# 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. Checked on October 21, 2026 against each vendor's own pages. Vendors change their plans; the links show what they say today.

| | whoisbrowsing | GA4 Realtime | Microsoft Clarity | Lucky Orange | Hotjar (now part of Contentsquare) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you see live | Every current visitor's cursor, clicks and scroll, drawn on your real page ([how it works](https://whoisbrowsing.com/how-it-works.md)) | Counts of active users in the last 5 and 30 minutes, by source, page and event ([Google](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9271392)) | A live user count, and live recordings of mouse movements, clicks and scrolls ([Microsoft](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/session-recordings/clarity-real-time)) | Live View: where current visitors click, scroll and engage, in real time ([Lucky Orange](https://help-preview.luckyorange.com/article/337-how-to-use-live-view)) | Recordings are built after a session ends ([Hotjar](https://help.hotjar.com/hc/en-us/articles/36820006445585-How-do-Recordings-Work-Advanced-Explanation)); Contentsquare lists live browsing on its paid plans ([Contentsquare](https://contentsquare.com/pricing/)) |
| What is kept | Nothing about your visitors. Live only ([privacy](https://whoisbrowsing.com/privacy.md)) | Reports; user-level data for 2 or 14 months, per your setting ([Google](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/7667196)) | Session recordings and heatmaps ([Microsoft](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/setup-and-installation/about-clarity)) | Session recordings; storage starts at 60 days ([Lucky Orange](https://www.luckyorange.com/pricing)) | Replays and heatmaps; 1 month of data on the free plan ([Contentsquare](https://contentsquare.com/pricing/)) |
| Cookies on visitors | None ([privacy](https://whoisbrowsing.com/privacy.md)) | First-party `_ga` and `_ga_<container-id>` ([Google](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/11397207)) | First-party `_clck` and `_clsk`, plus third-party cookies ([Microsoft](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/setup-and-installation/clarity-cookies)) | `_lo_uid` (a visitor ID, 2 years) and `_lo_rid`, per a 2020 help page ([Lucky Orange](https://help.luckyorange.com/article/173-what-cookies-does-lucky-orange-set)) | Not stated on the vendor pages we checked ([our notes](https://whoisbrowsing.com/learn/hotjar-live-view-alternative.md)) |
| Price | Free, no credit card, no usage limits for now ([start free](https://whoisbrowsing.com/try)) | Free of charge ([Google](https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/)) | Free: "a free service forever" ([Microsoft](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/setup-and-installation/about-clarity)) | No free plan listed; a 7-day trial ([Lucky Orange](https://www.luckyorange.com/pricing)) | Hotjar takes no new sign-ups; Contentsquare has a free plan ([Contentsquare](https://contentsquare.com/hotjar/), [pricing](https://contentsquare.com/pricing/)) |

## 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)](https://whoisbrowsing.com/learn/best-live-visitor-tools.md): 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.
- [GA4 Realtime vs a True Live Visitor View](https://whoisbrowsing.com/learn/ga4-realtime-vs-live-visitor-view.md): GA4 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.
- [Hotjar Live View? What to Use Instead](https://whoisbrowsing.com/learn/hotjar-live-view-alternative.md): Hotjar is now Contentsquare, which lists live browsing on paid plans. Free ways to see who is on your site right now, compared with sources.
- [Inspectlet Live Alternative Without Keystroke Capture](https://whoisbrowsing.com/learn/inspectlet-live-alternative.md): Inspectlet Live streams visitors' cursor, scroll and typing. whoisbrowsing shows cursors and clicks live, but never keystrokes, form values or page text.
- [Lucky Orange Alternative: Free, Live, No Recordings](https://whoisbrowsing.com/learn/lucky-orange-alternative.md): Used Lucky Orange mainly for Live View? whoisbrowsing shows every current visitor live on your real page, free, with no cookies and nothing stored.
- [Clarity Live Users vs whoisbrowsing](https://whoisbrowsing.com/learn/microsoft-clarity-live-vs-whoisbrowsing.md): Microsoft Clarity is free and shows live users and live recordings. whoisbrowsing is free too. The real differences: cookies, recordings and setup.
- [Plausible or Fathom vs a Live View: Not Either/Or](https://whoisbrowsing.com/learn/plausible-fathom-vs-live-view.md): Plausible 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.
- [Smartlook Is Shutting Down: Where to Go](https://whoisbrowsing.com/learn/smartlook-alternatives-2026.md): Smartlook 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.

## 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](https://whoisbrowsing.com/learn/live-view-vs-session-replay.md).

Try it with no signup: [whoisbrowsing.com](https://whoisbrowsing.com/#demo). Made by Sandeep Arneja LLC.