alertescalation.com Add your tool
Lists / Real user monitoring and session replay

Best real user monitoring and session replay tools in 2026

Measure performance and errors in real users' browsers and apps, and replay what they did. This list has the top 12 of 28 real user monitoring and session replay tools, ranked by a published score. Of these, 2 are open source, 8 have a free plan and 3 can be self-hosted. Checked by hand on 30 September 2026.

How this list is ranked

Each active tool gets a score out of 100. Archived, end-of-sale and maintenance-only tools are left out.

  • Capabilities: up to 75 points for the share of the category checklist that the tool's own documentation confirms. A tool meeting 8 of 10 items gets 60.
  • Free to start: 15 points for a free plan or a free edition.
  • Open or self-hostable: 10 points if it is open source or can be self-hosted.

Each category has a fixed checklist of capabilities (shown in the table below and on every tool page). An item counts only when the tool's own documentation confirms it; anything we could not confirm counts as not met. How long a tool has existed is deliberately not scored, so a new tool is not ranked below an older one for being new. Tools with the same score share a rank (shown as =), are listed A to Z within it, and the list never cuts between them. Nobody pays for a position.

  1. 1

    PostHog

    Open source product suite with session replay, product analytics, feature flags, error tracking and LLM analytics sharing one event store. Hosted with a monthly free allowance, or self-hosted.

    Free plan Free: 5K session recordings and 1M events per month Open source (MIT) Self-hosted Session replayReal user monitoringErrors
    100 9 of 9 capabilities (75), free 15, open 10
  2. =2

    OpenReplay

    Open source session replay with developer tools attached: console logs, network requests and performance data alongside each recording, plus co-browsing. Self-host free or use a managed instance.

    Free plan Open source (AGPL-3.0) Self-hosted Session replayReal user monitoringErrors
    92 8 of 9 capabilities (67), free 15, open 10
  3. =2

    Sentry

    Captures exceptions and crashes from web, mobile and backend SDKs, groups them into issues with stack traces and releases, and alerts owners. Adds tracing, replays and logs.

    Free plan Free: Developer: 5K errors/month, 1 user Self-hosted ErrorsAPMTracesReal user monitoring
    92 8 of 9 capabilities (67), free 15, open 10
  4. 4

    Fullstory

    Digital experience analytics built on session replay: records web and mobile sessions, flags frustration signals and errors, and lets you search and segment users by behaviour.

    Free plan Free: 30,000 sessions/mo, 12-month retention Session replayReal user monitoring
    90 9 of 9 capabilities (75), free 15, open 0
  5. 5

    Embrace

    Mobile and web app monitoring built on OpenTelemetry: crashes, ANRs, network calls and full user session timelines for iOS, Android, React Native and Unity.

    Free plan Free: 1M sessions/year, 5 users ErrorsReal user monitoringMobile appOpenTelemetry
    82 8 of 9 capabilities (67), free 15, open 0
  6. =6

    Atatus

    Full-stack observability SaaS with APM, real user monitoring, logs, infrastructure and synthetic monitoring, priced without per-user fees.

    Paid APMReal user monitoringLogsInfrastructure
    75 9 of 9 capabilities (75), free 0, open 0
  7. =6

    LogRocket

    Session replay for web and mobile apps, with error monitoring and product analytics attached, so an error comes with a recording of what the user did.

    Paid ErrorsReal user monitoring
    75 9 of 9 capabilities (75), free 0, open 0
  8. =6

    Luciq

    Mobile app observability, formerly Instabug (renamed 2025): crash reporting, app performance, in-app bug reports and user feedback for iOS and Android.

    Paid ErrorsMobile appReal user monitoring
    75 9 of 9 capabilities (75), free 0, open 0
  9. =6

    Quantum Metric

    Enterprise digital analytics with session replay, friction and error detection, and performance data for web and mobile, used by large retail, travel and banking sites.

    Paid Session replayReal user monitoring
    75 9 of 9 capabilities (75), free 0, open 0
  10. =10

    Contentsquare

    Digital experience analytics platform with session replay, heatmaps, journey analysis and error and speed analysis; Hotjar is now part of it.

    Free plan Session replayReal user monitoring
    73 7 of 9 capabilities (58), free 15, open 0
  11. =10

    Microsoft Clarity

    Free session recordings and heatmaps from Microsoft, with rage-click and dead-click detection and JavaScript error markers on recordings. No traffic caps.

    Free Session replayReal user monitoring
    73 7 of 9 capabilities (58), free 15, open 0
  12. =10

    Request Metrics

    Real user monitoring focused on Core Web Vitals and page speed for websites, with lab tests, SEO tracking and email alerts when performance slips.

    Free plan Free: 1 user, Core Web Vitals monitoring, email alerts Real user monitoring
    73 7 of 9 capabilities (58), free 15, open 0

Side by side

Tool Pricing Free plan Open source Self-hosted Core Web VitalsSession replayJavaScript errorsMobile SDKsResource timingSegmentationAlertsPrivacy maskingJourneys or funnels
PostHog Free plan 5K session recordings and 1M events per month Yes Yes YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
OpenReplay Free plan Yes Yes Yes -YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
Sentry Free plan Developer: 5K errors/month, 1 user No Yes YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes-
Fullstory Free plan 30,000 sessions/mo, 12-month retention No No YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
Embrace Free plan 1M sessions/year, 5 users No No Yes-YesYesYesYesYesYesYes
Atatus Paid No No No YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
LogRocket Paid No No No YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
Luciq Paid No No No YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
Quantum Metric Paid No No No YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
Contentsquare Free plan Yes No No -YesYesYes-YesYesYesYes
Microsoft Clarity Free Yes No No YesYesYesYes-Yes-YesYes
Request Metrics Free plan 1 user, Core Web Vitals monitoring, email alerts No No Yes-Yes-YesYesYesYesYes

Yes: confirmed in the tool's documentation. No: documented as not offered. -: not confirmed. Plans and prices change; check each tool's own site before you decide.

More lists