A Visual Showdown of Web Analytics Tools

When it comes to web analytics, there are two types of people: those who love watching how users interact with their site in real time, and those who prefer diving deep into data dashboards.

Luckily, Microsoft Clarity and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) cater to both camps.

But what’s the real difference? And do you even need to choose?

Let’s break it down.

Clarity vs GA4: The Feature-by-Feature Breakdown

To make your decision easier,

here’s a side-by-side comparison based on the most important features for marketers, product teams, and developers:

What Microsoft Clarity Does Best

Heatmaps & Session Replay
Clarity offers out-of-the-box heatmaps and session recordings—allowing you to literally watch how people navigate your site. This makes it a perfect tool for UX designers or product teams working on usability.

Visual Friction Insights
With rage clicks, dead clicks, and excessive scrolling patterns, Clarity gives a surprisingly detailed look at user frustration—without needing any manual setup.

Zero Cost, Zero Setup Complexity
Completely free with no usage limits. If you’re running a startup or MVP, this tool is your best friend.

Where GA4 Shines

Event-Driven Everything
Google Analytics 4 is built around events, giving you deep insights into user behavior, conversions, and journeys—across web and mobile.

Custom Funnels & Attribution Models
Want to analyze marketing campaigns and conversion paths? GA4 is built for that. It supports multi-touch attribution, advanced segmentation, and audience building.

Enterprise-Ready, Privacy-Focused
From IP anonymization to consent mode and seamless Google Ads integration, GA4 is optimized for scalable, compliant analytics.

Which Tool Should You Use?

Pro Tip: Why Not Both?

The good news is—you don’t have to choose. In fact, using Clarity and GA4 together gives you the best of both worlds:

• Use GA4 for marketing insights, performance tracking, and campaign reporting.

• Use Clarity to watch what those users are actually doing on your site—where they click, where they scroll, and where they rage-quit.

And yes, both are free and GDPR-compliant.

Final Thoughts

In the end, Microsoft Clarity is like watching over your user's shoulder, while GA4 is like getting a full diagnostic report. If you’re serious about understanding users and optimizing for conversions, there’s really no reason not to use both.