# Microsoft Clarity: how AI models rank it, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Named in 100 judge labels across 6 categories by 14 of 14 models. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/microsoft-clarity

## Standing by category

| Category | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Session replay and heatmaps](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/gtm-data/session-replay-and-heatmaps/index.md) | 45% | 1 | 20% | 71 |
| [Web analytics](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/gtm-data/web-analytics/index.md) | 4% | 5 | 8% | 24 |
| [Customer intelligence and data science](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/gtm-data/customer-intelligence-and-data-science/index.md) | 0% | 46 | 0% | 2 |
| [Audience and consumer insights platforms](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/audience-and-consumer-insights/index.md) | 0% | 101 | 0% | 1 |
| [Experimentation and personalization](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/experimentation-and-personalization/index.md) | 0% | 52 | 0% | 1 |
| [Product analytics](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/gtm-data/product-analytics/index.md) | 0% | 40 | 0% | 1 |

## What the models said for it

- "Google Analytics 4 + Microsoft Clarity (both free) - This combination covers almost all basic to intermediate analytics needs at zero cost" (MiniMax M2.5, Web analytics)
- "Best default for a limited budget: Microsoft Clarity. It's free and includes session recordings and click, scroll, and area heatmaps" (GPT-6 Luna, Session replay)
- "the best default choice is usually Microsoft Clarity because it's free and includes both session replay and heatmaps" (GPT-5.4 mini, Session replay)
- "If you have no budget, go with Microsoft Clarity (free, unlimited recordings, no sampling, built-in heatmaps)." (GLM 4.7 FlashX, Session replay)

## And against it

- "Microsoft Clarity began requiring explicit consent for users from the EEA, UK, and Switzerland on October 31, 2025... does not natively respond to the GPC (Global Privacy Control) browser signal" (Claude Haiku 4.5, Session replay)
- "Microsoft Clarity is a solid, widely used tool with strong default masking. However, because it is 100% free with unlimited recordings" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, Session replay)
- "Free and broad, but its privacy footprint deserves careful review; masking beyond passwords may require CSS selectors" (Perplexity Sonar, Session replay)
- "These can reintroduce cookies and consent requirements even after switching to a privacy-focused analytics platform." (Perplexity Sonar, Web analytics)

## By model

| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 2 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| Grok 4.20 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Mistral Small | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Kimi K2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 9 |

## Sources returned with these answers

The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Microsoft Clarity, from 219 of the 251 answers that named it (only the models that return a source list).

### Domains cited

- zapier.com: 76
- amplitude.com: 68
- userpilot.com: 61
- quantummetric.com: 55
- logrocket.com: 51
- posthog.com: 51
- contentsquare.com: 49
- g2.com: 48
- uxcam.com: 38
- capterra.com: 30

### Pages cited

- https://zapier.com/blog/best-session-replay-tools: 76
- https://userpilot.com/blog/session-replay-tools: 52
- https://logrocket.com/comparisons/best-session-replay-tools: 49
- https://amplitude.com/compare/best-session-replay-tools-for-startups: 28
- https://varify.io/en/best-heatmap-session-recording-tools: 28
- https://contentsquare.com/guides/session-replay/tools: 26
- https://quantummetric.com/blog/best-session-replay-tools-in-2026: 23
- https://quantummetric.com/blog/the-complete-guide-to-session-replay: 20

## The company

Microsoft; https://www.microsoft.com/; Vancouver, Canada; founded 1975; about 228,000 employees (2024); public, 4338 on Hong Kong Stock Exchange. From Wikidata, fetched 2026-09-14.

## In its own words

What Microsoft Clarity's own pages state, read 2026-09-28. Stated by the vendor, not checked by the index.

- Positioning: Clarity is a free user behavior analytics tool that helps you understand how users are interacting with your website through session replays and heatmaps. (https://clarity.microsoft.com/)
- For: everyone—from bloggers to Fortune 500 companies (https://clarity.microsoft.com/pricing)
- Price stated: Free forever. Built to grow with your business. No limits on traffic. (https://clarity.microsoft.com/)
- Starting price: 0 (https://clarity.microsoft.com/pricing)
- Free plan or trial: Free forever (https://clarity.microsoft.com/)
- Customers named: Imagely, Robusta, DropInBlog, Onward, Netpeak & ON Clinic, instacar, AllEvents, Netpeak

## What it publishes

Every page clarity.microsoft.com exposes, read 2026-09-29: 469 addresses. By kind, pages and the last 90 days:

- blog: 216 pages, 7 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-09-22
- case study: 78 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-05-14
- report or ebook: 1 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest 2025-02-11
- comparison: 5 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest 2024-05-23
- glossary or explainer: 3 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest 2026-03-05
- Recent: 2026-09-22 blog: Bot activity page classification https://clarity.microsoft.com/blog/bot-activity-page-classification
- Recent: 2026-09-10 blog: Understand saas monetization behavior https://clarity.microsoft.com/blog/understand-saas-monetization-behavior
- Recent: 2026-08-18 blog: Advanced queries clarity mcp server https://clarity.microsoft.com/blog/advanced-queries-clarity-mcp-server
- Recent: 2026-08-13 blog: Scrape to referral insights https://clarity.microsoft.com/blog/scrape-to-referral-insights
- Recent: 2026-08-03 blog: Branded non branded queries https://clarity.microsoft.com/blog/branded-non-branded-queries
- Recent: 2026-07-22 blog: Analyze ai citation queries by topic https://clarity.microsoft.com/blog/analyze-ai-citation-queries-by-topic

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/gtm.