Historian vs.
Microsoft Clarity
Clarity shows you how visitors behave, for free. Historian shows you what changed on the page and what it was worth.
The short version
Microsoft Clarity is a free behaviour analytics tool: session recordings, click and scroll heatmaps, and AI summaries and chat on top. For many sites it is the easiest way to start watching how visitors use a page.
Historian works on the page and its history. It keeps your pages every day, draws heatmaps on the version that was live and colours them by revenue, and has agents that tell you which change moved the numbers.
Side-by-side comparison
| Microsoft Clarity | Historian | |
|---|---|---|
| Core question | How do visitors behave on my site? | What changed on the site, and what did it do to revenue? |
| Price | Free | Not published; we tailor it in a demo |
| Session replay | Yes | No — Historian follows pages and elements, not individual visitors |
| Heatmaps | Yes — clicks and scroll | Yes — on every captured version of the page, coloured by clicks, conversion or revenue per click, per template, device and traffic source |
| Revenue per element | Not the focus | Yes — revenue per click, the products bought after the click, and where visitors went next |
| Archive of the page itself | No | Yes — your pages captured every day with a real browser, from the day you start |
| Ads and competitors | Not part of the product | Google Ads and Meta Ads next to the pages they lead to; competitors' front pages captured daily |
| AI | AI summaries of recordings and a chat on your data | A catalog of specialist agents that run on a schedule and deliver insights with an estimated revenue impact and the evidence |
Key differences in depth
Behaviour vs. revenue
Clarity shows where visitors click and scroll, and lets you watch them do it. Historian ties every click to the orders that followed, so the heatmap answers a different question: what is this element worth, and did the last change make it worth more or less?
A heatmap per version
When a page changes, a heatmap over the period mixes the old and the new. Historian captures each version and draws the heatmap on it, so before and after sit side by side.
More than the site
Historian puts your ad accounts and your competitors' front pages on the same timeline as your own pages, and its agents read all of it. When a number moves, the explanation can come from outside the site too.
When each tool makes sense
Choose Microsoft Clarity when:
- You want free session recordings and heatmaps
- Your main questions are about usability and behaviour
- You want to get started in minutes without a budget
Choose Historian when:
- You want heatmaps by revenue per click, on each version of the page
- You want to know which change on the site or in the market moved revenue
- You want your pages kept, every day, to go back to
- You want agents to bring you the findings
Used together
Clarity's recordings show visitors missing a new filter on the category page. Historian shows when the filter arrived, what the page looked like before, and what the change did to revenue per click.
Other comparisons
All comparisons →Historian vs. Hotjar / FullStory
Session replay shows you what one visitor did. Historian shows you what the page looked like, what changed, and what each element earned.
Historian vs. Contentsquare
Both are built for e-commerce teams. Contentsquare follows the visitor's experience; Historian follows the page, its changes and its revenue.
Historian vs. Google Analytics 4
GA tells you the numbers changed. Historian tells you what changed.
Historian vs. Amplitude
Amplitude analyses how users move through a product. Historian follows what happens to a webshop's pages and revenue.
Historian vs. Mixpanel
Mixpanel tracks what your users do. Historian also keeps what your pages looked like, and what each change was worth.
Historian vs. Triple Whale
Triple Whale measures your channels and attribution. Historian adds what happened on the site around them.
Historian vs. Polar Analytics
Polar collects your metrics in one place. Historian records the pages, campaigns and competitor moves behind them.
Stop guessing why revenue dropped.
Book a demo and we'll show you what Historian finds on your own store.