Contentsquare vs Matomo
We give Contentsquare a 2.8 GPA and Matomo a 2.4, out of 4.0. Contentsquare grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features, 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
Matomo
Open-source web analytics you can host yourself or in Matomo's cloud
How we grade them
| 2.8GPAContentsquareGood | 2.4GPAMatomoFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | C100,000 pageviews puts Cloud Business at $42 a month billed monthly ($26 covers 50,000 hits), rising to $204 at 1M. Yearly billing takes off two months. That's mid-category. The free edition only counts if you host it. |
| Free plan and trial | BFree forever up to 200k sessions, with heatmaps, funnels, error monitoring and basic surveys, so one person can live on it. The limits: 5% of sessions recorded, up to 10k, 1 project and 1 month of data. | CThe self-hosted Community edition is free forever with unlimited users and hits, but you need your own server and get forum support only. The cloud has a free trial with no card, length not stated. |
| 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. | BTraffic, campaigns, ecommerce, goals and visitor profiles without sampling, plus heatmaps, recordings, A/B tests, funnels and a tag manager on Cloud Business. That's the whole job in one. On your own server those extras are paid plugins. |
| 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 rating on record. The cloud is a snippet, but the reports run as deep as Google Analytics', so there's learning to do. Self-hosting means running the server, updates and backups 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, no desktop or phone app. It has HTTP analytics and tracking APIs, log file analytics, a Google Analytics importer and plugins for WordPress and WooCommerce. A short list of integrations, but the APIs fill the gap. |
| Best for | heatmaps and replays of a marketing site | owning your analytics data outright |
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 Matomo. 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. Matomo starts at $26 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Matomo starts $13 a month lower. Of the other website and product analytics tools on the chart, none scores higher than Contentsquare for less, and none scores higher than Matomo 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 starts at $39 per month for up to 7k sessions, billed yearly ($49 billed monthly). Matomo starts at $26 per month for up to 50,000 hits, billed monthly (Cloud Business).
- Matomo is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Contentsquare also covers surveys.
- Matomo also covers a/B testing.
At a glance
| Contentsquare | Matomo | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $39 per month for up to 7k sessions, billed yearly ($49 billed monthly) | $26 per month for up to 50,000 hits, billed monthly (Cloud Business) |
| 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. | Matomo On-Premise Community: free forever and open source, hosted on your own server, with unlimited users and hits, all base features and forum support. |
| Free trial | None listed | Free trial of Matomo Cloud with all core features, no credit card; length not stated |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Contentsquare | Matomo |
| Price read from | contentsquare.com | matomo.org |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Contentsquare
- Marketers and designers who want to see how visitors use a page
- Former Hotjar users moving to the Contentsquare plans
- Small sites that fit in the free 200k-session allowance
Matomo
- Organizations that must keep analytics data on their own servers
- Public sector and EU sites with strict privacy rules
- Teams leaving Google Analytics that want similar depth
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.
Matomo
- Self-hosted premium bundles are priced in euros only; Cloud shows dollar prices to US visitors.
- On your own server, heatmaps, session recordings, funnels and A/B testing are paid plugins or bundles, not part of the free edition.
- Cloud Business caps you at 30 websites, 30 team members and 24 months of raw data; more needs Cloud Enterprise.
- Self-hosting means you run the server, updates and backups yourself, with forum support only on the free edition.
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.
Matomo
- Full web analytics without sampling
- Traffic, campaigns, ecommerce, events, site search, visitor maps and visitor profiles, with report data kept forever and no data sampling.
- Data ownership and privacy
- Data stays on your own servers or in Matomo Cloud in Frankfurt, with a GDPR manager and privacy options for what is collected.
- Heatmaps and session recordings
- Included in Cloud Business and, for self-hosters, in the Team bundle and above; also sold as a separate plugin.
- A/B testing, funnels and forms
- A/B tests, conversion funnels, user flows and form analytics come with Cloud Business; on your own server they are premium plugins or bundles.
- Google Analytics importer and APIs
- Imports historical Google Analytics data, and offers HTTP Analytics and Tracking APIs plus log file analytics.
- Tag manager
- A built-in tag manager (30 containers on Cloud Business) to add and manage tracking codes without editing the site.
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.
Matomo
Community (On-Premise)$0
Free self-hosted edition you run yourself: unlimited users and hits, base features and community plugins, forum support.
Cloud Business$26
per month for up to 50,000 hits, billed monthly
Hosted in Germany: 30 sites, 30 users, 24 months of raw data, heatmaps, recordings, A/B tests, funnels. $42 a month at 100,000 hits, $204 at 1M.
Team (On-Premise)€230
per month, billed annually (€275 billed monthly)
Self-hosted plugin bundle for up to 4 users and 5M hits a month: heatmaps and recordings, funnels, custom reports, email support.
Business (On-Premise)€1,209
per month, billed annually (€1,450 billed monthly)
Up to 20 users and 30M hits a month. Adds cohorts, multi-channel attribution, roll-up reporting, activity log and white label.
Enterprise (On-Premise)€2,834
per month, billed annually (€3,400 billed monthly)
Up to 50 users and 100M hits a month, A/B testing, a customer success manager, onboarding and chat support.
Cloud EnterpriseCustom
Sold through sales for larger sites: custom allowances and raw data retention, email support and a customer success manager.
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.
Matomo
- Annual discount
2 months free with annual billing
Matomo Cloud billed annually costs 10 times the monthly price, a 17% saving; the self-hosted bundles are also about 17% cheaper billed annually.
- Nonprofit
Discount for eligible nonprofits
Matomo says eligible nonprofit organizations and charities may receive a discount; they contact the team to learn more.
