Microsoft Clarity is a free behavioural analytics tool that shows how people use your website or app through session recordings, heatmaps, funnels and AI summaries. Microsoft says it's free forever, with no traffic limits and no sampling, and you set it up by adding one tracking code to your site.
Where Google Analytics tells you how many people came and where from, Clarity shows you what they did once they arrived: where they clicked, how far they scrolled and where they gave up. For a small business trying to work out why a page isn't converting, that's usually the more useful view.
What Microsoft Clarity does
Microsoft's documentation lists these features:
- Session recordings that replay real visits to your site.
- Heatmaps, including click maps, scroll maps and area maps.
- Dashboard insights, plus funnels, smart events, filters and segments.
- Copilot AI summaries of what's happening in your data.
- AI Visibility, covering bot activity and AI citations.
- Ad campaign insights and benchmarks.
- Mobile app analytics for Android, iOS, Flutter and React Native.
- A Data Export API if you want the data elsewhere.
Microsoft Clarity at a glance
| Question | Microsoft's answer |
|---|---|
| Cost | Free forever, no traffic limits, no sampling, no limit on sites per account |
| How long data is kept | Up to 30 days from the time of recording |
| Where data is stored | Microsoft Azure |
| Consent needed | EEA, UK and Switzerland: explicit consent, passed to Clarity via its Consent API or a supported consent platform |
| Install | A tracking code in the head of your site; each site has its own code |
| Under 18s | Don't use it on sites or apps targeting them |
How to install Microsoft Clarity
- Sign up for Clarity and add your site as a project.
- Copy that project's tracking code and paste it into the head section of every page. Each site has its own code.
- Verify the installation in the Clarity dashboard.
- If you have visitors in the UK, EEA or Switzerland, connect the Consent API or your cookie banner's Clarity integration.
- Mask anything confidential in the dashboard settings.
- Come back after a few hours and look at your first recordings and heatmaps.
Microsoft says data takes a few hours to show, though insights can start within minutes of installation and you don't have to configure dashboards, goals or events first.
The catch: consent in the UK, EEA and Switzerland
This is the bit most setup guides leave out. Microsoft's FAQ says that in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, explicit consent is required before Clarity cookies are placed, and you must pass each visitor's consent status to Clarity through its Consent API or a supported consent management platform, such as CookieYes.
If you don't, Clarity still runs but with its best features weakened. Funnel tracking and full session replays are affected because sessions fragment: a visitor who views page A and then page B in one visit is counted as two separate sessions. Microsoft says using Clarity without consent doesn't breach its terms, it just reduces what you get. Each Clarity project or domain needs its own consent handling, and calling clarity('consent', false) revokes consent.
So if a lot of your traffic is British or European, a cookie banner that never talks to Clarity means your recordings stop at the first page, which is exactly where you wanted to see what happened next.
Privacy and data rules worth knowing
- Data is available for up to 30 days from the time of recording, so export or note anything you need to keep.
- To delete one specific user's data, Microsoft says you have to delete the entire project.
- By default Clarity suppresses your site's content, and you control what's sent. Block anything confidential with masking in the settings.
- Microsoft says Clarity doesn't sell data. It doesn't currently respond to Do-Not-Track browser signals, but it does support Global Privacy Control.
- Third-party cookie deprecation doesn't affect it, because Clarity relies on first-party cookies.
- Clarity shouldn't be used on websites or apps targeting users under 18.
Both come from the same company, and the Bing tools guide completes the pair.
Using Clarity with Google Analytics
Microsoft's advice is to finish the Clarity setup first, then follow its Google Analytics integration guide. Once connected, team members who can access Google Analytics can see the custom dimension Clarity uses. If you're still deciding how your tags and analytics fit together, my guide to Google Tag Manager vs Google Analytics explains which tool does what.
Two smaller details: projects can have unlimited team members and admins, though only 10 invites can be pending at once, and admins get a drop in traffic email when page views fall more than 50% compared with the previous week.
Want AI doing the heavy lifting in your marketing?
I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.
The quickest install route is covered in setting up Tag Manager.
My verdict
Install it. It's free, it's quick, and watching ten recordings of real visitors will teach you more about a weak page than a month of staring at bounce rates. Run it alongside GA4, not instead of it, and don't expect it to improve your SEO on its own: it shows you problems, you still have to fix them. If you have UK or European visitors, sort the consent signal on day one or you'll lose the features that make it worth having. And if it doesn't suit you, I've compared the main Microsoft Clarity alternatives here.
Frequently asked questions
Is Microsoft Clarity free?
Yes. Microsoft says Clarity is a free service forever, with no traffic limits, no obligation to upgrade, no limit on the number of sites and no sampling.
How long does Microsoft Clarity keep data?
Microsoft says data is available for up to 30 days from the time of recording, and it's stored in Microsoft Azure.
Do I need cookie consent for Microsoft Clarity in the UK?
Yes. Microsoft says explicit consent is required in the EEA, UK and Switzerland before Clarity cookies are placed, and you need to pass the consent status to Clarity via its Consent API or a supported consent platform.
What happens if I use Clarity without consent?
Microsoft says it doesn't breach the terms but reduces functionality. Sessions fragment, so a visit across two pages counts as two sessions, and funnels and full replays are affected.
Can Microsoft Clarity replace Google Analytics?
It does a different job. Clarity shows recordings and heatmaps of what visitors do, while Google Analytics measures traffic and conversions. Microsoft offers an integration so you can use both together.
