Mouseflow vs SessionStack: A Definitive Comparison [June 2023]

Mouseflow is built for optimizing conversions by understanding the exact elements users interact with (dynamic heatmaps) and analyzing conversion elements (form analytics). However, its weakness is the lacking session replay features.

Meanwhile, SessionStack offers detailed error logging, easy-to-use session replay, sitewide user interaction tracking, and real-time co-browsing tools which makes it ideal for product designers, developers, and customer support teams looking to quickly troubleshoot and resolve issues with their SaaS platforms and web apps.

I’ll compare Mouseflow vs SessionStack in six key areas:

1. Pricing
2. Heatmaps
3. Co-browsing
4. Session replay
5. Customer journey analysis
6. Error logs

I also talk about site loading speed impact and integrations to give you a more complete picture in the overview table below:

Mouseflow	SessionStack
Price
⭐⭐ 14-day free trial after which you can opt for the free plan. Paid subscriptions starting at $39/mo for 5,000 sessions.	🏆 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The free plan gives you access to all features. Paid plans start at $79/mo for 300+ daily sessions and the Scale plan is $129/mo for 800+ daily sessions.
Session Replay
⭐⭐⭐ Basic session replay features without an activity or error log.	🏆 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Session replay supports features like filters, search bar, activity log, and an error logging tool.
Co-browsing
❌ Doesn’t support live session replay or co-browsing.	🏆 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Co-browsing features with <1-sec latency and interactive tools like pointer, pen, and control takeover.
Heatmaps
🏆 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Click, scroll, & move maps + live heatmaps providing a realistic representation of dynamic elements (only available for desktop sessions).	⭐⭐⭐ Provides site-wide click tracking with information like dead clicks and rage clicks about each page element.
Customer Journey Analysis
⭐⭐⭐ Supports tracking funnels but ignores key user behaviors like skipped pages, order of visits, and conversions.	🏆 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Supports funnels with up to four events and no step limit. Maps basic user journeys to identify problematic site elements.
Site Speed Impact
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Average 68ms page speed impact across the web. Light JavaScript — loads without blocking the browser thread.	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Extremely lightweight JavaScript. Doesn’t block main thread execution.
Integrations
🏆 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 127 native integrations + Mouseflow API	⭐⭐⭐ 14 native integrations + SessionStack API
G2 Reviews
4.6 Rating from 452 reviews	4.9 Rating from 63 reviews
Used By
Verizon, Vodafone, Philips, Etihad	Kraken, Bazaarvoice, Imagine.ai, Mend, Texas.gov
Best For
Visualizing user interactions with page elements and optimizing forms.	Identifying user frustration points with your app or website.
	Try free forever (no card required)

What is Mouseflow?
“Map the customer’s mouse flow” ✨🗺️✨

Since opening its doors in 2009, Mouseflow has helped decision-makers in over 125,000 organizations improve their conversion rate by helping them understand ‘why’ users perform specific actions.    

Mouseflow does this by offering tools like Live Heatmaps, which visualize user interactions on dynamic web page elements like drop-down menus and revolution sliders. You also get access to Form Analytics to track how users find and interact with your web forms. Although its session replay feature is pretty bare-boned, it’s extremely lightweight and doesn’t affect your site speed.   

Funnel marketers and landing-page-reliant sites will get the most out of Mouseflow’s dynamic heatmaps and form analytics. That’s why corporate brands like Verizon, Vodafone, Philips, and Etihad use it.

What is SessionStack?
“Create the perfect customer experience” ⭐💻⭐

Alexander Zlatkov left his job as a software engineer at Progress in 2016 to create SessionStack: a tool that allowed companies to understand exactly how users interact with their online apps. 

SessionStack does this by providing advanced session replay features that offer more value than the others in the market, eventually earning them G2’s “session replay category leader” award in 2023. It essentially lets you join a user’s session in real-time by maintaining a latency of under one second. This helped them build a live session support tool called co-browsing. Co-browsing lets you interact with users during a session and take control of their session without installing any third-party software. If you can’t be present in real-time, you can use its advanced error logging and user segmentation tools to identify the most important issues plaguing your website.

Businesses like Kraken.com, Bazaarvoice, and Imagine.ai trust SessionStack because of the tool’s flexibility which caters to most internal teams, including product management, development, and customer support teams.

Mouseflow vs SessionStack: Session Replay

Mouseflow is ideal for customer journey analysis while SessionStack makes troubleshooting easier

Mouseflow	SessionStack
⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Session Replay is an analytics feature that records user sessions on your website, capturing interactions like clicks, mouse movements, scrolls, and page navigation. It’s crucial for understanding user behavior and optimizing the customer experience. 

In this section, we will compare the tool’s session replay capabilities on five criteria:

1. UI/UX design
2. User segmentation
3. Live sessions
4. Co-browsing

UI/UX design
Mouseflow is too basic, while SessionStack is very user-friendly.

Mouseflow has a simple user interface. I’d say it keeps it too simple by not including an activity or error log.

Instead, it uses different colors to highlight actions (1)  like mouse movements, clicks, interactions, etc. Important events are marked using icons (2). For example, ⚠️ for errors and ⚡ for rage clicks, as in the screenshot below. It doesn’t have a console feature with more information about events like SessionStack.

SessionStack’s session replay tool is more user-friendly. It has a video player on the right and an action log (1) on the left-hand side of the screen. As the video plays, the timestamp corresponding to each event is highlighted in the activity log, making it easier to track events as they occur. You can get more information on each event by clicking on the drop-down arrow.

You will also find the console (2) below the video player providing detailed logs on each action, making troubleshooting easier. You can find the exact action you’re looking for using the filters (3).

User Segmentation
Both support user segmentation. SessionStack offers the most relevant options, while Mouseflow lets you create custom tags and variables 

Mouseflow provides basic user segmentation filters like device type, session length, location, user action, etc. Although it doesn’t support user profiles, it lets you analyze specific trends by creating custom variables and tags for ad campaigns or events like order amounts, abandoned carts, etc.

SessionStack keeps things very simple. It simplifies user behavior analysis by providing filters covering important segmentation criteria like users, sessions, and events. If you are looking for something different, you can create and save custom user segments that align with your specific needs. 

Live Sessions & Co-Browsing
Mouseflow doesn’t offer live sessions while SessionStack does and provides a real-time support feature called co-browsing.

SessionStack offers true real-time live sessions with a latency of less than one second. Using this, they were also able to develop co-browsing — a real-time customer support tool.

Co-browsing lets customer support teams and account managers guide users in real time without installing any plug-ins, software, or add-ons. You get access to three tools in co-browsing mode:

• A pointer to highlight elements on the screen without interacting with the page elements.
• A pen to add annotations on your user’s screen.
• Control takeover which gives you permission to perform actions on the user’s behalf from your browser.

SessionStack protects a user’s privacy by hiding sensitive information like passwords, credit card details, etc. Most of the information is hidden by default. But you can also set your own parameters.

NOTE: Co-browsing is not the same as screen sharing where you can access the user’s computer. Co-browsing only allows access to the shared tab and nothing else. You can read more about co-browsing here.

Mouseflow vs SessionStack: Heatmaps   

Mouseflow tracks the performance of dynamic elements, while SessionStack helps you identify website issues easily

Mouseflow	SessionStack
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐

Mouseflow offers live heatmaps.

Apart from click, scroll, and movement heatmaps, Mouseflow offers dynamic heatmaps to track interaction with dynamic elements like drop-downs, revolution sliders, parallax scrolling, etc. It overlays the data directly on the website to show you exactly how users interact with your website.

SessionStack offers insights into the most relevant user interactions.

SessionStack doesn’t offer visual heatmaps. Instead, it provides a sitewide overview of essential user actions and problematic events like:

• Most clicked elements (1)
• Elements with the most ‘dead clicks’ (2)
• Elements with the most ‘rage clicks’ (3)

It simplifies troubleshooting by compiling the most interacted-with elements and frustration signals in one space — cutting down on time spent analyzing the webpage.

Mouseflow vs SessionStack: Customer Journey Analysis

Both have funnel analytic tools but Mouseflow is more limited than SessionStack

Mouseflow	SessionStack
⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mouseflow can track funnels but ignores important customer interaction patterns.

Mouseflow combines historical and real-time data to provide insights on increasing your conversion rate. But, Mouseflow’s funnel analysis tool ignores some important information:

1. It doesn’t consider the order in which a user goes through the funnel as long as the user visits all the pages in the funnel.
2. Users can visit any number of pages while moving through the funnel. 
3. Users who don’t visit every page in the conversion funnel are not counted.

Without this information, you won’t get all the insights you need to make an informed decision. 

SessionStack tracks important event types for a flawless customer journey.

SessionStack lets you create funnels with unlimited steps. It also provides a more complete solution compared to Mouseflow by including users who complete the conversion step. You can track two important event types: ‘dead clicks’ and ‘rage clicks’. Understanding when and where these events occur can help you resolve them and create a smoother customer journey. 

Mouseflow vs SessionStack: Error Logs

Mouseflow has basic error-logging features, while SessionStack has dedicated error-logging pages.

Mouseflow	SessionStack
⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mouseflow doesn’t have a dedicated errors page. 

Mouseflow automatically highlights Javascript errors in the session replay tool with a ⚠️ icon (shown below). You can hover over the icon to view more information about the error but there is no option available to share this option with your team like you can with SessionStack.

SessionStack’s console makes troubleshooting faster with detailed error information.

SessionStack has a dedicated errors page that provides a comprehensive overview of each error with important debugging information (1). You can also view the related session recording (2) to make troubleshooting easier.

It also highlights errors in the session replay tool (1), making it easier for you to troubleshoot errors. You can use filters to identify specific errors (rage clicks, dead clicks, u-turns, etc.) during a session and also access the console feature (2) to get more information about each error. 

Mouseflow vs SessionStack: Pricing

Mouseflow’s starting plans are cheaper but SessionStack’s offer the most value for money in the long term.

Mouseflow	SessionStack
⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

SessionStack’s free plan gives you access to all its tools, while Mouseflow’s free plan is limited. 

Mouseflow has a 14-day free trial with access to all features and 500 monthly sessions per month for one website. After the trial period, you can opt for the Free Forever plan with access to one heatmap, one funnel, one form, and one feedback survey.

SessionStack gives you access to all features with its free plan. It limits you to 1500 user sessions per month, 3 team seats, and 10 live and co-browsing sessions which is very small-business-friendly.

Mouseflow and SessionStack both base the price on the number of sessions.

Mouseflow’s paid plans start at $39/month and give you access to all its features (including forms and feedback surveys). But, it limits how much you can use them.

It does set itself apart by allowing unlimited page views. Overall, it’s perfect for review or lifestyle websites that want to provide a great user experience and maximize your ad revenue by keeping them on their site.

Starter	Growth	Business	Pro
$39/mo 1 website +5,000 recordings +3 funnels, forms, and feedback surveys	$109/mo 3 websites +15,000 recordings +10 funnels, forms, and feedback surveys	$219/mo 5 websites +50,000 recordings +20 funnels, forms, and feedback surveys	$399/mo 10 websites +150,000 recordings +30 funnels, forms, and feedback surveys
Enterprise
Custom pricing Almost unlimited access to all features + Dedicated account manager + Personalized onboarding

SessionStack starts its pricing at $79/month for 10,000 monthly sessions, which is less compared to Mouseflow.

But it doesn’t place any limits on the number of websites and supports more recordings. It’s ideal for tracking user behavior on web apps and SaaS platforms where you only have a limited number of users. Also, it offers the most value for money with unlimited projects, error tracking, and advanced filters, and user segments. 

Launch	Scale	Enterprise
$79/mo10,000 sessions/mo + Unlimited projects + Advanced filters and user segments	$129/moLaunch features + 25,000 sessions/mo + Data export via REST API	CustomScale features + Unlimited sessions + Dedicated support teams

Mouseflow vs SessionStack: Pros & Cons

Mouseflow Pros	Mouseflow Cons
✅ 14-day free trial	❌ Unimpressive session replay features
✅ Dynamic live heatmap tool	❌ Doesn’t support live sessions or co-browsing
✅ 127 native integrations	❌ Live heatmaps only for desktop sessions
✅ Supports custom tags and variables	❌ Limited funnel analytics
	❌ Limited free plan

SessionStack Pros	SessionStack Cons
✅ Best free plan	❌ No annotation in session replay
✅ Affordable pricing plans	❌ Does not have page-specific heatmaps
✅ Lightweight & easy to set up	❌ Can’t track every user event with funnels
✅ Live sessions & co-browsing
✅ Intuitive session replays
✅ Dedicated error tracking page

Final Verdict: Mouseflow vs SessionStack

Mouseflow	SessionStack
Best for: Optimizing conversions on corporate websites and funnels with form analytics and dynamic heatmaps.	Best for: Web apps and SaaS platforms that need in-depth user interaction insights and tools for live user assistance.

Mouseflow’s dynamic heatmaps and form analytics features make it perfect for optimizing conversion elements. Finally, SessionStack’s advanced session replay features, real-time co-browsing, and error logging dashboard allow customer support teams, product designers, and developers to quickly identify and solve critical issues as they appear.

Use Mouseflow if:

• You want detailed information on user interactions.
• You want to improve the conversion rate of your forms.
• You want simple funnel analytics to track how users navigate your website.

Use SessionStack if:

• You’re looking to quickly troubleshoot and resolve issues and errors.
• You want to provide real-time, personalized customer support experiences.
• You are looking for a lightweight tool to track how users use your web app or SaaS platform.

Click here to get started with SessionStack for free!