Microsoft Clarity

I use Microsoft Clarity as a free behavior layer on top of analytics — session recordings and heatmaps to spot UX friction that numbers alone miss.

Intermediate6 min read30 min to set up, ongoing 15 min weekly reviewUpdated 2026-07-27Notes by Callum Bennett

What I’d do first

Install Clarity on your top 5-10 pages first, not the whole site.
Create filtered views for key segments (mobile, new users, landing pages).
Combine with GA4 to correlate behavior with conversion data.
Set up privacy exclusions before you start recording.
Use frustration signals to prioritise fixes, not as absolute metrics.

But I've also seen people waste hours drowning in recordings. The tool is powerful, but you need a filter-first mindset.

What I'd actually use it for

I use Clarity to investigate UX friction on pages that matter for conversions or engagement. Think: landing pages, checkout flows, sign-up forms, key blog posts. I filter recordings by page URL, device type, and session duration. I also rely on the heatmaps — especially scroll maps — to see if users are actually reaching critical content. The click maps show me what people think is clickable. I've found dead links, broken buttons, and confusion about non-clickable elements multiple times. The frustration signals (dead clicks, rage clicks) are surprisingly useful for prioritising fixes. I check Clarity maybe 2-3 times a week, not daily.

What it's good at

Clarity is best at quickly surfacing UX issues that aggregate metrics won't show. Session recordings are high quality and load fast compared to some paid tools. The automatic frustration detection — dead clicks, rage clicks, excessive mouse movements — helps me triage without watching every session. Heatmaps update in near real-time and you can segment by traffic source or campaign. The free price tag is the headline feature: no session cap, no user limit, and it includes AI-powered insights like 'why users are dropping off'. Setup is trivial — a snippet in the <head> or a tag in GTM. It also integrates nicely with GA4, so I can click from a GA event straight into a recording.

What it's awkward for

Clarity's session recordings are all or nothing per page — you can't record only a percentage of sessions without using sampling via your own tag setup. The heatmaps are decent but lack the precision of Hotjar's click maps, and you can't export raw click data easily. Privacy configuration is manual: you need to set up exclusions for fields like passwords or credit card numbers, and if you forget, you're recording sensitive data. I've also found the 'friction score' to be a bit noisy — sometimes a high score is just a mobile user struggling with a long-scroll page, not a real bug. Support is minimal; you're mostly on your own with the docs.

Alternatives I'd consider

Hotjar — The closest competitor. Paid, but richer surveys, feedback widgets, and more granular heatmap controls. Better for teams doing serious CRO.
FullStory — Enterprise-grade, expensive. Session replay with advanced search and analytics. Overkill for most SEO work.
Lucky Orange — Budget-friendly, includes live chat and polls. Heatmaps are less polished than Clarity's.
Google Analytics 4 — Not a direct alternative, but GA4's 'Explorations' can give some behavioral insights (event counts, scroll depth) if you're on a strict budget.