In short
The main session replay tools in 2026 are Hotjar (now part of Contentsquare), Microsoft Clarity, Fullstory, Mouseflow, LogRocket and Smartlook, which is closing in 2027. Clarity is free; Hotjar, Mouseflow, LogRocket and Fullstory have free plans with limits and paid plans above them. Most are hosted for you; LogRocket offers self-hosting on its Enterprise plan. Faintrail differs in three ways: you choose whether visitors' data is kept in the EU, the UK or the US, every visit comes with a plain-words log, and you can download visits as one text file for an AI assistant. It has no heatmaps yet.
At a glance
| Tool | Built for | Free plan | Paid from | AI | Where data is kept |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Faintrail | Owners and marketers who want to see why visitors leave, privately | No prices yet | No prices yet | Download visits as a text file for any AI assistant | Hosted; you choose the EU, the UK or the US |
| Hotjar (Contentsquare) | Heatmaps, recordings and surveys together | Replays of 5% of sessions (max 10,000), 1 month | $49 a month ($39 billed yearly) | Built in on paid plans; MCP | Ireland on Free and Growth; Europe or the US on Pro and Enterprise |
| Microsoft Clarity | Anyone who wants it free | Free, no traffic limits | — | Copilot built in; MCP | Microsoft Azure; most recordings 30 days, favourites and a sample up to 9 months |
| Fullstory | Product and digital teams | 30,000 sessions a month, 12 months, 10 users | Prices on request | StoryAI add-on | US, or an EU data centre chosen for the account |
| Mouseflow | Marketers wanting heatmaps and replays | 500 sessions a month, 1 month | 25 a month billed yearly (5,000 sessions) | Mina AI on paid plans; MCP on Premium | EU or US, set by where you're based |
| LogRocket | Software teams: errors and logs beside replays | 1,000 sessions a month | $83 a month billed yearly (10,000 sessions) | Galileo AI on Pro | US (per its privacy policy); self-hosted on Enterprise |
| Smartlook | Closing: data deleted 30 Sep 2027 | — | No new orders | — | Hosted |
Prices are as each company shows them; Mouseflow's page shows no currency. Sources, checked 15 November 2026: Contentsquare, Clarity FAQ, Fullstory, Mouseflow, LogRocket, LogRocket privacy policy, Contentsquare hosting, Fullstory data residency, Mouseflow storage, Cisco on Smartlook.
In a sentence each
- Hotjar is the all-rounder: heatmaps, recordings and surveys in one place, now sold as part of Contentsquare. Faintrail as a Hotjar alternative.
- Microsoft Clarity is free and unlimited, with heatmaps and an AI assistant built in; the data lives in Microsoft's cloud. Faintrail as a Clarity alternative.
- Fullstory is aimed at product and digital teams; it has a large free plan and doesn't publish its paid prices.
- Mouseflow offers heatmaps and replays at published prices, with an AI assistant on paid plans.
- LogRocket is aimed at software teams, with error and log tools beside replays.
- Smartlook is closing. What to do before it does.
One tool at a time
Each page puts one tool beside Faintrail: what you see, what's hidden, where data is kept, AI, how long recordings last and price, with the sources and the date they were checked.
- Hotjar vs Faintrail: heatmaps and surveys, or a written log and a choice of region.
- Contentsquare vs Faintrail: a full analytics suite, or one job done plainly.
- Microsoft Clarity vs Faintrail: free and unlimited, or your choice of region and a copy of your visits.
- Smartlook vs Faintrail: what carries over now Smartlook is closing.
- Fullstory vs Faintrail: a platform for product teams, or visits in plain words.
- Mouseflow vs Faintrail: heatmaps, funnels and surveys, or a written log of every visit.
- LogRocket vs Faintrail: a developer's tool, or one the whole team can read.
- Crazy Egg vs Faintrail: a testing kit kept in the USA, or recordings kept where you choose.
- Lucky Orange vs Faintrail: live chat and Shopify, or a written log and a choice of region.
- Inspectlet vs Faintrail: many tools at a published price, or recordings that collect less.
- PostHog vs Faintrail: a product toolkit, or session replay on its own.
- OpenReplay vs Faintrail: open source to run yourself, or hosted for you.
If you need to run it yourself
Some open-source tools can run on your own servers. PostHog's open-source self-hosted version is free under the MIT licence but officially unsupported, and OpenReplay can be deployed on your own servers. Both suit teams with developers to look after them. Faintrail is hosted for you, so nobody has to look after a server: someone adds a script once, and everyone else just opens visits. Running Faintrail on your own servers isn't available yet; if you need it, contact us.
How to choose
- What do you open most? Heatmaps point to Hotjar, Clarity or Mouseflow. Recordings and the reasons behind them point to Faintrail.
- Where may your visitors' data go? If you need to choose the country, Faintrail lets you pick the EU, the UK or the US. If it must never leave your own servers, look at a self-hosted tool.
- Who will use it? Owners and marketers need plain words; developers may want error tools like LogRocket's.
- Do you want an AI to help? Decide whether you want it built in, or a file you can give the assistant you already use.
Questions people ask
What is the best session replay tool for a small business?
It depends on what you need most. If price is everything, Microsoft Clarity is free. If you want heatmaps and surveys too, Hotjar or Mouseflow. If you want to choose where recordings are kept, with a plain-words log of each visit, Faintrail.
Which session replay tools can I host myself?
LogRocket offers self-hosting on its Enterprise plan, and PostHog's open-source version and OpenReplay can be self-hosted by teams with developers. Faintrail is hosted for you, in the EU, the UK or the US. Running it on your own servers isn't available yet; if you need it, contact us.
Which session replay tools have AI?
Clarity has Copilot, Hotjar has AI on Contentsquare's paid plans, Mouseflow has Mina AI, LogRocket has Galileo AI and Fullstory has StoryAI. Faintrail lets you download visits as a text file to give to the AI assistant you already use.
Is this comparison up to date?
It was checked on 15 November 2026 against each company's own pages, which are linked above. Prices and plans change, so check them before you decide.
