Contentsquare vs LiveSession (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Contentsquare grades higher than LiveSession: 2.8 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Contentsquare grades higher on value for money, the free plan and features. They get the same grade on ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Contentsquare
Heatmaps, session replays and surveys, formerly sold as Hotjar
LiveSession
Session replay, heatmaps and product analytics for web apps
Which one is for you
Pick Contentsquare if
- Fits if you're a marketer who wants to see where visitors click and scroll
- Works for small sites that fit in 200k sessions and don't need every visit recorded
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want every visit recorded for free, which Clarity does
- Pricey if you want lots of survey answers, as more than 100 a month is a plan from $79 a month
- Tight if you're on Growth, which records only 15% of sessions and starts at 7k sessions for $39 a month
- Watch out: recording every session, APIs, alerts and form analysis need Pro or Enterprise, priced through sales
- Watch out: the free plan keeps 1 month of data for 1 project, and new Hotjar accounts can't be created
Pick LiveSession if
- Fits if you want to watch real sessions on a site with under 1,000 visits a month
- Works for support teams that want replays inside Intercom or Zendesk
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're staying free: 1,000 sessions a month and 1 month of data
- Too light for dashboards, custom events or Slack alerts on Basic, as those are Pro
- Pricey if your traffic grows, because the price follows recorded sessions up to 150,000 a month
- Watch out: the listed prices are the annually billed ones
How we grade them
| 2.8GPAContentsquareGood | 2.2GPALiveSessionFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | B$0: the free plan covers up to 200k sessions, so a 10,000-visitor site fits, but it records only 5% of visits. Recording more starts with Growth at $39 a month billed yearly for just 7k sessions, fewer than this site has. Graded against Clarity, which records everything free, that's a B. | C$54 a month for 5,000 sessions on Basic, billed annually. That sits in the middle of what analytics tools charge, and Pro is $83 for 10,000. |
| Free plan and trial | BFree forever up to 200k sessions, with heatmaps, funnels, error monitoring and basic surveys, enough for one person to run on. The limits: 5% of sessions recorded, up to 10k, 1 project and 1 month of data. | CFree plan with 1,000 sessions a month, 3 team members and 2 projects. Data is kept for 1 month, so a normal site hits the limit quickly. |
| Features | BHeatmaps, attention maps, replays, funnels, journeys, error and Core Web Vitals monitoring, surveys and Sense AI summaries. That's the whole experience analytics job, though Free and Growth record only a share of visits and APIs need Pro. | CSession replay, heatmaps, clickmaps and funnels. Dashboards, custom events and Slack alerts are missing from Basic. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. A snippet starts the heatmaps and replays, but Hotjar now sits inside Contentsquare's bigger platform, new users sign up there, and journeys, projects and surveys take some learning. | CNo store rating on record. You add a tracking script and set up projects and funnels yourself. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with no desktop or phone app. It connects to Google Analytics, Jira, HubSpot, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Unbounce, Optimizely and AB Tasty, and AI assistants can plug in through MCP on every plan. | BWeb only, but it links to Intercom, Zendesk, LiveChat, Sentry, Shopify, Zapier, Segment and Slack. |
| Best for | heatmaps and replays of a marketing site | session replay for small sites |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Contentsquare and LiveSession. How we grade
Price against what you get
Contentsquare starts at $39 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. LiveSession starts at $54 a month and scores 2.3.
Contentsquare scores higher and starts $15 a month lower. Of the other website and product analytics tools on the chart, none scores higher than Contentsquare for less, and 13 score higher than LiveSession for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Contentsquare also covers surveys.
- LiveSession also covers reports and dashboards.
At a glance
| Contentsquare | LiveSession | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $39 per month for up to 7k sessions, billed yearly ($49 billed monthly) | $54 per month for 5,000 sessions, billed annually |
| Free plan | Free forever: up to 200k sessions a month with replays of 5% of them (max 10k), heatmaps, funnels, error monitoring, basic surveys, 1 project and 1 month of data. | 1,000 sessions a month, 3 team members and 2 projects, with session replay, heatmaps and funnels. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Contentsquare | LiveSession Sp. z o.o. |
| Price read from | contentsquare.com | livesession.io |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Contentsquare
- New Hotjar accounts can no longer be created; new users sign up for Contentsquare, and existing Hotjar users log in there.
- Free and Growth record only a share of sessions (5% up to 10k, and 15%); recording every session needs Pro or Enterprise.
- Surveys beyond 100 responses a month are a separate Voice of Customer plan starting at $79 a month.
- APIs, alerts, form analysis and Adobe Analytics integration need Pro or Enterprise, priced through sales.
LiveSession
- The free plan stops at 1,000 sessions a month and keeps data for 1 month.
- Pricing follows recorded sessions; Basic runs up to 15,000 and Pro up to 150,000 per month.
- Pro features such as dashboards, custom events and Slack alerts are not on Basic.
- Monthly billing is offered on Free, Basic and Pro; the listed prices are the annually billed ones.
Key features
Contentsquare
- Heatmaps and attention maps
- Shows where visitors click, hover and scroll, with attention maps for engagement; zone heatmaps and side-by-side comparisons start on Growth.
- Session replays
- Replays of real visits to spot struggles and errors. Free records 5% of sessions and Growth 15%; Pro and Enterprise can record all of them.
- Funnels and journeys
- Funnels on every plan show where people drop off; Growth links funnels to replays and adds journey analysis and impact estimates.
- Error and performance monitoring
- Catches JavaScript errors and shows Core Web Vitals and how slow pages affect behavior, included on the free plan.
- Sense AI
- AI summaries of heatmaps and replays and a chat for questions about your data on Growth and up; every plan can connect AI assistants through MCP.
- Surveys and feedback
- Feedback widgets and surveys tied to replays, sold as Voice of Customer: 100 responses a month free, more from $79 a month.
LiveSession
- Session replay
- Recordings of mouse movement, clicks and scrolling, with filters, tags, rage and error click flags, and skip-inactivity playback.
- Heatmaps and clickmaps
- Heatmaps and clickmaps show where visitors click and scroll. They are included on every plan, including the free one.
- Funnels, metrics and dashboards
- Funnels track drop-off between steps. The free plan allows 1 funnel and Basic allows 2; metrics and dashboards open up on Pro.
- Developer tools
- Console logs, network requests and errors attached to each session, for debugging. Listed as a core feature on all plans.
- Integrations for support
- Replays can be linked from Intercom, Zendesk, LiveChat and Sentry, and sent to tools like Google Analytics and Segment.
- Privacy controls
- Content masking hides sensitive page elements from recordings. The vendor states GDPR and CCPA compliance.
Plans
Contentsquare
Free$0
Up to 200k monthly sessions, 5% recorded, 1 month of data, 1 project, 7 integrations and an MCP connection for AI assistants.
Growth$39
per month for up to 7k sessions, billed yearly ($49 billed monthly)
13 months of data, 3 projects, zone heatmaps, journeys, Sense AI chat; 15% of sessions recorded. $409 a month at 100k sessions, billed monthly.
ProCustom
Sold through sales: up to 6 projects, up to 100% of sessions recorded, APIs, alerts, form analysis, revenue attribution.
EnterpriseCustom
Sold through sales: unlimited projects, real-time error troubleshooting, synthetic monitoring, A/B testing analysis, SLAs.
LiveSession
Free$0
1,000 sessions a month with 1 month of data retention, session replay, heatmaps, funnels, filters and segments.
Basic$54
per month for 5,000 sessions, billed annually
Scales up to 15,000 sessions. Unlimited projects and members, session sharing and segment notifications. Price rises with sessions.
Pro$83
per month for 10,000 sessions, billed annually
Scales up to 150,000 sessions. Adds dashboards and metrics, developer tools, Slack alerts, user identification and custom events.
EnterpriseCustom
From 100,000 sessions, with custom retention up to 12 months, custom paperwork, product training and priority support.
Ways to pay less
Contentsquare
- Annual discount
Save 20% with yearly billing
Paying yearly saves 20%: Growth at 7k sessions is $39 a month instead of $49.
LiveSession
- Startups
50% off the first year for startups
The startup program page lists a 50% first-year discount for companies less than 2 years old, by application.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Contentsquare or LiveSession?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Contentsquare is cheaper to start with: $39 a month, against $54 a month for LiveSession. Contentsquare starts at $39 per month for up to 7k sessions, billed yearly ($49 billed monthly), and LiveSession starts at $54 per month for 5,000 sessions, billed annually.
Which has a free plan, Contentsquare or LiveSession?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Contentsquare and LiveSession have a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.