Hotjar vs PostHog

Side-by-side comparison of features, pricing, and ratings

Updated 2026-06-29

Reviewed by our team on 2026-05-12

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At a glance

Dimension	Hotjar	PostHog
Pricing	Free up to 200K sessions/month, then from $39/mo (Plus)	Free up to 1M events/month, then $0.00035/event
Best For	Marketers and UX researchers needing heatmaps and replays	Product engineers wanting full-stack analytics + feature flags
Key Differentiator	Heatmaps, attention maps, AI summaries via Sense AI	Open-source, SQL warehouse, feature flags, A/B testing
Integrations	10+ on free plan (Google Analytics, Slack, Jira, ChatGPT via MCP)	120+ (Stripe, Slack, GitHub, Snowflake, etc.)
Self-Host Option	No (SaaS only)	Yes (open-source, self-host available)
Latest News Impact	No recent news	AI-native hiring focus, internal AI model training

Choose PostHog if you're a product engineer who wants a unified platform for analytics, feature flags, experimentation, and a data warehouse with generous free tiers and self-hosting. Choose Hotjar if you're a marketer or UX researcher focused on visual behavior insights (heatmaps, replays) and prefer a simpler, AI-assisted interface without engineering complexity.

Try Hotjar Try PostHog

Hotjar

Heatmaps, session replays & AI insights to boost UX and conversions.

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PostHog

Open-source product OS with analytics, session replay, feature flags, and a data warehouse.

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Pricing

Freemium

Plans

$0/mo

$32/mo

$80/mo

$171/mo

$0/mo

Starts at $0/mo + usage

Popularity

4.8k views

4.7k views

Skill Level

Beginner-friendly

Intermediate

API Available

Platforms

WebAPI

WebAPIDesktop

Feature-by-feature

PostHog and Hotjar serve different primary audiences. PostHog is an all-in-one Product OS for engineers, offering product analytics (1M free events/month), session replay (5K free recordings), feature flags (1M requests/month), A/B testing via flags, a managed data warehouse with SQL editor, error tracking, surveys, AI observability, and 120+ integrations. Its open-source nature allows self-hosting, and its data warehouse enables custom SQL queries. Hotjar, now part of Contentsquare, focuses on visual behavior analytics: heatmaps (clicks, moves, scrolls, attention maps), session replays with AI summaries, funnels, surveys with AI reports, error and performance monitoring, and Sense AI for natural-language queries. Hotjar's free tier includes up to 200K sessions/month, and it integrates with Google Analytics, Slack, Jira, and ChatGPT/Claude/Copilot via MCP. PostHog lacks heatmaps and attention maps, while Hotjar lacks feature flags, A/B testing, and a data warehouse. PostHog’s latest news indicates an AI-native focus, but no new features replace Hotjar's heatmap strength. For deep product analytics and experimentation, PostHog wins; for quick visual understanding of user behavior, Hotjar excels.

Pricing compared

PostHog operates on a usage-based freemium model: free up to 1M events, 5K recordings, 1M flag requests, 1M warehouse rows per month, then $0.00035 per additional event. This scales for startups and data-heavy teams but can become expensive at high volume. Hotjar offers a free plan with 200K sessions/month (up from 35/day in old free plan), then paid plans start at $39/month (Plus) with more sessions and features. PostHog's free tier is more generous in raw numbers (1M events vs 200K sessions), but Hotjar's sessions include all heatmaps and replays for that session count. PostHog's enterprise costs depend on usage; no fixed premium tiers are publicly listed. Hotjar also has Business and Scale plans for higher limits. PostHog is better for teams that want to pay only for what they use and have engineering to manage usage, while Hotjar offers simpler per-month pricing for marketers with predictable costs. No recent pricing changes were noted in the news.

Who should pick which

Solo founder building a B2B SaaS
Pick: PostHog
PostHog provides free analytics, feature flags, A/B testing, and a data warehouse—all essential for iterating on product without separate tools.
Marketing manager optimizing landing page conversion
Pick: Hotjar
Hotjar's heatmaps and attention maps visually show where users click and scroll, plus AI summaries help quickly identify drop-offs.
UX researcher conducting usability studies
Pick: Hotjar
Session replays with AI summaries and funnels allow easy identification of user pain points without requiring SQL or custom events.
Product engineer needing feature flags and experiments
Pick: PostHog
PostHog has native feature flag management with built-in A/B testing, and integrates with GitHub, Sentry, and engineering tools.
Data team requiring custom SQL analytics
Pick: PostHog
PostHog's managed data warehouse and SQL editor allow direct querying of event data, plus data pipelines to Snowflake/BigQuery.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which tool offers session replay?

Both offer session replays. PostHog gives 5K free recordings/month; Hotjar gives recordings as part of its free 200K sessions/month (with AI summaries).

Can I self-host these tools?

Only PostHog is open-source and can be self-hosted. Hotjar is SaaS-only (part of Contentsquare).

Which is better for A/B testing?

PostHog includes A/B testing via feature flags (experiments). Hotjar does not have A/B testing.

How do integrations compare?

PostHog has 120+ integrations (Stripe, Slack, GitHub, Snowflake, etc.). Hotjar has 10+ on free (Google Analytics, Slack, Jira, ChatGPT via MCP).

Is there a free plan?

Both have free plans. PostHog: 1M events/month, 5K recordings, 1M flag requests, 1M warehouse rows. Hotjar: 200K sessions/month.

Which tool provides heatmaps?

Only Hotjar provides heatmaps (clicks, moves, scrolls, attention maps). PostHog does not have heatmaps.

Can I query data using SQL?

Yes, PostHog has a built-in SQL editor with BI visualization. Hotjar does not support SQL queries.

Which tool is better for non-technical teams?

Hotjar is more accessible for marketers and UX researchers with its visual UI and AI summaries. PostHog requires more technical setup and is best for engineers.

Explore each tool further