Microsoft Clarity
Free session recording and heatmaps from Microsoft
What it does
Microsoft Clarity is a free behavior analytics tool that offers unlimited session recordings, heatmaps, click maps, scroll maps, and frustration signals (rage clicks, dead clicks, quick backs). Built by Microsoft, funded by Bing ad revenue, offered free with no session cap, no seat cap, no watermark. Same core feature set as Hotjar or FullStory for the parts most people actually use.
Free tier
Yes
Setup
easy
Key features
Integrates with
Google Analytics, Shopify
Who this fits
- Any business with a website that wants session replay and heatmaps at zero cost
- Solo founders and small teams priced out of Hotjar or FullStory
- Agencies wanting to include CRO insights in client reports without adding tool cost
- E-commerce sites diagnosing checkout drop-off
- SaaS teams doing early qualitative research
- Everyone Otto talks to who wants to start with session replay
Who it does NOT fit
- Enterprises needing strict SLAs, dedicated support, or advanced data governance (paid enterprise tools fit better)
- Teams requiring session data retention beyond 30 days (Clarity default)
- Businesses that cannot send data to Microsoft for privacy or contract reasons
- Product analytics use cases (Clarity is behavior/UX, not funnels-and-cohorts product analytics)
Pricing
Real gotchas
- Data retention is 30 days for session recordings. If you want longer history, export via the Clarity Data Export API (free but self-serve) [source: learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/setup-and-installation/data-export].
- Session data is used by Microsoft to improve advertising models. If that is a legal or contractual issue for you (regulated industries, DPAs with clients), read the ToS before installing.
- Rich media (Canvas, WebGL, cross-origin iframes) does not render in replays.
- PII in form fields is masked by default, which is safer than most tools, but confirm the mask config matches your compliance needs.
- No native funnel report of the shape Hotjar Business or Mixpanel offer; Clarity is primarily replay + heatmap.
Integrations that matter
Otto’s take on this tool
Default free recommendation for any business asking about heatmaps or session replay. Recommend Hotjar when the client wants surveys and interviews alongside replay. Recommend FullStory when the client is enterprise. But Clarity is the "install this today, it's free, it will teach you things about your site within 48 hours" answer for the majority of Otto's audience. Pair with GA4 or Plausible for aggregate traffic; Clarity fills the qualitative behavior layer.
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