Tool profile
OpenReplay: cost, fit and limits
OpenReplay is an open-source session replay and product analytics platform made by Asayer SAS that records user sessions and adds funnels, heatmaps and journey analysis. Engineering, product and support teams use it self-hosted or as a managed instance, with co-browsing for live help.
What to know first
OpenReplay comes in three shapes: a free open-source edition you host, a managed Dedicated instance from $199 a month, and an Enterprise self-hosted contract. Product analytics, DevTools and an MCP server are in every tier. Capacity is described by instance size and concurrency instead of a session cap, so you size it by trial. The home page frames it as session replay and analytics you can self-host.
OpenReplay at a glance
| Maker | Asayer SAS, France |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes |
| Entry price | Free open source, or $199 per month for Dedicated |
| API access | Yes |
| Category | Best AI Customer Journey Analytics Software in 2026, rank 2 of 10 |
| Website | openreplay.com |
Who OpenReplay is best for
Teams with data-residency limits
Self-hosting on your own infrastructure keeps recordings and events inside your network, which suits companies that cannot send sessions to a vendor cloud.
Developers debugging user problems
DevTools record network activity, errors and performance next to the replay, so an engineer sees what the browser did when a step failed.
Support teams
Co-browsing lets an agent join a customer's session in the app and guide them through a task in real time.
Budget-conscious startups
The open-source edition is free, and a Dedicated instance at $199 a month avoids a per-session meter. Teams that outgrow it can still read the code, since the project is open source and community-run.
OpenReplay plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Open-Source | Free | Self-hosted on your own infrastructure, for low traffic. Includes product analytics, session replay, DevTools and an MCP server. |
| Dedicated | From $199 a month, billed hourly at $0.276 | A managed instance on AWS, GCP, Azure or your own cloud (BYOC at a flat monthly rate). Sizes O1 to O3 with up to 8 vCPUs, 32GB RAM and 4TB storage. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Large self-hosted deployments with SAML and SCIM, audit logging, dedicated support, multi-year contracts and terabytes of daily data. |
| Dedicated trial | 7 days free | A card-free trial of a managed instance. OpenReplay recommends starting on the O2 size, and capacity varies with concurrency and mobile capture. |
Checked November 2026.
What OpenReplay does
- Session replay
- Replays show navigation, clicks, hesitation and struggle, together with errors, network activity and performance metrics for each session. Errors and slowdowns are captured in the same view.
- Journey analysis and funnels
- Product Analytics lists funnels, user journeys, trends, heatmaps and web analytics, answering which routes convert and where users drop off. It also covers web analytics and trends, so a product manager can check conversion beside the replays that explain it.
- Co-browsing
- A support agent can follow and assist a user in the app live, which turns the recorder into a help tool as well as a research one.
- DevTools
- Console, network and performance data are captured with the session, giving developers technical context that purely marketing-oriented suites tend to skip. That helps a front-end team reproduce a bug without asking the customer for steps.
- MCP server and AI agents
- An MCP server is included in all three tiers, and AI agents are listed for each tier, with the Enterprise entry marked coming soon. Treat the AI parts as early, since one tier lists them as not yet available.
How OpenReplay handles your data
With the open-source edition, recordings stay on servers you run, so storage location and retention are your own decisions. Dedicated instances run on AWS, GCP or Azure, or on your cloud account under the BYOC option. The privacy policy names Asayer SAS as the company behind the project. The pages opened listed no certifications, retention defaults or AI training terms, and moving data between open source and Dedicated is not yet supported.
Where OpenReplay falls short in practice
- Capacity needs sizing. No session cap is published. Concurrency, canvas recording and mobile capture change how much an instance handles, so teams must trial the O2 size before trusting a monthly budget.
- Migration between editions is open. The pricing page says moving from Open-Source to Dedicated is coming soon, though the team can help move data. Choose the hosting model deliberately at the start.
- Narrow cross-channel reach. Journeys come from recorded sessions in your own web or mobile app. Offline records and call-center events are not described as sources. Teams needing joined store or call-center data need another tool.
Works with
Alternatives to OpenReplay
OpenReplay: common questions
Is OpenReplay free?
The open-source edition is free to self-host, according to the pricing page. A managed Dedicated instance starts at $199 a month, billed hourly at $0.276, and a seven-day trial needs no credit card. Enterprise self-hosting is by quote. Enterprise terms are quoted, with SAML and SCIM included.
Can OpenReplay run on my own servers?
Yes. Open-Source is self-managed on your infrastructure, Enterprise offers large self-hosted or on-premises deployments, and the Dedicated plan can run in your own cloud account under the bring-your-own-cloud option at a flat monthly rate. Pick one model first, because migrating between them is not available yet.
Does OpenReplay have funnels and journey analysis?
The product pages list funnels, user journeys, trends, heatmaps and web analytics under Product Analytics, and Journey Analysis appears on the pricing page. The tier breakdown of each feature is not spelled out in the comparison table. Ask for a demo of the journey view.
How many sessions can an instance record?
The pricing page does not publish a session cap. It lists instance sizes from O1 to O3 and says capacity depends on concurrency, canvas recording and native mobile capture, and recommends starting on O2. A seven-day trial helps you test it with real traffic.
Does OpenReplay offer AI features?
An MCP server is included in all three tiers and AI agents are listed per tier, with the Enterprise entry marked coming soon. The home page also mentions an AI summary for sessions, but no accuracy figures were found. Treat the claims as unverified until tested on your own sessions.