Real-Time Website Visitors: Free Options Compared
Updated
TL;DR
The free ways to see real-time website visitors are Google Analytics 4 Realtime (aggregate counts), Microsoft Clarity (live users and live recordings), Crazy Egg's free Web Analytics with its Astro Map, and whoisbrowsing (every visitor's cursor live on your real page, nothing stored). Which one fits depends on whether you want counts, recordings or a live view of people; Plausible, Fathom and Lucky Orange also show live data, but none of them lists a free plan.
The comparison
| Tool | What the live view shows | Free? | Keeps recordings? | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Analytics 4 Realtime | Active users in the last 5 and 30 minutes, by source, page title and event; no cursor | Free | No | |
| Microsoft Clarity | Live user count and live recordings with mouse movements, clicks and scrolls; "Go Live" button; new-live-user notification | "Free service forever" | Yes (recordings and heatmaps) | Live docs, About |
| Crazy Egg Web Analytics (Astro Map) | A live map of visitors as figures grouped by page, with referrers and click bubbles; panel shows country, device and referrer | "100% free for everyone" per Crazy Egg | Not stated | Crazy Egg |
| whoisbrowsing | Each current visitor's cursor and trail on your real page, page, source, approximate city, device | Free, no credit card | No: live only | How it works |
Prices and limits change, so check each vendor's page before you rely on a row.
Live options that are not free (for reference)
| Tool | What the live view shows | Price, per the vendor | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plausible | Current visitors from the last 5 minutes, refreshed every 30 seconds | No free plan; 30-day trial, from $9 a month | Realtime docs, homepage |
| Fathom | How many people are viewing now, with their pages and referrers, in 5-minute intervals | No free plan; 7-day trial with a card, from $15 a month | Dashboard docs, pricing |
| Lucky Orange | Live View: where visitors click, scroll and engage, in real time | No free plan listed; 7-day trial, from $32 a month paid annually | Help, pricing |
| Clicky | Spy, "a real time stream of people on your website" | Free plan exists, but Spy is a premium feature; Pro is $9.99 a month | Pricing |
| Inspectlet | A running count, top pages, and one visitor's live screen | Free plan of 2,500 recorded sessions a month; the plans page does not say which plans include Live | Live, plans |
Notes on each option
GA4 Realtime is the default because many sites already have it. It tells you how many people are active and which pages and sources they come from. It does not show individuals or behaviour on the page. More in GA4 Realtime vs a live visitor view.
Microsoft Clarity is the strongest free competitor and worth taking seriously. It shows live users, can show live sessions, and is free. The trade-offs are that it keeps recordings and heatmaps and, per its documentation, sets first-party cookies (_clck, _clsk) and third-party cookies, with "typical usage" requiring non-essential cookies, and a consent signal enforced for the EEA, UK and Switzerland since 2025-10-31 (Clarity cookies). See Clarity live users vs whoisbrowsing for a side-by-side.
Crazy Egg's Astro Map is a live map of visitor figures per page. It is a free product, but it is a map of where visitors are rather than their cursors on your page.
Plausible and Fathom are privacy-first: Plausible says it does not use cookies or generate persistent visitor identifiers (data policy), and Fathom says it "doesn't use cookies" (features). Both are paid after a trial, so neither is a free option. See Plausible or Fathom vs a live view.
whoisbrowsing draws each current visitor on your real page: a coloured cursor with a fading trail, click ripples, phones as a see-through band, arrows for visitors out of view, and a side panel with counts per page. It adds the source (Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity and others), approximate city, device and time on site. It is free with no card and no usage limits for now. No cookies on your visitors. Nothing about your visitors is stored on our servers.
Which to pick
- Only need a count and top pages: GA4 Realtime, if you already have it.
- Want to review sessions later, free: Clarity.
- Want a live map by page, free: Crazy Egg.
- Want to see people on your real page, now, with nothing kept: whoisbrowsing.
- Want privacy-friendly history and are willing to pay: Plausible, alongside a live view. See live visitor tracking.
You can combine them. whoisbrowsing is one line:
<script src="https://live.whoisbrowsing.com/s.js" data-site="YOUR_SITE_ID" defer></script>
When whoisbrowsing is not the right tool
whoisbrowsing keeps no recordings, history or heatmaps. If you want those, use Clarity or a similar tool. For every tool with a live mode, free or paid, see best live visitor tools and the comparison hub, and when you are ready, install in your stack or try it with no signup.
Common questions
Are there other free live views? Yes. Microsoft Clarity is free and has live views, and Crazy Egg's Web Analytics is free too. The difference is what each one keeps and shows: whoisbrowsing draws live cursors on your real page and stores nothing.
Do I need to choose one? No. Many sites run GA4 for reporting and add a live view for the present.
How long does setup take? Seconds: paste one script tag, or ask your AI agent. Start at /try with no sign-in.
Are there usage limits? None for now, and no credit card. If that changes, this page will say so.