True cost comparison — not just what the pricing page says
Quick Verdict
Datadog saves you 5%
Best for Hotjar
Cloud monitoring and observability platform. Free for 5 hosts, then per-host pricing from $15-$23/ho
Best for Datadog
Website heatmaps and behavior analytics. Free for 35 sessions/day, then $32-$171/mo based on session
Website heatmaps and behavior analytics. Free for 35 sessions/day, then $32-$171...
Advertised
$0
/month
True Cost
$96
/month (typical)
Session Volume Hard Caps
Free: 35 sessions/day. Plus: 100/day. Business: 500/day. Scale: 2,500+/day. High-traffic sites need ...
Surveys Priced Separately
Hotjar Surveys (previously Ask) is a separate product with its own pricing tiers. Not bundled with O...
Feedback Widget Separate
Incoming feedback widget for user-initiated feedback is part of the Ask product, priced separately f...
Cloud monitoring and observability platform. Free for 5 hosts, then per-host pri...
Advertised
$0
/month
True Cost
$505
/month (typical)
Log Management Per-GB Ingestion
Log management costs $0.10/GB ingested per month. A mid-size app generating 500GB/mo of logs = $50/m...
APM Per-Host Add-On
Application Performance Monitoring is a separate product at $31/host/mo (APM) or $35/host/mo (APM + ...
Custom Metrics Overage
Each plan includes 100 custom metrics. Additional custom metrics cost $0.05/metric/mo. Apps with det...
Datadog advertises $0/mo. Hotjar advertises $0/mo.
Datadog has 3 documented hidden fees. Hotjar has 3.
Datadog confidence: 75%. Hotjar confidence: 73%.
| Metric | Hotjar | Datadog | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advertised Price | $0/mo | $0/mo | Hotjar |
| True Monthly Cost | $96/mo | $505/mo | Hotjar |
| Hidden Fee Total | +$96/mo | +$505/mo | Hotjar |
| # Hidden Fees | 3 | 3 | Hotjar |
| Confidence Score | 73% | 75% | Datadog |
| Pricing Tiers | 4 | 3 | — |
| Affiliate Program | None | None | — |
Hotjar advertises $0/mo and Datadog advertises $0/mo. However, when you include hidden fees, Hotjar has 3 documented hidden fees adding +$96/mo, while Datadog has 3 hidden fees adding +$505/mo. Based on true cost, Datadog is typically 5% cheaper.
Hotjar has 3 documented hidden fees: Session Volume Hard Caps, Surveys Priced Separately, Feedback Widget Separate. These add approximately +$96/mo on top of the $0/mo advertised price.
Datadog has 3 documented hidden fees: Log Management Per-GB Ingestion, APM Per-Host Add-On, Custom Metrics Overage. These add approximately +$505/mo on top of the $0/mo advertised price.
Choose Hotjar if: Cloud monitoring and observability platform. Free for 5 hosts, then per-host pricing from $15-$23/ho. Choose Datadog if: Website heatmaps and behavior analytics. Free for 35 sessions/day, then $32-$171/mo based on session. The right choice depends on your team size, usage volume, and which features you need most.
This comparison is based on manual research of official pricing pages, terms of service, and user reports. Hotjar data has a 73% confidence score and Datadog has 75%. Prices were last verified in April 2026. For the most accurate estimate, enter your specific usage in our calculator.
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