# Alternatives to Microsoft Clarity

Free heatmaps and session recordings.

Microsoft Clarity ranks #9 of 10 in Web analytics, with an Alt Score of 59. It is free and available on the web. 11 of 12 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/microsoft-clarity/
Category: Web analytics

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Website and app owners, product managers, and marketers who want to understand how visitors actually use their site or app, without a paid analytics budget.
- **What you get**: Session recordings that replay real user visits, heatmaps showing where people click, scroll, and drag, and dashboards that surface AI-generated summaries and trends across sessions. It also includes rage-click and dead-click detection, and a mobile SDK for Android, iOS, Flutter, and React Native. It's free with no traffic limits and integrates with Google Analytics.
- **How it works**: You add a small JavaScript snippet to your site (or the mobile SDK to your app), and Clarity starts capturing anonymized session data and interaction events. Results appear in a web dashboard where you review heatmaps, watch recordings, and filter sessions by behavior, device, or custom criteria.

## Profile

- **License**: ?
- **Pricing model**: Free (verified 2026-07-11)
- **Starts at**: ?
- **Platforms**: Web
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-11)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [Umami](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/umami.md) | 93 | MIT | Web |
| 2 | [Plausible](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/plausible.md) | 89 | AGPL-3.0 | Web |
| 3 | [PostHog](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/posthog.md) | 89 | MIT | Web |
| 4 | [Pirsch](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/pirsch.md) | 85 | AGPL-3.0 | Web |
| 5 | [Matomo](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/matomo.md) | 81 | GPL-3.0 | Web |
| 6 | [Simple Analytics](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/simple-analytics.md) | 78 | Proprietary | Web |
| 7 | [Mixpanel](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/mixpanel.md) | 70 | Proprietary | Web |
| 8 | [Fathom](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/fathom.md) | 66 | Proprietary | Web |
| 9 | [Google Analytics](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/google-analytics.md) | 55 | Proprietary | Web |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| Web analytics checklist | Microsoft Clarity | Umami | Plausible | PostHog | Pirsch | Matomo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | OSS + paid hosting | OSS + paid hosting | OSS + paid hosting | OSS + paid hosting | OSS + paid hosting |
| Starts at | ? | ? | $9/month | ? | $6/month | €29/month |
| License | ? | MIT | AGPL-3.0 | MIT | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Platforms | Web | Web | Web | Web | Web | Web |
| Cookieless / no consent banner | No | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Partial |
| Self-hostable | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Script size | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? |
| Event tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Funnels | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Session replay | Yes | ? | No | Yes | ? | Partial |
| Data ownership / export | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| EU hosting option | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Real-time dashboard | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free tier limits | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| API access | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |

## Sources

Sources for Microsoft Clarity. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **Pricing model**: Free — <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/faq> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Clarity is a free service forever. You never encounter traffic limits or are compelled to upgrade to a paid version.”
- **Platforms**: Web — <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/faq> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Clarity is a user behavior analytics tool that helps you understand how users interact with your website.”
- **Status**: active — <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/faq> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Clarity processes more than 1 petabyte of data from over 100 million users per month. Also, there are no traffic limits on these sites.”
- **Cookieless / no consent banner**: No — <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/setup-and-installation/clarity-cookies> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Clarity's typical usage requires that non-essential cookies are set on your visitor's browser.”
- **Self-hostable**: No — <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/faq> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Your data is stored in the Microsoft Azure cloud service.”
- **Event tracking**: Yes — <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/faq> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “You can create new smart events completely code-free by navigating to Settings -> Smart events.”
- **Funnels**: Yes — <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/setup-and-installation/funnels> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Funnels are an ordered group of user actions, providing a clear view of user progression through each step of the flow.”
- **Session replay**: Yes — <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/session-recordings/recordings-overview> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “A session recording is a visual way to watch real user interactions on your site or app.”
- **Data ownership / export**: Partial — <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/setup-and-installation/clarity-data-export-api> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “The Microsoft Clarity Data Export API enables users to download their dashboard data programmatically, facilitating advanced data analysis, and system integration.”
- **EU hosting option**: Partial — <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/faq> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Clarity customers in the EU are contracting with Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited (MIOL), which has a special contract (SCCs) with Microsoft Corporation (in the United States) allowing cross-borde”
- **Real-time dashboard**: Partial — <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/faq> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Data is analyzed and ready to view in near real time, so you don't have to wait.”
- **Free tier limits**: Yes — <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/faq> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Clarity is a free service forever. You never encounter traffic limits or are compelled to upgrade to a paid version.”
- **API access**: Partial — <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/setup-and-installation/clarity-data-export-api> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Maximum of 10 API requests are allowed per project per day.”
- **Open source**: Partial — <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/faq> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “The code to capture this information is open source and available on GitHub.”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/