— COMPARISON · 03
Hotjar and Prior.Run both help you see where a page goes wrong. The difference is when, and who does the watching.
Hotjar records real visitors on your live site and gives you heatmaps, recordings and surveys. Prior.Run runs your page — live or still a prototype — and hands back a Run Sheet: every problem pinned to the spot where it happened, with the change to make.
Side by side
Row by row, here is what each one is for.
— Side by side
Works before launch
A Run works on a prototype or an unlaunched page. Hotjar needs real visitors.
No traffic needed
Paste a link and go. Recordings and heatmaps fill up as visitors arrive.
Every button and form tried
A Run tries every path. Visitors only use the parts they care about.
The fix, not just the problem
Each finding comes with the change to make. With recordings, you work it out.
Real visitors' behavior
Heatmaps and recordings of real people are Hotjar's job.
Surveys on your live site
Hotjar can ask real visitors questions while they browse.
— Pick by the question you need answered, not by the tool.
What Hotjar does well
It shows you real behavior. Heatmaps show where people click and how far they scroll. Recordings let you watch a real visitor get lost. Surveys let you ask them why.
If your page already has traffic and you want to see what real people actually do on it, Hotjar is built for that.
Where recordings run out
They need traffic, so the page has to be live — and the problems are already costing you by the time you see them. A new page, a redesign or a prototype has no recordings yet.
Someone also has to watch them. Fifty recordings of people leaving checkout tell you something is wrong. Finding what, and deciding what to change, is still your afternoon.
What a Run does
Our panel opens your page on desktop or a phone and uses all of it: every button, every tab, every form, down the main path and then the others. It fills forms with test details and stops before anything that costs money.
In under an hour you get a Run Sheet. Each finding sits on the spot where it happened, sorted from fix first to keep, with why it matters and the change to make. Open the page and check any of it in seconds.
— VERDICT
Before launch, run it. After launch, watch it.
Run the page before it goes live, fix what the Run Sheet pins, then use Hotjar to watch how real visitors use the fixed version.
Recordings will then show you the problems only real people can — not the broken button you could have caught on day one.
— FAQ
Questions people ask
- Is Prior.Run a Hotjar alternative?
- It does a different job. Hotjar shows what real visitors did on your live site. Prior.Run finds what's broken before visitors arrive, with the fix for each problem.
- Does Prior.Run need traffic?
- No. It works on a page that hasn't launched yet, and on Figma or Framer prototypes.
- Should I use Prior.Run and Hotjar together?
- Yes. Run the page before launch and fix what it pins, then use Hotjar to watch real visitors on the fixed version.
- How much does Prior.Run cost?
- Your first Run is free, with no card. After that, plans are on the pricing page.