Filters are useful for sorting through a large number of Recordings in your Playback List. This allows you to find the Recordings you’re interested in without needing to manually search through a large list.
You can also save sets of filters for Recordings as Segments, allowing you to quickly and repeatedly access the most relevant Recordings to you by saving filtering criteria for regular use. Hotjar Business users have additional filters for User Attributes, as well as advanced behavioral filters.
- Date filter
- Filter builder
- Available filter categories on all plans
- Available filter categories on Business plans
The date filter
The Date Filter allows you to focus on Recordings that were taken during specific time-frames. Clicking the Date Filter will show its current settings, and allow you to change the date range.
The Relative date presets allow you to look at recent time-frames: Today, Last 7 Days, Last 30 Days, Last 90 Days.
The Absolute date options allow you to set a Custom Date Range using a date picker: select a Start and End date in the calendar provided. To return to the Date Range menu, select the “Presets” toggle button.
Where are all of my Recordings?
If you see fewer Recordings than expected, it’s a good idea to check the Date Filter settings. Selecting a wider date range will reveal more Recordings.
The filter builder
Hotjar offers a wide range of filtering options to help you drill down into your Recordings. These can be applied using our Filter Builder. The Filter Builder includes positive and negative filters, e.g. "does contain" or "does not contain".
Comparison Logic for Page Count and Session Duration
Page Count and Session Duration don’t feature negative filters. They use comparison logic ("Greater Than", "Less Than" etc.) which is more relevant to the metric.
Available filter categories on all plans
Users on all our plans have access to a number of filter categories. However, some filter categories are only available on paid plans, indicated below by the orange and purple labels. (Note: User Attributes are only displayed if you've implemented custom attributes on your site. The User Attribute filters listed in the screenshot below will likely be different than what you seen on your site.)
Filters can be set for the following attributes:
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Path Taken |
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Visited URL |
See Recordings that include a specific page - and jump to that page in the Recording straight away! Example: you have identified an issue with a specific page and you want to focus your attention on it; you want to watch how users get to and navigate away from the page during a larger journey. Supports “Does” and “Does not” for “Contains”, “Starts with”, “Ends with” and “Exact match”. |
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Exit URL |
Recordings where the user left the site on a specific page. Example: you have a valuable page and want to understand if and why people leave the site from it. Supports “Does” and “Does not” for “Contains”, “Starts with”, “Ends with” and “Exact match” |
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Referrer URL (Business plans only) |
Recordings with the URL of the page the user was on before the Recording began, if available to Hotjar. HTTP headers where no data is passed will have no Referrer URL. Example: you want to understand where people visit before entering your site. Supports “Does” and “Does not” for “Contains”, “Starts with”, “Ends with” and “Exact match” |
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Landing URL |
Recordings where the user entered the site on a specific page. Example: you use ads to direct traffic to a page and you want to see where people go after it. Supports “Does” and “Does not” for “Contains”, “Starts with”, “Ends with” and “Exact match” |
REGEX is not supported for filtering by URL
Interested in us supporting it? Let us know!
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Session Attributes |
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New User |
Allows you to view Recordings from new or returning users. If a user does not have a Hotjar User ID when they connect to your site, Hotjar marks the Recording as a new user Recording. Otherwise, the user will be seen as a returning user. Please note, there are some cases where Hotjar may be unable to correctly identify a user's true first session. |
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Country |
Supports “Any of these” and “None of these”—filter for recordings that do or do not originate from a specific country or list of countries. Example: you want to see if users from a specific country have difficulties understanding your website; you have identified one particular country as under- or over-performing and you want to understand why. |
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Session Duration |
Review Recordings where users spent a specific amount of time on your website/app. Example: you want to compare the journeys of users who leave after 30 seconds vs. those who spend more than 3 minutes and investigate what makes the former leave and the latter stay. Supports “Exactly”, “Less Than” and “Greater Than” for a time in seconds, minutes or hours. Also supports “Is Between” for recordings whose duration is between two lengths (in seconds, minutes, or hours) |
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Page Count |
Review Recordings where users accessed a set number of pages. Example: you want to compare the journeys of users who only see 1-2 pages vs. those who navigate to more than 5 and see what makes the former leave and the latter stay. Supports “Exactly”, “Less Than” and “Greater Than” for a total page count. Also supports “Is Between” for recordings whose page count is between two values. |
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Tags |
Supports “Any of these” and “None of these”—filter for recordings that do or do not have specific tags attached to them (multiple tags can be added to one filter). Example: locating recordings which were manually tagged by an admin during playback. |
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Favorite |
Supports “Yes” and “No”—filter for recordings which are favorited or not favorited. Example: quickly locating recordings which were categorized in previous sessions as “favorites” |
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Supports a “Yes” and “No” — filter for recordings based on whether the recording contains a comment from a Team Member. Example: You want to see the recordings that your colleagues left comments on. |
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Technology Attributes |
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Hotjar User ID |
Follow a specific user’s journey through your site if they have visited multiple times. Supports “Is” and “Is not” for a specific Hotjar User ID. |
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Device |
Review Recordings where users use a specific device type. Example: you want to spot issues that affect desktop users only. Multiple device types can be included in the filter from a checklist: Desktops, Tablets, Phones. |
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Browser |
Review Recordings where users use a specific browser or browsers. Example: you want to compare performance on Chrome and Safari. Multiple browsers can be included in the filter from a checklist: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Edge, Opera, Safari. |
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Operating System |
Review Recordings where users use a specific operating system or systems. Example: you want to detect differences between experiences on Windows and Mac. Multiple operating systems can be included in the filter from a checklist: Windows, macOS, Linux, Ubuntu, Android, iOS. |
How does Hotjar assign a new user?
When a user visits your site, Hotjar checks if they had previously been assigned a Hotjar User ID. If not, then a new Hotjar User ID is generated. Hotjar also marks this session as a new user session, used by the new user Filter.
Note: the same user ID could show "new" for multiple recordings if they happen within a short amount of time.
There are a few cases where Hotjar may be unable to identify someone's true first visit to your site and may show them as a new user even if they have been on your site previously.
- If a user connects to your site from a different device or browser.
- If a user or their browser clears cookies.
- If a user's Hotjar User ID cookie has expired (after 365 days).
Prior to November 25th, 2020 Hotjar did not identify new or returning users. New user filtering is only applied to Recordings captured after this date.
Filters available on Business plans
Business plan users gain access to a number of additional filter categories.
Read more about setting up User Attributes in our 4 step guide to setting up User Attributes. The values are drawn from your own databases, giving you huge flexibility with the values Hotjar can filter by. User Attributes are added using the Identify API. More detailed guidance about the values that can be sent as User Attribute types is available in the Identify API Reference Guide.
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User Attributes |
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| User ID |
This allows you to identify specific users based on an ID passed to Hotjar from your own data. Example: You want to identify a user who has reached out to you for customer support, and you want to observe where they got stuck. Hotjar cannot capture every user who visits your site, meaning you may sometimes lookup User IDs you know had a session on your site, but may not appear when filtering. |
| Strings |
String User Attributes are great for categorizing users by a text value. Example: If your service offers multiple subscription tiers, you could assign this to a string User Attribute. |
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Numbers |
Number User Attributes are great for... numbers! Filters support rules such as "Greater Than", "Less Than", "Equal To", "Is Between". Example: perhaps you're only interested in Recordings from your high-value Recordings. |
| Booleans |
These are great for basic categorization where the only options are either true or false. Example: filtering by users with an active subscription. |
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Dates |
Dates allow you to understand when users performed specific actions on your site. Example: filtering by users who signed up in the past 30 days. |
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User Feedback |
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Incoming Feedback |
Filter Recordings by users who sent Incoming Feedback of Love, Like, Neutral, Dislike, or Hate. Example: you're looking to find Recordings from users who disliked or hated your cart. |
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NPS® |
Filter Recordings for users who filled out an NPS Survey for your Promoters, Passives, or Detractors based on their NPS scores. Example: you're looking to identify pain points users mention in their NPS survey results in their Recordings. |
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User Behavior |
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Events |
Find moments where users took a specific action that triggered an event in Hotjar. Learn more about tracking events with our Events API guide. Example: Focus on sessions of users who clicked on a specific CTA button or element on your page. |
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Pinpoint multiple clicks on the same element during a user journey. Defined as 5 Clicks, within 500ms of one another. Example: find a bug or broken UI when multiple clicks on the element don't trigger any response. |
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U-turn |
Find moments where users return directly to the previous URL, within 7 seconds of leaving that URL. Example: checkout flow isn't as clear as you originally thought after seeing multiple users U-turn and stop because they cannot find "Edit Cart". |
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Experiments |
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View recordings of users who were also part of a Google Optimize Experiment. Example: You notice that one of your Optimize experiments performed better, but you aren't sure why. Use Recordings to see how users actually behaved while in the Optimize experiment group. |
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Net Promoter, Net Promoter System, Net Promoter Score, NPS and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.