Hotjar vs VWO vs Optimizely: Which Do You Actually Need?

Updated 28 October 2026

What is the difference between Hotjar, VWO and Optimizely?

Hotjar shows you what visitors do, through heatmaps, recordings and surveys. VWO and Optimizely run experiments that prove which version of a page converts better. In 2026 the names have shifted: Hotjar is now sold as Contentsquare, and VWO as Wingify. Pick by your question: "why?" needs Hotjar, "which version wins?" needs a testing tool.

These three names come up together because most conversion programmes need both halves: a way to see problems and a way to prove fixes. But they are not three versions of the same product, and two of them now sell under a different brand from the one most older comparisons describe. This guide compares them as they are sold on 28 October 2026, using each vendor's own pricing pages. If you are weighing Hotjar against an audit tool rather than a testing tool, see Croopt vs Hotjar.

Key Takeaways

• Hotjar is a behaviour analytics tool; VWO and Optimizely are experimentation platforms. Choose by the question you need answered, not by brand.
• New users can no longer create Hotjar accounts. Contentsquare, which owns Hotjar, offers a free plan with up to 200,000 sessions a month and a paid Growth plan from $39 a month on yearly billing.
• VWO and AB Tasty now operate under one brand, Wingify. Neither Wingify nor Optimizely publishes list prices, so you need a quote from each.
• Testing only pays off when a page gets enough traffic and conversions to reach a reliable result. Below that, fix the obvious problems first.

Jump to: the verdict · who sells them now · A/B tests in Hotjar · VWO vs Optimizely pricing · Hotjar vs VWO · Hotjar and Optimizely · VWO vs Optimizely · traffic for testing · which you need.

The verdict: one sentence per tool

1. Hotjar (now Contentsquare): of these three, the cheapest way to see where visitors click, scroll and get stuck, with a free plan large enough for most small sites.
2. VWO (now Wingify): an all-in-one platform for teams that want A/B testing and behaviour analytics from one vendor, with a 30-day free trial before you talk to sales.
3. Optimizely: an enterprise experimentation platform for teams that test across web pages, product features and server-side code, sold only by custom quote.

Sources: Contentsquare pricing, Wingify pricing, Optimizely plans and Optimizely Experimentation, retrieved 28 October 2026. Contentsquare shows prices in US dollars and bills Growth plans for European customers, including the UK, in euros.

Who sells Hotjar and VWO now?

Two of the three tools now sit under a different brand. If you search for Hotjar or VWO today, you land on Contentsquare or Wingify, and the plans you can buy have changed. That matters because older comparisons quote plans and prices that no longer exist.

Hotjar is now Contentsquare

Hotjar's website now redirects to a Contentsquare page that says "Hotjar is now Contentsquare" and that "it's no longer possible to create a new account on Hotjar." New users sign up for Contentsquare instead. The heatmaps, session recordings and surveys that made Hotjar popular are still there, inside Contentsquare's Experience Analytics plans.

The free plan on Contentsquare's pricing page covers up to 200,000 monthly sessions, with one month of data access and one project. There is a catch for recordings: the free plan captures replays for 5% of sessions, up to a maximum of 10,000. The Growth plan starts at 7,000 monthly sessions for $39 a month billed yearly, or $49 billed monthly. It keeps 13 months of analytics data and two months of session replays.

VWO is now Wingify

VWO (Visual Website Optimizer) and AB Tasty, two established testing platforms, announced on 20 January 2026 that they would combine. On 16 September 2026 they unveiled Wingify as the single brand for the combined business, which reports more than $100 million in revenue and 4,000+ customers. The vwo.com homepage now redirects to wingify.com.

The January announcement told existing VWO customers that their contracts, pricing, service levels and support would stay the same. For a new buyer, "VWO" now means Wingify's products, such as Web Experimentation & Rollout and Behavior Analytics.

Can Hotjar run A/B tests?

Not on the plans most Hotjar users would buy. Contentsquare's Free and Growth plans, the successors to Hotjar's plans, do not list A/B testing. "A/B testing & outcomes analysis" appears only on the custom-priced Pro and Enterprise plans of Contentsquare's Experience Platform.

Contentsquare's experimentation page says those tests are built inside the product: you change the page with a visual or prompt editor, set the audience, traffic split and metrics, then go live. So if you already pay for Pro or Enterprise, you may not need a separate testing tool. If you are on Free or Growth, you will need one, and the next sections compare the two main options.

Is VWO cheaper than Optimizely?

There is no public answer, because neither vendor publishes list prices. Wingify's pricing page says it offers "custom pricing tailored to your needs", based on traffic, the products and plans you choose, and implementation scope. Optimizely's plans page asks every buyer to request a custom quote.

What you can compare is how each one charges and how easily you can try it:

To compare real cost, ask both vendors to quote the same thing: your monthly visitors, the number of tests you expect to run, and whether you need server-side testing and session recordings. Then compare the quotes line by line. Sources for this table: Wingify pricing and Optimizely plans, retrieved 28 October 2026. Our list of the best conversion rate optimization tools includes cheaper options if neither quote fits your budget.

Hotjar vs VWO: which do you need?

Choose Hotjar (Contentsquare) if you do not yet know what is wrong with a page. Choose VWO (Wingify) if you already have a list of changes and want to prove which ones lift conversion. The two answer different questions, which is why many teams use both.

The two vendors limit recordings in different ways. Wingify's pricing page caps how many recordings you can save and how long you keep data: 100 saved recordings and one month on Behavior Analytics Growth, rising to 1,000 and three months on Enterprise. Contentsquare instead limits the share of sessions it records, and its Growth plan keeps replays for two months. If recordings are your main need, ask each vendor how many you can watch and keep each month.

Do Hotjar and Optimizely work together?

Yes, on paid plans. Contentsquare's pricing table lists integrations with Optimizely, AB Tasty and Kameleoon on the Growth, Pro and Enterprise plans, but not on the free plan. The aim of that pairing is to look at visitor behaviour alongside test results, so check with Contentsquare what each integration covers before you rely on it.

Hotjar vs Optimizely is less a choice than a pairing. Optimizely's own experimentation page describes multivariate tests, bandits, a visual editor for web tests and server-side control. Its plans page does not list heatmaps or session recordings. To see how visitors behave in each version of an Optimizely test, you need a separate behaviour tool; Contentsquare's integration is one documented route.

VWO vs Optimizely: which should you test with?

Choose VWO (Wingify) if your marketing or growth team runs most tests on web pages and wants recordings in the same platform. Choose Optimizely if product and engineering teams also test features and back-end changes, and you want testing tied to a content management system and warehouse analytics.

Both cover the core methods. Wingify lists A/B and split URL testing, with multivariate testing from its Pro plan, plus separate feature experimentation. Optimizely's plans page lists "A/B, multi-page, feature and server-side testing", a "proprietary Stats Engine" and warehouse-native analytics. The practical differences are in who will run the tests and how you buy: Wingify lets you start a trial today, while Optimizely starts with a sales conversation.

Do you have enough traffic to A/B test?

Only if the page you want to test gets enough conversions to tell a real difference from noise within a few weeks. A test on a page with a handful of sales a week can run for months without a clear winner. Before you buy a testing tool, put your real traffic and conversion rate into a sample size calculator.

If the numbers don't work, you can still improve the page. Fix clear problems first, such as a vague headline, a hidden call to action or surprise costs, and use behaviour data to check visitors respond as expected. Our guide to A/B testing best practices covers how to plan tests once you have the traffic.

Which do you actually need?

For most small sites, a sensible order is a behaviour tool first and a testing tool later. Start with what you can see for free, fix the obvious issues, then add testing when a page has the traffic to support it.

None of these tools tells you what to change before you have data. An AI CRO audit reads a page as published and lists the conversion problems to fix or test first, even on a page with no traffic yet. Run a Croopt audit on your page to get that list, then use Hotjar, VWO or Optimizely to check that the changes worked.

Sources and author

• Contentsquare, Hotjar is now Contentsquare, retrieved 28 October 2026. Used for the Hotjar brand change, the end of new Hotjar accounts and the free plan's session allowance.
• Contentsquare, Pricing, retrieved 28 October 2026 (the former hotjar.com/pricing address redirects here). Used for plan names, prices, session limits, replay capture, data access, A/B testing availability and integrations.
• Contentsquare, Experimentation, retrieved 28 October 2026. Used for how Contentsquare A/B tests are created.
• Wingify, VWO and AB Tasty join forces, 20 January 2026, retrieved 28 October 2026. Used for the combination announcement and the commitment to existing VWO customers.
• PR Newswire via TechNode Global, AB Tasty and VWO Unite Under Wingify, 16 September 2026, retrieved 28 October 2026. Used for the Wingify brand launch, revenue and customer figures.
• Wingify, Pricing, retrieved 28 October 2026 (the former vwo.com/pricing address redirects here). Used for products, plan tiers, pricing basis, free trial and Behavior Analytics limits.
• Optimizely, Plans and pricing and Experimentation, retrieved 28 October 2026. Used for products, testing methods and the custom-quote model.

Kieron Bertani is the founder of Croopt, the conversion audit tool recommended in this article, and writes about conversion rate optimisation. This article and its hero illustration were created with AI assistance. It compares the tools using their vendors' published information; it does not report first-hand testing, and the "best for" judgements are editorial. For corrections or product questions, contact Croopt support.