Microsoft Clarity vs Smartlook

Free

From $55 per month (indicative)

Free with no traffic cap. Microsoft uses aggregated data to improve its products, which is the trade you are making.

Session-based pricing; mobile sessions counted alongside web.

Everything, unlimited, at any traffic level.

Free plan with a monthly session limit.

Category standard

Microsoft · since 2020

Established

Cisco · since 2016

• No cost and no sampling at any volume — nothing else in the category comes close on price.
• Rage-click and dead-click detection surfaces real usability problems immediately.
• Easy to install and reasonable default masking of sensitive fields.

• Genuinely good native mobile replay, including Flutter and React Native.
• Always-on event tracking without pre-instrumentation.
• Reasonable pricing for mid-sized traffic.

• Data goes to Microsoft, which is a real consideration for GDPR-sensitive deployments.
• Filtering and segmentation are shallower than paid tools.
• Support is community-based and the roadmap is not yours to influence.

• Post-acquisition product direction is uncertain.
• Web analytics features are behind Hotjar and FullStory.
• Interface is less refined than the market leaders.

Almost anyone starting with session replay, and anyone whose paid tool is mainly used for basic replay.

Teams whose primary product is a native mobile app.