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Hotjar

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.

heatmapssession-replayexperience-analyticsvoice-of-customercontentsquaregdpr
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Hotjar is a behavior analytics product for websites. It records how visitors click, move, and scroll, plays those sessions back, and collects on-site surveys and feedback so product and CRO teams can see friction instead of guessing from page-view charts.

It began as a Maltese company in 2014. Contentsquare, a French experience analytics group, acquired it in 2021. Official help and legal pages now say Hotjar Ltd (Malta) merged into the Contentsquare Group on 1 July 2025. New sign-up goes to the Contentsquare platform. For Hotjar Services order forms outside the Americas, the May 2026 entity schedule names Content Square SAS in Paris as the contracting party. This page evaluates a European incumbent inside a French group, not an independent island startup and not a US switch.

The useful differentiator is a mature heatmap and replay toolkit plus a public B2B DPA and default Ireland hosting on AWS and Azure for Free and Growth visitor data. The same stack still uses US-group clouds, a New York affiliate for support, and optional US regions. Judge it as Contentsquare-owned experience analytics.

EU-operated (Contentsquare)Heatmaps + session replaySurveys and feedbackPublic B2B DPAISO 27001 (claimed)

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.

Key capabilities

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

De un vistazo

Current HQ / entity
Content Square SAS, Paris, France
Origin
Founded in Malta in 2014 (vendor history)
Ownership
Contentsquare group (acquired 2021, merged 1 July 2025)
Hosting (public)
AWS/Azure Ireland default for EU Free/Growth; Virginia optional on higher plans
Deployment
SaaS JavaScript tag; not self-hosted; not open source
Commercial model
Free tier plus paid Growth, Pro, and Enterprise (see vendor site for current terms)

Best fit when

  • UX, CRO, and product teams that need heatmaps and session replay next to existing page analytics
  • EU organisations that will accept a French group parent and Ireland hosting on AWS or Azure
  • Teams that want on-site surveys and feedback tied to the same visitor sessions
  • Buyers who prefer a published DPA and named subprocessors over a free US recorder with no contract
  • Existing Hotjar tenants planning how to stay on Hotjar Services or move to Contentsquare DXA

Poor fit when

  • Teams that require self-hosted or open-source analytics with no third-party tag
  • Procurement that forbids US-group clouds (AWS, Azure) or US support SaaS such as Zendesk
  • Sites that cannot lawfully record mouse paths and form interactions even with masking
  • Buyers who only need cookieless page counts and do not want replay
  • Organisations that need the vendor to remain an independent Maltese company

Consider instead when

  • 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.

Jurisdicción y propiedad

Entidad legal
Content Square SAS, Paris (EU Hotjar contractor). Historical Hotjar Ltd Malta merged 1 July 2025.
Matriz / control EE.UU.
Sin matriz estadounidense conocida
Exposición CLOUD Act (indicativa)
Medium
Alojamiento / residencia
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.

French parent, no known US parent. Medium CLOUD Act exposure from AWS/Azure, a US affiliate, US SaaS support, and optional US regions. Indicative only, not legal advice. Confirm the entity on your order form.

  • Independent security / no-logs auditOn request / NDA
  • ISO 27001Vendor claimed
  • SOC 2 / SOC 3Vendor claimed
  • GDPR / EU data protectionVendor claimed
  • +4

Considerations & known limitations

  • HighNo longer an independent Maltese company

    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.

  • MediumUS-group cloud and US support path

    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.

  • MediumSession replay can capture extra personal data

    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.

  • LowSaaS tag only

    No official self-hosted or open-source edition. Practical impact: skip this product if residency rules require your own servers.

  • LowOptional LLM features add extra processors

    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.

Open questions for due diligence

  • Does our live order form still name Hotjar Limited (Malta), or Content Square SAS / Content Square, Inc.?
  • What is the actual storage region on our project, and is a US region disabled?
  • Will we be auto-transitioned to Experience Analytics from 18 August 2026, and have we elected to remain on Hotjar Services if we want to?
  • Can we download current ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II reports from the Trust Portal, and does the scope include Hotjar/VoC as well as DXA?
  • Which support and AI subprocessors (Zendesk, Bedrock, Azure OpenAI) will process our tenant’s data on the plan we buy?
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Preguntas Frecuentes

Not on the current public entity schedule. Contentsquare support states that Hotjar Ltd (Malta) merged into the Contentsquare Group on 1 July 2025. The May 2026 schedule lists Content Square SAS (Paris) for Hotjar Services order forms outside the Americas, and Content Square, Inc. (New York) for the Americas. The group list no longer names Hotjar Limited. Check your live order form: older tenants may still have Hotjar Limited on paper.

Voice of Customer Observe and Surveys are listed on AWS Ireland. Experience Analytics Free and Growth visitor data is listed in Ireland on AWS and Azure. Pro and Enterprise can select Ireland or Virginia. Contentsquare says EU and Japan customers default to the EU unless instructed otherwise. US and most other APJ customers default to the US. Support still involves Zendesk (USA) and a US affiliate. Ask for your project’s actual region before you assume EU-only.

Yes. The Contentsquare DPA is public and is incorporated by the MSA, including SCCs. That is a processor contract, not a guarantee of EU-only processing. Hosting is AWS and Azure (US-group clouds). Content Square, Inc. is a support subprocessor and is described as Data Privacy Framework certified. EuropeanStack treats CLOUD Act exposure as medium: French parent, no US parent, but named US-group infrastructure and US SaaS support.

New public sign-up is Contentsquare. Official pages say heatmaps, recordings, and surveys now live there. The Hotjar service schedule allows Contentsquare to transition eligible customers to Experience Analytics from 18 August 2026, with prior notice and an option to elect to remain on Hotjar Services. If you do not elect to stay, the old UI becomes read-only for 90 days and then data is deleted. Confirm your tenant’s notice in writing.

The vendor says the product is not intended for personal data beyond permitted identifiers and behavior, and that card and bank details are masked. The MSA still requires the customer to block other personal data with scripts and configuration (inputs, prefilled HTML, keystrokes). You remain the controller and typically need consent for cookies and replay on EU sites. Do not point the tag at pages that display health, payment, or government-id data unless you have verified suppression.