You wanted surveys. Hotjar sold you heatmaps.
Hotjar is a powerful analytics suite. But if all you need is to ask your visitors a few questions, you're paying $99/month for features you'll never use.
- Expert templates with WHY / WHEN / HOW / WHAT guidance
- On-site widget — visitors never leave the page
- Cookie-free — no consent banner needed
- 18KB — your site stays fast
- AI response summaries included
- Shadow DOM — zero CSS conflicts
- Heatmapsyou don't need
- Session recordingsyou won't watch
- Click mapsnot why you signed up
- Feedback widgetsduplicates surveys
- Surveysburied in the nav
Surveys are an add-on to a tool built for something else.
To be fair
Hotjar surveys work. That's not the complaint.
Hotjar is genuinely excellent at what it's built for: heatmaps, session recordings, and conversion funnel analysis. If your team watches session recordings every week and uses click maps to redesign page layouts, Hotjar might be exactly the right tool.
The problem is surveys are secondary to Hotjar. The widget is functional but not beautiful - it's not designed to be the thing that lives on your customers' websites representing their brand. The templates are generic (Website Satisfaction Survey, anyone?). There's no guidance on what to ask, when to trigger, or what to do with the results.
And you're paying for all the heatmap infrastructure whether you need it or not.
You wanted to ask your pricing page visitors one question. You got a 12-tab dashboard, a heatmap session, and a $99 invoice.
Side by side
Feature by feature
| Feature | Selge | Hotjar |
|---|---|---|
| On-site survey widget | Included | Included |
| Survey-focused product | The only thing we do | One of 6+ features |
| Expert templates with guidance | 12 templates + WHY / WHEN / HOW / WHAT | Basic templates, no strategy |
| Cookie-free | No consent banner needed | Requires cookie consent |
| Widget script size | 18KB gzipped | 80KB+ |
| Starting price (for surveys) | $19/mo | $59/mo (Ask plan, monthly) — exit intent requires Observe: $99/mo |
| AI response summaries | Included on all plans | Basic summaries (Ask plan) — sentiment analysis at Business tier ($79/mo) |
| Shadow DOM CSS isolation | Your CSS can't break it | Global CSS injection |
| Exit intent trigger | Pro plan ($49/mo) | Available |
| Heatmaps | We don't do that | Core feature |
| Session recordings | We don't do that | Core feature |
| MCP integration | Native MCP server for AI assistants | Not available |
See it in action
This is what your visitors see. And what you get back.
From picking a template to reading AI-summarised results — the full flow in under 15 minutes.
Why didn't you sign up?
Conversion & CRO
Pricing page clarity check
Conversion & CRO
Homepage clarity check
Messaging & Positioning
Navigation check
Website & UX
What stopped you from signing up?
What stopped you from signing up today?
What stopped you from signing up today?
AI Insight
34% cite pricing. Consider adding a comparison table or rewriting plan descriptions using visitor language.
The math
Let's talk about the $80/month gap
That's $960/year for heatmaps you're not looking at.
All plans, side by side:
The moat
Hotjar gives you a survey builder. We give you a strategy.
Hotjar's templates: "Website Satisfaction Survey" with 5 generic rating questions. Ours come from 40+ A/B tests and 15 years of web optimization.
The #1 question in CRO is why aren't people converting? Analytics tells you WHERE they drop off. This tells you WHY - in their own words.
Exit intent on your pricing page. Catches people who considered buying and decided not to. Don't show again for 14 days after dismissal.
"Too expensive" > 30%? Usually NOT a pricing problem. It's a value communication problem. Rewrite using the exact language visitors use in open text.
Group open-text into themes (3-5 will emerge). Cross-reference with multiple choice. Design one A/B test per top theme. Re-run survey after changes.
Being honest
When Hotjar is the right choice
You need heatmaps AND surveys
If your team actively uses heatmaps and click maps alongside surveys, paying for both in one tool makes sense.
Dedicated analytics resources
Larger teams with someone whose full-time job is watching session recordings and analyzing behaviour flows.
One tool for multiple CRO methods
If consolidating tools is a priority and you genuinely use the full Hotjar feature set.
If your primary goal is understanding WHY visitors don't convert - not WHERE they click - Selge is built for that specific problem. We don't do heatmaps. We don't do recordings. Just surveys, expert templates, and the strategy to use them.
Common questions
Selge vs Hotjar — FAQ
Try the survey tool built for one thing.
Not for heatmaps. Not for session recordings. Just for understanding why visitors don't convert - and what to do about it.
Free to build and preview. $19/mo when you go live. No credit card required.