Key Insights
🔍 Session replay tools reveal how users interact with your site, showing clicks, scrolls, and navigation paths.
Is your website intuitive enough? Where do your users look for certain information? Do they usually find it? Or do they tend to get lost? As a website owner you’ve probably asked yourself these questions a hundred times already. The good news is – using a session replay software can help you answer them all.
In this article, we will present and compare the best session replay tools on the market today.
What are session replay tools?
Session replay software, a.k.a. session recording software is a tool that produces a recreation of a user’s activity on your website. It allows you to watch your real users navigate your website. You see what they click, scroll, and if they eventually end up exactly where you want them to.
How does session replay work?
Session replay tools capture and recreate how users interact with your website. They track things like mouse movements, clicks, scrolling, and changes to the DOM (Document Object Model) using client-side tracking.
The data, including network events and console logs, is processed by session replay code and reconstructed through DOM playback to visually recreate the user’s experience.
These tools work best in combination with heatmaps, making it easier to understand user behavior and quickly identify issues for debugging. Check out our list of best heatmapping software to help you choose the right tool.
If you want to dive deeper into the process of session replay, check out our Basics of Session Recording guide.
Top 20 Session Replay Software:
- UXtweak
- Hotjar
- Smartlook
- Fullstory
- Crazy Egg
- Mouseflow
- VWO
- LogRocket
- Dynatrace
- Plerdy
- Lucky Orange
- cux.io
- Inspectlet
- Contentsquare
- Glassbox
- Fullview
- Lookback
- UXCam
- Browse AI
- Session Rewind
For each tool, we will provide a list of features and pricing.
1. UXtweak
A great session replay tool, which allows you to track a user’s interactions with your web page in a simple intuitive manner. The biggest advantage of the UXtweak session recording tool is its SmartSearch filters.
One of the challenges UXers face with session replays is that it’s extremely difficult and time-consuming to watch all the sessions and analyze a large number of visitors. UXtweak allows you to filter out sessions that are, for example: from the USA, browsing from mobile, clicking a specific button, etc.
Aside from session replay tool, UXtweak offers other features to improve your web’s UX and customer experience, as an all-in-one UX research tool. The customer support teams are also always happy to assist you with anything.
Features:
- Activity tracking
- SmartSearch (session recordings filtering) with over 40 filters
- Heatmap analysis with scroll depth and page speed metrics
- Detailed user profile
- You can skip inactivity, take notes, adjust playback speed or share the recording with a secret URL
- Easy 3-clicks implementation with Google Tag Manager
Pricing:
A free plan is available with no time limitations.
UXtweak offers a free plan for small projects. Basic plan starts at 113€/month. You can get a custom to fit your unique research needs.
2. Hotjar
One of the giants on the market, which makes this session replay platform quite pricey. Hotjar offers classical session replay tools that will help you identify issues on the spot. They have a pretty nice user interface, though analytics could be a little bit more advanced. Hotjar also allows you to voice record the testers and add notes at a specific time in the video, and offers also user feedback tools.
You can also share the video with other project stakeholders to get their feedback. The individual user sessions are then automatically converted into an srt file, which can be used for further analysis or as input for screencasting tools.
Features:
- Autoplay
- Voice recordings
- Filters
- Quick installation
- Heatmap analysis
Pricing:
A free plan is available.
Prices range from $39/month (max 100 user sessions) to $827/month, depending on the number of user sessions. A custom solutions is available upon request.
3. Smartlook
Smartlook helps with recording and analyzing your user’s behavior from a website or a mobile app. They offer advanced heatmap analytics and an always-on recording feature, which means they record every single user session on your web.
Smartlook is a great tool with advanced analytics, however, some of the users claim scroll recordings to be of low quality and not very informative, so keep that in mind. Another thing to keep in mind, relevant session recordings will need to be filtered out because of the always-on feature.
Features:
- Easy installation and nice UI
- Heatmap analysis
- Deep analytics with funnels
- Always-on recording
- Filters
Pricing:
A free plan is available.
Pro plan is €55 and for a custom solution, you need to contact them.
4. Fullstory
Fullstory is another great session recording tool to get to know your users better. Session replay is the only thing they offer, which means that analytics are quite deep towards this feature. However, you might wanna consider some other platforms if you want it to include such things as heatmap analysis, mouse movements path analysis etc.
Features:
- Advanced session replay analytics
- Indexing frustration signals: Rage Clicks, Error Clicks, Trashing Cursor
- All-users recording
- URL and event-based funnel setup
Pricing:
A free plan and a free trial are available.
Pricing is only available upon request. It starts around $300/month and goes higher, according to the number of session recordings and admin seats.
5. Crazy Egg
A user-friendly platform designed to help website owners optimize their UX and collect session replays. It shows all the actions visitors take on your site, just like the other session recording software. It has a pleasant UI, the analytics, however, are not so deep. Crazy Egg also does not offer a free plan, but they have an A/B testing tool you can use in addition to session replay.
Features:
- Heatmap analysis
- Tagging
- Filters
- Ability to save favourites
Pricing:
There is no free plan, but a free trial is available.
Paid plans range from $29/month to $249/month. An enterprise solution is available upon request.
6. Mouseflow
One of the oldies on the market. Designed primarily for marketing teams, Mouseflow is another great software for session replays and user behaviour research. The only disadvantage of Mouseflow is, that every page a visitor views is shown in a separate video file. So not only do you have video recordings for individual users, but also individual pageviews – this may be a little time-consuming to analyze.
Features:
- Filters and segments
- 6 types of heatmaps
- Funnels
- Heatmap analysis
- Easy installation
Pricing:
A free plan is available.
Paid plans range from $31/month to $399/month.
7. VWO
VWO is a little bit more pricey choice that allows you to follow visitors’ interactions with your website and gain more insights on user behavior. It captures everything including the bugs, errors and confusing moments on the way.
Some users claim VWO to not be very intuitive, so it might not the best choice for a beginner. Other than that it’s a great platform for getting insights on your UX.
Features:
- Custom tagging
- Filters
- Visitor segmentation
- You can add observations and time-stamps
Pricing:
A free plan is offered. Paid solution range from €330 – €1,329/month.
8. LogRocket
LogRocket’s modern session replay and monitoring technology provides engineering, product and marketing teams with in-depth insights to how a person interacts with their product and perspective on how to optimize each and every user session. LogRocket is simple to set up and use. They also provide a number of integrations that make it simple to use with existing software.
Features:
- Exclusion of sensitive data
- No performance impact
- Components/Shadow DOM
- Filters and search
Pricing:
A free plan is available.
Prices start at $99/month. The Professional Plan is $550/month.
9. Dynatrace
Dynatrace is an all-in-one platform with a session recording tool designed to ensure that your product works flawlessly. This platform combines user behaviour observability, consistent runtime application security, and advanced AIOps. It offers solutions to restructure and automate cloud processes, deliver software more quickly and securely, and optimize the digital experience of your product with the help of user behavior analysis.
Features:
- Issue Tracking
- Uptime Monitoring
- Dashboards and Visualizations
- API Monitoring
Pricing:
A free trial is offered.
Prices range from $11/ per month (a limited solution).
10. Plerdy
Plerdy is a useful session replay tool for monitoring and identifying oddities in user behavior on your website. Discover the precise user interaction that visitors have to go through in order to reach their destination (for example: searching for a specific service). The documented session replay data aids in website troubleshooting, improving UX design and conversion rate.
Features:
- Click Tracking
- Mouse Movement
- Frustration Tracking
- Monitoring
Pricing:
A free trial of Plerdy is available.
Prices range from $32/ month.
11. Lucky Orange
Lucky Orange is another great session replay tool. It can assist you in determining why your website receives traffic that does not result in sales or leads. A lot of websites around the world have relied on their conversion rate optimization tools to obtain insight into what visitors are doing on their webpage.
Features:
- Segmentation
- Dynamic Heatmaps
- Conversion Funnels
- Form Analytics
Pricing:
A free trial is available.
Prices range from $18/month – $128/month.
12. cux.io
Another tool that specializes in session recordings. By pre-analyzing experiences and identifying behavioral patterns, CUX enables you to convert frustrated users into happy users. They combine session replay with heatmaps and analytics tools for e-commerce and user behavior.
Features:
- Customer Data Analysis
- Goal-Oriented
- Target Analysis
- Heatmaps
Pricing:
A free trial is available.
Prices range from $79/ per month.
13. Inspectlet
Inspectlet is a website monitoring tool that tracks customer behavior using session recording. It’s a top rated tool that promises real-time site visit monitoring.
Features:
- Session Recording
- Real-time Analytics
- Error Logging
- Dynamic Heatmaps
Pricing:
Inspectlet offers many different options, including a completely free plan to try it out. The paid subscriptions range from $39 to $499 per month.
14. Contentsquare
Contentsquare empowers businesses to deliver digital experiences that customers will love.
Features:
- Session Recording
- Zone-Based Heatmaps
- Artificial Intelligence
- Customer Journey Analysis
Pricing:
Contentsquare does not provide a free trial for its services and the pricing is determined upon request.
15. Glassbox
The platform helps you optimize your online presence and automatically captures all interactions with your website or mobile app to gain powerful insights into your digital experience.
Features:
- Session Recording
- Native integrations
- Open API
Pricing:
Glassbox offers customized pricing plans upon request, but there is also a free demo available.
16. Fullview
With Fullview, you can promptly oversee, manage, and scrutinize user sessions to provide quicker real-time customer assistance and product analysis.
Features:
- Session Replays
- Troubleshooting
- Cobrowsing
Pricing:
Fullview offers three plans: a free plan, a Pro plan for $79 per month, and a customizable Enterprise plan upon request.
17. Lookback
Lookback claims to convert research skeptics into research champions and provide the best observation experience for your teammates.
Features:
- Session Recording
- Transcribing sessions
- Capturing screen touches
- Run mixed methods within the same project
Pricing:
Loockback offers four different plans for varying needs. The plans range from $25 to $344 per month, with a customized plan obtainable upon request. Additionally, there is a free trial available.
18. UXCam
UXCam provides mobile analytics to help you understand how users interact with your app. By using UXCam, you can enhance user engagement, boost conversions and improve overall app performance.
Features:
- Session Replay
- Heatmaps
- Smart Events
- Issue Analytics
Pricing:
There are three different plans available: a basic plan at no cost, a Growth plan and an Enterprise plan, both of which are available upon request. Additionally, you can try UXCam for free before making a purchase with.
19. Browse AI
With Browse AI, you can extract and track data from any website in a matter of minutes. You don’t require any coding expertise to train the robots, which interact with websites in a similar way to humans. This allows you to collect the most precise data with the least amount of effort.
Features:
- Session Recording
- Prebuilt robots available
- Extracting data
Pricing:
There are 5 plans available: a free basic plan and 3 paid plans ranging from $19 to $249 per month, each suitable for different needs. Additionally, there’s a Company plan available upon request. You can also try Browse AI’s free trial.
20. Session Rewind
Session Rewind is a tool that can optimize your web experience by recording videos of your behavior. You can access all your session recordings from the main dashboard and easily browse through them. You can also apply search filters to find specific sessions based on criteria such as location, user ID, and URLs.
Features:
- Session Recordings
- Heatmaps
- Issue Monitoring
- Plug and Playback
Pricing:
There are 7 pricing plans available: a free one and 6 others ranging from $14 to $499 per month, each with different functionality.
Why use session replay software?
Being one of the best user analysis tools, session replay software truly deserves the hype it gets. With the help of DOM (Document Object Model) and capturing everything that occurs in it, session replay tools offer you an exact reproduction of all the user interactions with your web, including clicks, scrolls, mouse movements, and any other dynamic changes.
It allows you to observe and understand user behavior in a way traditional analytics tools don’t and see first-hand all user events and any potential website bugs.
Here are some questions a session replay tool can answer for you, regarding your user behavior:
- How do users interact with your menu?
- Are the CTAs attractive enough?
- How long does it take for the website to load? Does everything work as it should?
- Does it take users too long to complete a certain action?
- How do users move around your page? Where do they get lost or confused?
- Are all the important elements easy to find?
- Are users clicking on static elements expecting them to be interactive?
- Where does users’ attention rise, and where does it drop?
These are some factors specific to session replay tools. On a more general side, we recommend choosing a tool that offers good support and a pricing model that fits your budget.
How to choose a session replay software?
When choosing the session replay software for your specific case, make sure that it will meet your technical needs, privacy standards, and business goals. Here are some key factors to consider:
- Compatibility: Supports frameworks like React, Angular, or Vue.js, and handles SPAs effectively.
- Ease of integration: Simple setup with minimal impact on site performance.
- Privacy and security: Compliance with GDPR/CCPA and features like data masking.
- Playback quality: Accurate tracking of user actions with detailed DOM playback.
- Performance impact: Lightweight and optimized to avoid slowing your site.
- Features: Includes heatmaps, session filtering, and segmentation tools.
These are some factors specific to session replay tools. On a more general side, we recommend choosing a tool that offers good support and a pricing model that fits your budget.
Are there any privacy concerns with session replay?
If you prioritize transparency and adhere to legal guidelines – there shouldn’t be.
Because session replay tools collect user interactions, those can often include sensitive data if not handled carefully. To stay compliant, you need to follow privacy regulations like GDPR in the EU or CCPA in the USA.
Make sure to inform users about data collection and its purpose and obtain their explicit consent. Clearly communicate your data policies, provide options for users to manage or reject tracking, and handle cookies responsibly.
When choosing the tool, ensure that it includes features like data masking to protect sensitive information, such as personal details or payment data
Session replay software is a game-changer
As you can see, there are a lot of platforms to choose from. So don’t hesitate and start the journey of improving your website right now with your favorite session replay tool. Everybody who uses session replay will tell you the same thing – it’s one of the most effective and insightful methods of user behavior analysis.
Be prepared! Implementing the results of session replay may lead to increased conversions and lowered abandonment rate!
If UXtweak caught your attention, try the free plan now and play around with the session recording tool, to see if it is the one for you.
Editor’s note: this post was originally published on May 21, 2021, and was updated on December 20, 2024 to stay relevant and comprehensive.
