A heatmap tool is a software that provides color-coded visualizations of data, which shows where users click, scroll, or hover most frequently on a website’s page. These visualizations, based on user behavior and engagement, help website owners make data-driven decisions to improve their site’s user experience and enhance their conversion rates.
Heatmap tools help users in the following ways:
- Identify User Focus: Determine which areas of the website capture attention or go unnoticed by users to improve layout optimization and user experience.
- Enhance Navigation and Conversions: User journeys are followed to see whether users are able to navigate as desired or face navigation difficulties, which, when fixed, boosts conversion rates.
- Data-driven Design: By analyzing user behavior, informed decisions can be made about moving and modifying underperforming elements or CTAs.
- A/B Test Click Patterns: By pinpointing areas of improvement based on A/B validation, there is less reliance on expected user behavior patterns and more on actual trends.
Geekflare’s team has researched and listed the best heatmap tools based on data visualization, color-coded display, matrix-based visualization, and intuitive interpretation.
- 1. Hotjar – Best for All-in-One Conversion Optimization
- 2. Crazy Egg – Best for Scroll Depth Analysis
- 3. Microsoft Clarity – Best for Free Heatmaps
- 4. Mouseflow – Best for User Journey Visualization
- 5. Smartlook – Best for Small to Medium Business
- 6. Freshmarketer – Best for eCommerce Store
- 7. UXtweak – Best for UX Research
- 8. VWO – Best for A/B Testing and Insights
- 9. Lucky Orange – Best for Customer Support and Sales Optimization
- 10. Plerdy – Best for UX and SEO Optimization
- 11. Heatmap.com – Best for Revenue-based Heatmaps and Screen Recording
- 12. Inspectlet – Best for Session Recording and Error Identification
- 13. Glassbox – Best for Enterprise
- Show less
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1. Hotjar
Best for All-in-One Conversion Optimization
Hotjar’s robust heat maps help you see how users interact with your website. It assists you in observing what visitors do once they arrive at your web pages, allowing you to make front-end changes accordingly. The aim is to make each experience more engaging and interactive for your users.
Hotjar heatmaps color-code the website elements according to how they interact with the viewer. They assist website owners in identifying the specifics that have piqued visitors’ interest and help them understand the sections of the website that are less important to them.
The heatmap dataset improves the website via A/B testing, updating key content, reorganizing the web pages, and changing prominent buttons and links to improve the user experience. Companies like Adobe, Nintendo, Decathlon, Hubspot, Panasonic, and Microsoft, are among Hotjar’s clients.
Hotjar Pros
Demonstrates click maps to show where user experience can be improved.
Integrates data from scroll, motion, and click into engagement zones to simplify heatmap analysis.
Works across all types of devices, including laptops, tablets, and desktops.
Shows you where visitors navigate, click, and scroll so you can confidently remove obstacles and increase conversions.
Hotjar Cons
Customization features are limited compared to other heatmap tools.
Pricing plans are expensive for small businesses or startups on a tight budget.
Hotjar Pricing
Hotjar offers 4 types of business plans.
- Basic – Free
- Plus – $32/month
- Business – $80/month
- Scale – $171/month
All plan prices are based on annual billing.
2. Crazy Egg
Best for Scroll Depth Analysis
Crazy Egg is a website optimization tool that provides insights into visitor behavior on web pages. It generates five main reports to help understand and improve web design and user interaction.
The Heatmap report visualizes click data, highlighting areas of a webpage that receive the most attention. Brighter colors indicate more clicks, helping identify which elements attract users.
Crazy Egg’s Scrollmap report shows how far visitors scroll on a page, revealing the most viewed sections. This is crucial for determining the optimal placement of important elements like sign-up buttons and calls to action. The Overlay report provides a percentage breakdown of clicks on various webpage elements, helping to identify which calls-to-action are most effective.
The Confetti report by Crazy Egg shows click patterns based on different referral sources, search terms, and other parameters, providing a granular view of user interactions. The List report lists all clickable elements on a page and shows the number of clicks each element received, useful for detailed analysis of user behavior.
Crazy Egg’s tools help in conversion rate optimization and identifying usability issues, such as non-clickable elements that users attempt to click.
Crazy Egg Pros
Provides a purely numerical report of the number of clicks on webpage elements.
It shows colored dots that can be divided into segments based on variables such as OS, geography, etc.
Offers a distinctive and insightful view of how users interact with your websites.
Observes when and why navigational errors are faced by users for quicker solutions.
Crazy Egg Cons
Increases load times for some pages.
Doesn’t always capture all user activities in its analytics, which can limit insights.
Crazy Egg Pricing
Crazy Egg offers 3 different pricing plans and a free trial for all. The prices of the plans are below.
- Plus – $99/month
- Pro – $249/month
- Enterprise – $499/month
3. Microsoft Clarity
Best for Free Heatmaps
Microsoft Clarity is a free web analytics tool created by Microsoft to assist website owners in enhancing user experience. It is easy to set up and use, and provides insights into how real users interact with a website.
The tool offers several features, including heatmaps that visualize user clicks, scrolls, and areas of interest on website pages. These heatmaps help identify which elements users engage with and which are being ignored.
Microsoft Clarity provides session recordings, allowing users to watch real-time interactions on their website. This feature helps identify user behavior patterns, such as where users click, how they navigate, and where they encounter problems. Microsoft Clarity uses metrics such as dead clicks, rage clicks, and excessive scrolling to highlight potential issues and opportunities for improvement.
The platform offers insights into user frustrations and potential product bugs that may affect the user experience. Microsoft Clarity integrates seamlessly with Google Analytics, allowing users to combine Clarity’s data with Google Analytics reports for a more comprehensive analysis. This integration helps website owners locate pain points, detect issues with specific user groups, and improve overall website performance.
Microsoft Clarity Pros
Helps combine user behavior with trends to improve your website for retailers, content creators, etc.
Gets you a minimum bandwidth usage and negligible performance impact for your mobile app, with a simple code setup.
Enables you to create the ideal analytics stack to comprehend user behavior more fully.
Microsoft Clarity Cons
Doesn’t offer movement heatmaps, which is useful for understanding how users navigate through dynamic menu elements.
Restricted to up to 100,000 page views per heatmap, and they don’t capture screenshots of dynamic sections.
Microsoft Clarity Pricing
You can use Microsoft Clarity for Free.
4. Mouseflow
Best for User Journey Visualization
Mouseflow is a web analytics platform that specializes in analyzing and structuring complex user behavior data through advanced heatmap tools. It offers a comprehensive suite of 6 distinct heatmap tools: click, scroll, attention, movement, geo, and live. These tools provide detailed insights into user interactions on a website. The click heatmap shows where users click on a page, while the scroll heatmap reveals how far down users scroll.
The attention heatmap highlights which areas of a page attract the most user focus. The movement heatmap tracks user mouse movements, and the geo heatmap displays user locations. The live heatmap feature allows for real-time observation of user behavior.
Mouseflow’s platform includes various visualizations of user behavior data. One notable feature is the “friction score”, which assigns a score to each element on a webpage based on user interactions. Elements with the highest friction scores are those with the most user-level frustration, providing actionable insights for website optimization.
Mouseflow aims to offer more than traditional heatmaps by delivering a broad range of analytical tools to improve website performance for user satisfaction.
Mouseflow Pros
Captures all of your traffic by default, as opposed to competing services that simply sample a portion of it.
Examines user behavior (over a period of 3–12 months) without requiring human setup.
Easily shareable heatmaps and session recordings with stakeholders to give your recommendations a visual context.
Lets you analyze how long it takes users to interact with your CTAs to uncover intent beyond clicks.
Mouseflow Cons
Allows only 100 recording sessions per month in the free trial, and to unlock all features, users need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Has limited support for other third-party tools.
Mouseflow Pricing
Mouseflow offers 5 different subscription plans for their users – “Starter” ($31/month), “Growth” ($109/month), “Business” ($219/month), “Pro” ($399/month), and “Enterprise”. For the Enterprise package, users should contact the sales team to fetch a tailored quotation. The prices listed here are applicable when you pay yearly.
5. Smartlook
Best for Small to Medium Business
Smartlook is a web analytics and user behavior analysis platform that provides click, move, and scroll heatmaps for individual users and SMBs. These heatmaps help website owners understand user interactions and improve conversions. They visualize user engagement, allowing businesses to see where visitors click, how they navigate, and what sections they scroll through.
The platform provides historical data, which allows users to analyze trends over time. Smartlook offers detailed visitor segmentation, including types of visitors and device usage. Users can download and share reports easily, and the platform emphasizes user privacy.
Smartlook integrates with numerous popular platforms and tools. It supports connections with Intercom, Mixpanel, Zendesk, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Magento, PrestaShop, Shopify, and WordPress, among others. This broad integration capability helps businesses streamline their analytics processes and make data-driven decisions.
Smartlook Pros
Creates heatmaps with your existing data in a matter of minutes.
Saves data for a month, a year, or a specific data history period.
Observes actual user behavior on your website or mobile app, including clicks, taps, and scrolls.
Utilizes user behavior analytics by incorporating both quantitative and qualitative data.
Smartlook Cons
Has a poor data retention policy, wherein if you need to extend data retention, you’ll have to pay extra.
Customer support is slow to help.
Smartlook Pricing
In the paid plans category, users are given 2 options – “Pro Plan” and “Enterprise Plan”. For the Pro Plan, you’ll need to pay $55/month, while for Enterprise Plan, you’ll receive customized pricing according to your demand.
6. Freshmarketer
Best for eCommerce Store
Freshmarketer is a platform developed by Freshworks designed to enhance website optimization through advanced visual analytics. It offers innovative heatmap tools that visualize visitors’ clicks, scrolls, and taps. These heatmaps reveal which elements engage users and which might distract them, thereby providing a better understanding of user behavior.
Freshmarketer provides real-time data, allowing users to view interactions as they happen rather than waiting for data to be processed. This immediate feedback helps in making timely adjustments to website elements. The platform also features segmented heatmaps that allow users to analyze visitor behavior based on factors such as geography, traffic source, and device type. This segmentation offers valuable insights into audience preferences and helps tailor personalized experiences for different user groups.
The platform offers a comprehensive sales and marketing solution. It integrates sales, marketing, customer interactions, chat, and telephony functionalities. The tool leverages artificial intelligence to deliver advanced features for enhancing customer relationships and driving business growth.
Freshmarketer Pros
Gathers unsampled data in real-time to eliminate the need for aggregated insights in the future.
Closes deals quicker than traditional techniques, with the use of AI-powered insights.
Uses attribution reports to monitor which campaigns are generating more conversions.
Provides pre-built segments based on orders placed, added to cart, abandoned cart, and more by connecting to Shopify.
Freshmarketer Cons
Integrating Freshmarketer with other tools or platforms proves to be challenging.
Users have reported occasional bugs or glitches.
Customization options are limited.
Freshmarketer Pricing
Freshmarketer has 2 plans: Free Plan and Enterprise Plan at $15/Month. It also offers a 21-day free trial.
7. UXtweak
Best for UX Research
UXtweak is a comprehensive UX research platform designed to improve the usability of digital products. It offers a variety of tools for both prototype and production stages. One of its key features is the Session Recording tool, which includes heatmaps for detailed user interaction analysis.
The Session Recording tool allows users to track all interactions on their site. It can generate “Click or Tap Heatmaps” to visualize where users click or tap, “Move Heatmaps” to show cursor movements, and “Scroll Heatmaps” to display how far users scroll on a page.
UXtweak’s platform collects and indexes user interactions, making them searchable through the SmartSearch filter with over 40 different filters. This feature helps users focus on specific interactions like clicks, input changes, or visited URLs. Additional features of UXtweak include activity tracking, detailed user profiles, and page speed metrics.
Users can skip inactivity, take notes, adjust playback speed, and share recordings via a private URL. The platform integrates easily with Google Tag Manager through a simple three-click setup process.
UXtweak provides tools for heatmaps, activity tracking, and detailed statistical analysis to help discover hidden user behaviors. It also provides usability testing, Mobile App Usability Testing, Prototype Testing (similar to no code prototyping apps), Preference Testing, and Surveys.
UXtweak Pros
Gathers more information about user interactions than any other analytics program.
Lets you select from more than 40 filters, and combine them as required for specific insights.
Controls privacy by removing personal information or sensitive on-screen content.
Securely saves data in the AWS Cloud and complies with GDPR and CCPA regulations.
UXtweak Cons
Inconsistent feedback from testers makes ensuring reliable and accurate insights challenging.
No live-interview built-in features, resulting in using third-party tools.
UXtweak Pricing
In the free “Starter” plan, only 1 user is allowed. For the “Plus” and “Business” plan, users need to pay $59/month and $161/month respectively, when billed annually. The “Enterprise” plan is kept for custom-made pricing for varying business needs.
8. VWO
Best for A/B Testing and Insights
VWO provides Click Maps, which display real-time data on where visitors click. This helps identify key action points and eliminate distracting elements. Scroll Maps show how far users scroll on a page, ensuring important links and elements are not overlooked. Other tools include Click Area and Element Lists.
VWO Heatmaps are always active, providing real-time cross-platform tracking. These heatmaps are customizable, allowing users to add observations and takeaways. Data from heatmaps can be downloaded and shared.
VWO’s tools make it easier to identify strategic points for digital business improvement. The platform offers insightful visual representation of user interactions, helping website owners optimize their website based on user engagement and behavioral patterns.
VWO Pros
Supports 2-factor authentication at workspace level for better security.
Uses a load balancer, which is hosted on the Google Cloud Platform and spans 10 locations, from Japan to Brazil, for faster loading.
Narrows down recordings to identify struggles, filter by rage clicks, app crashes, and more.
Allows users to view behavior on elements like modal boxes, pages behind logins, and dynamic URLs.
VWO Cons
Fails in integrating with tools like Google Analytics.
Results in generating excessive code for relatively simple changes, unlike custom code crafted by a developer when used for creating tests.
VWO Pricing
The pricing varies based on the number of Monthly Tracked Users (MTU). For the minimum of 10,000 MTU, the Starter plan is Free, the Growth plan is available at $219/month, the Pro plan at $527/month, and the Enterprise plan is priced at $1,173/month. All prices are valid for annual billing.
9. Lucky Orange
Best for Customer Support and Sales Optimization
Lucky Orange offers dynamic analysis, element analysis, and segmentation through advanced heatmap technology. This platform is suitable for all business types, including agencies, e-commerce, and enterprises. Lucky Orange helps businesses generate more leads by optimizing form fields and call-to-action (CTA) locations. Key features include full tracking, effective fold analysis, shareable screenshots, and comparative segments.
The tool allows for visual customization and is compatible with various platforms. These features enable website owners to create personalized heatmaps tailored to their unique business needs.
With features like full tracking, effective fold, shareable screenshots, comparative segments, visual customization, and platform compatibility, Lucky Orange provides full liberty to website owners in building their personalized heatmap.
Lucky Orange Pros
Examines how visitors flow through the funnel, paying particular attention to drop-offs.
Presents general survey data, such as response rate, in conjunction with additional visitor input.
Checks if users are able to access the information they require from your website.
Gives an estimate of the field’s order and duration, and the most abandoned fields.
Lucky Orange Cons
Exporting data to Excel is cumbersome, and the software’s long loading time can be frustrating.
Lacks an intuitive user interface (UI) and user experience (UX), especially for those without technical expertise.
Lucky Orange Pricing
Lucky Orange has 4 different pricing models – “Build” ($32/month), “Grow” ($64/month), “Expand” ($144/month), and “Scale” ($600/month). It offers free trial and can store data up to 60 days. All prices listed are valid when billed annually.
10. Plerdy
Best for UX and SEO Optimization
Plerdy captures user interactions like clicks, hovers, and scrolls on websites. Plerdy’s tools are designed to boost conversion rates by providing data-driven insights to identify and eliminate website bottlenecks. These tools also help detect design flaws, enabling improvements to enhance user experience.
Plerdy’s heatmap tools include several key features: Website Click Heatmap, Hot Segments, Website Scroll Map, Mouse Hover Maps, Click Path Analysis, Selected Text Tracking, Cursor Position Map, and automatic synchronization of events with Google Analytics. These features allow users to comprehensively analyze how visitors interact with their website.
The platform offers its tools for free at a smaller scale, making it accessible to a wide range of users. Major companies like SoftServe, Subaru, Honda, Huggies, and Moyo trust Plerdy for their website optimization needs.
Plerdy Pros
Examines user behavior and website traffic flow visually, then utilizes data to inform decisions as you develop, test, and build successful websites.
Analyzes different user traffic types and notes which elements you click on most frequently for each group.
Effectively gathers data from several CMS and platforms, including Angular, Shopify, Magento, and WordPress.
Automatically provides comprehensive analytics data when you use your heatmapping filters.
Plerdy Cons
Occasional slow loading times when analyzing real-time data.
Data export options are limited to PDF and CSV formats.
Plerdy Pricing
Plerdy offers 3 pricing plans for larger requirements. These are Startup – $21/month, Scale – $42/month, and Thrive – $70/month. These prices are valid when you bill annually.
11. Heatmap.com
Best for Revenue-based Heatmaps and Screen Recording
Heatmap.com captures user interactions, including their location, browser, OS, and activities on web pages. This data is then uploaded to the cloud for instant reporting on the website owners’ devices. It is favored by bloggers, individuals, and small to medium-sized digital companies due to its attractive pricing models.
Installing heatmaps is straightforward, requiring only a minute to add a simple JavaScript code to the website. The asynchronous tag ensures it does not slow down the page. It is compatible with all browsers, Ajax navigation, and fixed elements and can handle rendering variations between users. The tag is also configurable for customization according to website owners’ needs.
Heatmap.com converts large amounts of data from user sessions recordings into small, understandable units. It then tracks them in real-time to enhance user experience and website performance. The platform utilizes Augmented Reality to display data directly on the pages, highlighting the most critical information. This feature makes it easier for users to analyze and act on the data.
Heatmap.com Pros
Provides unique filters such as Traffic Source, Average Order Value, Purchases, and many more.
Displays not only the drop off in users but also the drop in income down the page.
Enhances AOV and improves landing page performance to promote first-purchase profitability.
Heatmap.com Cons
Heatmaps provide visual representations of user interactions but don’t always capture the full context.
Heatmap.com Pricing
Heatmap.com has 3 different pricing plans and offers free trials for all.
- Starter – $89/month (Track revenue up to $50,000 per month)
- Grow – $129/month (Track revenue up to $250,000 per month)
- Scale – $249/month (Track revenue up to Above $1m /month)
12. Inspectlet
Best for Session Recording and Error Identification
Inspectlet tracks user interactions on websites, creating a detailed data set for analysis. A key feature of Inspectlet is its ability to record videos of visitor activity as they navigate and interact with the site. This visual data allows website owners to see exactly what users are doing and understand their responses in real-time.
Inspectlet offers powerful filtering capabilities and funnel analysis tools. These features enable website owners to examine specific user behaviors, such as viewing recordings of users who added items to their cart but did not complete the checkout process.
The conversion funnels in Inspectlet allow for the selection of a series of pages leading to a specific goal. By tracking users’ movements through these pages, website owners can pinpoint and address exact pain points in the user journey.
The insights gained from Inspectlet help businesses understand user behavior and mindset, allowing them to strategize more effectively. By analyzing how users interact with website content, businesses can tailor their offerings to better meet user needs.
Inspectlet Pros
Shows you how far down the pages of your website visitors are scrolling.
Allows you to display one version of your website to half of your visitors and the second version to the other.
Lets you view every network request sent out when performing a pageview, like a remote browser console.
Enables you to assess how well your form converts incoming visitors.
Inspectlet Cons
Shows delays in responses, with inquiries taking up to 3 weeks to receive a reply.
Session replay features aren’t as robust as desired, especially considering the platform’s price point.
Inspectlet Pricing
Inspectlet has 5 different pricing plans and provides a 30-day free trial. The pricing plans are valid when billed annually.
- Micro – $33/month
- Startup – $67/month
- Growth – $127/month
- Associate – $254/month
- Enterprise – $424/month
13. Glassbox
Best for Enterprise
Glassbox is a comprehensive customer intelligence platform that captures digital interactions. By utilizing Glassbox, businesses can design digital experiences that foster brand loyalty and revenue growth. The platform goes beyond surface-level satisfaction scores, offering deeper insights into customer sentiments and enabling quick resolution of technical issues.
Glassbox employs patented technology to automatically capture 100% of digital events, ensuring maximum insights. This allows the analysis of any session, page, user, or journey, providing a holistic view of customer behavior across the organization. The Glassbox Insights Assistant (GIA) surfaces relevant information quickly, expediting the understanding of customer actions.
The platform records every user interaction and technical event on websites or mobile apps. It delivers these interactions as video-like replays, making the optimization of digital experiences straightforward.
By combining extensive customer journey data with abundant contextual insights, Glassbox enables businesses to uncover the reasons behind every tap, click, and swipe. This insight helps understand customer sentiments, even when feedback surveys are ignored.
Glassbox Pros
Uses AI-prioritized enhancements to quickly identify and address friction points at any point in the customer experience.
Session recording provides in depth analysis and detailed understanding of the website.
Provides alerts for dead clicks, long page loads, and load errors.
Glassbox Cons
User interface is clunky, and lacks responsiveness and ease of use.
Lack of timely support when encountering technical issues.
Glassbox Pricing
Glassbox offers tailored pricing based on business needs.
Can I Use the Heatmap Tool for Website Visitor Analytics?
Yes, you can use a heatmap tool for website visitor analytics. Heatmap tools visualize click data, showing which parts of a webpage receive the most attention. This helps in understanding user behavior, identifying popular elements, and spotting usability issues.
Heatmaps are particularly useful for optimizing web page design. They reveal areas where users click the most, helping you place important elements like calls-to-action in high-traffic zones. Scroll maps, a type of heatmap, show how far visitors scroll on a page, which aids in determining the optimal length for landing pages and the best placement for key content.
For those seeking a Google Analytics alternative, heatmap tools offer a user-friendly way to gain insights into visitor behavior. They help bridge the gap between raw data and actionable design improvements, enhancing overall website performance and user experience.
What are the Different Types of Heatmaps Available?
There are 4 main types of heatmaps that you can track, and they are listed below.
- Click Tracking Heatmaps: A click heatmap shows you the specific areas on the website where a user has clicked their mouse button. It helps determine why your visitors are clicking on certain pages. For instance, you might notice that many of your visitors are clicking on the “Contact Us” link. It is likely because this is the only prominently visible link on your home page. You can then work on improving the visibility of other navigation links.
- Scroll Maps: Scroll heatmaps allow you to see how far your visitors scroll down on your website’s pages and how many people make it to the bottom or middle of your page. You learn where to place your most important content on the pages, such as the purchase button and a discount banner.
- Mouse Tracking Heatmaps: A mouse-tracking heatmap visualizes the user’s mouse movement and cursor hovering on a webpage. This heatmap works in collaboration with a user’s eye movements, showcasing where the user’s attention goes on a specific webpage. This will help you determine which areas of your website you need to redesign to draw the user’s attention.
- Attention Maps: An attention heatmap tracks which areas of your page have garnered the most attention and have been viewed the highest number of times. This type of heatmap takes into account the user’s screen size and device, along with the browser capability. It also considers how much the user has to scroll both vertically and horizontally to view a piece of information, thereby giving the website owner a better understanding of their website’s design flaws. However, it does not consider the user’s mouse movements or the cursor’s position.
Utilizing these different kinds of heatmaps, you’ll gain an improved understanding of your target audience and various audience segments. This will ensure that subsequent updates to the website’s user experience will target specific segments for actionable design.