Forsta
Forsta is a comprehensive experience management platform that combines quantitative and qualitative research tools to help you understand your customers and employees through surveys, communities, and data visualization.
Smartlook
Smartlook is a visual analytics platform that combines session recordings and event tracking to help you understand exactly how users interact with your websites and mobile applications.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Forsta | Smartlook |
|---|---|---|
| Website | forsta.com | smartlook.com |
| Pricing Model | Custom | Freemium |
| Starting Price | Custom Pricing | Free |
| FREE Trial | ✘ No free trial | ✓ 30 days free trial |
| Free Plan | ✘ No free plan | ✓ Has free plan |
| Product Demo | ✓ Request demo here | ✓ Request demo here |
| Deployment | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Target Users | ||
| Target Industries | ||
| Customer Count | 0 | 0 |
| Founded Year | 2021 | 2016 |
| Headquarters | Oslo, Norway | Brno, Czech Republic |
Overview
Forsta
Forsta provides you with a unified environment to gather, analyze, and act on insights across your entire organization. By merging the capabilities of Confirmit, FocusVision, and Dapresy, the platform allows you to manage complex multi-channel surveys, host digital focus groups, and build interactive reporting dashboards. You can capture the 'voice' of your audience through both structured data and unstructured video or text feedback, ensuring you never miss a critical detail in your research projects.
The platform is designed to handle high-volume data needs while remaining flexible enough for specialized research tasks. You can use it to track brand health, optimize customer journeys, or improve employee engagement. Whether you are conducting global market research or managing a local CX program, Forsta gives you the tools to turn raw feedback into clear, actionable stories that drive your business decisions forward.
Smartlook
Smartlook helps you eliminate the guesswork behind user behavior on your website or mobile app. By combining high-quality session recordings with powerful event tracking, you can see exactly where users get stuck, which features they ignore, and why they drop off before converting. It provides a complete visual history of every user's journey, allowing you to watch replays of actual browsing sessions to identify bugs or UX friction points in real-time.
You can build conversion funnels to track specific user paths and use heatmaps to see where people click most often. The platform is designed for product managers, developers, and UX researchers who need to move beyond basic pageview metrics to understand the 'why' behind user actions. Whether you are debugging a mobile app or optimizing a checkout flow, it gives you the visual evidence needed to make data-driven improvements.
Overview
Forsta Features
- Multi-Channel Surveys Design and deploy complex surveys across web, mobile, email, and SMS to reach your audience wherever they are.
- Digital Focus Groups Conduct live online qualitative interviews and focus groups with built-in video tools and real-time chat features.
- Visual Reporting Transform raw data into beautiful, interactive infographics and dashboards that you can share instantly with your stakeholders.
- Insight Communities Build long-term relationships with your customers through dedicated online communities for ongoing feedback and co-creation.
- Text & Video Analytics Use automated tools to uncover themes and sentiment in open-ended responses and video testimonials automatically.
- Mobile Ethnography Capture authentic 'in-the-moment' experiences by having participants upload photos and videos directly from their mobile devices.
Smartlook Features
- Session Recordings. Watch high-quality replays of every user session to see exactly how people navigate your website or mobile app.
- Event Tracking. Track specific actions like button clicks or form submissions automatically without needing to write custom code for every event.
- Conversion Funnels. Build multi-step funnels to identify the exact moment users drop off and watch recordings of those specific sessions.
- Heatmaps. Visualize where users click, move, and scroll most frequently to understand which elements of your page grab the most attention.
- Mobile App Analytics. Analyze user behavior on iOS and Android apps with specialized wireframe rendering that protects user privacy while showing interactions.
- Crash Reports. Link session recordings directly to app crashes so you can see the exact steps a user took before the error occurred.
Pricing Comparison
Forsta Pricing
Smartlook Pricing
- 1,500 monthly sessions
- 1 month data retention
- 3 heatmaps
- 2 funnels
- Basic event tracking
- Everything in Free, plus:
- 5,000 monthly sessions
- 3 months data retention
- 10 heatmaps
- 10 funnels
- REST API access
Pros & Cons
Forsta
Pros
- Extremely flexible survey logic for complex research
- Powerful data visualization and dashboarding capabilities
- Combines qualitative and quantitative tools in one platform
- Reliable performance even with very large datasets
Cons
- Steep learning curve for the advanced survey builder
- Initial setup and implementation can be time-consuming
- Pricing is high for small teams or simple projects
Smartlook
Pros
- Easy setup with a single snippet of code
- Seamless integration between recordings and funnels
- Excellent mobile app session replay capabilities
- Generous 30-day trial for testing premium features
Cons
- Session limits can be reached quickly on high-traffic sites
- Data retention is limited on lower-priced tiers
- Slight learning curve for advanced event filtering