A session is the period of time that a user visits your website. A single session can consist of multiple pageviews and tracks how a user interacts with each page from the start to the end of the session.
Hotjar Recordings and Heatmaps are based on sessions. You can learn more on How to Set Up Recordings and How to Set Up Heatmaps.
- When does a session start?
- When does a session end?
- How many sessions do I have on my plan?
- What if my site gets more traffic than my daily plan allows?
When does a session start?
A session starts when a user lands on a page of your site with the Hotjar tracking code installed. There are some exceptions, such as:
- If you have certain Event-based or URL-based targeting rules enabled, the session will begin after a matching event occurs or when a targeted page is visited.
- If a user has Do Not Track enabled in their browser or if their IP address is blocked in Site Settings, Hotjar will not track anything in their session. Surveys will still appear depending on the widget targeting criteria.
When does a session end?
A session ends when a user takes one of the following actions:
- Leaves your site and does not return within 30 minutes.
- Does not interact with your site for 30 minutes.
Here are some examples of what counts as leaving a site:
- Closing the browser.
- Closing all tabs within a session on the site.
- Moving to a different website.
- Moving to a page on your website without the Hotjar tracking code installed.
- Moving to a page on your website with a different Hotjar tracking code installed.
The maximum length for a session is four hours.
When a user returns to an open tab on your site after 30 minutes
If a user is inactive on your site for 30 minutes, a new session will be started when they resume activity. This can be affected if sampling is being applied to your site.
How many sessions does my plan have?
Each Site in your Account has its own session rate that is based on the chosen Hotjar Observe plan. You can find your current session rate by clicking on the traffic coverage widget found on the top right when viewing Hotjar. Inside the traffic coverage widget, you'll find your session rate listed next to Coverage on current plan.
Check the Hotjar pricing page for our latest pricing information and plan features.
What if my site gets more traffic than my plan allows?
If the number of sessions to your site exceeds the number of sessions in your Hotjar plan, your data will be sampled. To better understand why Hotjar might sample your site's daily traffic, check out our article: How does sampling work? When you run out of sessions, you won't get any new recordings or heatmap data until the next reset date. To continue to receive recordings or heatmap data before your next reset date, you'll need to upgrade the session allowance of your Observe plan.
Surveys are not tied to sessions
Surveys are not tied to sessions as they are part of Hotjar's Ask plan. Ask plan response allowances are reset on the first of each month. For more information, check out our dedicated article on How the Ask Plan Response Allowance Works.