Guide
Heatmaps vs session replay: which do you need?
A heatmap tells you what lots of people did. A session recording shows you what one person did. They answer different questions, and one of them costs a good deal more to look after.
In short
Heatmaps add up many visits into one picture, so they’re quick to read and hold little data about anyone. Session replay records individual visits, which is what you need for debugging or following one person’s path, but it takes time to watch and needs careful handling of privacy.
Side by side
When you need replay
- You’re reproducing a bug that a customer reported.
- A step in a checkout loses people, and the numbers don’t show why.
- You’re doing customer support, and need to see what someone saw.
For these, a heatmap isn’t enough. Microsoft Clarity offers replay for free, and LogRocket and FullStory go deeper.
When heatmaps are enough
- You’re deciding what to change on a page.
- You want to know if people reach and click the important thing.
- You don’t have hours to spend on watching recordings.
- You’d rather not hold recordings of how people use your site at all.
Why Maximizii doesn’t have replay
It’s a different product, with much larger costs in privacy and storage. Leaving it out is what keeps our script under 6 KB, and means there’s no recording of anyone for anybody to lose. If you need replay, we’re not the tool for that, and we’d rather say so here than have you find out later.
Questions
What is session replay?
A recording of one visit to a website, rebuilt from page changes and input events, so you can watch what happened. It’s also called session recording.
Are heatmaps better than session recordings?
Neither is better. Heatmaps are quicker for patterns, and recordings are better for detail. Most teams who use both start with the map, and go to recordings for the why.
Is session replay GDPR compliant?
It can be, but it needs care: consent where required, and masking that catches everything sensitive. Heatmaps have a smaller privacy footprint, though they aren’t exempt either.
Will Maximizii ever add session replay?
It isn’t planned. It would change what the product is.
Keep reading
- Cookieless heatmapsNo cookies, no stored IPs, no form values, and an honest word on consent.
- What is a heatmap?What a website heatmap shows, the main kinds, and what it can’t tell you.
- User behavior analyticsWhat it means for a website, the main kinds of tool, and which you need.
- Hotjar alternativeNew Hotjar accounts now go to Contentsquare. A smaller option, if you only need maps.
- Microsoft Clarity alternativeClarity is free with replay. Here’s when no cookies and no recordings matter more.
- FullStory alternativeFullStory captures every session. If you only need the patterns, here’s the light option.
Find out where they click.