Compare
whoisbrowsing compared, honestly
whoisbrowsing does one thing: it shows who is on your website right now, drawn live on your own page, and keeps nothing about them. Other tools record sessions, keep history or count visitors in aggregate.
Microsoft Clarity is free and has live views too. Every fact below links the vendor's own page, so you can check it.
At a glance
Four questions that separate a live view from the rest: what you see live, what is kept, cookies, and price.
| Compared on | whoisbrowsing | GA4 RealtimeGoogle Analytics | Microsoft Clarity | Lucky Orange | Hotjarnow part of Contentsquare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you see live | Every current visitor's cursor, clicks and scroll, drawn on your real pagehow it works | Counts of active users in the last 5 and 30 minutes, by source, page and eventGoogle (opens in a new tab) | A live user count, and live recordings of mouse movements, clicks and scrollsMicrosoft (opens in a new tab) | Live View: where current visitors click, scroll and engage, in real timeLucky Orange (opens in a new tab) | Recordings are built after a session ends; Contentsquare lists live browsing on its paid plansHotjar (opens in a new tab)Contentsquare (opens in a new tab) |
| What is kept | Nothing about your visitors. Live onlyprivacy | Reports; user-level data for 2 or 14 months, per your settingGoogle (opens in a new tab) | Session recordings and heatmapsMicrosoft (opens in a new tab) | Session recordings; storage starts at 60 daysLucky Orange (opens in a new tab) | Replays and heatmaps; 1 month of data on the free planContentsquare (opens in a new tab) |
| Cookies on visitors | Noneprivacy | First-party _ga and _ga_<container-id>Google (opens in a new tab) | First-party _clck and _clsk, plus third-party cookiesMicrosoft (opens in a new tab) | _lo_uid (a visitor ID, 2 years) and _lo_rid, per a 2020 help pageLucky Orange (opens in a new tab) | Not stated on the vendor pages we checkedour notes |
| Price | Free, no credit card, no usage limits for nowstart free | Free of chargeGoogle (opens in a new tab) | Free: “a free service forever”Microsoft (opens in a new tab) | No free plan listed; a 7-day trialLucky Orange (opens in a new tab) | Hotjar takes no new sign-ups; Contentsquare has a free planContentsquare (opens in a new tab)pricing (opens in a new tab) |
Checked on October 21, 2026 against each vendor's own pages. Vendors change their plans; the links show what they say today.
In-depth comparisons
Each guide puts one tool next to whoisbrowsing, with its sources, and says when the other tool is the better pick.
- Best Live Visitor Tools in 2026 (Honest List)Nine tools that show who is on your website right now, compared from their own docs: what live means in each, the free option, and what they keep.Read the comparison
- Clarity Live Users vs whoisbrowsingMicrosoft Clarity is free and shows live users and live recordings. whoisbrowsing is free too. The real differences: cookies, recordings and setup.Read the comparison
- GA4 Realtime vs a True Live Visitor ViewGA4 Realtime counts active users over the last 5 and 30 minutes. A live visitor view shows each person on your page right now. When to use which.Read the comparison
- Hotjar Live View? What to Use InsteadHotjar is now Contentsquare, which lists live browsing on paid plans. Free ways to see who is on your site right now, compared with sources.Read the comparison
- Inspectlet Live Alternative Without Keystroke CaptureInspectlet Live streams visitors' cursor, scroll and typing. whoisbrowsing shows cursors and clicks live, but never keystrokes, form values or page text.Read the comparison
- Lucky Orange Alternative: Free, Live, No RecordingsUsed Lucky Orange mainly for Live View? whoisbrowsing shows every current visitor live on your real page, free, with no cookies and nothing stored.Read the comparison
- Plausible or Fathom vs a Live View: Not Either/OrPlausible and Fathom keep cookieless traffic history and show a realtime count. A live view shows each visitor on your page now. Why you might run both.Read the comparison
- Smartlook Is Shutting Down: Where to GoSmartlook stopped new sales on 31 May 2026 and says it switches off on 30 Sep 2027. The dates, what to export, and alternatives for recordings or live.Read the comparison
When whoisbrowsing is not the right tool
If you need session recordings, heatmaps over time or reports on last month, use a recording or analytics tool such as Microsoft Clarity, GA4, or Contentsquare (which Hotjar is now part of). whoisbrowsing is live only: it shows the people on your site now, and nothing after they leave. Many sites run both.
New to the idea? Start with live view vs session replay.
See your own cursor appear, then add it to your site
Try the live demo with no account. When you like it, one tag puts it on your site, and you sign in only to keep it.
Free · Under 4 KB · No cookies on visitors · Nothing stored
Who we are
whoisbrowsing is made by Sandeep Arneja LLC. Questions? sandeep.arneja.llc@gmail.com