In short
Microsoft Clarity and Faintrail both replay visits to a website. Clarity is free with no traffic limits, adds heatmaps, AI summaries and mobile-app recording, and keeps recordings in Microsoft's Azure cloud for 30 days, with favourites and a random sample kept for up to 9 months. Faintrail suits small and mid-size businesses that want a say over the data: you choose whether visits are kept in the EU, the UK or the US, keep them for up to a year, and download up to 100 visits at a time as a plain-words text file for any AI assistant. Choose Clarity for heatmaps at no cost; choose Faintrail for control of the data.
Clarity and Faintrail side by side
| Faintrail | Microsoft Clarity | |
|---|---|---|
| What you see | Each visit replayed beside a plain-words log of pages, clicks and problems: rage clicks, unanswered clicks, unsent forms, errors | Recordings, heatmaps, dashboards and AI summaries; counts of rage clicks, dead clicks and quick backs |
| Mobile apps | No: websites only | Yes: Android, iOS, Flutter and React Native |
| Privacy defaults | Typed text is never recorded. Email addresses, phone and card numbers on the page are hidden. Pages you mark private aren't recorded at all | "Balanced" masking by default: numbers and email addresses hidden. What's typed into input boxes and drop-downs is hidden in every mode |
| Cookies and consent | Sets no cookies; in "record unless they say no" mode it keeps a visit number in the browser's storage, which privacy rules can treat like a cookie. You choose: wait for a yes, record unless they say no, or off | Sets cookies. Since 31 October 2025 it waits for consent from visitors in the EEA, UK and Switzerland |
| Where data is kept | Hosted by Faintrail on a server in the EU, the UK or the US: you choose | Microsoft Azure. EU customers contract with Microsoft Ireland. Clarity's FAQ: "Microsoft/Clarity has access to the data" |
| Sold or shared | Never sold or shared | "Clarity doesn't sell data" |
| How long it's kept | Replays 30 days and logs 90 days by default, up to a year if you choose | 30 days; favourites and a random sample of recordings up to 9 months |
| Taking visits with you | Download up to 100 visits as one text file | Specific recordings can't be downloaded. The data export API returns dashboard figures for the last 1 to 3 days, 10 requests a day |
| AI | Download visits as a file for the assistant you already use. Nothing is sent to an AI automatically | Copilot summaries and chat built in; an MCP server for AI tools |
| Price | Not set yet | Free, "no limits on traffic" |
| Set-up | One small script, pasted once into your site; settings chosen in Faintrail | One tracking code; ready-made set-up for WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Google Tag Manager and others |
Sources, checked 15 November 2026: Clarity FAQ; Clarity masking; Clarity consent mode; Clarity data export API; clarity.microsoft.com.
Why teams choose Faintrail
- You choose the country. Clarity keeps recordings in Microsoft's Azure cloud. With Faintrail you pick a server in the EU, the UK or the US when you set up, and your visitors' data is never sold or shared.
- The visits are yours to take. Clarity doesn't let you download specific recordings, and its export gives dashboard figures for the last three days at most. Faintrail lets you download the visits you filter, up to 100 at a time, as one text file you can read, keep or hand to an AI.
- Keep what's useful for as long as it's useful. Clarity keeps most recordings for 30 days. Faintrail keeps replays for 30 days and logs for 90 by default, up to a year if you choose, so you can compare this season with the last.
- Read a visit, not only watch it. Every visit in Faintrail comes with a log in plain words, written from what happened rather than summarised by an AI, so it says the same thing every time you open it.
When Clarity is the better choice
Choose Clarity if you want heatmaps, if you need to record a mobile app, or if paying nothing matters more than where the data lives. It has no traffic limits, an AI assistant built in, and ready-made set-up for most website builders. If 30 days of recordings is enough and Microsoft's cloud suits you, Faintrail won't add much.
Switching from Clarity
- Run both for a few weeks. They're separate scripts, so nothing goes dark while you compare.
- Update your privacy notice and cookie banner. Faintrail sets no cookies, but in "record unless they say no" mode it keeps a visit number in the browser's storage, which privacy rules can treat like a cookie, so your notice and banner may still need to cover it. Choose whether it waits for your banner's yes, and say so in your notice.
- Keep what you need from Clarity first. Recordings don't move to Faintrail, and Clarity can't download them. Favourite any you want to keep longer: Clarity holds favourites for up to 9 months.
- Remove Clarity's code when you're ready. Deleting a Clarity project deletes its data for good, so do it last.
Questions people ask
Is Microsoft Clarity safe to use?
Clarity is run by Microsoft, hides numbers and email addresses by default, and never shows what's typed into input boxes. What "safe" means depends on your visitors: the data is kept in Microsoft's Azure cloud, and Clarity's FAQ says "Microsoft/Clarity has access to the data". If you need to choose the country, Faintrail lets you pick the EU, the UK or the US.
Where does Microsoft Clarity store data?
In Microsoft's Azure cloud. Customers in the EU contract with Microsoft Ireland, which, Clarity's FAQ says, has an agreement with Microsoft Corporation in the US for transfers between them. Clarity's pages don't offer a choice of country.
How long does Microsoft Clarity keep data?
Recordings are kept for 30 days from the time they're recorded. Favourite recordings, and a random sample, are kept for up to 9 months. Faintrail keeps replays for 30 days and logs for 90 by default, up to a year if you choose.
Can I download or export Microsoft Clarity recordings?
Not one by one. Clarity's FAQ says you can't delete or download specific recordings. Its data export API gives dashboard figures, such as traffic, scroll depth and rage-click counts, for the last 1 to 3 days. Faintrail lets you download the visits themselves, up to 100 at a time, as one text file.
Is Faintrail free like Clarity?
Faintrail has no prices yet. Clarity is free with no traffic limits, and Faintrail won't try to beat that. Join the early list and you'll hear first when prices are set.
Can I use Clarity and Faintrail on the same site?
Yes. They're separate scripts, so you can keep Clarity's heatmaps and use Faintrail for the recordings you want to keep longer, in the region you choose.
