“Trust only what you build yourself,” advises Ken Thompson, co-inventor of the Unix operating system. While you can’t build every tool you need yourself, you can trust those built as open-source, where you have full access to audit and contribute to the code.

Open-source session replay software exemplifies this principle. These tools record user interactions on your website or product, capturing every click, scroll, and movement. This visibility allows you to see how users navigate your site, understand their frustrations, and identify areas for improvement.

With this in mind, we have compiled a comprehensive list of the top 7 best open-source session replay tools for 2024. The following sections will detail their key features, discuss their pricing, and explore deployment options, providing you with all the necessary information to make an informed decision.

We will cover:

1. OpenReplay
2. PostHog
3. Matomo
4. Sentry
5. HyperDX
6. Highlight
7. RRWeb

1. OpenReplay

Alternative to: FullStory, LogRocket, Quantum Metric

Image source: openreplay.com

What is OpenReplay?

OpenReplay is an open-source session replay and analytics tool you can self-host. It also has extra capabilities like developer tools for bug reproduction and co-browsing for real-time support.

Key Features

• Session replay
• DevTools
• Product and website analytics
• Co-browsing
• Performance monitoring
• Feature flags
• Usability testing

Pricing and deployment options

• Cloud
  • Serverless: Volume based. $5.95/month per 1,000 sessions, includes a 7-day free trial. Great for startups and small companies.
  • Dedicated: Deploy an instance in any region of your choice. Comes with extra security features and no limits on the number of recordings or retention. Starts at $199/month with a 7-day free trial. Ideal for companies of all sizes.
• Self-hosted
  • Open-Source Edition: Free-forever. For side projects and low-traffic apps.
  • Enterprise Edition: Seat-based pricing. Advanced security, high availability, and scalability. Contact sales for details.

2. PostHog

Alternative to: Mixpanel, Amplitude

Image: posthog.com

What is PostHog?

PostHog is an open-source platform that combines product analytics, session replay, user surveys, and feature flags. It offers a comprehensive cloud service and a self-hosted “Hobby” option. Premium features and support are exclusively available on the cloud.

Key Features

• Product analytics
• Session Replay
• Feature flags
• A/B testing
• Surveys

Pricing and deployment options

• Cloud
  • Free plan: No cost. Basic features with limits on usage for all products.
  • Ridiculously Cheap: Starts at $0/month, usage-based pricing beyond generous free limits.
  • Teams: Starts at $450/month, usage-based pricing applies after exceeding free tier limits.
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing, usage-based for unrestricted product access.
• Self-hosted: No longer supported.

3. Matomo

Alternative to: Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, Yandex Metrica

Image source: matomo.org

What is Matomo?

Matomo is an open source web analytics platform. It provides detailed insights into webpage usage and enables users to monitor visitor data and user behavior to improve the customer experience. The platform is a Google Analytics alternative that protects your data and the privacy of your customers. Session recording software is available by default in the cloud and is also offered as an add-on for on-premise use.

Key Features

• Web analytics
• Session recordings
• Heatmaps
• A/B Tests
• Funnels and user flow

Pricing and deployment options

• Cloud: Starts at 22€ per month for up to 50,000 monthly hits and includes a 21-day free trial.
• Self-hosted: Free for basic features; advanced features available at additional costs.

4. Sentry

Alternative to: Datadog, Dynatrace, New Relic

Image source: sentry.io

What is Sentry?

Sentry is a source-available cross-platform tool for error tracking, session replay and performance monitoring. It offers actionable insights from various languages and frameworks for quick bug diagnosis and resolution.

Key Features

• Error monitoring
• Session replay
• Performance monitoring tool
• Profiling
• Code coverage

Pricing and deployment options

• Cloud
  • Developer: Free, includes limited error and performance monitoring.
  • Team: Starts at $26/month, usage-based pricing applies after exceeding event volume limits.
  • Business: Starts at $80/month, standardized error and performance monitoring, usage-based pricing applies after exceeding event volume limits.
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing, includes full platform monitoring with cross-project insights.
• Self-Hosted: A minimal setup that works for simple use cases.
  • Hobby Edition: A free, minimal setup designed for simple use cases, but not designed to scale.

5. HyperDX

Alternative to: Sentry, Datadog, New Relic

Image source: hyperdx.io

What is HyperDX?

HyperDX is an open-source monitoring platform designed to help engineers resolve production bugs. It combines logs, metrics, traces, and browser session replays.

Key Features

• Session Replays
• Errors and Logs
• Traces

Pricing and deployment options

• Cloud
  • Free plan: Storage limit of 3 GB per month, 3 day retention, 1 user.
  • Starter: Offers up to 50 GB of data storage per month for $20. Usage-based pricing applies after reaching the limit. Includes a free 14-day trial and 30-day retention.
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing, volume discounts available.
• Self-hosted
  • Open-source, free to use under licensing terms. Provides access to limited features.

6. Highlight

Alternative to: Sentry, Datadog, New Relic

Image source: highlight.io

What is Highlight.io?

Highlight is an open source full-stack monitoring platform for web applications. Like HyperDX, it offers session replay, error monitoring, logging, and tracing.

Key Features

• Session Replay
• Error monitoring and logging
• Traces

Pricing and deployment options

• Cloud
  • Free Forever: Limited usage of the product features.
  • Pay as You Go: Starts with a base fee of $50. Free trial available. Usage-based pricing applies after reaching the free tier limits.
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing for large-scale needs.
• Self-hosted
  • Hobby Edition: Free for use on local machines or small remote instances, not designed to scale.
  • Enterprise Edition: Starts at $3,000/month, scalable and production-ready instance for larger deployments.

7. RRWeb

Image source: rrweb.io

What is RRWeb?

rrweb is not a full-fledged platform but rather an open source library for recording and replaying web sessions. Since it’s a library only, additional effort is required to build the data pipeline and services that would allow you to leverage it at scale. RRWeb is a foundational tool for session replay in many analytics and error monitoring platforms, such as Sentry, Highlight, and PostHog.

Key Features

• Session Replay
• Error Tracking

Pricing and deployment options

• Cloud: Not available
• Self-hosted: Ready-to-use APIs for flexible, self-hosted deployment at no cost.

Open-Source Session Replay Software Features Comparative Analysis

Now that we have detailed the key features, pricing, and deployment options of each tool, this table provides a side-by-side feature comparison. This analysis can help you understand which tool best meets your needs and operational preferences.

Conclusion

Selecting the right session replay tool involves balancing capabilities, pricing and hosting options. After reviewing the top choices available, here’s how to align them with your specific needs:

• Best for session replay: OpenReplay is the most advanced session replay platform. It offers product analytics, developer tools, and co-browsing capabilities. It also provides flexible deployment options, including self-hosting for enterprises and dedicated cloud instances, ensuring full control over data and costs.
• Best for web analytics: Matomo provides the necessary features for understanding user behavior and improving user digital experience. It offers self-hosting capabilities and a competitive pricing structure.
• Best for error tracking: Sentry helps identify and resolve software bugs by providing broad, diverse error-logging capabilities and platform support.
• Best for product analytics: PostHog offers a complete set of tools for product analytics and user engagement with surveys exclusively on its cloud offering.

For a deeper understanding and more insights into session replay, you can explore our Complete Session Replay Guide, which includes detailed comparisons and practical tips to help you make an informed choice.