Microsoft Clarity
Description
Microsoft Clarity is a completely free web analytics tool that provides comprehensive insights into user behavior through heatmaps, session recordings, and advanced analytics features. Developed by Microsoft, Clarity captures how people use websites and mobile applications, offering setup that takes minutes and immediate data collection without any cost or traffic limitations.
Clarity offers a comprehensive suite of features including always-on session recordings, instantaneous click, scroll, area, and conversion heatmaps, rage click and dead click insights, and rich segmentation with over 40 filters. The platform includes AI-powered features such as Copilot integration for session insights, group session summarization, and heatmap analysis. Smart events functionality automatically identifies important user interactions, while seamless Google Analytics integration provides deeper behavioral context.
The platform supports both web and mobile applications, with SDKs available for Android, iOS, Flutter, React Native, Ionic, and Cordova platforms. Microsoft Clarity is designed with privacy in mind, being GDPR and CCPA compliant, while maintaining minimal performance impact on websites and applications. The tool also includes a browser extension that allows users to see instant heatmaps overlaid on live sites and watch recent recordings for any page.
Microsoft’s mission with Clarity is to make behavior analytics available to everyone, from individual bloggers to Fortune 500 companies. The platform remains free because Microsoft uses the anonymous behavioral data to improve their machine learning models and enhance other Microsoft products and services, making it a strategic investment rather than a direct revenue generator.
Pros
- Completely free forever with no traffic limits
- Comprehensive feature set including heatmaps and session recordings
- AI-powered insights with Copilot integration
- Mobile app support with lightweight SDKs
- GDPR and CCPA compliant
- Easy setup and integration (setup in minutes)
- Google Analytics integration
- Browser extension for instant insights
- No performance impact on websites
- Rich segmentation with 40+ filters
- Rage click and dead click detection
Cons
- Limited customization options compared to paid alternatives
- Data stored on Microsoft servers (privacy considerations)
- No advanced enterprise features or dedicated support
- Limited data export capabilities
- Dependent on Microsoft’s continued free offering
- No API access for advanced integrations
- Limited historical data retention policies
