Hotjar
New Relic
| Feature | Hotjar | New Relic |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $32/mo | Free / from $0.3/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.4 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Best For | ux-designers, product-managers, marketers, conversion-optimizers | development-teams, sre-teams, startups, devops-engineers |
| Founded | 2014 | 2008 |
| Heatmaps | ✓ | ✗ |
| Session Recordings | ✓ | ✗ |
| Surveys | ✓ | ✗ |
| Feedback Widgets | ✓ | ✗ |
| Funnels | ✓ | ✗ |
| User Interviews | ✓ | ✗ |
| Dashboards | ✓ | ✗ |
| Apm | ✗ | ✓ |
| Infrastructure Monitoring | ✗ | ✓ |
| Log Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Browser Monitoring | ✗ | ✓ |
| Synthetics | ✗ | ✓ |
| Ai Assistant | ✗ | ✓ |
| Distributed Tracing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Error Tracking | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Hotjar Pros
- Heatmaps show exactly where users click
- Session recordings reveal UX issues
- Easy to install (one script tag)
- Surveys and feedback widgets included
✗ Hotjar Cons
- Can slow down site if not configured well
- Session recordings take time to review
- Limited to web — no mobile app analytics
✓ New Relic Pros
- Generous free tier with 100GB/month data ingest
- Full-stack observability in one platform
- Usage-based pricing is cost-effective for many teams
- Strong AI assistant (New Relic AI) for troubleshooting
✗ New Relic Cons
- Per-user pricing for full platform access
- Data retention limits on free tier
- Can be complex to set up comprehensively
The Verdict
Hotjar is built for ux designers and product managers, with a focus on heatmaps and session-recordings. New Relic targets development teams and sre teams and leads with apm and infrastructure-monitoring.
On pricing, New Relic is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $0.3/mo compared to $32/mo for Hotjar. That $31.7/mo difference adds up quickly for growing teams.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Feature-wise, New Relic offers broader built-in capabilities (8 features vs 7), while Hotjar takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.