# Hotjar Problems & Issues 2026 - Not Recording & Price Hikes

Source: https://www.tryorbye.com/products/hotjar
Last analyzed: 2026-10-21
Try or Bye score: 52/100

## Verdict: Try with caution

Hotjar works for some teams, but users report recurring problems (score 52/100). Most reported issues: Over 800% price increase after acquisition; Website slows down by 500ms-1 second after install; Hotjar stops recording when the session limit is reached. Not a good fit for: High-traffic websites needing complete data; Performance-sensitive websites; Budget-conscious teams or startups. Users most often switch to Microsoft Clarity, FullStory, Lucky Orange.

## What it is

Website heatmaps, session recordings and on-site surveys, now sold as part of Contentsquare: hotjar.com/pricing redirects to contentsquare.com/pricing, and the old Observe/Ask plans are being replaced by separately billed Experience Analytics and Voice of Customer plans. Users still praise how easy it is to set up, but complain about pricing, capped or sampled recordings, migration and billing confusion, and the script's impact on page speed.

## Common errors & fixes

### Hotjar Not Recording Sessions

Hotjar usually stops recording because the tracking code is missing or blocked, targeting rules exclude the visit, or short and inactive sessions are discarded. Check the tracking code first, then targeting and the 30-second filter.

1. **Confirm the tracking code loads** — Open the live page, open browser developer tools > Network Filter by 'hotjar' and reload Look for a script whose name contains your Site ID; if it is missing, reinstall the code in the <head>
2. **Loosen session targeting** — Open Site settings > Session targeting & tracking Switch strict 'Exact match' URL rules to 'Contains' or track all pages Remove event triggers you no longer need
3. **Include short sessions** — In Site settings, turn off the option that ignores sessions shorter than 30 seconds
4. **Check your session allowance** — Open the traffic coverage widget in the top-right of Hotjar If the allowance is used up, wait for the reset or upgrade the session tier
5. **Rule out CSP and service incidents** — Check the browser console for 'Refused to load' or 'Refused to connect' errors mentioning hotjar Check status.hotjar.com for recording incidents

Full guide: https://www.tryorbye.com/products/hotjar/issues/not-recording

### Hotjar Tracking Code Not Installed or No Data Received

The 'Not installed' or 'No data received' status means Hotjar cannot see its script on your live site. Add the code to the <head> of every page, purge caches, disable ad blockers and run the installation check again.

1. **Reinstall the code in the <head>** — Copy the snippet from Sites > View tracking code Paste it directly into the <head> of every page (or your tag manager), not via a word processor Publish and purge your site and CDN cache
2. **Run the official verification** — Go to the Sites page and open the install section Choose the manual option and click verify; a new window reports 'Installation successful' or the problem
3. **Verify manually in developer tools** — Disable ad blockers Open the live page, Network tab, filter 'hotjar' and reload If no Hotjar requests appear, the code is not on that page
4. **Wait for the status to update** — The status can take around 10 minutes to change and data usually appears within about an hour

Full guide: https://www.tryorbye.com/products/hotjar/issues/tracking-code-not-installed

### Hotjar Heatmap Not Showing Data

Empty heatmaps usually mean the tracking code is not firing on that URL, targeting excludes the page, or there is too little traffic yet. Hotjar says data normally starts appearing within about 60 minutes.

1. **Check the code on that exact URL** — Open the page, developer tools > Network, filter 'hotjar' Confirm a script with your Site ID loads
2. **Fix the URL and targeting rules** — Compare the heatmap's page URL with the live URL (trailing slashes, query strings, subdomains) In Site settings > Session targeting & tracking, make sure the page is included
3. **Give it time and traffic** — Wait at least an hour after setup Low-traffic pages need more visits before the heatmap is useful
4. **Allow Hotjar through your site's protections** — Add Hotjar's domains and IPs to firewall or allow lists

Full guide: https://www.tryorbye.com/products/hotjar/issues/heatmap-not-showing-data

### Hotjar Recordings Blank or Missing CSS

Recordings that look unstyled or broken usually mean Hotjar cannot fetch your CSS, fonts or images. Allow *.hotjar.com and Hotjar's IPs to access those assets; fully blank playback is a rendering error support must investigate.

1. **Let Hotjar fetch your assets** — Allow *.hotjar.com and insights.hotjar.com to load your CSS, fonts and images Add Hotjar's IP addresses to any server allow list Make public stylesheets accessible without login
2. **Check the console while playing a recording** — Open developer tools on the recording player Look for 403 or CORS errors on your asset URLs and fix them on your server
3. **Accept iframe and video limits** — Iframes and embedded video controls show as black boxes; install Hotjar inside the iframe's own site if you control it
4. **Contact support for blank playback** — If the player never loads, send the recording link to Hotjar/Contentsquare support

Full guide: https://www.tryorbye.com/products/hotjar/issues/recordings-blank-or-broken

### Hotjar Survey Not Showing on Site

A survey that never appears usually has targeting rules that do not match, is not set to Active, has hit its response limit, or the tracking code is blocked. Test in a fresh private window without ad blockers.

1. **Confirm the survey is live** — Open the survey and check its status is Active Check that it has not reached its response limit on your plan
2. **Check targeting** — Review the page targeting rule against the real URL Check device and audience conditions
3. **Test like a new visitor** — Open a private window with extensions disabled Load the target page and wait for the trigger
4. **Check the status page** — status.hotjar.com has reported incidents where survey changes did not reach websites

Full guide: https://www.tryorbye.com/products/hotjar/issues/survey-not-showing

### Hotjar Content Security Policy (CSP) Errors

A Content Security Policy that does not list Hotjar's domains blocks its script or connections, so nothing is collected. Add *.hotjar.com and *.hotjar.io (including wss://*.hotjar.com) to the right CSP directives.

1. **Read the exact directive in the console** — Open developer tools > Console Note which directive is named (usually script-src or connect-src)
2. **Add Hotjar's domains** — Add https://*.hotjar.com and https://*.hotjar.io to script-src, img-src and connect-src Add wss://*.hotjar.com to connect-src Prefer a nonce or hash over 'unsafe-inline' for the inline snippet
3. **Check plugins and platform settings** — Security plugins or no-code platforms may hold their own allowed web request targets; add Hotjar there for each environment

Full guide: https://www.tryorbye.com/products/hotjar/issues/csp-errors

### Hotjar Heatmap Screenshot Wrong or Cut Off

Heatmap screenshots can be outdated, cut off, or missing pop-ups because Hotjar builds them from a recorded session's HTML. Use Update screenshot (Refresh or Take new) and avoid custom scroll containers.

1. **Update the screenshot** — Open the heatmap and choose Update screenshot Use Refresh to grab the latest recording, or Take new to pick the exact moment in a recording
2. **Fix click mapping on dynamic IDs** — Add the data-hj-ignore-attributes attribute to elements whose IDs change
3. **Make the page capturable** — Let the page scroll on the document element instead of a custom container Avoid unloading content once it is scrolled past

Full guide: https://www.tryorbye.com/products/hotjar/issues/heatmap-screenshot-wrong

### Hotjar Not Tracking Single Page App Page Changes

Hotjar normally detects URL changes in single page apps, but routes that use # fragments or change content without changing the URL are missed. Switch URL tracking to include fragments or trigger page changes manually.

1. **Include fragments** — Open Site settings and find the single page app / URL change setting Choose to track URL changes automatically including fragments
2. **Track page changes manually** — Choose manual tracking in Site settings From your router, notify Hotjar of each navigation using the manual page-change method documented for the @hotjar/browser npm package

Full guide: https://www.tryorbye.com/products/hotjar/issues/spa-page-changes-not-tracked

### Hotjar Not Capturing All Sessions (Session Limit Reached)

Hotjar only captures sessions up to your plan's allowance and samples traffic above it; once the allowance is used up, no new recordings or heatmap data arrive until the reset. On the free Contentsquare plan, replays cover only 5% of sessions.

1. **Check coverage** — Open the traffic coverage widget in the top-right of Hotjar to see your capture rate and coverage
2. **Spend sessions on pages that matter** — Use Session targeting & tracking to limit capture to key pages or events
3. **Raise the session tier** — Upgrade your Experience Analytics (Observe) session tier, or use Microsoft Clarity for full-volume recording

Full guide: https://www.tryorbye.com/products/hotjar/issues/session-limit-reached

## Common problems

- **Over 800% price increase after acquisition** (pricing): Long-time customers report Hotjar became 'shockingly greedy' under new ownership. One user reported a price increase of over 800%. The pricing structure shifted from affordable to 'penny-pinching every little feature' requiring hundreds of dollars a month for arbitrary limits.
- **Website slows down by 500ms-1 second after install** (performance): Hotjar's script adds 0.47MB to page weight and 829ms to load time. Users report sites loading 1.5-2.5 seconds normally but up to 4 seconds with Hotjar installed. It's one of the slowest among popular heatmap tools.
- **Hotjar stops recording when the session limit is reached** (reliability): Hotjar samples traffic above the plan's capture rate and, once the allowance is used up, collects no new recordings or heatmap data until the next reset. Legacy plans capped daily sessions (100 on Plus, 500 on Business); Contentsquare plans use monthly session tiers, so busy launches can exhaust a tier early and leave gaps.
- **Hotjar is now Contentsquare: separate bills for heatmaps and surveys** (pricing): hotjar.com/pricing now redirects to Contentsquare, where heatmaps/recordings (Experience Analytics) and surveys (Voice of Customer) are separate subscriptions starting at $49 and about $99/month when billed monthly. Teams that used one Hotjar plan for both now pay two bills, and reviewers on Capterra and G2 call the post-acquisition tiers unclear.
- **No human support - chatbots and gatekeeping** (support): After-care service is poor with no way to speak to a human, just a chatbot. Users describe serious gatekeeping, requiring multiple field entries in chat windows. AI chatbot required re-entering the same URL three times - very frustrating experience. 2.5-star Trustpilot rating largely stems from support issues.
- **Free plan only replays 5% of sessions** (pricing): The free Experience Analytics plan advertises up to 200k monthly sessions, but session replays capture only 5% of them (max 10k), data is kept for one month, and only one project is allowed. Teams that relied on the free plan for recordings get far fewer replays than the headline number suggests.
- **Session recordings miss key interactions and dynamic content** (usability): Session recordings can be incomplete, hard to filter, and miss key interactions. JavaScript obscures viewing of dynamic content, making it unclear what users are doing. Users get overwhelmed by not-relevant recordings where users just idle.
- **Heatmaps buggy between desktop and mobile views** (reliability): Heat maps are occasionally buggy especially when switching between desktop and mobile views. Some accounts constantly go on and off with alerts about tracking not being properly implemented. Doesn't work well with single page applications.
- **Conversion funnel tracking inaccurate** (reliability): Users report the conversion funnel tracking tool doesn't accurately report metrics. If a page has popup, modal, or overlay, that can be problematic for tracking. Users question the accuracy of the reports overall.
- **Hotjar to Contentsquare migration billing confusion** (support): Accounts are being moved from legacy Hotjar plans to Contentsquare tiers on a rolling, per-account basis through 2026. Reviewers describe changing billing entities, plan names (Basic/Plus/Business vs Free/Growth/Pro) and renewals that took weeks to sort out.
- **Removed cross-domain tracking - critical feature gone** (integrations): Hotjar recently removed cross-domain tracking, which was a great benefit for users tracking customers across multiple domains. This feature removal frustrated many multi-site businesses who relied on it.
- **Heatmap page height limited to 1500px** (usability): There's a limit on page height that can be captured at 1500px. Long scrolling pages don't get fully captured in heatmaps, limiting insights for modern long-form content pages and infinite scroll designs.
- **Only 3 heatmaps at a time on lower plans** (usability): On smaller Hotjar plans, the cap at creating only 3 heatmaps at a time feels restrictive. Users need to delete old heatmaps to create new ones, losing historical data in the process.
- **No refunds if you cancel on renewal day** (pricing): Older complaints describe being refused refunds when cancelling on the renewal day. Contentsquare's pricing page now offers a full refund within 30 days for new Growth accounts; after that, billing runs to the end of the cycle, so annual renewals are still a trap if missed.
- **Ad blockers break site functionality when Hotjar installed** (performance): Hotjar adds overhead to websites and ad blockers started making sites respond weirdly. Some users report their sites behave differently when visitors have ad blockers enabled because of Hotjar integration conflicts.

## What users like

- **Very easy to set up and use**: Hotjar excels at simplicity. Installing the tracking code and viewing heatmaps/recordings is straightforward. Non-technical users can get started quickly without developer help. The interface is intuitive.
- **Visual insights make user behavior tangible**: Seeing exactly where users click, scroll, and move their mouse is powerful for UX decisions. Heatmaps make abstract analytics data visual and actionable for stakeholders who don't understand numbers.
- **All-in-one behavior analytics suite**: Hotjar combines heatmaps, session recordings, surveys, and feedback widgets in one platform. Reduces need for multiple tools. The Ask and Engage products add user feedback capabilities beyond just analytics.
- **Solid integration ecosystem**: Integrates with Google Analytics, Slack, Jira, HubSpot, Zapier, and many other tools. Makes it easy to incorporate behavior data into existing workflows and share insights across teams.
- **Free plan available for testing**: The Basic free plan lets you try core features before committing. Good for small sites or testing if the tool fits your needs. No credit card required to start.
- **GDPR and privacy compliant**: Hotjar is fully GDPR and CCPA compliant. Respects Do Not Track settings, offers consent management and data masking tools. More privacy-oriented than some competitors like Clarity.

## Pricing

- **Experience Analytics Free**: $0 (free) — hidden costs: Replays only capture 5% of sessions (max 10k/month); no new heatmap or funnel data once the session limit is hit until the monthly reset
- **Experience Analytics Growth**: $49 (monthly) — hidden costs: Shown as $39/month with annual billing (20% off, card/PayPal only); price rises with each session tier; surveys are a separate Voice of Customer subscription
- **Experience Analytics Pro**: yearly — hidden costs: Custom quote via sales demo; third-party pricing trackers report negotiated Contentsquare contracts around $20k/year median
- **Voice of Customer Free**: $0 (free) — hidden costs: Responses older than one month are not accessible on the free plan
- **Voice of Customer Growth**: $79 (monthly) — hidden costs: 'From $79/month' is the entry tier; third-party trackers report about $99/month when billed monthly. Billed separately from Experience Analytics (10% bundle discount on the cheaper plan)

## Who should and shouldn't use it

- **High-traffic websites needing complete data** — Avoid: Session limits (35-500/day) mean you'll miss most visitor sessions. High-traffic sites need unlimited recording, which Hotjar doesn't offer at reasonable prices. Microsoft Clarity offers unlimited free.
- **Performance-sensitive websites** — Avoid: Hotjar adds 500ms-1 second to page load times. If Core Web Vitals and page speed are priorities, the performance hit may not be worth the insights. Consider lighter alternatives.
- **Budget-conscious teams or startups** — Avoid: Full functionality across Observe, Ask, and Engage can cost $300+/month. Microsoft Clarity offers free heatmaps and recordings. Mouseflow and Lucky Orange offer better value for smaller budgets.
- **Multi-domain businesses** — Avoid: Hotjar removed cross-domain tracking. If you need to track users across multiple domains, you'll need a different solution like FullStory or custom analytics.
- **Small websites with occasional analysis needs** — Good fit: The free plan works for small sites that just need occasional heatmap checks. 35 sessions/day is enough for low-traffic sites. Easy setup makes it good for quick insights.
- **UX teams needing visual stakeholder buy-in** — Good fit: Heatmaps and session recordings are excellent for showing stakeholders actual user behavior. Visual evidence is more persuasive than numbers for getting UX improvements approved.
- **Teams needing all-in-one behavior + feedback** — Depends: If you need heatmaps, recordings, AND surveys in one platform, Hotjar consolidates these. But the combined cost of all three products adds up fast. Evaluate if bundling saves money vs. separate tools.
- **Enterprise teams with large budgets** — Depends: Scale plan offers enterprise features (SSO, API, dedicated support), but FullStory and Contentsquare (Hotjar's parent) offer more advanced enterprise analytics. Depends on specific needs.

## Alternatives

- **Microsoft Clarity**: Users switch because Clarity is 100% free with no session limits. Offers heatmaps and session recordings without impacting budget. Trade-off: no surveys, only 30-day data retention, less privacy-focused.
- **FullStory**: Enterprise teams switch for deeper search capabilities, AI-powered insights, and autocapture technology. Better for complex products and dedicated analytics teams. Pricing starts at $2,000/year.
- **Lucky Orange**: Users switch for live chat and real-time visitor monitoring - capabilities Hotjar doesn't offer. Good for engaging visitors in the moment. Trade-off: only 60-day data retention vs Hotjar's 365 days.
- **Mouseflow**: Users switch for better form analytics, friction score automation, and more flexible pricing. Excels at funnel analysis. Better for e-commerce tracking checkout abandonment. Less performance impact than Hotjar.
- **Crazy Egg**: One of the original heatmap tools. Users switch for simpler pricing, A/B testing integration, and lower performance impact. Good for teams that want focused heatmap functionality without bloat.

## FAQ

### Does Hotjar slow down my website?

Yes. Testing shows Hotjar adds 500ms-1 second to page load times and 0.47MB to page weight. Users report sites loading 1.5-4 seconds slower with Hotjar installed. It's one of the slower heatmap tools. Consider Microsoft Clarity or Mouseflow if performance is critical.

### Is Hotjar free plan good enough?

For small sites, maybe. The free Contentsquare/Hotjar plan lists up to 200k monthly sessions with heatmaps, funnels and basic surveys, but replays capture only 5% of sessions (max 10k), data is kept for one month and you get one project. Microsoft Clarity records all sessions for free.

### Why is Hotjar so expensive now?

Hotjar was acquired by Contentsquare in 2021, and users report price increases of 800%+. The pricing split into three separate products (Observe, Ask, Engage) means you need multiple subscriptions for full functionality. Many users feel pricing became predatory after the acquisition.

### What are the best Hotjar alternatives?

Top alternatives: Microsoft Clarity (free, unlimited sessions), FullStory (enterprise, AI-powered), Mouseflow (form analytics, better pricing), Lucky Orange (live chat included), Crazy Egg (simple, A/B testing). Clarity is the most popular free alternative.

### Why do my Hotjar session recordings stop mid-day?

You have hit your plan's session allowance. Above the capture rate Hotjar samples traffic, and once the allowance is used up no new recordings or heatmap data are collected until the reset. Check the traffic coverage widget, raise your session tier, or narrow session targeting to the pages you care about.

### Is Hotjar worth it in 2026?

Depends on your needs. Hotjar is easy to use with solid all-in-one features, but pricing has increased dramatically, session limits are restrictive, and it impacts site performance. Microsoft Clarity offers free unlimited tracking. For most use cases, better alternatives exist.

### Why is Hotjar customer support so bad?

Hotjar relies heavily on chatbots with no live chat or phone support. Users report serious gatekeeping, having to re-enter information multiple times through AI chatbots. The 2.5-star Trustpilot rating largely stems from support frustrations. Enterprise customers get dedicated support.

### Can I cancel Hotjar and get a refund?

New Growth accounts can cancel within 30 days for a full refund, according to Contentsquare's pricing page. After that there is no refund and billing runs to the end of the current monthly or annual cycle, so cancel before your renewal date.

### Why are my Hotjar heatmaps not accurate?

Several factors affect accuracy: page height limited to 1500px (long pages get cut off), bugs when switching desktop/mobile views, issues with SPAs and dynamic content, popups/modals interfere with tracking. Conversion funnel tracking also reported as inaccurate.

### Microsoft Clarity vs Hotjar - which is better?

Clarity is better for: budget (free vs paid), session limits (unlimited vs capped), and pure analytics. Hotjar is better for: surveys/feedback (Clarity has none), data retention (365 days vs 30), and privacy compliance. Most analytics-only users should try Clarity first.

### Why did Hotjar remove cross-domain tracking?

Hotjar recently removed cross-domain tracking without clear explanation. This frustrated businesses tracking users across multiple domains. If you need cross-domain tracking, consider FullStory, Mouseflow, or custom analytics solutions instead.

### How many sessions does Hotjar actually record?

Plans advertise daily limits (35/100/500), but users report actual capture can be lower. One user paying $99/month for 500 sessions/day said it doesn't capture that many. Sampling kicks in on high-traffic sites. Don't expect to record every visitor.

### Is Hotjar GDPR compliant?

Yes. Hotjar is fully GDPR and CCPA compliant, respects Do Not Track browser settings, and offers consent management and data masking tools. It's more privacy-oriented than Microsoft Clarity. Good choice if privacy compliance is a priority.

### Why do I need separate Hotjar subscriptions for heatmaps and surveys?

Since the move to Contentsquare pricing, heatmaps and recordings are sold as Experience Analytics (from $49/month) and surveys as Voice of Customer (from $79/month), with Product Analytics on custom pricing. Subscribing to two paid Growth plans gives 10% off the cheaper one.

### Is Hotjar now Contentsquare?

Yes. Contentsquare acquired Hotjar in 2021 and hotjar.com/pricing now redirects to contentsquare.com/pricing. Hotjar's heatmaps, recordings and surveys are sold as Contentsquare Experience Analytics and Voice of Customer plans, and accounts are being migrated over gradually.

### Why is Hotjar not recording sessions?

The most common causes are a tracking code that is missing or blocked, session targeting rules that are too strict, sessions shorter than 30 seconds or with no interaction (discarded by default), a Content Security Policy blocking Hotjar, visitors using ad blockers, or a used-up session allowance. See our Hotjar not recording guide for step-by-step fixes.

### How long does Hotjar take to show data?

Hotjar says results usually start appearing within about 60 minutes of installing the tracking code, and the installation status can take around 10 minutes to update. If a heatmap still shows no data after a day, check the tracking code and your targeting rules.

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Try or Bye aggregates problem patterns from user reviews, forums, and app stores. Methodology: https://www.tryorbye.com/methodology