Top 20 heatmap tools by AI search visibility (2026)
Analytics platforms used to visualize clicks, scroll depth, sessions, funnels, and on-page user behavior to improve conversion rates. Ranked by a composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →
Refreshed Jun 01, 2026At a glance
What we observed in this categoryauto-generated
Inspectlet leads the heatmap tools category with a composite score of 62.5, placing it 27.5 points ahead of second-ranked Hotjar. This gap is structurally significant: Inspectlet achieves perfect alignment between its visibility (62.5%) and citation rate (62.5%), meaning AI Overviews not only mention it but actively reference its own domain as a source. The category average visibility sits at just 13.1%, making Inspectlet's score nearly five times the norm and suggesting a pronounced concentration of AI attention at the top.
The most striking divergence in this data is Hotjar's: it holds 50% visibility — second highest in the category — yet carries a 0% citation rate. AI Overviews name Hotjar as a product but do not cite hotjar.com as a source. Microsoft Clarity and Mouseflow show the same pattern at 37.5% visibility with zero citations. Smartlook inverts this: its citation rate (25%) exceeds its visibility (12.5%), meaning AI trusts its domain as a reference point more often than it surfaces the brand by name in responses.
Google AI Overviews is the dominant engine across all 10 ranked brands, with no outlier engine appearing for any brand. The top cited sources for this category are led by reddit.com and youtube.com alongside brand-owned domains like inspectlet.com, smartlook.com, crazyegg.com, and third-party sites convert.com, cpoclub.com, and guideflow.com. This pattern suggests AI is anchoring heatmap tool recommendations on community discussion and tutorial content rather than purely vendor or review-site documentation.
Movers & shakers since last refresh
Biggest visibility risers
-
Inspectlet 0% → 62% · rank #0 → #1+62pp
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Hotjar 0% → 50% · rank #0 → #2+50pp
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Crazy Egg 0% → 38% · rank #0 → #3+38pp
The ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
inspectlet.com
|
62% | 62% | Google AI Overviews |
Inspectlet is the only brand where visibility and citation both hit 62.5%, nearly five times the category average visibility of 13.1%, and its domain appears directly in the top cited sources list. |
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| 2 |
hotjar.com
|
50% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
Hotjar achieves 50% visibility — second in the category — but a 0% citation rate signals AI surfaces it by name without treating hotjar.com as a credible reference source. |
||||
| 3 |
crazyegg.com
|
38% | 12% | Google AI Overviews |
Crazy Egg's 12.5% citation rate is modest but positions it ahead of Microsoft Clarity and Mouseflow, which share its 37.5% visibility yet receive zero citations. |
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| 4 |
clarity.microsoft.com
|
38% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
Microsoft Clarity matches Crazy Egg's 37.5% visibility but records 0% citations, leaving it tied with Mouseflow at a composite score of 26.2 despite its major-brand backing. |
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| 5 |
mouseflow.com
|
38% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
Mouseflow shares an identical composite score of 26.2 and visibility of 37.5% with Microsoft Clarity, with zero citations distinguishing neither brand in AI's source-referencing behavior. |
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| 6 |
smartlook.com
|
12% | 25% | Google AI Overviews |
| 7 |
heap.io
|
12% | 12% | Google AI Overviews |
| 8 |
zoho.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 9 |
fullstory.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 10 |
luckyorange.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 11 |
contentsquare.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 12 |
vwo.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 13 |
plerdy.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 14 |
uxcam.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 15 |
glassbox.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 16 |
quantummetric.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 17 |
medallia.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 18 |
ptengine.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 19 |
freshworks.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
| 20 |
attentioninsight.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Overviews |
Sources AI engines trust in this category
Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on heatmap tools, these are the domains Google AI Overviews cited most often. If you're not on this list — or if your competitors are — that's a concrete PR / linkbuilding target.
How to read this ranking
Four things worth knowing before you act on the numbers above. These are the same definitions across every industry page — for category-specific observations, see the What we observed section above (where available) and the per-brand insights inline in the ranking.
Visibility = being named
A brand's visibility % is the share of AI answers that mention it by name in the response prose. This is who AI engines actively recommend to the buyer.
Citation rate = being trusted
Citation rate is the share of AI answers that include the brand's domain as a clickable source link. This is what the AI treats as authoritative evidence — different from being named.
Top engine differs by brand
The "top engine" column shows which AI surface each brand performs best on. Big gaps between a brand's score across engines usually points to specific content or schema gaps.
Rankings move month to month
AI engines re-crawl and re-rank on shorter cycles than classical search. We re-audit every brand on this list at least every 30 days and refresh this page automatically.
Get your own heatmap tools brand audited
The brands above were curated from public market-leader lists. Want the same measurement against your own brand — including the queries you appear on, which competitors get named instead, and a prioritised fix list? Run a free preview.
Frequently asked about heatmap tools AI visibility
Who leads AI visibility in heatmap tools?
Inspectlet leads with a composite score of 62.5 and 62.5% visibility, nearly five times the category average of 13.1%. It is the only brand with perfectly matched visibility and citation rates in this category.
Which heatmap tools brands are named in AI Overviews but not cited as sources?
Hotjar (50% visibility, 0% citation), Microsoft Clarity (37.5% visibility, 0% citation), and Mouseflow (37.5% visibility, 0% citation) are all surfaced by name in AI Overviews but their domains are not cited as reference sources.
What sources does AI cite most for heatmap tools research?
The top cited sources in this category are reddit.com and youtube.com alongside brand-owned domains inspectlet.com, smartlook.com, and crazyegg.com, plus third-party sites convert.com, cpoclub.com, and guideflow.com.
Is there any brand in heatmap tools with a citation rate higher than its visibility?
Yes — Smartlook records a 25% citation rate against only 12.5% visibility, meaning AI references its domain as a source more frequently than it mentions the brand by name in responses.
Which AI engine dominates citations in the heatmap tools category?
Google AI Overviews is the top engine for every one of the 10 ranked brands in this category, with no alternative engine recorded as a primary driver for any brand.
What is the typical AI visibility level for heatmap tools brands?
The category average visibility is 13.1% and average citation rate is just 5.6%, indicating that most of the 20 tracked brands have minimal presence in AI-generated responses.