Compare Hotjar and Wide Angle Analytics 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.
Germany· Web Analytics
Needs review
Do not shortlist Wide Angle for new multi-year analytics: the vendor is winding the product down by end of August 2026. Existing customers should migrate using the promised data snapshot. For new EU privacy-analytics shortlists prefer Plausible, Pirsch, Simple Analytics, or Piwik PRO; keep Matomo-class stacks when self-host control is mandatory.
Highlighted rows differ between the two products.
| Feature | Hotjar | Wide Angle Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| Country of origin | France | Germany |
| Category | Web Analytics | Web Analytics |
| Open source | No | No |
| Self-hosted | No | No |
| Headquarters | France | Germany |
| Legal entity | Content Square SAS, Paris (EU Hotjar contractor). Historical Hotjar Ltd Malta merged 1 July 2025. | Input Objects GmbH, Scharnhorststraße 24, 10115 Berlin, Germany |
| 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. | Visitor analytics: OVHcloud limited to FR/DE (vendor). Account path: Paddle (payments), Brevo email/automation, Infomaniak; older vendor post notes Brevo/Sendinblue encrypted DR involving AWS/GCP. No known US corporate 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. | German cookieless-by-default web analytics SaaS (Input Objects GmbH, OVHcloud FR/DE). Product announced for discontinuation end of August 2026—prefer living EU peers for new deployments. |
| Tags |
| At a glance | Hotjar | Wide Angle Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| 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/site SaaS tiers + 14-day trial (see official pricing) |
| HQ | Not listed | Berlin, Germany (Input Objects GmbH) |
| Product launch | Not listed | November 2021 |
| Hosting (visitor path) | Not listed | OVHcloud France & Germany (vendor-stated) |
| Open source | Not listed | No |
| Self-host | Not listed | No |
| Status | Not listed | Discontinuing end of August 2026 |
| Key capabilities | Hotjar | Wide Angle Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| 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 by default | Not listed | Yes |
| German GmbH (Berlin) | Not listed | Yes |
| OVHcloud FR/DE hosting | Not listed | Yes |
| SaaS only (no self-host) | Not listed | Yes |
| EOL Aug 2026 | 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 request-based sessions with daily rotating salt
Default mode hashes site + IP + User-Agent with a non-persisted daily salt (SHA-256). Same-day uniques without cookies or long-lived IDs; past sessions cannot be re-linked after salt rotation. Optional 24h cookie or canvas fingerprinting change the consent analysis.
Optional tracking modes for SPA and consent-gated detail
Enable HTTP(S)-only 24h cookies, client fingerprinting, or service-issued IDs for SPA reliability. Fingerprinting is off by default and may require consent—controllers must re-assess before enabling.
Marketer dashboards, custom events, and multi-site teams
Real-time charts for sources, pages, devices, UTM campaigns, goals, custom actions, and e-commerce revenue attribution. Higher tiers add multi-user sharing, permissions, and many sites without SQL.
CMS one-click installs and lightweight script embed
Plugins/integrations for WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Ghost, Webflow, and common JS stacks; custom sites add a script tag. Built for marketers rather than BI engineers.
OVHcloud EU regions (FR/DE) for visitor analytics path
Vendor states product hosting is limited to OVHcloud France and Germany with no end-user analytics transfer outside EU/EEA and no sale of visitor data. Account billing/email use separate subprocessors (see Trust).
| Assurance & compliance | Hotjar | Wide Angle Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| 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 independent pen-test or no-logs audit PDF found on site materials reviewed. |
| 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 certificate page found. |
| 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 German controller/processor entity; cookieless-default design; DPO named (DPO CONSULTING). Not legal advice. |
| 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 EU GmbH, no known US parent, OVH FR/DE visitor hosting; offset by Paddle and Brevo-related infrastructure (incl. encrypted AWS/GCP DR per vendor blog). Assessment row—not vendor marketing. |
| 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 Vendor blog/compliance materials state a signed DPA is offered; confirm current template with vendor. |
| 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 Web analytics product, not an AI system under typical AI Act product framing. |
| CSA STAR | Vendor claimed Security page displays a STAR badge. Scope and level not independently verified. | Not listed |
| Considerations & known limitations | Hotjar | Wide Angle Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Product end-of-life (August 2026) | Not listed | High Vendor announced discontinuation; service runs until end of August 2026 with pro-rata refunds and a vendor-prepared snapshot—not a self-service export. New deployments risk forced migration within weeks. |
| No self-host continuity path | Not listed | High SaaS-only design means the product cannot be retained on your infrastructure after shutdown. |
| Account subprocessors beyond OVH | Not listed | Medium Paddle, Brevo, Infomaniak (and historical Brevo DR via US-group clouds) affect customer-account and support data paths even if visitor analytics stay on OVH EU. |
| Optional fingerprinting/cookies | Not listed | Medium Non-default modes can reintroduce consent obligations; misconfiguration is a controller risk. |
| No public ISO/SOC/independent audit | Not listed | Medium Assurance rests on design docs, DPA, and vendor claims unless private reports are provided under NDA. |
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 a living cookieless EU SaaS analytics product
Consider: Plausible Analytics, Pirsch Analytics, or Simple Analytics
All remain active EU-oriented peers in this directory category.
When: You need self-host or deep plugin/on-prem control
Consider: Matomo (self-host or hosted peers) or Piwik PRO
Wide Angle never offered self-host and is shutting down.
When: You accept US ad-stack analytics for free depth
Consider: Google Analytics (GA4)
Different jurisdiction, cookie/consent model, and product surface—not a like-for-like privacy swap.