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Jakob Nielsen, hailed as the king of usability, once wrote in one of his classic articles, ‘Pay attention to what users do, not what they say.’
This advice remains as vital today as ever, with more businesses realizing its importance. Why? Because actions speak louder than words, revealing what users truly need and where they struggle.
One of the best ways to observe these actions is through session recordings. These tools have become indispensable for businesses, offering a direct window into user behavior on a website.
But with so many vendors vying for your attention, how do you choose the right one? What features should you look for?
In this blog, we break it down for you, sharing key insights and top options to consider.
Shortlist of top session recording tools
- VWO Insights
- Mouseflow
- Hotjar
- Lucky Orange
- Microsoft Clarity
- Crazy Egg
- Glassbox
- Fullstory
- Contentsquare
9 best session recording and replay tools
1. VWO Insights
VWO Insights – Web is a suite of user behavior analytics tools that is part of VWO Experience Optimization Platform. It helps businesses analyze how visitors behave on their websites through session recordings, heatmaps, funnels, form analytics, and surveys.
Watch struggle events
With VWO Session Recordings, you can not only track how users navigate through your website but also see their interactions event-by-event in the record player. Two key struggle events to monitor are:
Rage clicks: These occur when users click on an element which is non-responsive or not functioning as expected. For example, if the visitor clicks a button that will add a particular item to their cart, but it doesn’t respond to clicks, they might just continue clicking out of frustration.
Dead clicks: These are clicks on elements that look clickable but are ultimately non-clickable. For example, a “Read More” button may appear to be interactive, inviting users to click, but when clicked, it does not yield any results.
Tracking these clicks helps you identify what most seems to confuse or mislead users and where they may struggle to complete an action. You can observe rage or dead clicks while playing back a user’s session in VWO.
Set custom filters
Custom filters are another feature that make this tool stand out. For instance, if you want to watch session recordings of users dropping off at a particular funnel stage, you can view it by setting a funnel drop-off filter. Similarly you can segregate recordings based on filters like A/B test variation, session, and page.
When it comes to flexibility, VWO stands out by offering seamless control over data collection like no other tool.
Flexibility in data collection
Dynamic sampling randomly selects visitors based on website traffic to preserve data quota throughout the month, ideal for standard usage. However, for more control, flexible sampling lets users track up to 100% of visitors or set custom percentages, applying rules to specific pages, user segments, or a combination of both. This is perfect for peak events like sales, where tracking all visitors is crucial for deeper insights.
Schedule recordings
You can schedule the recording to run or stop at specific times to track activities of particular visitor segments.
Save recordings
Further, you can save, download, and share recordings for easy future analysis within your team.
Key features
Session recordings: Observe where visitors click, scroll, and pause to identify any kind of friction of your website. Session events show scrolls, rage clicks, dead clicks, page views, and errors occurring on a webpage during user interaction.
Heatmaps: Identify high and low engagement areas through different types of heatmaps like scrollmaps, friction maps, dynamic heatmaps, and clickmaps.
Form analytics: Conduct field-level analysis of your web forms by identifying which fields visitors hesitate filling, have refilled, dropped off from, and time taken to complete form submission.
Funnels: Track user journeys from landing page to conversion to pinpoint exactly where they drop off.
Surveys: Collect visitor feedback by asking AI-generated questions based on your goal and get AI-summarized survey reports for hassle-free analysis.
Pros:
- Capturing all sessions of a user offers a detailed view of behavior over time.
- Both dynamic and flexible data sampling methods are available.
- Comprehensive experience optimization platform with user behavior analytics and testing under one roof.
- Industry-best customer support team with 99% CSAT score.
- Flexible pricing plans to meet varying needs of different business sizes.
Pricing:
Free trial: VWO offers a 30-day free trial for users to test its features.
Free plan: VWO Insights – Web Starter plan supports up to 5000 MTU.
Paid plans: Different pricing plans are offered based on specific business needs, such as the number of sessions to be recorded, share and download options, filters, targeting, and so on.
- Growth at $139 per month, billed annually
- Pro at $328 per month, billed annually
- Enterprise at $775 per month, billed annually
A real success story –
Flos USA, an innovative light selling company, noticed a low conversion rate on its website. They wanted to investigate where and why visitors were disengaging and facing friction in their path to convert.
They turned to session recordings and gleaned several insights across all key pages on their website. For example, they found that visitors had trouble finding the products they needed easily on the homepage. Based on this insight, they hypothesized that changing the homepage layout to focus more on site navigation would increase visits to the category page.
They used these insights to form hypotheses aimed at enhancing every user touchpoint. By running tests based on these hypotheses, they increased the checkout rate by 125%.
The platform is interactive and easy to navigate through. Even without training it’s quite easy to understand how to use it. Adding observations into session recordings and sending them over to the dev team without them needing the app access saved us a lot of time.
Leverage the VWO Insights dashboard to extract deep, actionable insights from extensive user behavior data. It automatically surfaces key visitor experiences across different pages and segments, providing quick links for fast optimization actions.
2. Mouseflow
Mouseflow is a digital experience analytics platform that helps businesses improve customer experiences by identifying and removing friction. Mouseflow’s session recording tool captures 100% of user sessions by default, ensuring you can trust your data.
With features like tags, variables, filters, and cohorts, you can analyze recordings from custom-defined groups to gain specific insights. You can easily share these recordings with other teams to pinpoint and address problems effectively.
Key features
Session recordings, Heatmaps, User Feedback, Form Analytics, and Conversion Funnels.
Pros
- High-quality recordings.
- Ensures user privacy by blocking sensitive data.
- Easily integrates with your tech stack.
Cons
- Steep learning curve for beginners.
- Expensive option for small businesses.
Pricing
Free trial comes with all paid plans.
Starter plan starts at $31/month if paid annually, offering 5000 sessions each month.
Other paid plans are as follows: Growth at $109 per month, Business at $219 per month, and Pro at $399 per month. Enterprise pricing is available only by contacting sales.
3. Hotjar
Hotjar is a popular user behavior analytics tool that is designed to help businesses of all sizes to observe visitor behavior on their websites. With Hotjar recordings, you can experience your website through your users’ eyes by watching their entire journey to quickly identify and resolve issues.
You can save, comment on, and share key moments from any recording to better understand user behavior. Additionally, you’ll be able to create segments for deeper insights and analysis.
Key features
Recordings, Heatmaps, Feedback, Surveys, Interviews
Pros
- A user-friendly interface and a straightforward setup process.
- Low learning curve and sufficient guides and tutorials for help.
Cons
- Many advanced session recording features like saved recording and funnel drop-off filters are unavailable.
- Not offering form analytics and experimentation for scaling experience optimization.
Pricing
After 15 days of free trial, choose a plan or stick with the basic free plan that offers 35 daily sessions.
The paid plan starts at $32 per month for up to 100 daily sessions. The Business plan is $80 per month, and the Scale plan is $171 per month. All plans billed annually.
4. Lucky Orange
Lucky Orange is a powerful conversion optimization tool designed to help improve your website’s performance. This tool helps you analyze visitor profiles to view additional recordings or access contact information for specific visitors, enabling more targeted engagement. The platform also features optimizable segments, allowing you to quickly find valuable sessions from frustrated or confused visitors.
Key features
Recordings, Heatmaps, Dashboard Insights, Surveys, Funnels
Pros
- Comprehensive platform with necessary behavioral analytics tools.
- Many paid plans to choose from to suit your budget.
Cons
- Recordings features are not exhaustive and may miss some advanced details like scheduling recording views and filters.
- Does not offer testing, limiting the scope of experience optimization.
Pricing
Free trial is available for 7 days.
A free plan offering 100 monthly sessions is also available.
Paid plans start with Build at $32 per month when billed annually. The Growth plan is $64 per month, the Expand plan is $144 per month, and the Scale plan is $600 per month.
Enterprise solutions are available for which customers have to get in touch with the team for customized quotations.
5. Microsoft Clarity
Microsoft Clarity is a free, easy-to-use tool for understanding user behavior on your website. It captures anonymous data and converts it into visual insights, showing where users click, how they interact with your content, and where they drop off. You can watch high-definition, anonymized session recordings at any speed and easily share clips with your team or stakeholders.
Key features
Heatmaps, Session Recordings, Insights, and Copilot
Pros
- Easy to set up and beginner friendly.
- Available free of cost.
Cons
- Due to limited features, it may not meet the need for advanced analysis.
- Not ideal for teams requiring collaborative features.
Pricing
All the features of MS Clarity are free forever.
6. Crazy Egg
Crazy Egg provides visual analytics to help identify what drives user actions and what creates friction, enabling businesses to make data-driven decisions. You can identify which sections of a webpage are ignored and how long visitors stay on your site, as well as pinpoint where they struggle.
Visual recordings cut through the clutter of traditional reports, saving time and reducing analysis paralysis by allowing you to directly observe user behavior.
Key features
Heatmaps, Recordings, A/B Testing, Error Tracking, Surveys
Pros
- User-friendly interface with straightforward setup and navigation.
- Offers cost-effective solutions compared to some competitors.
Cons
- Lacks some advanced analytics and segmentation features.
- May not be suitable for businesses with mature analytical requirements.
Pricing
Free trial for 30 days.
Paid plans are: Plus at $99 per month, Pro at $249 per month, and Enterprise at $499 per month, all billed annually.
7. Glassbox
Glassbox is a digital experience platform that provides real-time data, offering actionable insights to optimize digital customer journeys. It automatically captures 100% of user interactions and technical events from your website, delivering video-like session replays.
Glassbox’s powerful search and filtering capabilities allow you to pinpoint specific sessions using criteria like user ID, browser, struggle score, and more.
Key features
Session Replays, Customer Journey Analytics, Struggle & Error Analysis, Funnel Analysis
Pros
- Built-in collaboration tools enhance shared understanding of digital CX.
- Patented technology logs 1,000+ events per session without tagging.
Cons
- The interface is difficult to navigate.
- Glassbox reports are basic and require configuration for detailed insights.
- Lacks experimentation features for end-to-end optimization.
Pricing
Request pricing based on your unique business needs.
8. Fullstory
Fullstory is a powerful behavioral data platform that reconstructs users’ browser experiences by capturing and replaying every event exactly as it happened. Fullstory’s session recordings allow you to gain a comprehensive view of user experience issues, regardless of how many tabs or sessions are involved. These recordings help validate or refute assumptions with reliable data, address issues promptly by revealing the underlying causes.
Key features
Behavioral Insights, Product Analytics, and Data Direct
Pros
- Good customer support.
- Easy setup and configuration.
- Integrates with various Google Cloud products and A/B testing tools.
Cons
- Advanced filtering options for session recordings are missing.
- Lacks surveys for capturing direct customer feedback.
- Pricing is geared towards enterprise-level budgets.
Pricing
Free trial: A 14-day trial of the Business Edition with up to 5,000 sessions.
Free plan: Option to convert the trial into a free plan.
Request a demo: Explore additional pricing plans by scheduling a demo.
9. Contentsquare
Contentsquare is a digital experience analytics platform that offers deep insights into customer interactions with your digital products, helping businesses optimize experiences and boost conversions.
For session recordings, Contentsquare’s browser extension allows you to overlay metrics directly on your live website or app. You can quickly access specific sections of replays, detect issues such as rage clicks, and add comments for seamless team collaboration.
Key features
Journey Analysis, Error Analysis, Web Analytics, Feedback Collection, Web Analytics
Pros
- Smart dashboards and automation save hours of analysis.
- Seamless integrations with any third-party systems for tailored user experiences and workflows.
Cons
- The setup process can be very time-consuming.
- Enterprise-level pricing may be beyond the reach of startups and SMBs.
Pricing
Request a demo or contact sales for pricing details.
Top session recording tools summary
| Sr No. | Tool | Key features | Pricing |
| 1 | VWO Insights | Session Recordings, Heatmaps, Form Analytics, Funnels, and Surveys. | The cost covers a full suite of behavioral analytics tools, including session recordings. You won’t incur any charges for up to 5000 tracked users per month. Charges will apply for any additional users, depending on the plan you select. |
| 2 | Mouseflow | Session recordings, Heatmaps, User Feedback, Form Analytics, and Conversion Funnels. | Starter plan starts at $31 per month with annual billing, offering 5,000 sessions. |
| 3 | Hotjar | Recordings, Heatmaps, Feedback, Surveys, and Interviews | Paid plan starts at $32 per month for up to 100 daily sessions. A basic free plan is also available. |
| 4 | Lucky Orange | Recordings, Heatmaps, Dashboard Insights, Surveys, and Funnels. | Paid plans start at $32 per month annually with 5000 monthly sessions. The free plan includes 100 monthly sessions. |
| 5 | Microsoft Clarity | Heatmaps, Session Recordings, Insights, and Copilot. | It is free forever. |
| 6 | Crazy Egg | Heatmaps, Recordings, A/B Testing, Error Tracking, and Surveys. | Paid plans at $99 per month, offering 1000 recordings per month. |
| 7 | Glassbox | Session Replays, Customer Journey Analytics, Struggle & Error Analysis, and Funnel Analysis. | Pricing is available upon request. |
| 8 | FullStory | Behavioral Insights, Product Analytics, and Data Direct. | A 14-day trial of the Business Edition with up to 5,000 sessions. Pricing for other plans is available upon request. |
| 9 | Contentsquare | Journey Analysis, Error Analysis, Web Analytics, Feedback Collection, Web Analytics. | Pricing is available upon request. |
How to choose the right session recording tool
There are several factors to consider to ensure the best fit for your business. Here are some of them:
Data sophistication
When selecting a session recording tool, look for one that demonstrates sophistication in data collection. First, it should offer both flexible and dynamic sampling methods.
Flexible sampling allows you to customize how much traffic you track, helping you preserve your data quota. On the other hand, dynamic sampling ensures you capture all visitor interactions during peak sales periods, preventing any loss of valuable insights.
Second, these sampling rules should allow for application to specific pages, groups of pages, user segments, or combinations of both. For example, you might track all interactions on your checkout page for users from a particular city to gain targeted insights during a marketing campaign.
This nuanced approach to data collection enables you to gain meaningful insights without overwhelming your resources.
Data privacy and compliance
Pick a tool that is compliant with relevant data privacy regulations like GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, etc. Make sure it is upfront about no personally identifiable information (PII) being captured, therefore safeguarding privacy by default. A tool that enables you to capture sessions while meeting these compliance requirements will help you avoid privacy issues and keep users happy at the same time.
Further, the session recording tool should specify how long it will retain data, with an automatic deletion feature for recordings that are not saved after this period. This capability ensures that users’ information is not kept longer than necessary and is automatically removed if not needed.
Integration with external tools
Choose a platform that goes beyond session recordings because insights from multiple behavioral analytics tools give a more comprehensive picture of user behavior. It should integrate features like heatmaps to analyze where users click and scroll. Additionally, funnel analysis is essential for tracking how users progress through each step of the conversion process.
Form analytics can reveal why visitors abandon your shopping cart or registration forms. Surveys can provide valuable insights into what visitors think and feel about their experience with your website, products, or services.
Moreover, think about how well the session recording tool sits alongside your other tools and workflows. Integrating it with analytics, customer support, CRM, and other marketing tools allows you to leverage user insights for broader marketing activities.
We recommend choosing a session recording tool that is part of a larger platform encompassing both user behavior analytics and experimentation. This setup allows you to conduct tests based on insights without switching between different systems, streamlining your workflow and reducing the complexity of managing separate tools.
Extensive features
Your session recording tool should enable sharing and downloading recordings for better team collaboration. It’s even better if the session replay tool allows you to add observations while watching, in case you find something interesting or notice patterns in user behavior.
Look for features like filtering by location, device type, or custom attributes, and sorting by interaction data or session details like duration and page count. You understand the goal, right? The more granular your analysis, the deeper your insights for making improvements.
Ease of use
Choose one with a simple user interface that is easy to navigate, so your team can quickly learn it, even if they aren’t tech-savvy. This way, there’s no steep learning curve—non-technical users can get started, analyze behavior, and gather insights without needing extensive training.
Recording quality
The tool you choose should have smooth, high-resolution, clear video playback so you can see the user’s mouse paths, keystrokes, scrolling and clicks. It should have play, pause, repeat buttons, as well as the option to adjust playback speed. That way, you can watch the recordings at your pace and keep notes of observations without risking missing out details.
Pricing
Check the pricing model to make sure it suits your budget. Ideally, you should go for tools (like VWO) offering a Monthly Tracked User model that charges based on the number of unique visitors you plan to analyze every month. This differs from session-based models that charge per session, which can result in missing crucial user interactions. Further, make sure the tool provides a free trial or demo for you to test it out before you buy it.
Customer support and resources
Even with the most intuitive tool, you might encounter a learning curve or occasional glitches. Look for vendors that offer various types of support—such as live chat, email, phone support, and a knowledge base with tutorials. For example, VWO provides industry-leading customer support with fast response times and the highest CSAT scores.
Conclusion
Do you agree with our list of top session replay tools? Are there any additions you’d like to suggest? Let us know.
From our conversations with many customers, VWO stands out for its extensive suite of user behavior analytics tools and its seamless integration with experimentation on the same platform. It’s a game-changer for companies that want to run data-driven tests and make informed decisions.
If VWO features appeal to you, you can take a free trial or request a demo today.
FAQs on session recording tools
A screen recording software captures and records video footage of visitor actions on a webpage. This tool helps you analyze how visitors interact with different elements on your website for addressing friction, improving experience, and increasing conversions.
A website session recording software allows you to understand user behavior, identify usability issues, and improve user experience. It gives you insights into how users engage with your website, where they face friction, what actions they take most. This way you are informed about their challenges so you can make improvements.
This blog gives you a list of some popular session recording tools. You can pick one based on your budget and requirements.
Session recordings work by installing a tracking script on your website, capturing user interactions like clicks, scrolls, and page navigations. This script collects real-time data, which is then stored and can be replayed through a dashboard. Read our article to see how to start session recordings in VWO.
Any reliable platform will commit to data privacy and automatically hide personal identifiable info (PII). But check this feature before opting for a platform for your research requirements.
Not every session recording tool offers an A/B testing filter to compare how visitors interact with the control and variation versions of a landing page. VWO provides this filter, enabling you to identify changes in behavior and understand user interactions with A/B test variations.
You’ll also find exclusive features in VWO, such as flexible sampling, a download option, scheduled views, and more. To explore the unique benefits of VWO session recordings, take a free trial now.
Yes, most session recordings allow you to track user activities across multiple pages on both desktop and mobile devices. This ensures a complete view of the user journey across all devices.
Session recordings are useful to complement web analytics data and provide a better understanding of reasons or patterns behind it. If analytics tell you that you have a high bounce rate, recordings can show in detail why people are leaving, and you can improve your website accordingly.
Session recording tools capture and replay real user interactions on your website. This allows you to see how visitors navigate, click, scroll, and interact with different elements in real-time.
To conduct session recordings, you need to place a tracker (usually a small snippet of code) on your website. Once installed, the session recording tool (e.g., VWO, Hotjar) captures user interactions automatically, allowing you to review and analyze the data later.
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