of 10
Fullstory0%#10 of 10
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
Hotjar leads by seven points.
Hotjar16%#2 of 10
Fullstory9%#3 of 10
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
The order flips: Fullstory leads at enterprise.
Fullstory28%#1 of 12
Hotjar2%#9 of 12
The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Hotjar

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of seven in this category shown.

“Hotjar was merged into Contentsquare on 1 July 2025; ... By default Hotjar starts session recording as soon as the script loads, which means it can capture visitor activity before consent is given.” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · hard negative
“Tools to Avoid or Use with Extreme Caution... Hotjar: Most popular heatmap tool, but criticized for capturing more PII than expected” Grok 4.1 Fast · negative prompt · hard negative
“Collects more personal data than most teams realize; has faced significant legal challenges; default settings may not adequately mask PII” Kimi K2 · negative prompt · hard negative
“Pick heatmap-first tools like Hotjar or Clarity if you mainly want quick UX insights and broad behavior patterns.” Perplexity Sonar · comparative prompt · first choice
“Best for: Beginners and small-to-mid-sized teams doing user experience research ... Strength: Fastest setup, easiest to use” DeepSeek V4 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
“Very popular for UX research and product teams... Strong on heatmaps, recordings/session replay, surveys, and feedback” GPT-5.4 mini · comparative prompt · first choice

What the models said about Fullstory

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of six in this category shown.

“Captures enormous amounts of data; privacy and compliance concerns under GDPR/CCPA; may collect more data than teams can realistically act on” Kimi K2 · negative prompt · hard negative
“Skip FullStory/Quantum Metric: While excellent, these tools are generally priced for large enterprises” Qwen 3.7 Flash · direct prompt · hard negative
“If you need high-fidelity replay + search/queryable session intelligence and SOC2-grade compliance: FullStory.” Muse Glimmer 30B · direct prompt · first choice
“FullStory and PostHog mask all text by default ... the "mask by default" approach is significantly safer” Claude Haiku 4.5 · negative prompt · first choice
“Go with FullStory or Contentsquare for deep session replay and journey analytics.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · comparative prompt · first choice
Also compared

Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.