Microsoft Clarity Alternatives (2026): 10 Tools Compared

Microsoft Clarity is a free tool that records visits to your website and turns clicks and scrolling into heatmaps. If you're weighing it up against other options, perhaps because you want extra features, a different way of working or data kept somewhere else, there's a decent range of heatmap and session recording tools to compare.

This is a list of ten Microsoft Clarity alternatives in no particular order, sorted alphabetically. Some are well known and most are smaller or more specialised. I've drawn each description from the tool's own website, so check current details there before you decide. For a wider look at the category, see my roundup of heatmap tools for websites.

Microsoft Clarity alternatives at a glance

In the free plan column, Yes means the tool's own site describes a way to keep using it without a time limit. Trial only means a free trial but no ongoing free plan. Details change, so check before you start.

Tool	Type	Good for	Free plan
Crazy Egg	Heatmaps and testing	Heatmaps with A/B testing built in	Trial only
Inspectlet	Recordings and heatmaps	Recordings, heatmaps and form checks	Yes
Lucky Orange	Behaviour toolkit	Heatmaps, recordings and live visitor view	Trial only
Mixpanel	Product analytics	Event tracking with replay and heatmaps	Yes
Mouseflow	Behaviour analytics	Recordings, heatmaps and funnels	Yes
OpenReplay	Open-source replay	Self-hosted recordings you control	Yes
Plerdy	Conversion toolkit	Heatmaps, recordings and page tests	Trial only
PostHog	Product analytics	Replay, heatmaps and experiments together	Yes
Userback	Feedback tool	Visitor feedback with session replay	Yes
Zipy	Replay and errors	Recordings tied to site errors	Yes

Ten heatmap and session recording tools to weigh against Microsoft Clarity

Crazy Egg

Best for: Site owners who want heatmaps, recordings and simple page tests under one login.

Inspectlet

Best for: Small sites that want to watch visits and see where people stall inside forms.

Lucky Orange

Best for: Owners who like to watch visitors arrive in real time and talk to them.

Mixpanel

Best for: Software teams who want behaviour analytics and visual replay together.

Mouseflow

Best for: Online shops and lead sites that want to see where visitors drop out of a journey.

OpenReplay

Best for: Teams that want visitor recordings stored on their own servers for privacy reasons.

Plerdy

Best for: Marketers who want heatmaps plus SEO and conversion checks in one platform.

PostHog

Best for: Software teams who want analytics, recordings and experiments in one open platform.

Userback

Best for: Teams who want comments from visitors and the recording of what they did before.

Zipy

Best for: Small product teams who want to see the visit behind every bug report.

What to compare when choosing a heatmap and session recording tool

It's easy to compare feature lists and miss the things you'll feel every week. Here's what I'd write down first.

• Session limits. Many tools cap how many visits they record each month, so check the cap against your traffic.
• How long data is kept. Short storage can matter if you review pages once a quarter.
• Filters. Can you find recordings of people who reached checkout, or who clicked a button repeatedly?
• Speed. Ask how much the tracking code slows your pages.
• Masking. Check that typed text and form fields can be hidden from recordings.
• Team access. See whether colleagues or a freelancer can log in without extra setup.

Privacy and consent for session recording on your website

Recording visits means collecting data about people, so it needs thought. In the UK and EU you generally need a clear explanation in your privacy notice and, depending on the tool and how it sets cookies, consent before it runs. Mask forms, payment fields and anything personal. The US and other countries have their own rules. This isn't legal advice, so check the rules for your own situation. My explainer on visitor consent for analytics covers the same ground for a different tool.

Matching a session recording tool to your kind of website

• Online shops usually care about checkout, product pages and funnels.
• Service firms and consultants often need only a few pages watched, such as contact and booking pages.
• Software products tend to want recordings linked to events and errors.
• Privacy-minded organisations may prefer tools that can be hosted on their own servers.
• Agencies need several sites under one login and easy sharing with clients.

Getting more from heatmaps and visitor recordings once you've switched

Pick one page that matters, such as your enquiry or booking page, and watch a handful of recordings before you change anything. Look for hesitation, repeated clicks and pages where people stop scrolling. Write down what you notice, make one change and look again a few weeks later.

Heatmaps show where attention goes, and recordings show why it's lost. Used together with a few of the basics from my list of common design mistakes, they can point to simple fixes.

Setting up a heatmap tool without slowing your pages

Most tools ask you to paste one snippet of code into your site, either directly or through a plugin or tag manager. It's a quick job, but it's worth doing carefully.

1. Install it first on one important page, not the whole site.
2. Check your page speed before and after, so you can see any effect.
3. Switch on masking for forms and any account pages straight away.
4. Add a line to your privacy notice that explains what you record and why.
5. Decide who on your team may view recordings, and how long you'll keep them.

If something looks odd, such as recordings that don't load or heatmaps with no clicks, the cause is usually a blocked script or a consent banner that stops tracking until a visitor agrees. The help pages of most tools cover this.

Why a smaller session recording tool can be a good fit

Smaller tools often focus on a few jobs and respond quickly when you ask a question. You may get a simpler screen and fewer menus. Check when the product was last updated, read the help pages and try it on one site before rolling it out to all of them.

Do you make a heatmap or session recording tool? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.

A short checklist before you switch your heatmap tool

Choose two options that suit your site, install each on a page you know well and compare what you learn after a couple of weeks. Keep the one that helps you decide what to change next, not the one with the longest feature list.

Frequently asked questions

What is session recording?

It's software that captures how visitors move around a website, including clicks, scrolling and pauses, and plays it back like a short video. Sensitive fields can usually be masked.

What is a heatmap?

A heatmap uses colour to show where visitors click, move or scroll on a page. Warm areas get more attention. It's a quick way to see what people notice and what they miss.

Why would someone look for a Microsoft Clarity alternative?

Reasons vary: more filters, different integrations, other places to store data, extra features such as testing or live chat, or a different style of support. Start by listing what you'd use most.

Do I need visitor consent for session recording?

In many places you do, or at least a clear privacy notice. It depends on the tool, the cookies it sets and where your visitors live. This isn't legal advice, so check the rules for your own situation.

Will a recording tool slow my website?

Tracking code can add some load. Ask each vendor how the script loads, and check your page speed before and after you install it.