Fullstory vs Contentsquare vs Clarity

If you are evaluating Hotjar for a new B2B lead journey project, start with the naming change: Hotjar says it is now Contentsquare, and new Hotjar accounts are no longer available. Fullstory, Contentsquare, and Microsoft Clarity all provide ways to inspect sessions, but their documented paths from a replay to a useful decision differ. Fullstory explicitly connects forms and funnels to CRM context; Contentsquare groups replay with funnel and error tools; Clarity emphasizes recordings, heatmaps, masking, and a free entry point.✓ 1 3 4

• For a CRM-linked investigation: start by testing Fullstory's documented session-to-CRM connection with a lead whose identity you already have.✓ 1
• For a broader behavior workspace: test Contentsquare's replay, funnels, and error view together, especially if your team originally searched for Hotjar.✓ 3
• For a free recording baseline: use Clarity to observe where visitors pause, then check masking and retention before inviting a wider team.✓ 4 5 6

3 replay choices at a glance

The table is a set of evaluation prompts grounded in the vendors' descriptions. It does not assert that any tool identifies an anonymous visitor, that a listed integration is enabled on every plan, or that a session explains a lead's intent. Use a known test contact and a controlled form journey when assessing CRM handoff.✓ 1 3 6

Fullstory: connect form friction to known lead context

Fullstory's marketing page explicitly combines Heatmaps, Session Replay, and Conversion Funnels to inspect forms and funnels. It also says teams can tie sessions to a CRM and a marketing automation platform. For a B2B team, that makes the useful test concrete: submit a test lead, locate the session that covered the form, and verify what an authorized CRM user can actually see. The vendor describes the connection; your pilot should confirm the permissions and identity match in your own setup.✓ 1

Fullstory's replay page also describes one-click summaries and says its AI can summarize part of a session. Treat that as a triage aid. A summary may help a reviewer decide which recording deserves attention, while the recording remains the place to inspect an actual hesitation or form interaction. Have a reviewer compare the summary with the same underlying session before using it to prioritize a page fix.✓ 2

The Fullstory privacy question comes before recording any sensitive lead form. Its page says teams can choose the privacy level for desktop or mobile experiences. In a pilot, list the fields and pages that should be hidden, perform a test submission, and review the resulting replay with the same access level the team would use in production. That exercise tests the configured result without assuming every form is safe by default.✓ 2

Where Fullstory falls short for this decision

The pages reviewed document capabilities, not a complete guarantee about a specific CRM integration, contract, or implementation. A team that needs one simple recording view may find that the most important work is confirming the CRM link rather than evaluating every analytics feature. The vendor's funnel description offers a way to spot where users go off track, but a useful lead journey study still needs a clear definition of the form step and a human review of the replay.✓ 1 2

Migration difficulty

If you already collect form submissions elsewhere, map a known test lead to the relevant web session, then check how a marketer and a salesperson each find it. Record which identifier is used and whether a masked field stays hidden in the replay. This is a suggested acceptance test based on Fullstory's documented CRM connection and privacy controls, not a claim about automatic setup.✓ 1 2

Contentsquare: what a Hotjar buyer now gets

The vendor's current Hotjar page says plainly that Hotjar is now Contentsquare. It also says a new Hotjar account cannot be created; new users are directed to Contentsquare. That is the first decision point for a team comparing an older Hotjar review with today's products. Ask whether your existing Hotjar workflow is being migrated, or whether you are buying the current Contentsquare product from scratch.✓ 3

The page says Contentsquare Free can capture up to 200,000 sessions per month and lists attention maps, funnels, and error monitoring. It also describes replaying real user sessions and visualizing drop-off at each step of a key flow. Together, these are useful for investigating a lead form: first locate the step where users leave, then inspect a relevant recording and look for a visible problem. The session limit is a vendor statement from the page checked on October 12, 2026; confirm current plan terms before procurement.✓ 3

Contentsquare also advertises AI summaries of heatmaps and recordings. That can help a reviewer scan a large set of sessions, but the practical question is whether the summary points to a replay your team can inspect. In a trial, compare the summarized behavior with the actual form journey and keep the resulting issue description specific, such as a failed control or confusing step observed on screen.✓ 3

Where Contentsquare falls short for this decision

A comparison labeled Hotjar can now send a new buyer to the wrong product expectations. The vendor's page includes both old Hotjar and current Contentsquare information. Use the current Contentsquare plan table and an actual trial to confirm the capture allowance and available workflow. Do not assume an older Hotjar tutorial describes the product a new account receives today.✓ 3

Migration difficulty

For an existing Hotjar team, write down the recordings, funnels, and review habits people rely on today. Test the same journey in Contentsquare and check whether the team can locate a recording from the funnel view and understand an error in context. For a new team, the first step is simpler: evaluate Contentsquare as the current destination for Hotjar searches.✓ 3

Microsoft Clarity: a recording baseline with privacy details to check

Microsoft presents Clarity as free forever. Its site says session recordings help reveal where visitors get stuck, Highlights surfaces key moments, and heatmaps show where users click, scroll, and drop off. That is enough to frame a useful first study: choose one landing page and one form path, then examine the same page through a heatmap and a small group of relevant recordings. Keep the observation separate from any claim that the replay identifies a company or proves intent.✓ 4

Clarity's documentation says sensitive content is masked by default and that masked content is not uploaded. It also says changes to masking apply only to new recordings and may take up to an hour to appear. Before inviting colleagues to review lead journeys, submit a test form and check the resulting recording after the settings have taken effect. Changing a setting later will not repair a recording already captured.✓ 5

Clarity's retention page says playback data lasts 30 days, while labeled or favorited sessions last 9 months. Its FAQ says missing explicit cookie consent can affect funnel tracking and session recordings. Those constraints shape the review cadence. Decide who will check recordings within that window, and confirm that the consent state used in a test matches the state of visitors whose journey you intend to inspect.✓ 6 7

Where Clarity falls short for this decision

The official pages reviewed here establish recordings, heatmaps, masking, retention, and consent behavior. They do not establish a CRM contact timeline comparable to the connection Fullstory describes. If your decision depends on a known lead's record opening the correct replay, make that a separate proof task rather than inferring it from Clarity's recordings. The ordinary 30-day playback window makes a monthly or slower review cycle worth testing carefully; labeled or favorited sessions have a stated 9-month window.✓ 4 6

Migration difficulty

Start with a single test page, inspect its masking, and ask two reviewers to find the same moment in a recording and a heatmap. Then repeat with the consent settings that apply to your visitors. This checks the basics before a wider rollout and avoids treating an incomplete journey as a product defect.✓ 4 5 7

How we researched this comparison

We read original Fullstory marketing and replay pages, the current vendor page explaining the Hotjar-to-Contentsquare change, Microsoft's Clarity product page, and Microsoft's masking, retention, and FAQ documentation on October 12, 2026. The comparison uses the vendors' own descriptions to build a practical test plan. It makes no cross-vendor speed, conversion, or accuracy claim. Product details and plan limits can change, so a buyer should check the live plan table and reproduce the chosen workflow with their own pages and permissions.✓ 1 3 5

FAQ