Session replay tools record every mouse move. Session analytics tools summarize journeys. We compare costs, privacy implications, and when each approach makes sense.
Session replay tools like Hotjar, FullStory, and Microsoft Clarity record every mouse movement, click, scroll, and keystroke. You can watch a video of each visitor's session as if you were looking over their shoulder.
Session analytics tools take a different approach. Instead of recording video, they log structured data: which pages were visited, in what order, how long each view lasted, and what events fired. You get a timeline, not a movie.
Both help you understand user behaviour. But they differ dramatically in privacy implications, cost, and practical usefulness.
Session replay captures everything visible on screen. That includes form inputs (sometimes before they're submitted), personal information displayed on the page, and even sensitive data that your CSS tried to hide. Most replay tools offer masking rules, but configuring them correctly is error-prone.
Under GDPR, session replay almost certainly requires explicit consent. You're recording the visitor's interaction in detail — that's personal data processing that's hard to justify under "legitimate interest." The ICO and CNIL have both flagged session replay as a high-risk processing activity.
Session analytics, by contrast, logs structured metadata: page URL, timestamp, duration, referrer. No mouse coordinates, no form values, no visual recording. The privacy footprint is orders of magnitude smaller.
Replay shines in specific, targeted scenarios:
Notice the pattern: these are all targeted investigations, not ongoing monitoring. You don't need to record every session — you need to record the right ones.
For day-to-day website monitoring, session analytics gives you everything you need without the overhead:
Session analytics scales to millions of page views without the storage costs of recording video. It doesn't require consent banners in most jurisdictions. And it answers the questions that matter most for growing a website.
Session replay storage is expensive. FullStory charges based on recorded sessions; Hotjar limits the number of recordings per plan. At scale, replay tools cost $100–500+/month.
Session analytics is dramatically cheaper because you're storing rows in a database, not compressed video streams. Web Analyzer App's Pro plan covers up to 500,000 events per month for $14.99 — a fraction of what replay tools charge.
Use session analytics as your always-on tool. Add session replay only for targeted investigations — and only with proper consent and data masking in place. You don't need to record every visitor to understand your audience.
Start with Web Analyzer App — cookie-free session analytics that gives you clarity without the privacy overhead.