Microsoft Clarity

Overview

Microsoft Clarity is a behavior analytics product for teams examining how people use websites and apps. It suits organizations that want recordings, heatmaps and interaction signals without traffic-based pricing; the key trade-off is that recordings are kept for 30 days.

Heatmaps and session recordings serve different jobs: heatmaps reveal patterns across interactions, while recordings preserve individual journeys. Together with rage- and dead-click insights, they can help teams locate friction, though a short retention window may not suit teams that revisit sessions after longer planning or release cycles.

Key features

Heatmaps and recordings

Clarity offers click, scroll, area and conversion heatmaps. Views of clicks, scrolling, drop-offs and areas of focus help teams see where attention and interaction concentrate, while session recordings give those patterns individual context. Rage-click and dead-click insights draw attention to repeated or ineffective interactions, making the product more useful for diagnosing interface problems than heatmaps alone.

The practical limit is retention: recordings last 30 days. That gives teams a defined period to investigate sessions, but it is less suited to work that depends on looking back over a longer span.

Mobile, AI and integrations

Mobile capture uses an SDK for Android, iOS, Flutter and React Native. Microsoft describes setup as low-code, with minimal performance or bandwidth impact, which makes Clarity relevant to teams tracking app behavior as well as websites. AI summaries, AI chat, AI visibility and brand agents broaden the feature set; AI chat also offers product guidance. Google Analytics integration connects behavior data with analytics, and Clarity also offers an MCP server and a live browser extension.

Privacy and scale

Microsoft says it will not share user data with third parties and presents Clarity as GDPR and CCPA ready. Those commitments may matter to teams assessing a behavior analytics tool, but they do not remove the need to evaluate privacy and compliance against a particular organization's requirements. Clarity is built by Microsoft and is used by more than 2 million sites and apps globally.

Pricing

Clarity's Free plan costs nothing and includes unlimited heatmaps, websites and team members, with no traffic limits. The service is described as free forever with all features included, so teams do not have to trade core capabilities or traffic volume for the zero-cost option. No monthly session limit is stated; the stated allowance is no traffic limits.

A separate Free forever plan is described as offering all Clarity features at no cost with no traffic limits, but without a published price. For readers comparing plans, the named Free plan is the clearest fit: it has a stated price and the same no-traffic-limit positioning. A 30-day recording retention period still applies when deciding whether that free option fits an investigation workflow.

Platforms

Clarity's listed platforms are Android, iOS and an extension. Its mobile SDK supports Android, iOS, Flutter and React Native, so the mobile capture options extend beyond the platform labels. Google Analytics integration, an MCP server and a live browser extension provide additional ways to connect or work with Clarity.

Who it's for

Clarity is a strong fit for teams that need to examine website or mobile behavior across many properties and collaborators without a traffic cap or per-seat constraint in the Free plan. Product and experience teams can use heatmaps to spot broad patterns and recordings plus click insights to investigate specific friction. It is less compelling for teams that need session history beyond 30 days or are seeking longer-term replay retention.

Pros and cons

• Pros: The Free plan includes unlimited heatmaps, websites and team members, with no traffic limits, making it viable for broad use without a traffic-based ceiling.
• Pros: Click, scroll, area and conversion heatmaps pair with recordings and rage- and dead-click insights, giving teams both aggregate and session-level views.
• Pros: Mobile SDK coverage includes Android, iOS, Flutter and React Native, while Google Analytics integration links behavior data with analytics.
• Cons: Session recordings are retained for 30 days, which can constrain teams that need to revisit behavior over longer cycles.
• Cons: Clarity's privacy and compliance positioning is not a substitute for assessing whether its handling fits an organization's own requirements.

Alternatives

For a broader shortlist, see Heatmap and session replay tools, Session Recording Software, Session Replay Software and Mobile App Analytics Software.

• Crazy Egg is worth considering if its free plan's Web Analytics, Instant Heatmaps, Conversion Analytics and website Surveys better match the work; it also offers a free trial.
• Zoho PageSense may suit teams willing to work within a defined free allowance: its Forever Free plan has 5,000 monthly tracked users, one project, one month of data retention and five goals.
• Fullstory may fit teams prioritizing longer replay history: its FullstoryFree plan lists 30,000 sessions, 10 user seats and one year of session replay and product analytics retention.
• Matomo is an option for teams that prefer self-hosting: its free Community plan offers unlimited users and hits, with forum support.
• Mouseflow may suit a smaller website project, but its free plan is limited to 500 sessions per month, one website project, one conversion funnel and one month of retention.
• UXCam is another mobile-oriented option; its free plan allows 3,000 sessions per month and two app keys.
• OpenReplay is an alternative for teams seeking an open-source, self-managed deployment, with on-premises or cloud-provider hosting and self-managed storage and retention.
• Inspectlet is another option to compare for web use.

Verdict

Choose Microsoft Clarity if you want a broad set of website and mobile behavior analytics, unlimited sites and team members, and no traffic limits at no cost. Its main advantage is the breadth of the free offer; look elsewhere if your work depends on keeping recordings beyond 30 days.