Plerdy vs TruConversion vs HockeyStack

Contents:

1. Comparison Table
2. Plerdy Summary
3. TruConversion Summary
4. HockeyStack Summary
5. Looking for the Most Comprehesive Tool?
6. Looking for the Best Heatmapping Tool?
7. Looking to Measure Sales Performance for your E-commerce Store?
8. Looking for the Best Funnel Tracking Tool?
9. Looking to Improve your Form Conversion Rate?
10. Looking to Understand the Complete Customer Journey?
11. Looking to Save Time “Watching” Session Recording?
12. Understand Your Data Better and Get Actionable Insights

Comparison Table

Check out the comparison table, followed by a summary of each SaaS, and finally my recommendations below. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Plerdy Summary

++ Excellent Heatmaps & Session Recording

Clean interface, get more data as compared to similar tools, & uses a different way to capture shots to minimize tracking error. Brilliant!

But it also uses a different way to display the data which I personally feel is not as visually pleasing. You might need some time to get used to it.

++ Heatmap recording Summary

This shows you all the information at a glance. (e.g. link clicks, button clicks). So you can find problematic pages quickly. And if need to, open up each page and analyze the heatmap/ recording further.

Useful feature but not available in similar tools.

++ Group Heatmap Based on Goals (6 of them)

This is a similar feature as above, but goes deeper because it groups data based on goals.

Choose a specific goal, & Plerdy will rank all your pages against each other.

Instead of checking heatmap after heatmap and lacking the overall context and connectedness between the pages to understand the data, you can compare them based on specific goals & get a good overview & drill down if you need to.

The screenshot above is grouped based on “Scroll Depth”. With this data, I know at a glance that more people are reading my MarketMuse review to the end as compared to others. And the Frase vs Postpace review isn’t performing as well.

If need to, I can click through and explore the heatmap further and get insights to improve my future content.

Other heatmap tools shows you the data of each page, but doesn’t tell you how it relates to other pages.

++ Session Recording Summary

A time saver! Ain’t nobody got time time to watch all that session recordings!

This summary gives you a snapshot of all the important metrics like page scroll, clicks & more AND compare it with other pages on your site (like the above screenshot)

You then filter them and watch those meaningful ones. Saving you TIME.

++ There’s Forms, but so-so

It does the job but nothing too fancy. The design editor is rigid, with decent display rules. No advanced segmentation, personalization and etc. If ConvertBox is 5 stars, I would rate this 2-3 stars.

++ SEO Checker is basic but handy

SEO Checker on a UX tool, come on, it’s a bonus already!

I like that it tells you which pages have errors, which one needs to pay attention, and which one is healthy.

Use their audit feature to see what’s the issue is and if need to, use a pro SEO tool to dive deeper.

This is useful for basic needs, but for advanced users, you’ll need another SEO tool.

++ Know the exact queries through Google Search Console.

Very handy! It pulls data directly from GSC and tells you what queries people are searching for & how many clicks.

Based on this you can find content opportunities, improve existing content, & find keyword opportunities. This feature is also available in Frase.

++ Set up Goals without code

Track any element without code. For e.g. a button to contact sales or a block of text that is important for conversion. It’s much more complicated to set this up in Google Analytics (GA) & requires coding. Plerdy makes it a breeze.

++ Send Goals to Google Analytics

After goals are set up without code, you can send them to Google Analytics with one-click.

++ Funnel Tracking is basic but good enough

Data is basic, but they give you the important ones.

Like how many visits & drop-offs at each stage. You can also color code the funnel based on “device” & “traffic source”.

I like this design the most.

++ Measure sales impact, amazing for E-commerce

Knows what type of traffic, device, elements & buttons drive actual sales. So you can optimize your web design & marketing efforts.

You can also track how much revenue was made over a period of time and attribute it back to the exact elements that contributed to the sale. Noticed a CTA not being clicked at all? Remove or improve!

This requires some coding. They have a guide where you can follow or hand off to your developer to set it up.

— Increased load speed
Increases about 1.4 sec of load time on my site.

Highest among the 3. In comparison, GA increases load time by about 0.3 – 0.5 sec. So Plerdy is about 3-4 times heavier.

However, their script loads async. That means it loads silently in the BG while other elements on the page are loading. So this shouldn’t affect UX much when the connection is good.

— Funnel analytics is lacking

As a CRO tool, I expected more from their funnels.

Like having the ability the set funnel goals and measure conversion rate. Or be able to see specific channels only. Say you’re evaluating Paid Ad traffic, you won’t want the data to be diluted by organic visitors. But there’s no way to separate the 2 at the moment.

— Basic SEO & Pop-ups

TruConversion Summary

++ Get Analytics from existing forms

This is pretty unique & useful.

TruConversion is able to detect forms on your site and give you actionable insights.
Get data like conversion rate, which field causes people to drop-off, which fields were left blank, and more.

Most CRO tools help you optimize your page, I’ve never seen one that helps you optimize your form. Good one!

++ Powerful Funnel Tracking

Not as pretty, but more advanced than Plerdy. Apart from telling you the percentage of visitors who drop off at each stage, it also allows you to set goals within the funnel and give you the precise conversion rate.

You can track multiple sources automatically & filter them to get a clearer picture of your data.

It’s also more customizable. You can set multiple URLs in one stage & even track elements such as a button click.

++ Smart Recording

Trigger heatmaps/ session recording automatically only when a condition is met. For e.g. when visitor clicks on a button or scroll to a certain part of the page.

So you don’t waste time looking at “unqualified” recordings.

++ Funnel Report Sharing

You can share the funnel report to stakeholders. But there’s no whitelabel. Your clients will be able to see the TruConversion branding.

++ Average Heatmap & session recording

Does the job. Nothing special here.

++ Micro Surveys

Like Hotjar, you can trigger a small feedback survey to ask visitors some questions. Lightweight & simple.

++ Basic Survey

Basic and looks a bit dated. Nothing fancy but does the job.

— Microsoft Clarity is better for Heatmaps & Recordings

Though TruConversion’s heatmap is decent, a free solution like Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity does it better and provides more insight. The UI is also prettier.

I wouldn’t buy this tool just for the heatmaps.

— Limits are low

The limits are lowest among the 3 at 110k for 1 code. Plerdy starts at 750k and HockeyStack at 250k for 1 code and unlimited at 2nd code.

— No Whitelabel

When you share the report, clients can see the logo, the URL, and a CTA to ask people to sign up for TruConversion. I don’t like that for my clients.

HockeyStack Summary

++ No more watching session recordings! Save time.

HockeyStack records every single action a visitor takes on your site and presents it to you in an actionable dashboard. You can know what a visitor does without viewing session replay.

++ View the entire customer journey

Session recordings only record 1 page. HockeyStack’s approach records the entire journey from 1st to the last page.

And even tracks them for multiple visits & shows you the referrer URL. You get a better picture with 1 glance than 1 min of watching session recordings.

(Feature request: Would be good to filter visitors by no. of visits. So we can try to analyze what’s the reason for their repeat visit)

++ Cookieless Tracking

With more browsers blocking cookies, It will affect the accuracy of your data & analysis.

I’ve heard that HockeyStack will launch cookieless tracking next week to mitigate this problem.

++ See Search Queries

You’re able to literally see what visitors search on your site. This can help you create better content, improve site experience, and get insights into the products you sell.

However we can only see one user at a time, It’ll be time-consuming to check user by user (just like session recording).

Would be good if HockeyStack can aggregate all the data, group them into clusters, & present the data visually for us. (I heard this is on the roadmap)

++ Set up Goals with no-code (more advanced than Plerdy)

HockeyStack provides more flexibility than Plerdy. You can trigger a goal with “AND” “OR” functions.

Let’s say you have 5 variations of the same pricing page on different URLs. On Plerdy, you’ll have 5 goals. But on HockeyStack, you can set it up as 1 goal. Keeping the interface clean.

You can also set buttons, elements, texts, & URLs as Goals. While on Plerdy, you can only choose buttons & elements.

++ Funnel tracking is basic but OK.

Like Plerdy, HockeyStack’s funnel tracking is basic but gives you crucial information such as conversion rate % and drop off %.
Visually it’s not as pretty as Plerdy. And you need to hover to the chart to get the stats instead of having it displayed upfront.

++ Google Analytics Alternative

Big claim! Now of course HockeyStack can’t compete with GA when it comes to features & customizations. But it certainly can when it comes to ease of use and the ability to understand important data.

The dashboard shows you the most important info from GA such as no. of users, top pages, bounce rate, referrers, & more. If you need more data, you can always go back to GA to drill down more.

Creating advanced goals on HockeyStack is also much simpler than doing it on GA.

++ Share dashboard & funnel report

You’re able to share the entire dashboard, goals, and funnels with stakeholders.
There’s currently no Whitelabel (CNAME). But this is on the roadmap, giving us the ability to hide any HockeyStack branding.

Perfect if you work with clients.

++ Lightweight Script

HockeyStack’s script is the lightest among all, and have a smaller script size than Google Analytics.

++ Automatic Insights (Roadmap)

Boy oh boy, this is exciting! HockeyStack will crunch the data for you and give you insights AND suggestions of what to do next based on the data.

++ Team & Vision

The team is very hands on and listen to customers. Questions were promptly answered and suggestions taken seriously.
But what I’m more impressed with is their ability to “reinvent” CRO tools. Dozens of companies have been doing heatmaps & session recordings for ages. No doubt it still has its place, and it’s still effective. But the young team at HockeyStack was able to come out with a better perspective to analyze data and help users save time. Impressive!

Looking forward to seeing more innovations from HS.

++ Good deal structure

On the 2nd code, we get everything unlimited. Literally everything! Unlimited page views, unlimited domains, and unlimited sub-accounts (when launched) right? 😛

— Do not have heatmaps & session recordings

I understand that they take a different approach.

However, there’s still a place for heatmaps. Such as the ability to visually see where groups of people are clicking at, how far they scroll, and etc.

So if you’re looking for a heatmapping tool, HockeyStack doesn’t have that.

— UX is OK, but can be improved

Some examples:

Have to hover at each step of the funnel to be able to see data.

Some jargons such as “regex”. HockeyStack seem to be designed for the non-techy. So terms should be easy to understand as well.

Clicking on a specific “Goal” shows the result in the original dashboard. But once there, we cannot switch back to the original data or view other goals without going back.

— Some Bugs
When testing, there were some bugs that prevented moving on. Thankfully the team was able to respond quickly to either resolve the issue or offer suggestions.

Looking for the Most Comprehensive Tool?

Plerdy!

It comes with an excellent heatmapping tool + session recording + pop ups + funnels tracking + SEO checker + Sales performance tracker.

Looking for the Best Heatmapping Tool?

Plerdy!

The heatmap data is more actionable than those you can get from Microsoft Clarity or Hotjar. Designed for you to extract insights with a glance, and the ability to drill down to each page if needed.

The summary table helps you save time so you only look at heatmaps or recordings that are important. This goes the same with their session recording.

Looking to Measure Sales Performance for your E-commerce Store?

Plerdy!

You’re able to track sales volume & revenue right from Plerdy + the ability to attribute sales back to the page & element that are responsible for the sale. Sick!

Looking for the Best Funnel Tracking Tool?

TruConversion!

A robust funnel tracking tool that gives you all the crucial data.

More importantly, it understands the purpose of the tracking, and so allows you to set goals for each funnel that is being tracked, and gives you a conversion rate based on that goal.

In comparison, other tools give you a rather simple view.

You can also filter by sources to get “cleaner” data. Organic traffic and Paid traffic are not made equal.

Looking to Improve Your Form Conversion Rate?

TruConversion!

They have a super cool feature that allows you to get analytics from existing forms on your site.

Now you can know which fields are causing people to abandon the form, where people are stuck, what’s your conversion rate, & more!

Looking to Understand the Complete Customer Journey?

HockeyStack!

You’ll be able to see the complete journey a visitor takes from the 1st to last page. And continue tracking if he comes back the 2nd, or 10th time.

Looking to Save Time “Watching” Session Recordings?

HockeyStack!

HS measures what each visitor does on your site like how far he scroll, the buttons he clicked, and even the search queries he typed on your search bar.

You can get all these insights with a glance instead of having to watch a 1 min session recording. Brilliant!

Understand Your Data Better and Get Actionable Insights

HockeyStack!

HS is not as versatile AND complicated as Google Analytics. What it does is it condenses all the important info and brings them to HockeyStack so you can understand your data better & share it with your stakeholders if needed.

You’re also able to create goals easily with no-code. On GA, it’ll be more difficult to do so.