Session replays
Session replays are recordings of real visits to your published site. You watch the visitor’s cursor, clicks and scrolling as they happened, which shows why a page loses people in a way the numbers alone can’t.
Recordings are on the Session replays tab in Insights.
Turning recording on
Section titled “Turning recording on”Recording is a paid add-on to web analytics, and it’s off until you add it.
- Open Settings → Analytics. Web analytics must be on first.
- On the Session replay card, select Enable. The plan picker opens.
- Turn on Include session replay and confirm the plan. The card’s monthly figure is an estimate; the picker sets the final price.
Only the project owner can turn it on or off. Details are on Analytics.
Without the add-on, the Session replays tab stays empty.
Watching a recording
Section titled “Watching a recording”- Open Insights and select the Session replays tab.
- Pick a recording from Recordings on the left. It plays on the right.
Each recording in the list shows when it started, how long it lasted, how many clicks it had, the page it started on, and a count of errors when the page threw any. A dot marks the ones nobody has watched yet. The list follows the date range at the top of the page and loads more as you scroll.
Use Sort to find the useful ones:
| Sort | Puts first |
|---|---|
| Latest | The newest visits (the default) |
| Longest | The longest visits |
| Most active | Visits with the most active time, not idle |
| Most clicks | Visits with the most clicks |
A new visit shows up in the list within about 30 seconds.
What cookie consent changes
Section titled “What cookie consent changes”What Insights can collect from a visitor depends on their cookie choice. The tracker reads the Cookie Consent banner, Google Consent Mode, or the common consent platforms (Cookiebot, CookieYes, Complianz, OneTrust), in that order.
| The visitor… | Counted in Insights | Recorded |
|---|---|---|
| Accepted analytics cookies | Yes | Yes, when the add-on is on |
| Rejected, or hasn’t chosen yet on a banner the tracker can read | No | No |
| Was shown no consent signal at all | Yes, without cookies — nothing is stored on their device | No |
A choice made later takes effect on the page right away: accepting starts recording, and withdrawing consent stops tracking.
Things worth knowing
Section titled “Things worth knowing”- No banner means no recordings. If your site has no consent banner the tracker can read, visits are counted but nobody is recorded. Turn on Cookie Consent or have your own banner send Google Consent Mode.
- Recording is billed by visitor volume. That’s why the add-on is opt-in and shows an estimate before you turn it on. Turn it on while you work on a landing page or checkout, and off when you’re done.
- Turning the add-on off goes through the same plan picker (Disable opens it) and takes the replay line off your analytics subscription.