Crazy Egg vs Microsoft Clarity: Paid vs Free Heatmaps [2026]

When it comes to understanding how visitors interact with your website, Crazy Egg and Microsoft Clarity represent two fundamentally different approaches. Crazy Egg offers premium heatmap and optimization features for a monthly fee, while Clarity provides unlimited heatmaps and recordings completely free.

The core question: Is Crazy Egg worth paying $29-$249+/month when Microsoft Clarity offers unlimited usage for free?

The answer depends on whether you need Crazy Egg's unique strengths—particularly A/B testing, Snapshot reports, and visual editing tools—or whether Clarity's free AI-powered analytics will suffice.

In this detailed comparison, we'll examine both tools feature by feature, covering pricing, heatmap capabilities, testing features, and which scenarios justify each choice.

Quick Comparison Table

| Feature | Crazy Egg | Microsoft Clarity | |---------|-----------|-------------------| | Pricing | $29-$249+/month | 100% Free | | Session Recordings | Limited by plan | Unlimited | | Heatmaps | 5 report types | 6 heatmap types | | A/B Testing | Yes, built-in | No | | Visual Editor | Yes (WYSIWYG) | No | | Rage Click Detection | No | Yes | | Dead Click Detection | No | Yes | | AI Features | No | Copilot AI | | Data Retention | Unlimited | 30 days | | Team Members | Unlimited | Unlimited | | Domains | Unlimited | Unlimited | | Snapshot Reports | Yes | No | | Confetti Reports | Yes | No | | Mobile App Support | No | Yes |

Crazy Egg: Premium Optimization Suite

Crazy Egg has been in the heatmap game since 2006, making it one of the oldest and most established tools in the space. Founded by Neil Patel and Hiten Shah, it's evolved from a simple heatmap tool into a comprehensive conversion optimization platform.

Crazy Egg's Core Strength: Snapshots

Snapshots are Crazy Egg's flagship feature. A Snapshot is a comprehensive report focused on a single page for a specific time period, combining multiple visualization types:

1. Heatmap: Classic click density visualization
2. Scrollmap: Shows how far visitors scroll down your page
3. Confetti: Breaks down clicks by referrer, search term, or other segments
4. Overlay: Shows click counts on individual elements
5. List Report: Tabular data of all clicked elements

Snapshots serve as benchmarks—you create one before making changes, then another after, giving you clear before-and-after comparisons of how optimizations impact user behavior.

Built-In A/B Testing

Crazy Egg's most significant advantage over Clarity is integrated A/B testing. Instead of paying $150-$300/month for a separate testing tool like VWO or Optimizely, Crazy Egg includes it in every plan.

The workflow is streamlined:

1. Analyze heatmaps and recordings to identify problems
2. Use the visual editor to create a variant
3. Run the A/B test
4. Crazy Egg automatically creates Snapshots for each variant
5. See which version performs better and why

This closed loop—from insight to test to result—is something Clarity simply cannot offer.

Visual Page Editor

Crazy Egg includes a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor for creating A/B test variants. You can:

• Change headlines and copy
• Move page elements
• Hide or show elements
• Modify images
• Adjust button colors and CTAs

No coding required. For marketers and small teams without developer resources, this removes a major bottleneck in optimization workflows.

Confetti Reports: Segmented Click Data

The Confetti report is unique to Crazy Egg. While standard heatmaps show aggregate click patterns, Confetti color-codes individual clicks by:

• Traffic source (Google, Facebook, direct, etc.)
• Search keywords
• Time of day
• Device type
• New vs. returning visitors

This reveals whether different audience segments behave differently on the same page—insights you'd miss with aggregate-only heatmaps.

Crazy Egg Pricing (2026)

Crazy Egg structures pricing by tracked pageviews:

| Plan | Monthly Price | Pageviews/Month | Key Features | |------|--------------|-----------------|--------------| | Basic | $29/month | 30,000 | All core features | | Standard | $49/month | 75,000 | All core features | | Plus | $99/month | 150,000 | All core features | | Pro | $249/month | 500,000 | All core features | | Enterprise | $499+/month | 1M+ | Custom |

All plans include:

• Unlimited team members
• Unlimited domains
• A/B testing
• Snapshots
• All 5 report types

Important notes:

• Annual billing required (no month-to-month)
• No overage charges—tracking pauses when you hit limits
• 30-day free trial available
• Nonprofit and education discounts available

Microsoft Clarity: The Free Powerhouse

Microsoft launched Clarity in 2020 and shocked the industry by offering unlimited heatmaps and recordings completely free. Backed by Microsoft's resources, they can subsidize the tool as part of their broader analytics ecosystem.

Unlimited Everything (Genuinely Free)

Clarity's defining feature is its lack of artificial limits:

• Unlimited session recordings (kept for 30 days)
• Unlimited heatmaps
• Unlimited projects
• Unlimited team members
• No credit card required
• No trial expiration

The only practical limits are 100,000 pageviews per heatmap and 100,000 sessions per project per day—thresholds that 99% of websites will never reach.

Rage Click and Dead Click Detection

Clarity automatically identifies frustration signals that Crazy Egg doesn't detect:

Rage Clicks: When users rapidly click the same area in frustration. This often indicates:

• Buttons that don't work
• Links that appear clickable but aren't
• Slow-loading elements
• General UX confusion

Dead Clicks: Clicks on non-interactive elements. Users expected something to happen, but nothing did. This reveals:

• Design elements that look like buttons
• Images users want to enlarge
• Text that looks like links
• Missing functionality users expect

These metrics appear automatically in your dashboard without any configuration—you don't need to set up goals or events to start seeing friction points.

AI-Powered Insights with Copilot

Microsoft has integrated their Copilot AI directly into Clarity, providing:

Session Summaries: Instead of watching a 10-minute recording, Copilot generates a natural language summary of what happened, what the user struggled with, and key takeaways.

Grouped Insights: Copilot analyzes multiple sessions together and identifies patterns across users, helping you spot systemic UX problems faster.

Heatmap Insights: AI-generated summaries of heatmap data across devices, highlighting key behavior patterns without manual analysis.

Chat Interface: Ask questions about your data in natural language. "Why did users leave the pricing page?" gets an AI-generated analysis based on your actual session data.

New 2026 Features: Brand Agents

In January 2026, Microsoft launched Brand Agents—an AI shopping assistant that integrates with Clarity. For Shopify merchants, Brand Agents provides conversational commerce capabilities directly on your website, with behavioral insights feeding back into Clarity analytics.

Six Types of Click Heatmaps

Clarity recently expanded beyond basic click heatmaps to include:

1. All Clicks: Standard aggregate view
2. Rage Clicks: Only frustrated rapid-clicking
3. Dead Clicks: Only clicks on non-interactive elements
4. First Clicks: What users click first on the page
5. Last Clicks: Final clicks before leaving
6. Error Clicks: Clicks that triggered JavaScript errors

This segmentation helps you understand not just where people click, but the quality and intent behind those clicks.

Microsoft Clarity Limitations

No A/B Testing: Clarity is purely observational. You can identify problems, but you can't test solutions within the platform.

No Visual Editor: No way to create variants or modify pages for testing.

30-Day Data Retention: Session recordings and heatmap data expire after 30 days. No historical reference available.

No Survey Tools: Clarity can't collect qualitative feedback from users.

Limited Privacy Controls: Doesn't respect "Do Not Track" browser settings, and GDPR compliance options are limited.

Community Support Only: No dedicated support team—just forums and documentation.

Industry Restrictions: Cannot be used on healthcare, financial services, or government websites.

Head-to-Head Feature Breakdown

Heatmaps

Crazy Egg: Five integrated report types (Heatmap, Scrollmap, Confetti, Overlay, List) within each Snapshot. Confetti segmentation is unique and powerful.

Clarity: Six click heatmap types with automatic rage/dead click detection. Scroll heatmaps also available. No click segmentation by traffic source.

Winner: Tie—Crazy Egg's Confetti segmentation vs. Clarity's frustration detection serve different analytical needs.

Session Recordings

Crazy Egg: Limited by plan tier. Quality recordings with standard playback features.

Clarity: Unlimited recordings with AI-powered summaries. Copilot can analyze patterns across multiple sessions automatically.

Winner: Clarity—unlimited recordings plus AI analysis at no cost.

Testing and Optimization

Crazy Egg: Built-in A/B testing with visual editor, automatic Snapshot creation for test variants, no additional tools needed.

Clarity: No testing capabilities whatsoever. You'll need a separate tool like VWO, Optimizely, or Google Optimize.

Winner: Crazy Egg—by a wide margin. This is their core differentiator.

AI Features

Crazy Egg: No AI features currently available.

Clarity: Copilot AI for session summaries, pattern detection, heatmap analysis, and natural language queries.

Winner: Clarity—Copilot adds genuine value for analysis efficiency.

Pricing Value

Crazy Egg: $29-$249+/month. Includes A/B testing that would cost $150-$300/month separately. All features in every plan.

Clarity: Free forever with no feature restrictions.

Winner: Depends on needs. If you need A/B testing, Crazy Egg is actually good value. If you only need heatmaps and recordings, Clarity is obviously better.

When to Choose Crazy Egg

You Need A/B Testing Without Buying Another Tool

Crazy Egg's A/B testing alone justifies the price for teams who need testing capabilities. Buying Crazy Egg ($99/month) is cheaper than buying Clarity (free) plus VWO ($150+/month) separately.

You Want the Closed-Loop Workflow

The ability to identify a problem in a heatmap, create a variant in the visual editor, run a test, and analyze results—all within one tool—is genuinely valuable. Context switching between tools adds friction and slows optimization velocity.

You Need Traffic Source Segmentation

Confetti reports reveal whether Google visitors behave differently than Facebook visitors on the same page. This is critical for:

• Landing page optimization by channel
• Understanding ad campaign quality
• Identifying referral source issues

You Prefer Visual Page Editing

If you don't have developer resources, Crazy Egg's visual editor removes a major bottleneck. Non-technical marketers can create and test variants immediately.

You Need Long-Term Data Access

Crazy Egg doesn't delete your Snapshots after 30 days. You can reference historical data, track long-term trends, and show stakeholders how pages have evolved.

When to Choose Microsoft Clarity

You Have Zero Budget

Clarity delivers 80% of heatmap functionality at 0% of the cost. For bootstrapped startups, side projects, or budget-constrained teams, the price can't be beaten.

You Only Need Observation, Not Testing

If your workflow is "identify problems, pass to developers to fix," and you're not running formal A/B tests, you don't need Crazy Egg's testing features.

You Want AI-Powered Analysis

Copilot genuinely saves time. Instead of watching dozens of session recordings, you get AI summaries. Instead of manually analyzing heatmaps, you get pattern insights automatically.

You Need to Identify Frustration Signals

Rage click and dead click detection surface UX problems that traditional heatmaps miss. These metrics are automatic and invaluable for finding friction.

You Have a Mobile App

Clarity supports mobile app analytics; Crazy Egg doesn't. If you need cross-platform behavioral data, Clarity is your only option here.

You Need Unlimited Team Access

Clarity allows unlimited team members with full access for free. Crazy Egg also offers unlimited team members, but you're still paying for the tool itself.

The Hybrid Approach

Many optimization teams use both tools strategically:

Use Clarity for:

• Unlimited session recordings for ongoing monitoring
• Rage click and dead click identification
• AI-powered session analysis
• Quick, free access for the entire team

Use Crazy Egg for:

• A/B testing validated optimization ideas
• Confetti reports for traffic source analysis
• Long-term data retention on critical pages
• Visual page editing without developers

This approach gives you Clarity's unlimited free monitoring plus Crazy Egg's optimization capabilities, often at a lower total cost than enterprise tiers of either tool alone.

Recommendations by Situation

Solo Marketers and Freelancers

Choose: Microsoft Clarity

Free unlimited access across client projects. Save budget for actual marketing spend. Add Crazy Egg only when you have a specific optimization to test.

Small Business with No Developer

Choose: Crazy Egg

The visual editor and A/B testing let you make changes without technical help. Worth the $29-$99/month to remove the developer bottleneck.

E-commerce Stores

Choose: Both (Hybrid)

Use Clarity for checkout flow analysis and rage click detection. Use Crazy Egg for A/B testing pricing pages, product layouts, and promotional banners.

SaaS Products

Choose: Microsoft Clarity (start) → Crazy Egg (scale)

Start with Clarity to identify onboarding and activation problems. Add Crazy Egg when you have specific hypotheses to test and the budget to support it.

Agencies and Consultants

Choose: Microsoft Clarity + specialized tools

Clarity scales across unlimited clients for free. For clients with testing budgets, bring in Crazy Egg or VWO on a per-project basis.

Enterprise Teams

Choose: Crazy Egg (or FullStory/Contentsquare)

Larger teams benefit from Crazy Egg's integrated workflow, support, and longer data retention. Very large enterprises may need dedicated enterprise tools.

FAQ

Can Crazy Egg and Clarity run on the same website?

Yes, both tracking scripts can run simultaneously without conflict. Just ensure your privacy policy discloses both tools and monitor cumulative page load impact.

Does Crazy Egg offer a free plan?

No, but they offer a 30-day free trial with full feature access. No credit card required to start.

Is Microsoft Clarity's Copilot AI accurate?

Copilot provides useful summaries but should be validated against actual session recordings for important decisions. AI analysis is a starting point, not a final answer.

Can I migrate data from Clarity to Crazy Egg or vice versa?

No, session recordings and heatmap data cannot be transferred between platforms. You'd need to run both simultaneously to build up data in the new tool.

Which tool loads faster?

Both tools have optimized their scripts for minimal performance impact. Clarity's script is slightly smaller, but the difference is negligible (under 50ms) on most sites.

Does Crazy Egg work with single-page applications?

Yes, Crazy Egg supports SPAs with proper configuration. You may need to trigger new Snapshots on virtual page changes.

Conclusion

Crazy Egg is the right choice if you need integrated A/B testing, visual editing capabilities, traffic source segmentation via Confetti reports, or long-term data retention. The price is justified when you'd otherwise need multiple tools.

Microsoft Clarity is the right choice if you need unlimited heatmaps and recordings on a budget, AI-powered analysis, automatic frustration detection, or mobile app support. The price (free) makes it the default choice for pure observation.

For many teams, the smartest approach is using Clarity as your always-on monitoring layer and adding Crazy Egg specifically when you have optimization hypotheses to test. This gives you the best of both worlds without overspending on features you don't actively use.

Looking for a simpler approach to heatmap analytics? UXHeat is launching soon with straightforward insights designed for teams who want clarity without complexity. Join the waitlist to get early access.