Create and manage Heatmaps

Cloud On-Premise

To start recording user mouse movements and generating page heatmaps, you will need to first create a Heatmap. No developer knowledge is needed to configure any of the heatmaps and you don’t need to adjust the code on your website.

  1. In Matomo, go to Heatmaps > Manage Heatmaps.

  2. Use the Actions to manage heatmaps, such as edit, stop, view, copy and delete heatmap.
    manage heatmaps

  3. You can copy a heatmap for the same website or for other tracked websites. After copying, review and adjust the settings of the new heatmap to ensure they are correct.

  4. To start a new heatmap, click on Create New Heatmap.
  5. To edit a heatmap, click on the matomo report edit icon edit icon next to the name of an existing heatmap.
  6. Define a name for the heatmap and choose on which target page the heatmap should be generated for.
  7. To do this, choose between URL, URL path, or URL parameter attributes and comparisons like equals, starts with, contains, matches the regular expression, and many more.
  8. The validator next to your target page lets you easily test whether the page you want to match actually matches the Pages for which you want to generate Heatmaps.
    matomo heatmap Target Page Validator

Note: Heatmaps use a stored snapshot of your page rather than the live page. The first time a heatmap is triggered, Matomo captures and stores the page structure (DOM). Subsequent heatmaps use this stored snapshot to ensure the background remains consistent.

Advanced options

When configuring a heatmap, you can optionally define advanced options such as:

  • choose a Screenshot URL.
  • hide elements from the heatmap.
  • choose a different Sample rate.
  • define the Breakpoint width for Mobile phones and Tablet (useful if your website is responsive).

To disable Heatmaps or Session Recordings, define breakpoints, or restrict tracking to visitors from specific countries, go to Administration admin gear icon > System > General Settings > Heatmap & Session Recording and modify the settings.

Notify me when a Heatmap completes

From version 5.5.0 of the Heatmaps & Session Recording plugin, you can enable email notifications from Matomo when your Heatmaps have finished collecting data.

  1. Go to Administration admin gear icon > Personal > Settings.
  2. Scroll to the HeatmapSessionRecording section.
  3. Select the option, Notify me when a heatmap or session recording has finished collecting data.
    enable option to receive email for heatmaps
  4. Matomo will send the notification using the email address saved in your personal settings.

This helps you stay informed when enough data has been collected, making it easier to review insights when they are ready for analysis.