Hotjar vs Crazy Egg: Which Heatmap Tool in 2026?
Pricing verified 2026-07-12
Last verified: July 2026. Prices are read off each vendor's official page and stamped with the date we checked them.
Hotjar and Crazy Egg are two of the longest-running heatmap tools on the market, and they look similar on paper — both offer heatmaps, session replay, surveys, and funnels. The real difference is in what each one does beyond observing: Crazy Egg includes client-side A/B testing; Hotjar does not. Meanwhile, Hotjar's survey and feedback tools run deeper than Crazy Egg's. Here's the head-to-head, with an honest note on where both fall short.
The 30-second answer
- Choose Hotjar if surveys and qualitative feedback are central to your workflow, and you don't need built-in A/B testing. Note that Hotjar is now part of Contentsquare.
- Choose Crazy Egg if you want heatmaps and simple client-side A/B testing in one tool, and you're fine without a free plan.
- Choose neither if you need server-side A/B testing or strong data portability — see the third option below.
Side by side
Prices verified against each vendor's official page on July 12, 2026. HeatMapX is included as a third option.
| Hotjar | Crazy Egg | HeatMapX | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $39/mo | $29/mo | $12/mo |
| Free tier | Free plan | None | Free plan |
| Session replay | Yes | Yes | No |
| A/B test (client) | No | Yes | Yes |
| A/B test (server) | No | No | Yes |
| Surveys | Yes | Yes | No |
| AI analysis | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| API openness score | 1 / 5 | 1 / 5 | 5 / 5 |
| CLI | Partial | No | Yes |
| MCP | Yes | No | Yes |
✓ = yes · ✗ = no · △ = partial · “—” = not yet verified by our team (not necessarily absent).
Starting price is the lowest published paid tier; some tiers assume annual billing — see each tool’s review for month-to-month rates, free trials, and details.
Sources: contentsquare.com/pricing/ (checked 2026-07-07) · heatmapx.com/en/blog/heatmap-abtest-data-portability (checked 2026-07-04) · www.crazyegg.com/pricing (checked 2026-07-07) · heatmapx.com/en/pricing (checked 2026-07-07) · heatmapx.com (checked 2026-07-07)
Where they differ
A/B testing. This is the biggest functional split. Crazy Egg includes a built-in visual A/B testing editor — client-side only, but it means you can test a change right where you spotted it in a heatmap. Hotjar has no A/B testing at all; you'd need a separate tool to run experiments.
Surveys and feedback. Hotjar's clearest advantage. Its survey builder, feedback widgets, and interview-recruitment tools are deeper and more flexible than what Crazy Egg offers. Crazy Egg has surveys, but they're lighter — if qualitative feedback is the reason you're buying, Hotjar is the stronger pick.
Price and free plan. Hotjar offers a permanent free tier (limited but useful for small sites). Crazy Egg has no free plan — only a 30-day trial, then paid from $29/mo annually. Hotjar's Growth plan starts at $39/mo annually ($49 month-to-month, verified Jul 2026). Both land in a similar price range once you're paying, but Hotjar's free tier gives it an edge for teams testing the waters.
Data portability. Both score 1/5 on our API-openness scale. Neither offers meaningful raw-data export or a developer-friendly API. If owning your data matters, this is a shared weakness.
AI and integrations. Both include AI-assisted insights. Hotjar offers an MCP server for AI-agent access; Crazy Egg does not. Neither has a full CLI — Hotjar's parent Contentsquare has a limited Flutter debug-symbol upload tool, but nothing for general platform access.
Ownership. Hotjar is now part of Contentsquare, which may affect long-term roadmap and pricing. Crazy Egg remains independent.
The shared gap: no server-side testing
Crazy Egg's A/B testing is client-side only — it rewrites the page in the browser after load. That's fine for copy and layout tweaks, but it can't handle server-rendered changes, feature flags, or backend experiments. And Hotjar has no testing at all. If you need server-side experimentation alongside your heatmaps, neither tool covers it.
That's the gap HeatMapX is built to close: heatmaps plus built-in A/B testing (client and server) and AI, at flat pricing (Free / $12 / $29 / $99, verified Jul 2026), with 5/5 API openness and a CLI and MCP server. The honest trade-off is that HeatMapX doesn't offer session replay or surveys — so if replay or feedback is your priority, Hotjar or Crazy Egg is the better fit. But if you want to test what your heatmaps reveal — including server-side changes — without wiring in a second tool, it's the third option worth weighing.
Which should you choose?
- Surveys and qualitative depth, with a free tier: Hotjar (now Contentsquare).
- Heatmaps plus simple client-side A/B testing: Crazy Egg.
- Heatmaps plus client and server A/B testing, with full API access: HeatMapX.
Frequently asked questions
Is Hotjar or Crazy Egg better?
Neither is universally better. Hotjar wins on surveys, feedback depth, and having a free plan. Crazy Egg wins on built-in A/B testing. Both score equally low on data portability.
Does Hotjar have A/B testing?
No. Hotjar does not include any A/B testing functionality. You'd need a separate experimentation tool alongside it.
Is Crazy Egg's A/B testing good enough?
For simple, visual, client-side changes — headline tweaks, button colors, layout shifts — it works well and keeps everything in one tool. For server-side experiments, feature flags, or anything that needs to run before the page renders, you'll outgrow it.
Can I use Hotjar and Crazy Egg together?
You could, but it's rarely worth it. The overlap in heatmaps and session replay means you're paying for the same data twice. A more practical pairing is one observation tool plus a dedicated testing tool.
Does either tool offer a developer API?
Both rate 1/5 on our API scale. Neither provides a meaningful way to export raw data or integrate programmatically. If API access matters, look elsewhere.
Bottom line
Hotjar for surveys and feedback, Crazy Egg for built-in A/B testing — that's the honest split. They overlap heavily on heatmaps and replay, so the deciding question is whether you'd rather ask users why (Hotjar) or test a fix directly (Crazy Egg). Just know that both lock down your data, and neither handles server-side experiments. If closing the loop from observation to experimentation — with full data portability — matters more than replay or surveys, a tool built for that workflow may be the better fit.