For years, my analytics stack looked like this: Google Analytics for traffic data, Hotjar for heatmaps and session recordings. Two tools. Two scripts on every page. Two bills. Two dashboards to check every morning.
Then I realized something obvious: there is no reason these should be separate products.
Hotjar is excellent at what it does. Their heatmaps are mature, their session recordings work well, and their surveys are genuinely useful for UX research. But Hotjar cannot tell you where your traffic comes from, which pages convert, or which marketing channels bring revenue. For that, you still need a separate analytics tool.
Zenovay combines both. Analytics, heatmaps, session replay, and revenue attribution in one platform for $20/month. Here is how they actually compare.
What Hotjar does well
Hotjar pioneered the heatmap category and it shows. Their click, scroll, and movement maps are polished. Session recordings are reliable. Rage click detection automatically surfaces frustrated users.
But the real differentiator is surveys and feedback widgets. If your primary job is UX research, collecting qualitative user feedback directly on your site, Hotjar has built specific tools for that. Inline feedback widgets, on-page surveys, and interview recruitment are features Zenovay does not have.
If qualitative UX research is your main workflow, Hotjar is purpose-built for it.
The cost problem
Here is where the math breaks down.
Hotjar Business starts at $80/month for 500 daily sessions. Scale is $171+/month. These prices are just for heatmaps, recordings, and surveys. You still need Google Analytics (free but complex) or another analytics tool alongside it.
So your real stack cost looks like:
| Tool | Purpose | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| GA4 | Traffic analytics | Free (but hours of setup) |
| Hotjar Business | Heatmaps + recordings | $80+/mo |
| Consent banner tool | GDPR compliance | $10-50/mo |
| Total | $90-130/mo + setup time |
Zenovay Pro includes analytics, heatmaps, session replay, and revenue attribution for $20/month. No separate analytics tool needed. No consent banner needed because it is cookieless.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Zenovay Pro ($20/mo) | Hotjar Business ($80/mo) |
|---|---|---|
| Web analytics | Full dashboard | Not available (need GA4) |
| Revenue attribution | Built in (Stripe) | Not available |
| Heatmaps | Click, scroll, movement | Click, scroll, movement |
| Session replay | Included | Included |
| Rage click detection | Yes | Yes |
| Surveys | Not available | Built in |
| Feedback widgets | Not available | Built in |
| GDPR compliance | EU-hosted, cookieless | US-owned (Contentsquare) |
| White-label | Scale plan | Not available |
The revenue attribution gap
This is the feature that made me switch.
Hotjar can show you that users are rage-clicking on your pricing page. That is useful. But it cannot tell you whether the people who came from your latest LinkedIn campaign spent more time on that page than organic visitors, or whether they converted to paying customers at a higher rate.
Zenovay connects to Stripe and maps revenue back to channels, campaigns, and individual pages. You do not just see behavior. You see which behavior leads to money.
When to choose Hotjar, when to choose Zenovay
Choose Hotjar if UX research is your primary job, you need built-in surveys and feedback widgets, your team only needs heatmaps and already has analytics covered, or qualitative user research is your main workflow.
Choose Zenovay if you want to replace both Hotjar and GA4 with one tool, revenue attribution matters to your business, you need EU hosting for GDPR compliance, or you would rather pay $20/month instead of $80+/month for heatmaps that also include full analytics.
You can install Zenovay in 2 minutes alongside Hotjar, compare the heatmap data, and then decide whether to drop Hotjar and GA4.
Disclosure: I built Zenovay. This comparison is honest. Hotjar surveys and feedback widgets are features we do not have. If those matter to you, Hotjar is the right tool. If you want analytics + heatmaps + attribution in one place, try Zenovay.
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