Hotjar

Hotjar is a software company that provides analytics and feedback tools designed to help website owners understand how users interact with their sites and improve user experience. It combines qualitative insights with behavioral analytics to inform design and product decisions.

Core features include heatmaps that visualize where users click, move, and scroll; session recordings of individual visits; conversion funnels and form analysis to identify drop-offs; and feedback tools such as polls, surveys, and a stream of incoming feedback. The platform also offers dashboards and filtering by device, location, and page to analyze patterns at scale.

Data collection and privacy: Hotjar gathers data about visitor behavior, often in aggregate and anonymized form. IP addresses can be anonymized, and users can configure retention settings. The service offers privacy controls and provides a data processing agreement; it supports compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy regimes, including consent mechanisms when required.

Usage and integration: Hotjar is used by product, marketing, and UX teams to validate hypotheses, prioritize improvements, and monitor changes after updates. It integrates with other analytics, tag managers, and customer feedback tools, and data can be exported for further analysis.

History and scope: Hotjar was founded in 2014 by David Darmanin and has grown into a widely used tool for website optimization, serving a global customer base across various industries. The company emphasizes a user-centric approach to product development and UX research.