Hotjar Surveys vs Lookback

Compare Hotjar Surveys and Lookback on pricing, features, platforms, and ratings — both Surveys tools, Freemium vs Subscription pricing to decide which fits…

At a Glance

 Hotjar SurveysLookback
Primary categorySurveysSurveys
RatingNot documentedNot documented
Pricing modelFreemiumSubscription
Starting priceFree (20 responses/month); paid plans from approximately EUR 48/month$299/year
Free planYesNot documented
Free trialYesYes
PlatformsWebWeb, iOS, Android
Team collaborationNot documentedNot documented
AI featuresYesYes
Public APIYesNot documented

Pricing Compared

Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.

Hotjar Surveys

Basic — Free Monthly
Plus — Approximately EUR 48/month Monthly or annual
Business — Approximately EUR 64/month Monthly or annual
Scale — Approximately EUR 128/month Monthly or annual

Lookback

Freelance — $299/year Annual
Team — $1,782/year Annual
Insights Hub — $4,122/year Annual
Enterprise — Custom (contact sales) Annual

Pros & Cons

Hotjar Surveys

Pros

  • Free tier with no credit card required, offering up to 20 responses per month
  • Deep integration with Hotjar's heatmaps and session recordings for combined quantitative and qualitative insight
  • No-code builder makes it accessible to marketing and product teams without developer support
  • Flexible distribution via on-site widget, link, or email
  • Large existing respondent network drawn from Hotjar's 1.3 million-plus website install base

Cons

  • Free tier's 20-response monthly cap is limiting for anything beyond small-scale testing
  • Historically priced as a separate subscription from Hotjar's Observe product, adding cost complexity
  • Less advanced branching and logic than dedicated survey specialists like Typeform
  • Support is largely ticket-based with multi-day response times
  • Pricing is in transition as Hotjar migrates to unified Contentsquare plans, creating some uncertainty for new buyers

Lookback

Pros

  • Captures face and voice reactions alongside screen behavior, not just screen recordings
  • Supports both live moderated and asynchronous unmoderated research in one platform
  • Session-based annual pricing lets independent researchers access the tool for a relatively low entry cost
  • Guest access broadens research visibility to non-researcher stakeholders
  • Built-in participant recruitment panel simplifies sourcing research subjects

Cons

  • Session-based pricing plus per-participant and incentive management fees can add up for high-volume research programs
  • Entry Freelance plan is limited to a single seat, restricting collaboration
  • Company is relatively small compared to larger competitors like UserTesting
  • Enterprise-grade security and compliance features are reserved for the top two tiers
  • Pay-as-you-go participant sourcing at 49 dollars each is priced at a premium versus buying in bulk

Use Cases

Hotjar Surveys

  • In-context website feedback — Teams trigger on-site survey widgets based on visitor behavior to capture feedback about specific pages or flows while intent is fresh.
  • Post-purchase and NPS surveys — Ecommerce and SaaS teams send email-based surveys to gather satisfaction scores and open-ended feedback after a purchase or key interaction.
  • Combined behavior and feedback analysis — Growth teams pair survey responses with heatmap and session recording data from the same visitors to understand both what happened and why.

Lookback

  • Moderated usability interviews — UX researchers run live video sessions with participants, guiding them through tasks while observing facial reactions and verbal feedback in real time.
  • Unmoderated concept and usability testing — Teams deploy SelfTest studies to a broader participant pool to validate a design or concept asynchronously without scheduling live sessions.
  • Stakeholder research visibility — Non-researcher stakeholders use guest access to watch live sessions or review highlight reels, building shared understanding of user pain points across the organization.

Read the full Hotjar Surveys review · Read the full Lookback review