Different tools, different strengths
Hotjar specialises in qualitative data – heatmaps, session recordings, and user feedback surveys. It's brilliant for understanding how people interact with your pages visually. Grandma Knows focuses on quantitative analytics with a conversational twist: pageviews, traffic sources, conversions, and scroll depth – all explained in plain English.
Your page speed will thank you
Hotjar's script is around 80 KB and records user sessions, which can noticeably affect page load times and Core Web Vitals. Grandma's script is under 5 KB, loads asynchronously, and has virtually no impact on performance. If page speed matters to you – and it should – that's a significant difference.
Privacy without the setup headaches
Session recordings capture detailed user behaviour, which brings GDPR considerations – masking personal data, configuring consent, managing data retention. Grandma doesn't record sessions or use cookies. She tracks aggregate analytics only, meaning you're GDPR-friendly from the moment you install the script.
Ask questions instead of watching recordings
Watching session recordings can be insightful, but it's time-consuming – you might watch 50 recordings to spot a pattern. Grandma takes a different approach: just ask "What's my most popular page?" or "Where do my visitors drop off?" and she'll tell you instantly. It's like having a wise analytics assistant who's already done all the watching for you.
