The short version
Hotjar and Orwel answer different questions. Hotjar shows you what a visit looked like: where people clicked, how far they scrolled, a replay of the session. Orwel tells you what happened in numbers: which form field people abandoned, which funnel step lost them and which of the people who converted are worth a call.
If you want to see a page through a visitor's eyes, Hotjar is the right tool and Orwel is not a replacement. If you want the same answer for every visitor without watching sessions one by one, Orwel is worth a look.
Hotjar is now part of Contentsquare
Last checked October 21, 2026. The Hotjar website now redirects to Contentsquare, and its page says "Hotjar is now part of Contentsquare" and that "it's no longer possible to create a new account on Hotjar." Existing users keep logging in, and new users are sent to Contentsquare's free plan. Hotjar's pricing page redirects to the Contentsquare pricing page, so the plans below are Contentsquare's.
That page describes Hotjar's tools as heatmaps ("see where users click, hover, and scroll"), recordings ("replay real user sessions"), surveys and a newer funnels feature to "visualise drop-off at every step of your key flows."
Contentsquare pricing
For Experience Analytics, the Contentsquare pricing page lists:
| Plan | Price | Sessions per month | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 USD | Up to 200K | Replays on 5% of sessions (max 10K), heatmaps, funnels, basic surveys, 1 project |
| Growth | 49 USD per month, or 39 USD per month billed yearly | Tiers by session volume | Replays on 15% of sessions, zone-based heatmaps, surveys, 3 projects |
| Pro | Custom, through a demo | 1M and up | Up to 100% of sessions captured, form analysis |
| Enterprise | Custom, through a demo | 1M and up | Unlimited projects |
Surveys (Voice of Customer) have their own pricing: a free plan with 100 responses per month, and Growth starting at 79 USD per month. Form analysis appears only on Pro and Enterprise. The free plan also includes an MCP connection limited to 300 tool calls per month.
What Orwel does instead
Orwel is an event analytics SDK for startups, developers and vibe coders. It does not record sessions. It turns behaviour into events you can count.
Field level form tracking
Call orwel.form(el) on a form and the SDK can track field focus, input and change, each submit attempt, success or error, and abandonment when someone leaves without submitting. You see which field loses people across every visitor, not in one replay at a time. Autocapture also covers page views, clicks, scroll and JavaScript errors.
Funnels with steps in any order
A journey is a set of milestones that ends in a conversion, for example "viewed pricing, started signup, created workspace, paid." Each milestone counts whenever it happens in the period, so people who take a different route still count. The report shows reach and drop-off at every step. See conversion funnels.
Leads with context
When someone submits a form or signs in, Orwel ties their history to them. Each lead gets a score from 0 to 100, intent signals based on behaviour (such as comparing options or ready to act) and the full session history. Leads can be sent to HubSpot or your inbox. See lead scoring.
Feature adoption and ad attribution
For products, Orwel shows which features people actually use. For marketing, it keeps UTMs and ad click IDs and shows cost per qualified lead for Google Ads and Meta Ads.
Hotjar vs Orwel
| Hotjar (Contentsquare) | Orwel | |
|---|---|---|
| Heatmaps | Yes | No |
| Session replay | Yes, on a share of sessions by plan | No |
| Surveys | Yes | No |
| Funnels | Yes | Journeys with steps in any order |
| Form analysis | Pro and Enterprise | Field level events on the Pro plan |
| Lead score and intent signals | Not listed | Yes |
| Feature adoption | Not listed | Yes |
| Ad cost per qualified lead | Not listed | Google Ads and Meta Ads |
| MCP | Free plan, 300 tool calls per month | MCP server included |
| Pricing | Free plan, Growth from 39 USD per month billed yearly, custom above | 49 USD per month dropping to 35 USD, or 420 USD per year |
| Free option | Free plan | 14-day trial with card |
"Not listed" means we did not find it on the Contentsquare pages we checked.
When to choose Hotjar
- You want to watch real sessions to understand confusing pages.
- Your designers rely on heatmaps for layout decisions.
- You want on-page surveys.
- A free plan covers your traffic.
When to choose Orwel
- You want to know which form field or funnel step loses people, across all visitors.
- You need scored leads with their history, sent to your CRM.
- You want feature adoption and cost per qualified lead in the same tool.
- You prefer one flat price. See Orwel pricing.
The two can also run together: Hotjar for qualitative replay, Orwel for funnels and leads.