Chartbeat vs Microsoft Clarity
A source-aware comparison of pricing, documented capabilities and workflow fit.
Short answer
- Price: not directly comparable — Chartbeat is pricing not verified, Microsoft Clarity is free.
- How to start: Chartbeat is pricing not verified, Microsoft Clarity is free.
These lines are generated from the pricing we track, not from a paid placement. How we score tools.
What Chartbeat is
Chartbeat shows what is happening on your site right now, built for newsrooms deciding what to promote.
What Microsoft Clarity is
Microsoft Clarity is a free, user behavior analytics tool that helps you understand how people are interacting with your website. It provides heatmaps, session recordings, and powerful 'dead click' and 'rage click' detection to find UX friction points. Unlike Hotjar, Clarity is completely free with no traffic limits, making it an incredible value for websites of all sizes. It is lightweight and GDPR compliant, offering a powerful way to see your site through your users' eyes without spending a dime.
Side by side
| Chartbeat | Microsoft Clarity | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Marketing | Marketing |
| How to start | Not verifiednot a monthly price | Freeverified |
| Public API | not checked | No |
| Mobile app | not checked | No |
| Open source / self-hostable | not checked | No |
| SSO (SAML) | not checked | No |
| Visit | Chartbeat ↗ | Microsoft Clarity ↗ |
What Microsoft Clarity is built to do
- Session Recordings
- Watch real videos of user visits to see exactly where they get stuck or confused.
- Instant Heatmaps
- See where people are clicking and how far they are scrolling on every page.
- Rage Click Analysis
- Find and fix UI elements that are causing user frustration in real-time.
- Performance Insights
- Monitor page load times and their impact on user engagement directly.
Choose Chartbeat if
- Publishers making live decisions about content placement.
Choose Microsoft Clarity if
- Website Owners and UX Designers.
Evidence and freshness
Where a claim on this page comes from a vendor page, it is linked here.
Chartbeat
Sources have not been attached to this record yet.
Microsoft Clarity
Sources have not been attached to this record yet.
Chartbeat: pros & cons
- Real-time attention data, not just pageviews
- Built around editorial decisions
- Big-screen dashboards for newsrooms
- Priced for publishers
- Little value outside editorial contexts
- Historical analysis is not the focus
Microsoft Clarity: pros & cons
- 100% Free: No hidden fees or traffic limits, ever.
- Instant Setup: Start recording and generating heatmaps within minutes of installation.
- Rage Click Detection: Automatically highlights where users are getting frustrated.
- Google Analytics Link: Syncs your recordings directly with your GA data for deep context.
- Basic Surveys: Lacks the deep user feedback and survey tools found in Hotjar.
- Reporting Limits: Analytical filters are powerful but less customizable than pro tools.
- Data Retention: Historical data is kept for a limited time compared to paid competitors.
Our verdict on Chartbeat
Excellent for newsrooms and irrelevant for almost everyone else.
Our verdict on Microsoft Clarity
The best free 'Hotjar alternative' on the market with no compromises on power.