Business
Hotjar Review 2023: Is Hotjar worth it?
You just paid a buttload for a great website design. With a good rollout and some SEO wizardry, your traffic is through the roof. There’s just one problem: it’s not turning into revenue.
Hotjar claims to offer the solution to this classic problem. It tracks user engagement with heatmaps so you can see exactly what visitors are doing when they use your site.
But is Hotjar the real deal? We decided to give it a spin. Here’s our Hotjar review.
What is Hotjar?
Hotjar was founded back in 2014 by entrepreneur and consultant David Darmanin. The way Darmanin tells it, the company started after a string of failures.
“In both cases we built a product for months before we took it to market and started ‘selling’ it at scale. We thought that a well planned and complete user experience together with a top notch design were critical requirements before launch.”
With Hotjar, they made the simplest functional version of the product, released it in beta, and fine-tuned it for nearly a year before the final launch in 2015.
The strategy paid off, as Hotjar is now used by millions of websites around the world, including Nintendo, Adobe, and Microsoft. They were bought out by Contentsquare in 2021.
What does Hotjar do?
Hotjar’s most prominent feature is its heatmaps. These offer a handy visual to showcase how people typically use your website. Other than that, they offer tools for direct customer feedback, while also helping you recruit the right people for interviews and testimonials.
Hotjar review: Pricing
How much does Hotjar cost? For the standard “Observe” feature, they have 3 pricing plans:
- Basic: $0/mo. Unlimited heatmaps, continuous data capture, captures up to 35 user sessions a day.
- Plus: $39/mo. Includes additional filtering and API tools for tracking, captures up to 100 user sessions a day.
- Business: $99/mo (starting price). Includes custom integrations, user attribute tracking, captures up to 500 sessions a day. Can capture more sessions at higher prices, up to 270k.
In addition, they offer more robust business tools with bespoke pricing. To find out more about these packages, pricing for Ask and Engage tools, and custom packages, check out their pricing page.
Observe, Ask, and Engage all have free Basic packages. For the purposes of this Hotjar review, we’ll be focused on those.
Hotjar review: How to sign up
Hotjar has a simple sign-up process. All it takes is a few simple steps:
- Sign up with your email or Google account.
- Input your company’s name, how many employees you have, and your role.
- Select which feature you want to explore first.
- Input your company’s website for Hotjar installation
Once you’ve done all that, you get walked through the steps for adding Hotjar to your website.
How do you add Hotjar to your website?
In order to use Hotjar’s heatmaps, you’ll have to add a tracking code to your website. You can paste the code directly or use Google Tag Manager or another tracking manager tool to set up.
Hotjar also offers integration with:
- WordPress
- Wix
- Squarespace
- Drupal
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
And many more.
Hotjar review: Features
Luckily for new users, Hotjar offers an in-depth demo of their offerings, so you can get a feel for the dashboard and see all the data it collects.
An important thing to remember, however, is that this demo includes unlimited coverage that you won’t actually have on the free plan—or even most paid plans.
The Hotjar web app
The web app is fairly busy, but once you get past the initial whiplash, there’s plenty of neat features to explore.
Front and center in the Overview tab, you’ll find suggestions for new ways to use your account, as well as relevant recordings captured in the past day. This tab also features other recent activity, including feedback, heatmaps, and activity from your team.
The web app has 9 total tabs:
- Overview
- Dashboard
- Highlights
- Trends
- Funnels
- Recordings
- Heatmaps
- Feedback
- Surveys
- Engage
We’ll explore the features offered in each of these tabs.
Dashboard
This classic dashboard offers an aggregated view of how people are using your site. It’s got standard metrics like bounce rate, average session duration, and top clicked links. But it also offers unique data that gives you a well-rounded view of your site’s success.
For instance, one chart keeps track of rage clicks—where a user clicked the same area over and over—and U-turns—where they clicked on a link and quickly went back to the previous page.
Data filters aren’t available for free users; custom trends are only available on bespoke Scale plans. But for everyone else, these extra in-depth charts do make a big difference.
Highlights
Users on any plan can create highlights. This technology lets you save snippets of specific customer experiences you want to keep. You can mark these for bugs, signs of frustration, UI/UX issues, and more, and access them at any time in this tab.
Recordings
Trends and funnels are only available for Scale customers, so we’ll skip straight to recordings. The Recordings dashboard lets you view recent and relevant recordings, or comb through the whole archive.
Business and Scale users can filter their recordings to see new users, returning users, rage clicks, and more. These recordings show you a user’s entire journey, including where their cursor goes, what they click on, and even what operating system they use.
Heatmaps
Hotjar’s flagship feature, heatmaps keep track of where people are clicking the most—and the least.
Surprisingly, this feature was a bit tricky to figure out for me. As intuitive as a heatmap is as a concept, the section is a little harder to navigate on the demo site. Creating a new heatmap from scratch is much simpler, but I’m a little surprised that this, of all sections, feels the most convoluted.
Feedback
That little red sidebar you’ll often see on the right-hand side of Hotjar’s page is a feedback widget. It’s a relatively unobtrusive tool for collecting user insights. On the other hand, many sites make the fatal mistake of cluttering their page with widgets and pop-ups.
Surveys
Free Hotjar users can create up to 3 surveys and 3 feedback widgets at a time. There are classic survey templates asking users to rate your service from 1-5, share how likely they are to recommend it, or explain their reason for leaving.
You can also create custom surveys, and add an unlimited number of questions to them. These surveys can either appear directly on your site or be accessed through a link.
Other features
For free users, Engage lets you set up interviews with up to 2 users each month, with built-in video calling software.
Scale users get access to Funnels and Trends, two additional tracking tools that let you keep track of users’ journeys as they use your site.
Hotjar review: final verdict
Hotjar offers some really useful insights for how people are using your website. It can be helpful for marketing teams and UX designers, and the insights you gain can lead to greater success down the road.
However, it’s not perfect. Consumers are concerned about their privacy, and Hotjar’s direct surveillance of users—including tracking their browser and OS—is a tough pill to swallow.
Hotjar pros and cons
Pros:
- Useful insights
- Solid free features
- Clever design
- Quick and effective
Cons:
- Expensive paid tiers
- Cluttered web app
- Privacy concerns
Final rating: 7.0/10 ♨️
Any successful business requires public relations to establish and protect its image and reputation. Fortunately, in the digital world, there are many tools at an entrepreneur’s disposal. This article highlights the ten best public relations tools every entrepreneur should consider to communicate with their target audience and increase brand awareness.
1. HARO (Help a Reporter Out)
As its name suggests, Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is a platform connecting journalists with their stories’ sources. It also allows businesses, organizations, and individuals to share their expertise and insights. They can get in front of a wider audience by offering quotes, facts, and other information to journalists looking for sources for their articles.
By using HARO, entrepreneurs and PR professionals can get their brands in front of a large audience and improve their visibility, credibility, and reputation. It has a free plan aside from its paid ones, with subscriptions that start at $19 per month.
2. Ahrefs
Primarily known as an SEO tool, Ahrefs can also be used as a public relations tool. It provides a comprehensive analysis of a website’s backlink profile. It enables PR professionals and entrepreneurs to see who is linking to their websites. Plus, you’ll know what content is attracting the most links. Through Ahrefs, PR professionals can identify key influencers and potential media contacts in their industry and reach out to them for possible coverage.
Ahrefs can also be used to monitor competitors’ PR and marketing activities. This will provide valuable insights into successful PR strategies. The platform offers four premium plans with pricing that starts at $99 per month.
3. Google Alerts
A free, web-based tool, Google Alerts allows you to monitor mentions of specific keywords or phrases on the internet. This tool can be helpful for PR professionals and entrepreneurs as a way to keep track of their online reputation and brand mentions. By setting up Google Alerts for your brand, products, industry keywords, or even your competitors, you can receive email notifications whenever your specified keywords are mentioned online.
This helps PR professionals stay informed and promptly respond to negative mentions, track positive coverage, and share it with their audience.
4. BuzzSumo
If you need to get insights on what’s popular, viral, and being shared across the web, BuzzSumo is one of the public relations tools you need. It is a content analysis tool that helps PR professionals and entrepreneurs monitor their online presence. And they can reach their target audience effectively. It provides insights into viral content, competitor analysis, influencer identification, and performance metrics.
Its ability to track and measure the impact of PR and content efforts makes it a valuable tool for businesses looking to stay ahead of the competition. It offers a free plan, but its paid ones have pricing that starts at $99 per month.
5. PRWeb
Another valuable tool for PR professionals and entrepreneurs looking to promote their brands, products, and services is PRWeb. It is a PR distribution service that helps businesses and organizations reach their target audience and improve their online visibility.
PRWeb offers a wide range of distribution options, including national and local media outlets, social media, and industry-specific websites, ensuring that press releases reach the intended audience. You can choose from PRWeb’s four plans with subscription fees that start at $105 per month.
6. Respona
One of the most underutilized public relations tools you need to check out is Respona. It effectively helps organizations manage their media and public relations efforts. It provides a centralized platform for monitoring media mentions, conducting outreach to journalists, and measuring the impact of PR campaigns.
The tool includes email automation, press release distribution, and real-time media monitoring to help PR professionals streamline their work and communicate more effectively with their audience. It offers a free trial, but if you want to continue using it, pricing starts at $99 per month.
7. Coverage Book
If tracking and showcasing your media coverage is a priority, Coverage Book is the public relations tool for you. It provides a platform for organizing and presenting media coverage from online and offline sources, including press releases, articles, and social media mentions. It also includes analytics to measure the impact of PR campaigns and provide insights into the performance of media outreach efforts.
Coverage Book is designed to help PR teams demonstrate the value of their work to internal stakeholders and clients. This is a good investment, with prices ranging from $99 to $599.
8. Business Wire
A news distribution service and PR tool, Business Wire is used by organizations to distribute press releases and other news content to media outlets and stakeholders. It provides a platform for organizations to reach a global audience through distribution to a vast network of media outlets and websites, including major search engines, news databases, and social media platforms.
Business Wire is a paid service with varying costs based on distribution and features needed. It offers different packages available to meet the needs of various organizations.
9. NinjaOutreach
A public relations tool that offers a platform for simplifying your outreach efforts and building relationships with journalists, bloggers, and other influencers. NinjaOutreach provides email outreach automation, influencer database search, and analytics to track PR campaigns. It saves time and effort by automating repetitive tasks and providing insights into effective audience outreach.
The tool is designed to help organizations improve their media coverage and build relationships with key influencers. Pricing ranges between $389 and $849 per month.
10. SourceBottle
A journalism tool that doubles as a public relations tool is SourceBottle. It connects journalists and bloggers with experts, sources, and content for their stories. It provides a platform for experts, organizations, and individuals to offer their expertise and resources to journalists looking for references and information.
SourceBottle also offers analytics to track the success of PR campaigns and provide insights into media outreach efforts. The service fee is based on the desired features and the number of journalists and bloggers to be reached. But for starters, you need to create an expert profile for a monthly cost of $25.
Final Thoughts
The world of public relations is constantly evolving. Entrepreneurs must stay up-to-date with the latest tools and technologies to get their messages and stories in front of their target audience. The public relations tools discussed in this list are some of the best in the industry and offer a range of features and capabilities to meet the needs of different types and sizes of organizations.
In 2025, unlimited graphic design has become a crucial part of the day-to-day operations of businesses that can’t afford to hire an in-house designer. And with more unlimited graphic design companies now backed by AI capabilities, scalability and efficiency have increased exponentially.
Let’s unpack all there is to know about unlimited graphic design providers, including features, money-back guarantees, and factors to consider when choosing.
Which Provider Should You Choose?
We’ve done the homework and curated a list of Unlimited Graphic Design providers for you and also negotiated special deals on your behalf. You can see them all below and decide which one fits your business based on your needs.
Unlimited Graphic Design Providers
What Does Unlimited Graphic Design Mean?
These unlimited graphic design services have a monthly subscription business model. That means you can sign up and cancel whenever you like. What sets them apart from your typical freelancer, agency, or in-house designer is you gain access to a workflow that is designed to be quick and to the point.
You’ll communicate with their team through Trello, email, or an online platform. The option given is dependent on the company you choose. For example, only a small selection of services provide a custom built online platform for their customers.
Once you’re connected to their workflow, you can begin submitting as many design requests as you want. Although they all claim “unlimited”, it generally means you can “create” unlimited design requests. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll work on them all at once. Usually, they just work on one design at a time. When one completes, they start the next design.
The usual turnaround time is between 1 – 2 days, and that’s just for the first draft. It doesn’t mean your entire request is complete. If you don’t like it, you can request as many revisions as you want, and that will take more time. So it can take up to a week to actually get the design complete if you have a lot of revisions.
Another thing to keep in mind is content. You need to be able to have everything ready and provide all the content needed in order for their designers to get started.
How Does On-Demand Graphic Design Work?
Most graphic design services listed above offer clients a bespoke design platform. For instance, Penji’s design tool is an all-in-one platform where designers, account managers, customers, and their team members can communicate and collaborate.
Although the steps in working with a graphic design company are similar, we’ll use Penji’s design software to share the step-by-step graphic design process.
1. Log in
Once you’ve selected the subscription plan, log in to your design tool and access your dashboard. Most of these tools are user-friendly with a minimal learning curve and prioritize user experience.
This example of Penji’s dashboard shows a list and thumbnails of ongoing design projects. The menu at the top shows the Active, Completed, Drafted, and On-hold projects.
Submitting a design brief is the first step in the on-demand graphic design process. To submit, click the +New Project button at the upper right side of the dashboard.
2. Fill in the title
Think of a relevant project title that will describe the design accurately. Writing an accurate title will make browsing through ongoing projects easier once you have a long list.
For instance, if you’re creating a company logo, you can write “Logo design” and specify the company or industry beside it if you’re handling multiple brands.
3. Choose from design categories
The next step is to choose from the many design categories. Most unlimited graphic design services have around 100+ design categories. Penji has 120+ design categories. Choose one that fits your project.
4. Write a design brief
This step is crucial when working with on-demand graphic designers, as this will make or break your project outcome. Writing a thorough, clear, and well-thought-out design brief makes it easier for designers to understand exactly what you want.
Penji’s design platform has a few reminders on the left side when writing design briefs. Ensure you follow the tips for a better design outcome.
5. Attach files and images for inspiration
Some customers can’t express themselves clearly through written instructions. You can attach files and images to support your written descriptions with visuals. Attaching sample logos also helps lead designers in the right direction. Attaching your competitors’ logos is also a way to make yours better.
You’ll also need to choose the source file type in this step or let designers pick for you.
6. Choose a brand style guide
Subscribing to unlimited graphic design services means you can request any visuals for multiple brands. Penji’s design tool lets you save and categorize your brand style guides in folders. This way, you only have to choose a branding guideline for designers to follow.
Once you’ve chosen the associated brand, click the Create project button to start the process.
7. Wait 24 to 48 hours
Although most on-demand graphic design services’ turnaround is 24 to 48 hours, some companies may take more than two days. This is due to complex projects like illustrations or web pages.
Wait for the first draft and ask for revisions until you’re 100 percent happy with the design. Download the source file, and you’re good to go!
Why Should You Sign Up for Unlimited Graphic Design Services
Subscribing to unlimited graphic design services is more convenient than hiring freelance designers.
Here are factors why many users choose to outsource their design needs to unlimited graphic design services:
- Work with vetted designers and choose from various skill sets. There is no need to search for another designer fit for a particular project. The company will assign you the most suitable designer.
- AI integration. The best unlimited graphic design providers make sure that their vetted designers have updated training and are able to take advantage of the latest tech, including AI.
- No need to worry about additional fees as you only have to pay fixed monthly rates and get unlimited designs. Revisions also come at no extra cost.
- You don’t have to worry about graphic designers going MIA and abandoning crucial projects. Each design project is managed by an account manager who will check if deadlines are met on time.
- Signing up and canceling subscriptions with on-demand graphic design services is easy. You can sign up if you need a stream of designs while setting up shop and cancel anytime without incurring cancellation fees.
- Fast 24 to 48-hour turnaround, which prevents any bottlenecks in your marketing campaigns.
- Request to change assigned designers if you’re unhappy with their work at no additional cost.
- Organize your projects and brand style guides if you request multiple brand designs. The custom design platforms make managing projects efficient and convenient.
Are they worth it?
If you have a lot of design needs, they’re definitely worth it. Being that it’s a monthly recurring investment, you’ll need to make sure that you have the need for an ongoing graphic design service. This graphic design service model is comparable to outsourcing a designer yourself, except much of all the management work is done by the company. The quality of designs and turnaround time also tends to be significantly better when outsourcing a designer yourself.
Introduction
Many companies settle for unlimited graphic design services as the happy medium. With a flat monthly fee, brands can access as many requests as needed at an expedited rate without the hassle.It is efficient, cost-effective, and stress-free.
But which is the best creative service design firm for you? The following are four top agencies that offer creativity as a service.
#1 Penji: The Best Unlimited Graphic Design Service Overall
Penji is a well-known name in the vast graphic design industry. It has a great reputation thanks to quality service, turnaround and reasonable pricing. A flat monthly fee grants access to a professional design team that tackles logos, advertisements, social graphics, packaging and even websites.
Pros
- Quick turnaround time—many designs within 24-48 hours.
- Unlimited revisions until satisfaction.
- An easy-to-use platform for submission and tracking.
- A vast array of design opportunities from marketing to branding.
- Designers are dedicated to your projects, getting to know your style.
Cons
- The monthly subscription does not cover writing or video editing across all plans.
- Complex requests may take longer than 48 hours.
#2 Kimp: Affordable Unlimited Creative Design
Kimp is well-known for being an economical alternative that still provides dependable design help. Kimp is unique in that it combines graphic design and video design in one strategy. Thus, it’s perfect for companies looking for social media support, advertisement content or YouTube graphics.
Pros
- Transparent pricing on a per-month basis.
- Unlimited requests and unlimited revisions.
- Graphic and video design in one plan.
- A dedicated group works on your projects.
Cons
- Turnaround might slow as requests increase.
- Communication is limited to Kimp’s internal platform.
#3 Flocksy – Creative as a Service Agency
Flocksy offers more than just design; it’s more of a creative as a service agency covering unlimited writing, video editing, even voiceovers. Thus, if you require several different types of creative coverage in one space, this could be the place for you.
Pros
- Unlimited tasks completed for a diverse array of options.
- A dedicated team learns your preferences over time.
- Fast turnaround, often 24-hour delivery.
- Perfect for businesses needing more than graphic design.
Cons
- Monthly pricing is greater than that of graphic-only agencies.
- Can feel overwhelming if only looking for graphics.
#4 Delesign – Scalable and Flexible Solution
Delesign is all about flexibility. It covers plans that accommodate small businesses and growing businesses. Additionally, you can select between day or night shifts so your projects get completed even faster.
Pros
- Flexible plans to accommodate small and growing businesses.
- Wide range of illustrations in addition to designs.
- Designers are dedicated, making feedback easier.
- Day and night shifts available for faster turnaround.
Cons
- Smaller agency so it can sometimes be capacity limited.
- Certain advanced offerings require additional fees.
Featured Image Credit: Tranmautritam from pexels
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