Free heatmaps and session recordings from Microsoft
Microsoft Clarity is a completely free behavioural analytics tool offering unlimited heatmaps, session recordings, and key user behaviour metrics including rage clicks, dead clicks, and excessive scrolling. It requires no credit card, has no data limits, and integrates natively with Google Analytics and Google Ads.
Microsoft Clarity is a strong fit if its core strengths match your workflow, budget, and support needs. Use the quick signals below before opening the full review.
Microsoft Clarity launched in 2020 as a completely free alternative to Hotjar and FullStory. Three years later, it has become the default heatmap tool for teams that need behavioural data without the budget for a paid subscription. The combination of no cost, no traffic limits, and Microsoft's infrastructure makes it one of the most straightforward tool decisions in the analytics category.
Clarity is entirely free. There are no tiers, no usage caps, no data limits, and no credit card required to sign up. Microsoft subsidises it as a business intelligence product — the aggregate, anonymised behavioural patterns across Clarity's 300,000+ users inform Microsoft's own advertising and product development work. Individual session data is not sold to third parties.
The competitive implication is direct: Hotjar's Plus plan at $32/month is the cheapest paid heatmap option with meaningful features. Clarity provides equivalent heatmap and session recording functionality at $0. For individual website owners, freelancers, and small agencies, this difference is decisive.
Clarity's heatmaps cover click maps, scroll maps, and area maps with the same quality as Hotjar's equivalent. Session recordings capture full user sessions with playback controls, session filtering by duration and engagement signals, and click highlighting. The interface is intuitive — a non-technical marketer can navigate from installation to first heatmap within an hour.
Clarity's standout feature is automated insight detection. Rather than requiring analysts to manually review heatmaps and identify patterns, Clarity's machine learning automatically surfaces anomalies: a page with a 40% rage-click rate, a checkout step with an unusual dead-click cluster, a page where 80% of mobile users scroll past the fold before the CTA. These automated insights reduce the analytical work required to extract value from session data.
Clarity has integrated Microsoft Copilot (Azure OpenAI) as a natural language interface for session data. Users can ask questions — "Show me sessions where users rage-clicked on the product page" or "What percentage of mobile visitors scrolled to the pricing section?" — and receive answers without navigating the filter UI. For non-technical stakeholders who need to pull data without learning the interface, this is a meaningful accessibility improvement.
Clarity integrates with Google Analytics 4 to overlay behavioural segments on GA reports. In GA4, a custom dimension populated by Clarity indicates which sessions included rage clicks, dead clicks, or excessive scrolling. This lets analysts filter GA4 reports to "sessions with rage clicks" and see what those users' traffic source, device, and page flow looked like. The integration makes Clarity the most natural complement to an existing GA4 implementation.
Clarity's support model reflects its pricing: there is no paid support tier, no SLA, and no dedicated account management. Documentation is comprehensive, and the community forum is active, but teams that need timely resolution of data discrepancies or integration issues are on their own. For enterprise-grade UX research programmes with compliance requirements, Hotjar Business or FullStory provide support structures that Clarity does not.
Data processing by Microsoft is a consideration for organisations with strict data governance requirements. All session data is processed on Microsoft's Azure infrastructure. While Microsoft's privacy commitments are comprehensive, organisations that cannot share web visitor data with any third-party processor — including cloud vendors — cannot use Clarity.
For any team that has been delaying heatmap implementation because of budget constraints, Clarity removes the obstacle entirely. It is the obvious starting point for heatmap and session recording capability, with a migration path to Hotjar or FullStory if advanced features or support are later required.
Score: 7.9/10 — Exceptional value-for-money (literally free); limited support and advanced segmentation compared to paid alternatives.
Free
Free billed annually
Microsoft Clarity is best for Small businesses and freelancers who want Hotjar-equivalent heatmaps without the subscription cost, Development teams wanting to add session recording to QA and bug reproduction workflows at zero incremental cost, Marketers using Google Analytics who want to add behavioural context without a separate tool budget.
Yes. Microsoft Clarity currently lists a free plan in ToolRankr data.
It has a free plan.
Microsoft Clarity is reviewed using ToolRankr's scoring model for ease of use, value, features, support, and overall quality. Affiliate links may earn a commission, but sponsored labels do not change editorial scoring.
Get major pricing, feature, and ranking changes for tools you care about.
