Compare Hotjar and Tinylytics on capabilities, jurisdiction, assurance, and fit for European buyers.
Both listed as alternatives to: Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity
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 Tinylytics when you want cookieless page analytics plus bundled uptime/SSL/content checks for a handful of small sites, with primary data on Hetzner in Germany and founder support. Skip when you need self-host/open source, formal ISO/SOC packs, or enterprise multi-tenant governance—consider Plausible Analytics or Simple Analytics instead.
Highlighted rows differ between the two products.
| Feature | Hotjar | Tinylytics |
|---|---|---|
| Country of origin | France | United Kingdom |
| Category | Web Analytics | Web Analytics |
| Open source | No | No |
| Self-hosted | No | No |
| Headquarters | France | United Kingdom |
| Legal entity | Content Square SAS, Paris (EU Hotjar contractor). Historical Hotjar Ltd Malta merged 1 July 2025. | Vincent Ritter Consulting (service brand; terms state not separately incorporated yet) |
| Governing law | Not listed | Not clearly stated as a single governing-law clause on the public terms page; confirm contractually |
| 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. | Primary analytics storage: Hetzner Falkenstein (Germany). CDN/security: Cloudflare. Error monitoring: Sentry.io. Payments: Paddle and Lemon Squeezy (Stripe company). Optional: IPinfo geo fallback for API hits; opt-in AI Insights via xAI and Google Gemini. No public backup-provider detail beyond that stack. |
| 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. | Privacy-first cookieless web analytics for small sites, with bundled uptime/SSL checks, content monitoring, events, and founder support—hosted primarily on Hetzner in Germany. |
| Tags |
| At a glance | Hotjar | Tinylytics |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Managed SaaS only (not open source, not self-hosted) |
| Commercial model | Free tier plus paid Growth, Pro, and Enterprise (see vendor site for current terms) | Paid site-count plans; short trial; no permanent free tier |
| HQ / operator | Not listed | Vincent Ritter Consulting, United Kingdom |
| Launched | Not listed | 12 June 2023 (live counters on homepage) |
| Primary hosting | Not listed | Hetzner, Falkenstein, Germany |
| Differentiators | Not listed | Analytics + uptime/SSL/content monitoring + widgets |
| Key capabilities | Hotjar | Tinylytics |
|---|---|---|
| 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 analytics | Not listed | Yes |
| Primary host: Hetzner DE | Not listed | Yes |
| Uptime + SSL monitoring | Not listed | Yes |
| Broken-link crawls | Not listed | Yes |
| SaaS only (no self-host) | Not listed | Yes |
| Solo-founder UK | 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.
Cookie-free unique hits with rotating salts
Page views and unique hits without tracking cookies or fingerprinting. Uniques combine truncated request signals with a 12-hour rotating salt and one-way hash, reset daily at midnight UTC; visitor IPs are not stored in hits. Suited to indie sites that want trendable uniques without consent banners for analytics cookies.
Thunder Clap uptime, SSL, and domain alerts
In-house multi-region health checks (default every 10 minutes) confirm downtime before emailing, plus SSL expiry notices and domain monitoring. Ultra can shorten intervals. Replaces a separate uptime tool for small fleets—but false downs can occur if WAFs block the Tinylytics monitor user-agent.
Daily content crawl for broken links and mixed content
Subscribed sites can crawl up to 50 pages (two levels deep) on a daily cadence, flagging broken links and mixed HTTP assets on HTTPS pages, with ignore lists and re-check. Ultra adds optional AI spell-check on visible copy—keep it off if AI subprocessors are out of policy.
Attribute-based event tracking (beta)
Enable events on the embed script and mark elements with data-tinylytics-event using category.action names (optional values for downloads). No GTM required; beacon mode helps navigations. Still beta—expect API/schema changes and incomplete capture under aggressive blockers.
Public stats, kudos, hit counters, API, and webhooks
Share passcode-protected public stats, embed hit counters and kudos buttons, export CSV, call the documented API, and push signed webhooks for visits, events, and monitoring. Built for transparent blogs and light automation rather than enterprise BI warehouses.
| Assurance & compliance | Hotjar | Tinylytics |
|---|---|---|
| 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 No public third-party security or no-logs audit report found on official docs. |
| 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 ISO 27001 claim found on privacy, compliance, or hosting 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 SOC 2/3 report or claim found on public site. |
| 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 Vendor documents GDPR-oriented design (cookieless, data minimisation, EU primary host, deletion). Not independent certification. |
| 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 UK operator, no known US parent, primary host Hetzner DE; partial exposure via Cloudflare, Sentry, Lemon Squeezy/Paddle, optional IPinfo and opt-in US AI APIs. 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. | Not found No public DPA/downloadable processor agreement found; ask the vendor before B2B rollout. |
| 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 analytics/monitoring; optional AI insights are secondary and opt-in. |
| CSA STAR | Vendor claimed Security page displays a STAR badge. Scope and level not independently verified. | Not listed |
| Considerations & known limitations | Hotjar | Tinylytics |
|---|---|---|
| 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 on the data path | Not listed | Medium Cloudflare, Sentry, payment processors (incl. Lemon Squeezy/Stripe group), optional IPinfo and opt-in xAI/Gemini mean the stack is not EU-only end-to-end despite Hetzner primary storage. |
| Solo-founder operational concentration | Not listed | Medium Service is provided by Vincent Ritter Consulting / a solo developer. Support is personal and fast for indies, but bus-factor and formal SLA expectations differ from larger vendors. |
| No public ISO/SOC/audit or DPA pack | Not listed | Medium Enterprise security questionnaires will hit gaps until the vendor supplies audits and a B2B DPA under NDA or email. |
| Scale and feature boundaries | Not listed | Low Content crawls are depth/page limited; event tracking is beta; fair-usage applies to extreme hit volumes; no self-host escape hatch. |
| Optional AI shares aggregated analytics | Not listed | Low AI Insights and related AI spell-check are opt-in and send aggregated (not visitor PII per vendor) data to third-party AI providers—leave disabled under strict AI policies. |
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 need open-source and optional self-hosting of the analytics stack
Consider: Plausible Analytics
Estonian product with Cloud plus Community Edition self-host; less bundling of uptime/content monitors.
When: You want European cookieless analytics with a simpler analytics-only scope
Consider: Simple Analytics
Strong privacy positioning; compare feature depth and monitoring separately.
When: You need free-at-scale marketing analytics, ads integrations, or attribution depth
Consider: Google Analytics (incumbent) — or stay on a privacy tool if GA is disallowed
Different privacy and sovereignty profile entirely.
When: You need session replay or heatmaps and accept that privacy model
Consider: Microsoft Clarity or specialised replay tools
Tinylytics deliberately avoids fingerprinting-style session products.