How to export your data from Hotjar
Hotjar lets you export recording metadata, survey responses, and heatmap data as CSV or XLSX spreadsheets (plus heatmaps as JPG images), but it does not let you export actual recording video/replay files or a full account backup — each data type has its own separate export flow inside the tool.
✓ Verified against Hotjar's official documentation, September 2026
Step by step
- 1Recordings: open your Recordings playlist (insights.hotjar.com/sites/*/playbacks), click the export list icon, choose CSV or XLSX
- 2You'll get a confirmation that a download link will be emailed to your logged-in Hotjar email address once the file is ready (allow a few minutes; check spam)
- 3Click the link in the email while logged into Hotjar to download the file — any team member with Read access or higher can use it
- 4Heatmaps: open the heatmap you want, click the download icon, then choose Download JPG (image of the heatmap) or Download CSV (click/movement/scroll data)
- 5Surveys: go to your Surveys page, select the Responses tab, apply any filters, then click the Download icon and choose CSV or XLSX
- 6Survey exports of 10,000 responses or fewer download immediately on the page; larger exports are emailed as a download link
- 7Highlights: go to the Highlights page, open a highlight, and click the Download icon to save it as a video file to your computer
- 8Repeat per site/project — Hotjar has no single 'export all workspace data' button; each data type (Recordings, Heatmaps, Surveys, Highlights) is exported separately
What the export includes
- ✓Recording metadata: URL, timestamps (UTC), device/browser/OS, country, action count, page count, duration, rage clicks, U-turns, comments, labels, NPS score, events, and any custom user attributes sent to Hotjar
- ✓Heatmap data: element CSS selector, click/interaction counts, percentage of total, visibility in image (click, movement, and scroll map data)
- ✓Heatmap as a static JPG image
- ✓Survey response data matching whatever filters you applied before exporting
- ✓Highlight clips as downloadable video files
What it doesn't include
- ✗Actual recording video/screen-replay footage — only the metadata can be exported, since Hotjar recordings are reconstructed from collected interaction data rather than real screen video
- ✗Relevance, frustration, and engagement scores are not included in recording exports
- ✗Engage (user interview) recordings have no direct download button — you can only create and download individual clips, not the full recording
- ✗Account, billing, or organization/team settings
- ✗A single combined or full-account/workspace export file
Before you start
- ⚠A single recordings export is capped at 100,000 recordings; above that, filter by date or other criteria before exporting
- ⚠All exported timestamps are shown in UTC, regardless of your account's display timezone
- ⚠Large exports (recordings, and surveys with more than 10,000 responses) arrive as an emailed download link rather than an immediate file — processing takes a few minutes
- ⚠Some spreadsheet columns are blank or missing depending on your plan and on whether that data was present for a given session
- ⚠Short links (for Insights pages, Trends, Funnels, heatmaps) are for sharing views inside your Hotjar Organization — they are not a data export/portability method
Where to take your data
Free and cheaper tools that can take a Hotjar export. See all Hotjar alternatives →
Microsoft Clarity
Clarity has no import for historical Hotjar recordings or heatmaps (Hotjar doesn't export raw session/replay data). Install Clarity's tracking script going forward; use your exported Hotjar CSVs only as a reference dataset for past behavior analysis.
PostHog session replay/heatmaps also can't ingest Hotjar's exported CSV/XLSX metadata as replayable sessions. Add the PostHog snippet to start capturing new recordings; keep the Hotjar exports as a separate historical CSV archive.
Plausible
Plausible doesn't support importing recordings, heatmaps, or survey data from Hotjar — it's a privacy-focused pageview/analytics tool, not a session-replay tool. Use it going forward for pageview/traffic analytics only.
Exporting from Hotjar: common questions
Can I export the actual video of my Hotjar recordings?+
No. Hotjar recordings are reconstructions built from collected interaction data, not real screen video, so only the metadata (URLs, timestamps, device, actions, comments, labels, etc.) can be exported as CSV/XLSX — not a playable video file.
Is there a way to export my entire Hotjar account/workspace at once?+
No single export covers everything. You export Recordings, Heatmaps, Surveys, and Highlights separately, each with its own download flow and, for Recordings and large Survey exports, an emailed download link.
What format does Hotjar export data in?+
CSV or XLSX for recording metadata and survey responses, CSV for heatmap click/movement/scroll data, JPG for a static heatmap image, and video files for downloaded Highlight clips.
Who can download a Hotjar export?+
Any team member with Read access or higher in your Hotjar Organization can use the emailed download link, provided they're logged into Hotjar.
Is there a limit on how much data I can export at once?+
Yes — recordings exports are capped at 100,000 recordings per export; if you have more, filter by date or other criteria first. Survey exports over 10,000 responses are sent via an emailed link instead of an instant download.
Can I export my Hotjar interview (Engage) recordings?+
Not directly — there's no download button for full Engage recordings, but you can create a clip of any length and download that clip after a few minutes of processing.
Sources
This guide was written from Hotjar's own documentation and checked against it in September 2026. If a step has changed, the official page wins.
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