Hotjar vs Medallia: Which customer feedback tool is better?
Hotjar vs Medallia vs Zigpoll: compare pricing, features and best use cases for ecommerce, UX and enterprise voice of customer needs.
Hotjar (now part of Contentsquare) is best when you need on-site heatmaps, session replays and lightweight feedback; Medallia is for enterprise, multi-channel VoC and analytics. For ecommerce SMBs, Hotjar/Contentsquare or a focused survey app like Zigpoll is generally cheaper and faster to run than Medallia. (contentsquare.com)
At a glance
| Option | Best for | Starting price (paid plan) | Free plan | On-site behavior & session recordings? | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hotjar (now under Contentsquare) | On-site heatmaps & replays | $39/mo | Yes | Yes | contentsquare.com |
| Medallia | Enterprise VoC & CX programs | Quote only | No | Partial | medallia.com |
| Zigpoll | Shopify / ecommerce surveys & NPS | $39/mo | Yes | No | zigpoll.com |
From the sourced table above, checked November 2026.
Hotjar (Contentsquare): best when you also want session recordings
Hotjar’s legacy product set (now folded into Contentsquare) focuses on session replays, heatmaps, funnels and lightweight on-site surveys, quick to install and useful for UX fixes. Contentsquare publishes a Free tier and Growth tier starting at about $39/month for Experience Analytics, with Voice of Customer add-ons; the combined offering keeps Hotjar-style replays, heatmaps and basic surveys but under Contentsquare’s pricing/packaging. If you need enterprise governance, longer data retention, or cross-channel text/speech analytics, the combined product moves toward enterprise pricing and configuration. (contentsquare.com)
Medallia: best when you need enterprise-scale VoC, closed-loop and AI analytics
Medallia is built for large CX programs that must capture many signals (surveys, contact-center speech, social, digital feedback), run text and speech analytics, and create role-based alerts and case management across teams. Its pricing uses an Experience Data Record model and is sold by quote rather than with self-serve monthly tiers, so onboarding and cost are aimed at mid-market and enterprise buyers. Medallia’s strengths are deep analytics, governance and closed-loop operational workflows; it is less suitable for quick, cheap on-site testing or for small teams that just want heatmaps and a few surveys. (medallia.com)
How do Hotjar and Medallia compare for customer feedback and experience?
Hotjar/Contentsquare focuses on on-site behavior (heatmaps, session replays) plus simple feedback widgets; Medallia targets enterprise voice-of-customer across many channels with advanced analytics and workflow automation. Hotjar/Contentsquare is optimized for diagnosing web UX problems and short, actionable feedback loops using replays and in-page widgets; its tooling is fast to deploy and lower friction. Medallia’s platform is for organizations that need to centralize feedback from surveys, contact centers, social, chat, and instrument AI-driven text and speech analysis, then drive tracked corrective actions across teams. The tradeoff is speed and price: Hotjar/Contentsquare gets you behavioral insights quickly; Medallia gives depth, governance and scale at higher cost and implementation effort. (contentsquare.com)
Which is best for ecommerce and SMBs?
For most ecommerce SMBs, Hotjar/Contentsquare or a focused survey app like Zigpoll is the better fit. Hotjar/Contentsquare’s Growth tier provides session capture, heatmaps and basic VOC features at an entry price level and is quick to add to a storefront, letting merchants spot checkout friction and drop-offs. Zigpoll is explicitly designed for Shopify and ecommerce workflows (post-purchase, exit-intent, attribution surveys, NPS/CSAT) with a free Lite plan and paid plans starting at $39/month billed monthly, making it simpler and often cheaper for merchants who primarily need surveys and NPS rather than enterprise VoC. Medallia is over-sized and expensive for most SMBs unless you need enterprise reporting, contact-center integration, or company-wide CX programs. (contentsquare.com)
What feedback features does each platform offer?
Hotjar/Contentsquare: On-page feedback widgets, polls, embedded and link surveys, session replays and heatmaps, funnels and basic survey analytics, with AI summaries and cross-feature integrations for Growth and Pro plans. Its Voice of Customer product adds targeted widgets, embedded surveys and integration with replays for contextual feedback. These features help tie comments to specific sessions and pages quickly. (contentsquare.com)
Medallia: Survey design and distribution across channels; text analytics and speech analytics; case management and closed-loop workflows; role-based dashboards, automated alerts; large-scale signal capture (speech, chat, social, digital) and enterprise governance (SSO, PII redaction, sandboxes). Medallia emphasizes AI-driven insights and operationalization of feedback rather than basic on-page behavior capture. (medallia.com)
Zigpoll: On-site popups, embeds, post-purchase and order-status surveys for Shopify, exit-intent, email and SMS delivery, NPS/CSAT/CES templates, attribution and “how did you hear about us” surveys, AI analysis credits and integrations (Klaviyo, Slack, Triple Whale, Shopify). It focuses on survey delivery channels and simple attribution and CRM integration rather than heatmaps or session replay. (zigpoll.com)
How do pricing and integrations compare?
Pricing
- Hotjar (via Contentsquare): Experience Analytics Growth tier “From $39/month” for monthly billing (with a Free tier offering up to large monthly sessions); Voice of Customer Growth lists “From $79/month” for response volumes; Pro/Enterprise tiers are custom. These prices and limits are published on Contentsquare’s pricing page (checked November 2026). Hotjar’s standalone legacy self-serve tiers have been migrated into Contentsquare’s packaging. (contentsquare.com)
- Medallia: Quote only. Medallia publishes an Experience Data Record pricing model and asks buyers to contact sales; there is no public self-serve monthly price. This model is intended for enterprise buyers and is billed in annual tiers. (medallia.com)
- Zigpoll: Free Lite plan (50 responses/month) and paid plans starting at $39/month billed monthly (or lower monthly equivalent when billed annually, per the vendor). Zigpoll’s pricing page lists plan limits and channels for Shopify-centric use cases (checked November 2026). (zigpoll.com)
Integrations
- Hotjar/Contentsquare: Integrations with analytics, ticketing and experimentation systems (Google Analytics, Jira, HubSpot, Slack, Adobe integrations on higher tiers) and built-in links between replays, heatmaps and survey responses. Growth/Pro tiers unlock many prebuilt connectors. (contentsquare.com)
- Medallia: Enterprise integrations across CRM, contact center systems, data warehouses and custom APIs; Medallia emphasizes enterprise connectors, developer portals and extensibility for complex environments. (medallia.com)
- Zigpoll: Native Shopify integration (post-purchase, order targeting), email and SMS sending, API and MCP server for querying survey data, and common marketing/analytics integrations (Klaviyo, Slack, Triple Whale). It is built to plug into ecommerce stacks rather than replace enterprise telemetry. (zigpoll.com)
Which should you choose?
| Your situation | Best fit |
|---|---|
| You need fast on-site heatmaps, replays and quick UX fixes | Hotjar (Contentsquare) |
| You run a company-wide VoC program with contact-center and speech analytics | Medallia |
| You run a Shopify store and want post-purchase NPS, attribution and simple surveys | Zigpoll |
| You need low-cost entry and a free tier to test behavior analytics | Hotjar (Contentsquare) |
| You need survey delivery by email/SMS plus ecommerce integrations | Zigpoll |
From the table above.
How this comparison was made
Prices and feature lists were taken from each vendor’s published pages and documentation, checked in November 2026 (Contentsquare/Hotjar pricing, Medallia pricing, Zigpoll pricing). The products were not tested hands-on. Zigpoll publishes this page. (contentsquare.com)
