Compare Hotjar and Swetrix on capabilities, jurisdiction, assurance, and fit for European buyers.
Both listed as alternatives to: Google Analytics
France· Web Analytics
Needs review
Shortlist for Contentsquare-owned heatmaps and replay with a public DPA and Ireland defaults. Skip if you need an independent recorder or no US-group cloud. Consider Mouseflow.
United Kingdom· Web Analytics
Needs review
Shortlist Swetrix when you want cookieless traffic plus product-oriented tools (funnels, RUM, errors, optional Cloud replays) under a UK company with Hetzner DE hosting and AGPLv3 self-host CE. Skip when you need public ISO/SOC packs, zero US-group subprocessors, multi-year cookie retention cohorts, or free forever hosted analytics—consider Plausible Analytics or Simple Analytics for minimal traffic-only privacy analytics, or Matomo for heavyweight self-host control.
Highlighted rows differ between the two products.
| Feature | Hotjar | Swetrix |
|---|---|---|
| Country of origin | France | United Kingdom |
| Category | Web Analytics | Web Analytics |
| Open source | No | Yes |
| Self-hosted | No | Yes |
| Headquarters | France | United Kingdom |
| Legal entity | Content Square SAS, Paris (EU Hotjar contractor). Historical Hotjar Ltd Malta merged 1 July 2025. | Swetrix Ltd (SC797389), Edinburgh, Scotland |
| US parent / control | No known US parent | No known US parent |
| CLOUD Act exposure (indicative) | Medium | Medium |
| Hosting / residency | Visitor data: AWS and Azure Ireland for Free/Growth and VoC Observe/Surveys. Pro/Enterprise may pick Ireland or Virginia. Defaults: EU/Japan to EU; US and most other APJ to US. Support: Content Square, Inc. and Zendesk (USA), Atlassian (Australia). Sense AI on AWS Bedrock/Azure; survey AI on Azure OpenAI France. Engage: Twilio, Daily.co, Postmark, Tremendous. | Cloud analytics data: Hetzner Online GmbH (Germany) per DPA/Data Policy. End User error monitoring sub-processor: Sentry / Functional Software Inc. (United States). Customer-side Privacy Policy list also includes Paddle (UK payments), Fastmail (Australia business email), AWS (US transactional/marketing email), OpenRouter (US optional AI chat). No known US parent. |
| Summary | Contentsquare-owned heatmaps, session replay, and on-site surveys. French-group SaaS with default EU hosting on AWS and Azure Ireland, not an independent Maltese startup. | Cookieless, privacy-first web analytics from a UK company: traffic, funnels, errors, and performance on Hetzner in Germany, with AGPLv3 self-host Community Edition and optional Cloud session replays. |
| Tags |
| At a glance | Hotjar | Swetrix |
|---|---|---|
| Current HQ / entity | Content Square SAS, Paris, France | Not listed |
| Origin | Founded in Malta in 2014 (vendor history) | Not listed |
| Ownership | Contentsquare group (acquired 2021, merged 1 July 2025) | Not listed |
| Hosting (public) | AWS/Azure Ireland default for EU Free/Growth; Virginia optional on higher plans | Not listed |
| Deployment | SaaS JavaScript tag; not self-hosted; not open source | Not listed |
| Commercial model | Free tier plus paid Growth, Pro, and Enterprise (see vendor site for current terms) | Event-volume Cloud subscription; free self-host CE; timed trial |
| HQ | Not listed | Edinburgh, United Kingdom |
| Legal entity | Not listed | Swetrix Ltd (SC797389) |
| Governing law | Not listed | Scotland (Terms) |
| Primary hosting | Not listed | Hetzner Online GmbH, Germany |
| License | Not listed | AGPLv3 (Community Edition) |
| Open source | Not listed | Yes — github.com/Swetrix/swetrix |
| Key capabilities | Hotjar | Swetrix |
|---|---|---|
| EU-operated (Contentsquare) | Yes | Not listed |
| Heatmaps + session replay | Yes | Not listed |
| Surveys and feedback | Yes | Not listed |
| Public B2B DPA | Yes | Not listed |
| ISO 27001 (claimed) | Yes | Not listed |
| Cookieless tracking | Not listed | Yes |
| Hetzner DE hosting | Not listed | Yes |
| Open source (AGPLv3) | Not listed | Yes |
| Self-host CE | Not listed | Yes |
| Funnels + errors + RUM | Not listed | Yes |
| Public DPA | Not listed | Yes |
Click, move, and scroll heatmaps with Attention Maps
Aggregated overlays show where visitors click, hover, and scroll. Contentsquare documents Attention Maps (engagement, not only clicks) and, on the wider platform, zone-based heatmaps that attach conversion context to page elements. Use this when a page-level bounce rate does not explain the layout. Coverage is limited to sessions the tag actually captures and to pages the recorder can reconstruct.
Session replay with claimed automatic masking
Replays mouse movement, clicks, taps, and scrolls so UX and engineering can watch a single journey. Official pages describe event-triggered recording, comments, and jump-to-replay from heatmaps or surveys. Contentsquare states that card and bank details are masked automatically. You still must suppress other personal data with blocking scripts or field exclusion. This is a browser reconstruction, not a server-side log archive.
Surveys, feedback widgets, and Engage research
On-site surveys and feedback widgets (Ask) plus user interviews and unmoderated tests (Engage). The DPA treats this as Voice of Customer. Observe and survey visitor data is hosted on AWS Ireland. Interview and user-test recordings are retained for 2 years per the DPA. Engage adds extra subprocessors (Twilio, Daily.co, Postmark, Tremendous). Response volume is plan-gated.
Funnels that open the matching recordings
Build step funnels and open sessions that converted or dropped at a step. That pairing is the reason teams keep a recorder next to GA-style charts. Advanced journey and multi-session funnel work sits on Contentsquare product analytics (Heap lineage), not on the classic Hotjar-only recorder. Funnel depth and comparison features are plan-dependent.
Error and speed context on the Contentsquare platform
The unified platform adds JavaScript error lists ranked by impact and speed analysis tied to behavior. Classic standalone Hotjar was weaker here. Full network-waterfall debugging is a platform capability. If you refuse the DXA transition you may not get this layer. Errors are only as good as what the browser tag can see.
Cookieless traffic analytics with hashed sessions
Lightweight script captures pageviews, referrers/UTMs, devices, and city-level geo without cookies or client-side storage. Per the Data Policy, IP and User-Agent are hashed in memory with a daily rotating salt; only a random session id is stored—so you get sessions without long-term cross-day visitor retention.
Funnels, custom events, and goals
Instrument signups, purchases, and other conversions as custom events; build multi-step funnels and goals in the dashboard. Useful for product and growth teams who need drop-off analysis without bolting on a second product-analytics SaaS.
Real-user performance and client error tracking
Records Web Performance API timings (TTFB, DNS, TLS, render, full page load) and optional JavaScript errors with stack/context by page and browser. Bridges marketing traffic views with engineering signals that pure pageview tools omit.
Opt-in Cloud session replays with privacy modes
Cloud projects can call startSessionReplay() to record DOM and interactions; default modes mask text/inputs. Replays are not created by ordinary pageviews—customers must enable them and own consent, masking, and page exclusions. Cloud-only versus Community Edition.
AGPLv3 open source with Docker self-host CE
Core platform is public on GitHub under GNU AGPLv3; Community Edition deploys via official Docker docs with MySQL, ClickHouse, and Redis. CE includes core analytics, events, sessions, funnels, performance, and errors—but not all Cloud extras (replays, some alerts/org/AI features).
Alerts, API, GA import, and team access
Configure alerts to email, Slack, Telegram, Discord, webhooks, or push; pull or push data via the API; import GA4 history; invite organisations with roles or share password-protected/public dashboards. Fits agencies and multi-site operators who outgrow single-user tools.
| Assurance & compliance | Hotjar | Swetrix |
|---|---|---|
| Independent security / no-logs audit | On request / NDA Vendor claims annual external penetration tests and publishes a Trust Portal with pentest reports behind access. No public independent no-logs audit (this is a recorder, not a no-logs VPN). | Not found Searched marketing, DPA, privacy, and data policy; no public independent audit PDF located. Open-source code is available for review. |
| ISO 27001 | Vendor claimed Contentsquare states it is ISO 27001 certified (also claims ISO 27017, 27018, 27701). Certificates are on the Trust Portal; not independently downloaded for this draft. | Not found No public ISO 27001 certification claim found on primary pages. |
| SOC 2 / SOC 3 | Vendor claimed Trust portal and security pages claim a SOC 2 Type II report. Report not independently downloaded. | Not found No public SOC 2/3 report found. |
| GDPR / EU data protection | Vendor claimed EU parent and contracting entity for non-Americas Hotjar Services. Public DPA, SCCs, and GDPR language. Customer is controller and must supply a lawful basis for visitor capture. | Vendor claimed UK company; public GDPR/PECR discussion in Data Policy; cookieless design with non-stored IPs for standard analytics; Hetzner DE hosting; public DPA. Optional replays may be personal data depending on configuration—customer assesses legal basis. |
| US CLOUD Act exposure (indicative) | Partial Assessment, not a vendor slogan. French parent and no known US parent, but AWS and Azure host visitor data, Content Square, Inc. and Zendesk process support data, and US regions exist. Not legal advice. | Partial No known US parent; primary analytics on Hetzner DE. Material exception: Sentry (US) processes End User error data per DPA; Privacy Policy also lists AWS and OpenRouter (US) for customer email/AI. Indicative medium exposure—not a clean bill. Not legal advice. |
| Data processing agreement (B2B) | Vendor claimed Public Contentsquare DPA incorporated by the MSA. Execution of the MSA or an order form is treated as execution of the DPA and SCCs. | Vendor claimed Public DPA at swetrix.com/dpa incorporated by Terms; acceptance by use of Service; signed copy on request. |
| EU AI Act | Not applicable Core product is analytics and replay, not an AI system sold as such. Sense AI and survey LLMs exist as optional features. Confirm AI Act role if you enable those modules. | Not applicable Core product is web analytics, not an AI system. Optional Ask AI / OpenRouter is ancillary; confirm if your deployment enables it. |
| CSA STAR | Vendor claimed Security page displays a STAR badge. Scope and level not independently verified. | Not listed |
| Considerations & known limitations | Hotjar | Swetrix |
|---|---|---|
| No longer an independent Maltese company | High Acquired in 2021 and described as merged into Contentsquare on 1 July 2025. New contracts are Contentsquare entities. A scheduled DXA transition from 18 August 2026 can move data and retire the old UI unless you elect to stay. Practical impact: vendor risk, product roadmap, and DPA counterparty are the French group, not Hotjar Ltd. | Not listed |
| US-group cloud and US support path | Medium Visitor data sits on AWS and Azure. Zendesk (USA) and Content Square, Inc. handle support. US regions are default for some geographies. Practical impact: an Ireland region does not remove US-group infrastructure from a CLOUD Act discussion. | Not listed |
| Session replay can capture extra personal data | Medium The vendor asks customers to block non-permitted personal data and claims card masking. Misconfigured tags still record inputs or on-screen PII. Practical impact: you need a suppressions review and a consent story before go-live. | Not listed |
| SaaS tag only | Low No official self-hosted or open-source edition. Practical impact: skip this product if residency rules require your own servers. | Not listed |
| Optional LLM features add extra processors | Low Sense AI and survey AI use AWS Bedrock and Azure OpenAI. Practical impact: disable those features or map their regions if procurement treats LLMs as a separate transfer. | Not listed |
| US-group subprocessors (Sentry, AWS, OpenRouter) | Not listed | Medium Primary analytics hosting is Hetzner DE, but Sentry (US) is an End User error-tracking sub-processor on the DPA, and AWS/OpenRouter appear for customer email/AI. Orgs with strict no-US-cloud rules need explicit acceptance or self-host CE to avoid those paths. |
| Session replay is opt-in and controller-owned | Not listed | Medium Cloud replays can capture DOM and inputs unless masked. Customers must enable startSessionReplay(), configure privacy modes/exclusions, and provide notices/consent where required—misconfiguration can reintroduce personal data risk that standard cookieless pageviews avoid. |
| No public ISO/SOC or third-party audit | Not listed | Medium Assurance relies on first-party policies, Hetzner infrastructure claims, and open source. Enterprise questionnaires that hard-gate on certs will stall until materials are provided under NDA or produced. |
| Cloud vs Community Edition feature gap | Not listed | Low Self-host CE is free and covers core analytics, but replays and several Cloud growth/ops features are limited or Cloud-only. Budget and feature planning must not assume feature parity. |
| Daily salt rotation limits retention metrics | Not listed | Low Cookieless design deliberately prevents classic multi-day visitor retention. Teams that need that metric class need another product or consented identity. |
When: You want session replay and heatmaps from an independent European vendor, not the Contentsquare group
Consider: Mouseflow
Danish SaaS with selectable EU or US Google Cloud residency and a public DPA.
When: You only need page or privacy-oriented analytics without replaying mouse paths and form fields
Consider: Plausible Analytics or etracker
Lighter measurement. Not a substitute for session replay.
When: You want a no-contract recorder and will accept a US vendor
Consider: Microsoft Clarity
Free Microsoft product. Different jurisdiction and contract posture than Content Square SAS.
When: You need a US-native event warehouse more than qualitative replay
Consider: Mixpanel or Amplitude
Product analytics incumbents. Pair with a recorder only if you still need heatmaps.
When: You only need minimal cookieless pageviews/referrers with the smallest possible product surface
Consider: Plausible Analytics or Simple Analytics
Swetrix adds funnels, errors, RUM, and Cloud replays; peers stay closer to pure traffic analytics.
When: You need deep on-prem control, plugins, and mature enterprise self-host packaging
Consider: Matomo (self-host or managed EU hosts such as Matomo by Stackhero)
Heavier ops and optional cookies; stronger fit for large controlled deployments.
When: You must stay inside Google advertising measurement and free GA4 ecosystem tooling
Consider: Google Analytics
Trade privacy, consent, and transfer complexity for ads integration and zero software fee.