UserExperior vs Smartlook: A Head-to-Head Comparison with a Game-Changing Twist

Introduction: Not All Session Replay Tools Are Built Equal

Why are product teams turning to behavior analytics ? 

Building a great product isn’t just about shipping features anymore. It’s about understanding how real users experience your product - where they click, where they rage-tap, where they get stuck or drop off completely.

That’s where behavior analytics tools like UserExperior, Smartlook, and Zipy come in. They let teams go beyond guesswork and actually watch user sessions, identify bugs, analyze drop-offs, and improve UX with data - not just hunches.

Whether you're in product, QA, design, or support, this kind of visibility is a game-changer. But here’s the catch: not all tools offer the same depth, speed, or flexibility. And that’s exactly what we’re diving into next.

What are we comparing today (and where Zipy fits in) ?

In this blog, we’re putting UserExperior and Smartlook side by side - two popular tools in the world of session replays and product analytics. Both claim to help you understand users better. Both offer visual insights. But how do they actually stack up when you need answers fast?

Here’s the twist: we’re not just comparing them to each other. We’re also looking at how Zipy takes things up a notch - by combining the best of both and adding real-time debugging, full-stack visibility, and instant issue alerts into the mix.

So if you’ve been asking yourself:

• “Which tool is better for mobile ?”
• “Which tool can help me to fix bugs faster ?”
• “What’s going to save my teams from hours of back-and-forth work ?”

You’re in the right place

What Is UserExperior?

Quick overview :

UserExperior is a tool that helps mobile app teams see what their users are doing inside the app. Think of it like a screen recorder for your app - it shows exactly where users tap, scroll, or drop off. This makes it easier for devs and QA folks to reproduce bugs, improve the app flow, and fix crashes faster.

It's especially useful for industries like banking, insurance, and healthcare, where apps need to be extra secure and smooth. And yes, they take privacy seriously - they blur out sensitive information.

Who it's for and where it shines ? 

UserExperior is built specifically for mobile apps, so if you're a mobile-first company, especially with strict security requirements, this tool might feel like a good fit.

It shines when:

• You need to track crashes and replay sessions to figure out what went wrong.
• You're dealing with a large mobile user base and want visual insights.
• You care about enterprise-level data privacy and need fine control over what gets recorded.

But here’s the catch:

While it gives you session replays, crash reports, and some high-level performance insights, it doesn’t go deep into real-time debugging or developer-focused tools like network logs, console logs, or error stack traces - which Zipy provides out of the box.

What Is Smartlook?

Quick overview : 

Smartlook is a tool that helps you watch how users interact with your website or mobile app - like where they click, how far they scroll, and where they give up. It's like having a front-row seat to your user's experience without needing to ask them a single question.

The star of the show? Session recordings and heatmaps that let you literally see what users did. On top of that, it gives you funnels, so you can track how many users drop off before they complete something important - like signing up or checking out.

It works on both web and mobile, which makes it a flexible option for teams with a hybrid product setup.

Best use cases and what stands out : 

Smartlook is built for teams that want to optimize user experience and boost conversions - think product managers, marketers, and UX designers.

It shines when:

• You want to analyze user flows and funnels.
• You're focused on increasing signups, engagement, or purchases.
• You need a visual way to understand user drop-offs without deep technical digging.

But again, like most platforms, Smartlook also has its own drawbacks 

• Developer tools must be manually enabled, but I think developer tools are a basic tool for session monitoring and should be visible without needing manual interventions.
• No built in performance monitoring for UI render speed, API timing, etc. 
• Not as real-time or detailed as Zipy’s live debugging, error stack traces, or full-context user sessions.

Feature-by-Feature Comparison

Session Replay : 

UserExperior : 

UserExperior offers robust session replay capabilities specifically designed for mobile applications. It captures high-fidelity user interactions - taps, swipes, scrolls - and visually reconstructs each session to help teams understand user behavior and diagnose issues.

This is particularly useful for mobile teams looking to replicate bugs or performance hiccups without needing detailed user reports. Each session is recorded in context, often alongside crash or ANR data, making it easier for developers and QA teams to trace what led to a specific issue.

Key highlights:

• Native support for Android and iOS apps.
• Privacy-first approach with input masking and screen blurring.
• Integrations with crash analytics tools like Firebase Crashlytics.

UserExperior’s session replay is clearly focused on solving mobile-specific challenges, but it is limited to mobile platforms only.

Smartlook : 

Smartlook provides session replay for both web and mobile platforms, enabling product and UX teams to watch real user sessions and understand how visitors interact with their website or app. Every interaction - clicks, scrolls, taps, navigation events - is captured and available to replay in detail.

Sessions can be filtered based on user behavior or custom events, and Smartlook also links these replays to funnels and error events for added context.

Key features include:

• Cross-platform support for websites and mobile apps.
• Advanced filtering to surface relevant user sessions.
• DevTools integration to inspect JavaScript errors during playback.

Smartlook is a solid choice for teams working across platforms, offering both behavioral analytics and session visibility. However, the platform is more focused on visual analytics and less on deeper debugging capabilities.

Zipy : 

Zipy takes session replay a step further by combining it with full-stack debugging tools. In addition to visual recordings, Zipy provides detailed technical context for every session - such as console logs, network requests, API responses, and error stack traces - without requiring teams to switch tools or dig through developer consoles.

This makes Zipy particularly powerful for cross-functional teams. While product managers and designers benefit from visual replays, developers get the technical context they need to resolve issues faster.

What sets Zipy apart:

• Real-time session replay for both web and mobile applications.
• In-depth developer insights embedded within every session.
• Built-in support for user environment data, including device, browser, and operating system.
• Immediate visibility into errors and failed network requests.

By turning session replays into actionable diagnostics, Zipy significantly reduces the time between identifying an issue and resolving it.

Error Monitoring : 

When something breaks in your app, do you know about it right away? Better yet - can you figure out what happened without chasing logs, checking five tools, or asking your dev team for help?

That’s the real test of error monitoring. It's not just about logging errors; it's about turning them into insights your whole team can use. So let’s look at how each platform handles this.

UserExperior : 

If you’re focused on mobile, UserExperior gives you a head start. Their error monitoring centers around visual crash analytics, which basically means you can watch the user session that led up to the crash. You don’t have to guess what screen it happened on or what the user was trying to do - it’s right there in the recording.

They also integrate with Firebase Crashlytics, so if your team is already using that, it adds another layer of context. For Android and iOS crashes, this setup helps mobile teams track down issues without endless back-and-forth.

But here’s the thing - what about the stuff that doesn’t crash the app? Minor UI glitches, slowdowns, or frontend bugs that break the experience but don’t throw a fatal error? Those often get missed. So let me ask you, if the app doesn’t crash, does your team still get to see what went wrong?

Smartlook : 

Smartlook shifts the focus toward the web. Their error monitoring automatically detects JavaScript errors, so if something breaks in your frontend, you’ll know. You can even see the exact user session where the error happened, which is really useful for tracking down hard-to-reproduce bugs.

They also include DevTools - so you can check the console logs and network requests from within the recording. It’s a solid feature set for frontend-heavy apps. But it raises a question: is that enough?

If an API call fails… if a backend service times out… or if your app loads fine but performs slowly, will Smartlook catch that? And while you can instrument custom errors, it takes effort - and may still fall short of full-stack visibility. So ask yourself this: do you want to just see the error, or also understand why it happened?

Zipy : 

Now, this is where things start to feel different. Zipy doesn’t stop at error detection - it gives you the entire context around every issue. It automatically picks up on : 

• Frontend JavaScript errors
• API failures and bad network responses
• UI crashes and slow screens

But it doesn’t just log them - it ties each one to the exact session replay, console output, network trace, and user environment. That means you’re not just seeing that something failed… you’re seeing why, when, where, and who it affected.

The real power here is how quickly you can go from problem spotted to problem solved - without relying on a user report, a developer console, or a Slack thread trying to “reproduce the bug.” 

If you're building something that users rely on - something that needs to work right, every time - wouldn’t it help to have everything in one place, ready to diagnose the moment something breaks?

Crash and ANR Monitoring : 

When your app crashes, what happens next? Does your team find out instantly? Do you get context, or just a dry stack trace? More importantly - can you actually do something about it fast

Let’s see how each platform handles this critical area - because crash and ANR (Application Not Responding) issues are often the first thing your users notice… and the last thing you want them to remember.

UserExperior : 

UserExperior gives you a clear view into mobile app crashes and ANRs. When something breaks or freezes in the app, the platform captures the full session - so your team can watch exactly what happened before things went wrong.

You're not just looking at technical logs or stack traces in isolation. You're getting visual replays of user interactions, tied directly to crash or ANR events. That makes it easier to reproduce and fix bugs quickly. There’s also integration with Firebase Crashlytics, so if you're using that for deep crash reporting, it complements the replay experience nicely.

But here’s the real question, Is having a session replay enough if you don’t know why the crash happened?

UserExperior shows you what led up to the crash, but it doesn’t always give you the deeper system-level context - like memory usage, thread blocking, or app performance thresholds - unless you rely on third-party tools. Still, for teams working heavily on Android or iOS, it brings value where it matters: visibility, reproduction, and faster triaging.

Smartlook : 

Smartlook also offers crash reporting for mobile apps - and just like UserExperior, it links crash reports with session recordings. That’s a big help when debugging, especially if you're trying to understand whether the crash was triggered by a certain user flow or input.

You’ll also see stack traces for each crash, and you can mark crashes as resolved within the dashboard. It’s clean, straightforward, and helps you organize crash-related workflows.

But what about ANRs? This is where Smartlook falls short. ANRs - when the app freezes and stops responding - aren’t automatically captured. That means if your app hangs but doesn’t crash, you won’t know it happened unless the user tells you. And that can lead to frustrating blind spots in your monitoring.

So think about your own mobile experience: Would you rather hear about a freeze from your users, or catch it yourself in real time?

Zipy : 

This is where Zipy takes a broader, smarter approach. Zipy doesn’t just detect crashes and ANRs - it pulls together the full context behind them. You get real-time alerts, full session replays, stack traces, console logs, network activity, and user environment data - all linked to the crash or freeze.

It’s not just about seeing that something went wrong. It’s about knowing:

• Who it happened to
• What the user did before the crash
• What broke in the app or API layer
• What the app was doing under the hood (device, OS, memory, performance)

So when a crash or freeze hits, your team isn't starting from zero. You have everything you need to debug it fast - no waiting on user complaints, no digging through scattered logs.

Here’s something worth asking: If your app crashed right now on a high-paying user’s device… would your team know about it in seconds? Would they know why? With Zipy, the answer is yes.

AI Summary : 

How many user sessions can your team realistically watch in a day?

Let’s be honest - session replays are powerful, but when you’re sitting on hundreds (or thousands) of them, going through each one manually isn’t just boring… it’s nearly impossible. That’s where AI summaries come into play.

A good AI summary doesn’t just save time. It tells you what happened in a session, what went wrong, and whether it’s worth your team’s attention - all in a matter of seconds. So let’s ask: who’s actually doing this well?

UserExperior :

UserExperior gives you detailed replays and analytics, especially for mobile sessions. That’s great - you can see where users tap, what screens they visit, and how they interact with your app.

But what happens when you’ve got say 50 crash sessions in your dashboard? Can you scan them in one go and prioritize the urgent ones? That’s the gap. UserExperior currently doesn’t offer AI-generated session summaries. There’s no automatic overview of what happened during a session, which means it’s up to you - or your QA team - to watch, analyze, and tag each session manually.

So, the question is: Can your team afford to sit through hours of replays every time there’s a spike in issues?

Smartlook : 

Smartlook gives you powerful filtering, events, and tagging. It helps you find the sessions you care about - but once you open one, it’s still on you to watch and interpret it. There’s no AI-generated summary to highlight what went wrong or what actions the user took. Everything is manual - which works when you have time, but becomes a bottleneck at scale.

So here’s a question:

If your support team needed to understand what happened in a session within 10 seconds - could they? With Smartlook, probably not. You'll need to dig, scroll through timelines, and hope the replay loads fast enough to keep up.

Zipy : 

Now here’s where Zipy flips the script. Zipy doesn’t just show you the replay,  it gives you an AI-powered summary of what happened. You open a session, and you see:

• What the user did
• Where something broke
• What triggered the issue
• And the exact steps to reproduce it

It's like having an assistant watch the entire session for you and give you a clean, prioritized report - all in real-time. So instead of scrubbing through 20 minutes of video, your developer can glance at a few lines and say, “Got it - API failed at checkout step 2. Let’s fix that.”

Now imagine the impact of that across hundreds of issues. Let me ask you this: If Zipy can summarize a session in seconds - while others make you watch it frame-by-frame - which one saves you more time? Which one would your team actually use every day?

Input Masking : 

When you're recording real user sessions, you're walking a fine line between useful insights and user privacy. What if someone enters a phone number? Or their bank login? You definitely don’t want that showing up in your session recordings.

That’s where input masking steps in - blocking sensitive user data from ever being captured in the first place. But how well does each platform actually handle this?

UserExperior : 

UserExperior gets this part right, especially since it’s used by a lot of mobile-first, enterprise-grade apps - think fintech, healthcare, insurance. In UserExperior input masking is built into the SDK.

Here’s how it works: 

• By default, UserExperior masks all text input fields in your app, so sensitive user data doesn’t get recorded.
• Developers can also manually mask or exclude specific elements by using their SDK’s masking APIs.

It’s a good system. Privacy isn’t treated as an afterthought - it’s included into the way UserExperior captures sessions. That’s important, especially for teams working in regulated industries where PII (personally identifiable information) must be handled carefully.

Smartlook : 

Smartlook also takes privacy seriously - and like UserExperior, they give you input masking features through their SDK.

Smartlook lets you: 

• Mask specific elements using custom classes or API methods
• Automatically mask standard input fields if configured correctly
• Replace the text with a solid bar to hide it in the replay

It works, but it’s a little more hands-on. Unlike UserExperior, Smartlook doesn’t automatically mask all inputs by default - you have to explicitly define what should be hidden. So it puts more responsibility on your dev team to get it right.

So ask yourself: If your team misses one field, what’s the cost? In industries like finance or health, even one unmasked field can be a data liability.

Zipy : 

Zipy doesn't just offer input masking - it makes it feel effortless. By default, Zipy masks all input fields unless you specifically unmask them (which you probably never will, and shouldn’t). This is how privacy protection should work - proactive, automatic, and consistent.

And just like the others, you can still use the SDK to:

• Manually mask additional custom elements
• Define global masking rules for your app
• Ensure compliance with GDPR, HIPAA, and other standards

But the difference with Zipy is in the experience you don’t need to worry about it. It’s already handled. And when you’re scaling fast or juggling dozens of releases, that peace of mind matters. Let’s ask something simple: Would you rather trust your team to mask everything manually - or use a tool that protects your users out of the box?

User Environment Capture : 

UserExperior : 

UserExperior does give you some visibility into the user’s environment - particularly for mobile apps. From the session details, you can typically see:

• Device type and OS version
• App version
• Screen information
• Network status (connected/disconnected)

This kind of context helps you identify issues that might be happening only on, say, older Android devices or during poor connectivity. And since UserExperior is designed for mobile-first teams, this focus makes sense.

Smartlook : 

Smartlook provides a basic level of user environment data for web sessions. You can see:

• Browser and OS
• Screen resolution
• Location (approximate, based on IP)
• Device type (desktop vs. mobile)

But when it comes to mobile apps, Smartlook doesn’t go deep into user environment capture. There's no automatic capture of detailed system info like OS version, network strength, memory state, or device performance. 

So here's the question: If an error is only happening on a certain device or OS, will your team even know? Because without that data, you’re often left troubleshooting blind.

Zipy : 

This is where Zipy brings full clarity. Every session in Zipy comes with a detailed user environment snapshot - so you don’t just know what failed, but under what conditions.

Out of the box, Zipy captures:

• Device type and model
• OS and browser version
• Screen resolution
• Network details and connectivity
• User’s location
• Memory usage and performance footprint

And all of this is tied directly to the session and any error that occurred - so when your developer opens a bug, they immediately see whether it's specific to iOS 14, or only happening under poor network conditions. Now the main question is “If your team could instantly filter bugs by environment - how much time would that save?” Because that’s what Zipy makes possible. It’s not just about seeing the issue. It’s about understanding the full picture behind it.

Event Tracking : 

UserExperior : 

UserExperior allows teams to track custom events that help reconstruct the user's journey within a mobile app. Developers can log these events directly via their SDK to build a breadcrumb-like flow - actions like button clicks, screen transitions, or specific gestures.

That said, it’s important to note:

• These events are developer-driven — meaning your team needs to define and log them manually.
• There’s no native “breadcrumb timeline” UI that shows a step-by-step, human-readable journey — you piece it together using event markers in the replay or dashboard.

Now think about this: If you didn’t tag a critical action - would it show up at all? That’s the trade-off. You get flexibility, but you’re also responsible for the setup.

Smartlook : 

Smartlook offers automatic and custom event tracking - and this is one of its strengths. Even without manual instrumentation, Smartlook tracks key interactions like:

• Page views
• Clicks
• Form submissions
• App starts/stops (on mobile)

You can also define custom events using their SDK for mobile and web, and view them in the session timeline. This creates a breadcrumb-style trail of what users did and when - without needing to replay the session. That’s helpful for spotting where users drop off, which events triggered errors, or how long they spent between steps.

So let’s ask: What’s faster - watching a replay, or scanning a clean, timestamped list of actions? If you prefer the latter, Smartlook gives you a usable, visual log to work with.

Zipy : 

Now, Zipy brings a powerful combo to this feature. You get:

• Automatic event tracking for common interactions
• Custom events that can be tagged directly through the SDK
• And a timeline-style breadcrumb trail for every session - showing exactly what happened, in order

But here’s what makes Zipy stand out: each event is not just listed - it’s enriched with:

• Session context (what screen the user was on)
• Linked errors or failed API calls
• Timing between actions

Now ask yourself: How many hours would your team save if every user journey was that clear - without watching a replay? In Zipy, the breadcrumbs aren't just logs. They're a narrative of what happened, and a clear starting point for debugging or optimization.

Pricing Battle - The Ultimate Decider

UserExperior : 

Smartlook : 

Zipy : 

Final Verdict: Which Tool Should You Choose?

After comparing session replay, error monitoring, crash and ANR handling, AI summaries, input masking, user environment capture, and event breadcrumbs - one thing becomes clear:

Each tool serves a slightly different purpose. So the right one for you depends on where your product team is focusing today - and where you want to go next.

If you’re focused on mobile alone…

If your product is fully mobile - no web component at all - and you're looking for secure, reliable crash replays with visual context, UserExperior gives you a strong foundation. It handles session recording, crash/ANR tracking, and user journey insights well for Android and iOS.

However, keep in mind:

• You’ll need to manually track events and errors beyond crashes.
• No AI summaries, limited environmental context, and no support for web or hybrid apps.

So ask yourself - will you always be mobile-only? Because if your team is even thinking about cross-platform growth, UserExperior might hit limits faster than you expect.

If you want better conversion analytics…

Smartlook leans toward product and marketing teams looking to improve funnels, behavior insights, and UX flows. It works across web and mobile, gives you strong session replays, and helps track events for conversion analysis.

But it has : 

• Limited mobile-side crash detail
• No ANR tracking
• No AI-driven insights

So if your top goal is product optimization, Smartlook might serve you well - but when things break, your dev team may need another tool.

If you want a complete picture (and faster fixes) - Go Zipy!

If you’re tired of using multiple tools to understand user issues, analyze behavior, debug errors, and stay ahead of crashes - Zipy simplifies everything.

It’s not just a session replay tool. It’s a real-time product experience platform that brings:

• AI summaries of sessions
• Automatic crash, ANR, and error detection
• Full-stack debugging (console logs, network requests, stack traces)
• Input masking, user environment capture, and event breadcrumbs
• One unified view - for devs, product, QA, and support

So the question becomes: Do you want to react to problems later… or solve them faster, with everything in one place? If your team wants to move faster, fix smarter, and never get stuck wondering “what happened?” - Zipy isn’t just a better choice. It’s the obvious one.

FAQs : 

1. What’s the key difference between UserExperior and Smartlook?

UserExperior focuses on mobile crash replays, while Smartlook offers broader web analytics.

2. Does Smartlook support crash and ANR tracking on mobile?

Smartlook supports crash tracking but does not automatically detect ANRs.

3. Which tool offers AI-generated session summaries?

Only Zipy provides AI summaries with step-by-step issue breakdowns.

4. Can Zipy track both frontend and backend errors?

Yes, Zipy tracks frontend bugs, API failures, and network issues in real time.

5. Is input masking automatic in all three tools?

Only Zipy and UserExperior mask inputs by default; Smartlook requires manual setup.