ComparisonsNovember 10, 2026 · 5 min read

Hotjar vs DASHUND: measuring user behavior before or after the code

Hotjar watches a live website through a script; DASHUND watches a Figma prototype before development starts. Same questions, asked at two different stages.

By Thomas Cescousse, product designer and maker of DASHUND

Hotjar and DASHUND answer the same questions (where do people click, which path do they take, where do they drop off?), just not at the same moment. Hotjar observes a website that's already live, through a script your developers install. DASHUND observes a Figma prototype before a single line of code is written, with nothing to install. So they aren't really competing tools. They're two stages of the same product: DASHUND before development, Hotjar after.

Why compare Hotjar and DASHUND?

When I demo DASHUND, people often say, "Oh, it's Hotjar for Figma." It's a good shorthand, and it's partly right: you get heatmaps, sessions and paths. But the resemblance stops at when you measure, and that changes everything. I'm a product designer, and I built DASHUND because the decisions that matter get made on the prototype, which is exactly the stage where we have the least real data.

How does Hotjar work?

As of November 4, 2026, Hotjar is part of Contentsquare. Hotjar Ltd. merged into the Contentsquare group on July 1, 2025, and its tools (heatmaps, session recordings, surveys) now live inside Contentsquare. Hotjar's website actually points to Contentsquare's pricing page.

The principle hasn't changed: you add a script to a live website. From there you get heatmaps, session replays, on-site surveys, and path analysis at very large scale. It's a mature tool with a generous free plan. It doesn't read Figma prototypes, though: it needs a built website.

How does DASHUND work?

DASHUND is analytics for Figma prototypes. You publish your prototype from the DASHUND plugin for Figma (the version is frozen at publication), then share one link per audience. People use the prototype like a real product, with no tasks, no questions and no account.

You see every session step by step, the Flow (a Sankey diagram of paths), the Sitemap, the completion rate toward a goal screen, drop-offs, and heatmaps that also count clicks outside the clickable areas. You can compare two versions or two audiences and run an A/B test from a single link. No developer, no script: the designer publishes and reads the results on their own. The full list is on the Features page.

Before or after the code: why does it matter?

It's about the cost of change. On a prototype, moving a button, merging two screens or reordering a flow takes a few minutes in Figma. Once the product is built, the same change means a ticket, code, testing and a release.

Measuring the prototype lets you decide while change is still cheap. Measuring the live product shows you what happens with real traffic, real data and real edge cases, which no prototype fully reproduces.

The two measurements also reach different people. On a website, it's all your visitors. On a prototype, it's whoever you share the link with: teammates, customers, your community. It's a smaller, hand-picked sample, but you get it weeks before launch.

Hotjar and DASHUND side by side

The volumes don't compare one to one: a website gets all its traffic, a prototype gets the people you invite. DASHUND's plans are detailed on the Pricing page.

When should you pick Hotjar?

Hotjar (and Contentsquare) is the right tool when:

• the product is live and you want to understand real usage in production;
• you want to ask visitors questions with built-in surveys;
• you have a lot of traffic and want to analyze paths at scale;
• a developer can install the script, or already has.

When is DASHUND a better fit?

DASHUND fits better when:

• the product, or the new feature, only exists in Figma so far;
• you want to choose between two versions of a design before it gets built;
• you want numbers without waiting on a developer or a release;
• you want to bring real paths to a design review, not just mockups;
• you don't want to collect personal data about testers: no account, IP addresses never stored, anonymous IDs specific to

each prototype, data hosted in the EU.

How do you use Hotjar and DASHUND together?

This is the most natural pairing, because the same questions come up at both stages:

1. On the prototype: publish it with DASHUND, share a link, read the Flow and the heatmaps. Fix, publish a new version,

compare.

1. At launch: the built product follows the flow you settled on. Hotjar takes over on the live site.
2. Afterward: compare the prototype's paths with the shipped product's. If people drop off in the same place, the issue is

in the design; if the drop-off is new, it may come from something the prototype didn't show (load times, real data, error states).

If you also want tasks and questions on the prototype, the post Maze vs DASHUND explains how to combine free use with a guided study.

FAQ

Hotjar or DASHUND: which one should I choose?

It depends on where the product is. If it's live, Hotjar measures real usage on the site. If it only exists in Figma, DASHUND measures how people use the prototype, before development. Many teams need both, at different times.

Does Hotjar work with Figma prototypes?

No. Hotjar requires a script installed on a live website or app; it doesn't read Figma prototypes.

Is DASHUND "Hotjar for Figma"?

Partly: it has heatmaps, sessions and paths. But DASHUND measures a Figma prototype before the code exists, with no script or developer, and adds version comparison and A/B tests from a single link.

Do I need a developer to use DASHUND?

No. The designer publishes the prototype from the DASHUND plugin for Figma, shares the link and reads the results on their own.

Does Hotjar still exist?

Its tools do. Hotjar Ltd. merged into the Contentsquare group on July 1, 2025, and its heatmaps, recordings and surveys are now part of Contentsquare. As of November 4, 2026, Hotjar's website points to Contentsquare's pricing page.