The Best AI Website UX Audit Tools in 2026, and What Each One Checks
The best AI website UX audit tools are Google Lighthouse for automated technical checks, Microsoft Clarity or Contentsquare (Hotjar's new home) for what real visitors do, and an attention prediction tool for designs before launch. To turn a live audit into a ranked list of fixes, add a tool that measures each element on the page, such as Cortality.
Last updated: November 2, 2026. Every price below was checked on the vendor's own page that day. Prices change often, so confirm before you buy.
Disclosure: I'm Colton, a co-founder of Cortality, which is one of the tools on this page. Where another tool is the better pick, this page says so.
Quick answers
What's the best free UX audit tool?
Use two: Google Lighthouse for performance, accessibility and SEO audits, and Microsoft Clarity for recordings and heatmaps of real visitors. Both are free.
Is Hotjar still an option?
Hotjar is now part of Contentsquare, and new users can no longer create a Hotjar account (Contentsquare). They sign up for Contentsquare's free plan instead.
Which tool tells me what to fix first?
Most audit tools give you findings to sort through. Cortality measures how real visitors use every element of the page and ranks the fixes, with the exact change and a re-measure for each. It works alongside Clarity and GA4. Start your free week.
Which kind of tool answers which audit question
| Audit question | Kind of tool | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Is the page fast, accessible and technically sound? | Automated audit | Google Lighthouse |
| Where do real visitors click, scroll and get stuck? | Recordings and heatmaps | Microsoft Clarity, Contentsquare |
| Where will people look on a design before launch? | Attention prediction | Attention Insight |
| Can test users complete a task on a prototype? | Usability testing | Maze |
| Which element should change first, and did the change work? | Element-level measurement | Cortality |
The best AI UX audit tools, side by side
Checked on November 2, 2026, on each vendor's own page.
| Tool | What it checks | AI features | Price as listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Lighthouse | Performance, accessibility, SEO and more, from a URL | Automated audits | Free, open source |
| Microsoft Clarity | Real-visitor recordings, click and scroll heatmaps, rage and dead clicks | Copilot heatmap insights and chat | Free forever |
| Contentsquare (Hotjar's new home) | Recordings, heatmaps, funnels, errors, surveys | Sense AI chat and summaries on Growth | Free up to 200k sessions/month; Growth $49/month paid monthly or $39/month paid yearly |
| Attention Insight | Predicted attention on a design, image or URL | AI attention prediction and recommendations | Basic $31, Pro $129, Hero $324 per month paid monthly (USD); 14-day free trial |
| Maze | Prototype and usability tests with participants | AI moderator and study builder | Free to try; larger plans through sales |
| Cortality | How real visitors use each element, ranked fixes, re-measure | Free page scan from our attention model; the paid product measures real visitors | $99, $249 or $499/month; Enterprise custom; free first week |
1. Google Lighthouse: the free technical audit
What it does well. Google calls Lighthouse "an open-source, automated tool to help you improve the quality of web pages", with audits for performance, accessibility, SEO and more. Each failed audit links to an explanation of how to fix it. You can run it in Chrome DevTools, from the command line, or on PageSpeed Insights (Chrome for Developers).
Pricing. Free.
Keep in mind. It audits how the page is built, not how visitors use it. A page can score well and still lose visitors.
Who it's for. Every site, as the first pass of an audit.
2. Microsoft Clarity: free real-visitor data
What it does well. Session recordings, click and scroll heatmaps, and signals such as rage clicks, dead clicks and quick backs. Copilot summarizes a page's heatmaps across desktop, tablet and mobile (Clarity FAQ).
Pricing. Free forever, with no traffic limits.
Keep in mind. Recordings are kept for 30 days. Microsoft says Copilot's takeaways "shouldn't be treated as expert recommendations", so you still do the diagnosis.
Who it's for. Any live site that wants to see real behavior at no cost.
3. Contentsquare, Hotjar's new home: behavior plus feedback
What it does well. Heatmaps, recordings, funnels, error monitoring and basic surveys on the free plan. Growth adds zone-based heatmaps, journey analysis and AI summaries of replays and heatmaps (pricing).
Pricing. Free covers up to 200k sessions a month, with 1 month of data access. Growth is $49 a month paid monthly or $39 a month paid yearly, with 13 months of data. Pro and Enterprise are priced through sales.
Who it's for. Teams that want visitor behavior and survey answers in the same audit. See Microsoft Clarity vs Hotjar for the head-to-head.
4. Attention Insight: predicted attention before launch
What it does well. Predicts where people will look on a design, image or URL, with AI recommendations, so you can check a layout before it ships (pricing).
Pricing. Paid monthly in USD: Basic $31 a month (40 credits), Pro $129 a month (200 credits), Hero $324 a month, and Enterprise through a call. Euro prices are also listed, and yearly billing costs less. There's a 14-day free trial.
Keep in mind. It's a prediction, not data from your visitors.
Who it's for. Designers and marketers checking designs and ads before launch.
5. Maze: usability tests with real participants
What it does well. Prototype testing, interview studies, card sorting and an AI moderator, with a participant panel for recruiting testers (pricing).
Pricing. You can try Maze for free. Larger plans go through sales, and the pricing page doesn't list prices.
Who it's for. Product and design teams testing flows and prototypes, especially before they're built.
6. Cortality: a ranked list of fixes for the live page
What it does well. One small tag, which takes about 5 minutes to add, measures how real visitors use every element of the page: what they see, what they skip, and where they scroll, tap and stop. Instead of a heatmap to interpret, you get a ranked Fix List. Each finding shows what we measured, why it costs you, the exact change to make, and a re-measure that shows whether it worked (see a real finding).
Pricing. Starter $99 a month, Growth $249 a month, Scale $499 a month, and Enterprise is custom, month to month (pricing). Every plan starts with a free first week, and you see your first report before any charge. Any charge can be refunded within 14 days, no reason needed.
Keep in mind. It doesn't run technical audits or usability tests, and it works alongside Lighthouse, Clarity and GA4 rather than replacing them.
Who it's for. Marketing sites, online stores and SaaS sites that want their live pages audited on real visitor behavior, with the fixes in order.
Want a first look? The free page scan works from a URL alone, takes about a minute, and needs no install. It's a prediction from our attention model, not data from your real visitors, and the full findings arrive by email.
A simple UX audit stack
- Run Lighthouse on your key pages and fix anything broken or slow.
- Install Clarity (or Contentsquare) and watch 10 to 20 recordings of visitors who left your main page.
- Before a redesign ships, check it with an attention prediction or a quick usability test.
- On live pages with traffic but few conversions, use Cortality to rank the fixes and re-measure each one. Start your free week.
Related: Website UX audit checklist · Best AI tools for CRO · How to analyze user behavior on a website
Sources (checked November 2, 2026)
- Google Lighthouse overview: developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse/overview
- Microsoft Clarity FAQ: learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/faq
- Contentsquare pricing: contentsquare.com/pricing and contentsquare.com/hotjar
- Attention Insight pricing: attentioninsight.com/pricing
- Maze pricing: maze.co/pricing
- Cortality: pricing, refunds
Questions
What are the best AI website UX audit tools?
Use Google Lighthouse (free) for speed, accessibility and SEO checks, Microsoft Clarity (free) or Contentsquare, Hotjar's new home, to see what real visitors do, and an attention prediction tool such as Attention Insight to check a design before launch. For a ranked list of what to fix on a live page, Cortality measures how real visitors use each element and re-measures each fix.
Can AI do a UX audit of my website?
Partly. Lighthouse runs automated audits from a URL. Clarity and Contentsquare use AI to summarize heatmaps and recordings. Prediction tools estimate where people will look from a design or URL. None of these replaces checking the findings against what your own visitors do on the page.
Is there a free website UX audit tool?
Yes. Google Lighthouse is free and open source, and Microsoft Clarity is free forever with no traffic limits. Contentsquare has a free plan of up to 200k sessions a month. Cortality's page scan at /leak/ is free and works from a URL alone, and it's a prediction rather than data from real visitors.
What's the difference between predicted attention and measured behavior?
Prediction tools estimate where people will look from an image or URL, before anyone visits. Measured tools record what real visitors actually do. Predictions are fast and useful before launch; measurement shows what is happening on the live page.
How much does Cortality cost?
Plans are $99, $249 or $499 a month, and Enterprise is custom. Every plan starts with a free first week, you see your first report before any charge, and any charge can be refunded within 14 days.