Microsoft Clarity

What it does

Microsoft Clarity records what shoppers do on your Shopify store, and its Copilot features summarize those recordings and heatmaps in plain language, according to Microsoft's documentation.

You install it from the Shopify App Store, where it's listed as Microsoft Clarity: AI Insights. On Shopify Plus, the docs say checkout and post-checkout pages are tracked through Shopify's Pixel.

Every Shopify store gets a Purchases card on the dashboard, showing the share of sessions that ended in a purchase, and a filter for sessions that did or didn't buy. On Plus, a Checkout Abandonment card splits drop-offs by step (contact information, shipping method, payment and other) and links each step to the recordings of shoppers who left there.

Clarity defines smart events such as Purchase, Add to Cart and Begin Checkout by itself, and you can drag them into funnels without code. It also flags sessions with rage clicks, dead clicks, quick backs or JavaScript errors.

Per the docs, Copilot writes takeaways for a single session, for a page's heatmaps on PC, tablet and mobile, or for a group of recordings you pick with filters such as device type or UTM campaign. Its chat answers questions about your dashboard data and links to the matching filters.

Clarity's Copilot page says a group summary covers up to 250 recordings and includes "recommendations for improvement". Its homepage says the AI summaries point to "what to prioritize next".

Who it fits

Clarity fits a Shopify store that wants to see where shoppers drop off before paying for an analytics tool, from a new store to a mid-sized one with no analyst.

Clarity's pricing page says it's free forever, with no traffic limits and all features at no cost, in November 2026. Its FAQ caps recordings at 100,000 sessions per project per day.

Below Shopify Plus you get the Purchases card but not the checkout breakdown, per the docs.

If your security review asks for a signed DPA, a SOC 2 report or single sign-on, Clarity's data privacy page says it offers none of them.

I'd install it first if nobody has watched your store's sessions yet, since trying it costs nothing. Then compare it with the other Shopify conversion audit tools, and read which store jobs an app covers and which need a custom agent before paying for a tool or a build.

Limitations

None of the Copilot docs I read describes ranking fixes by what they cost you in sales. Microsoft's FAQ says Copilot's takeaways "shouldn't be treated as expert recommendations" and warns that generative AI can produce ungrounded content, which it says is why heatmap takeaways link back to the data.

The chat answers only from your dashboard data, the docs say, so it can't link to a specific recording or heatmap, or suggest changes based on your site's design. Heatmap summaries leave out area and conversion heatmaps.

Ask Clarity, which Microsoft says tests explanations against the evidence and "recommends what to do next", was a closed beta for retailers with a waitlist in November 2026.

Shoppers paying with "ShopPay or expedited checkout options" don't show up in the abandonment card, per the FAQ, and Clarity's purchase conversion rate can differ a little from Shopify's.

Playback data is kept for 30 days and heatmap data for 9 months, according to the data retention doc updated in June 2026; the data privacy page says 13 months. The FAQ says you can't delete or download a single recording, and deleting one visitor's data means deleting the whole project.

Clarity's terms make you and Microsoft independent controllers of your visitors' data. Microsoft may use it to improve its products and to "create user profiles for purposes that include advertising", and may use non-personal data to train AI models. For visitors in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, the FAQ says you have to pass on their consent status, and without consent, recordings and funnel tracking may be affected.

Three of the 150 newest Shopify reviews, all from October 2026, say recordings load slowly or look frozen, or that the app lags, and a one-star review from October 22 says the app worked in a browser but not inside Shopify. A three-star review from September 9, 2026 says its writer couldn't turn off "the AI chat" or test it before launching.

The listing also promotes Brand Agents, an AI shopping assistant that Microsoft says is free during its beta, with pricing to be shared before the beta ends.

Recordings expire after 30 days, so I'd set the conversion number you want to move before installing, and check Copilot's takeaways against it within the first month.