Microsoft's free heatmap and session recording tool, Clarity, runs on 3.25 times as many website homepages as Hotjar, up from 1.35 times two years earlier. Clarity now appears on 5.2% of websites after growing 27.9% in a year.
Analysis of 24 monthly crawls of 14.7 to 16.4 million homepages, October 2024 to September 2026 · the public HTTP Archive crawl, September 2026
Key Findings
- 1.Microsoft Clarity runs on 3.25 times as many website homepages as Hotjar, up from 1.35 times in October 2024.
- 2.Microsoft Clarity runs on 5.2% of websites, 808,412 homepages in September 2026.
- 3.Microsoft Clarity grew 27.9% in a year, from 632,043 homepages in September 2025 to 808,412 in September 2026.
- 4.Hotjar appears on 22.8% fewer website homepages than a year earlier, 248,750 in September 2026 against 322,045 in September 2025.
- 5.Microsoft Clarity and Hotjar together appear on under 7% of website homepages.
Summary
A small business owner wants to know why visitors leave the booking page without booking. Recordings of real visitors and a heatmap of where they click would answer that question. Today Microsoft Clarity, which is free, runs on three times as many homepages as Hotjar, and it is spreading fast.
Heatmaps show where visitors click, move and stop scrolling; session recordings replay individual visits. Together they show why a page does not convert in a way that page-view numbers cannot: the button nobody sees, the form field where people give up, the section nobody scrolls to. As those tools get cheaper and more common, more of your competitors can see what their visitors do.
Microsoft Clarity now runs on 3.25 times as many homepages as Hotjar, up from 1.35 times in October 2024. Clarity has grown 65.5% in two years to 5.2% of websites, while Hotjar appears on 31.3% fewer homepages than in October 2024.
What we measured
The HTTP Archive crawls millions of website homepages every month and records the technologies each one loads. We counted the homepages running Microsoft Clarity and Hotjar in each of 24 monthly crawls, from October 2024 to September 2026: between 14.7 million and 16.4 million homepages a month, and 15,470,478 in September 2026.
Because the number of homepages crawled changes from month to month, we also divided each count by the total that month to get a share of websites. Year-over-year figures compare September 2025 with September 2026; two-year figures compare October 2024 with September 2026. The ratio is Clarity's homepage count divided by Hotjar's.
Clarity keeps climbing
That is 176,369 more homepages running Clarity in September 2026 (808,412) than in September 2025 (632,043). As a share of all homepages, Clarity rose 31.4%, from 3.98% to 5.23%, or roughly one website in twenty. Its share rose in 20 of 23 month-to-month steps, crossing 4% of homepages in October 2025 and 5% in August 2026. In raw counts it passed 700,000 homepages in February 2026 and 800,000 in September 2026.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 24 monthly crawls of 14.7 to 16.4 million homepages, October 2024 to September 2026 · the public HTTP Archive crawl, September 2026
| Month | Clarity sites | Clarity share | Hotjar sites | Hotjar share | Clarity vs Hotjar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2024 | 488,367 | 2.97% | 361,843 | 2.20% | 1.35x |
| Jan 2025 | 489,415 | 3.26% | 338,991 | 2.25% | 1.44x |
| Apr 2025 | 545,103 | 3.43% | 343,841 | 2.16% | 1.59x |
| Jul 2025 | 593,416 | 3.85% | 322,288 | 2.09% | 1.84x |
| Sep 2025 | 632,043 | 3.98% | 322,045 | 2.03% | 1.96x |
| Jan 2026 | 667,189 | 4.52% | 288,858 | 1.96% | 2.31x |
| Apr 2026 | 713,799 | 4.57% | 283,576 | 1.82% | 2.52x |
| Jul 2026 | 766,864 | 4.94% | 260,197 | 1.67% | 2.95x |
| Sep 2026 | 808,412 | 5.23% | 248,750 | 1.61% | 3.25x |
The count dipped in a few months, such as January 2026, when the HTTP Archive covered fewer homepages, 14.7 million, but Clarity's share of websites still rose that month. Over two years, Clarity added 320,045 homepages, a 65.5% increase. Costing nothing makes it an easy first choice for a business adding behavior analytics.
Clarity's lead over Hotjar keeps widening
In October 2024, Clarity was on 1.35 times as many homepages as Hotjar. By September 2026 it was on 3.25 times as many, and the gap widened in 22 of the 23 months tracked. Over the same two years, the number of homepages running Hotjar fell from 361,843 to 248,750, a 31.3% drop, and its share of websites went from 2.20% to 1.61%, falling in 19 of 23 month-to-month steps. Hotjar dropped below 300,000 homepages in January 2026 and has stayed below.
| Period | Clarity change | Hotjar change |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 to Sep 2026 (sites) | +27.9% | -22.8% |
| Oct 2024 to Sep 2026 (sites) | +65.5% | -31.3% |
| Net change, Oct 2024 to Sep 2026 | +320,045 sites | -113,093 sites |
The two trends point the same way: behavior analytics is growing, and most of the growth is going to the free tool. For a business choosing a tool today, Clarity is the one far more websites already run.
Most websites still run no heatmap tool
For all Clarity's growth, Clarity and Hotjar together appear on under 7% of website homepages. More than nine in ten websites run neither, which means most businesses are still guessing at why their pages convert or do not.
That makes behavior analytics one of the cheapest advantages available. A free tool, installed in minutes, shows where visitors click, where they stop scrolling and where they give up on a form. A business that watches a few dozen recordings of its key pages learns things its competitors, in the large majority, do not.
What this means for marketers and site owners
If you do not run a heatmap or session recording tool, start with one. Install it on your key pages, then watch recordings of real visitors on the pages that matter most: the homepage, the main service or product page and the contact or checkout page. You will see where they stall, which buttons they miss and how far down the page they get.
If you already pay for a behavior analytics tool, the data shows Clarity gaining while Hotjar appears on fewer homepages each year; compare features and price before your next renewal. Then turn what you see into tests. A cro consultant can set up the tool, review the recordings and turn them into changes worth testing.
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<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/microsoft-clarity-growth-heatmap-tools">Microsoft Clarity Now Runs on 3.25 Times as Many Websites as Hotjar - Suff Digital</a></p>
Cite this study
Suff Digital. (2026). Microsoft Clarity Now Runs on 3.25 Times as Many Websites as Hotjar. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/microsoft-clarity-growth-heatmap-tools
Microsoft Clarity Now Runs on 3.25 Times as Many Websites as Hotjar - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/microsoft-clarity-growth-heatmap-tools
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