User onboarding is like a first date—you want to make a great impression, keep things engaging, and avoid any awkward exits. And just like dating, not every onboarding tool is a perfect match.

Cue Appcues. It's a well-known name in the onboarding space, but it might not be the right fit for everyone. Whether it's too pricey, too complicated, or just not the best fit for your unique needs, there are plenty of alternatives that might work better.

In this guide, we’ll explore the top Appcues alternatives and help you find the best option for your business. Whether you’re a startup looking for affordability, a mid-sized SaaS company needing flexibility, or an enterprise seeking advanced onboarding solutions, we’ve got you covered. 

Why Look for an Appcues Alternative?

Before we jump into the best alternatives, let’s talk about why you may want to look for an Appcues alternative in the first place. 

Not Very Easy to Use

Appcues' interface is not the most intuitive for new users. It has complicated navigation and options layout, meaning it has quite a steep learning curve. For those looking to just get going right away, Appcues may not be the ideal choice. 

Too Expensive

Appcues starts at $250 per month for only 1,000 Monthly Tracked Users, which can be a steep investment for startups and growing companies. Plus, it can get quite expensive as your MTUs scale. 

Lacks Advanced Features

Appcues provides the essentials of creating walkthroughs and flows, but when it comes to advanced functionalities, it may not be the best. Its customization options are limited, which restricts users' ability to be on-brand. Its user targeting and segmentation functionality are not as granular or flexible as others.  

Internal Onboarding

While Appcues focuses primarily on customer onboarding, some teams also need software to onboard employees, partners, and contractors. For that, you may be better off looking at a dedicated employee onboarding software. 

Ease of Use 

Userflow – The Easiest No-Code Onboarding Solution

Userflow is a no-code user onboarding platform built for teams that prioritize speed, flexibility, and ease of use. With its intuitive Kanban-style flow builder, fast installation, and seamless integrations, Userflow empowers non-technical team members to create, customize, and optimize onboarding experiences without relying on developers.

Key Advantages of Userflow over Appcues

• Ease of Use – Userflow’s drag-and-drop interface makes building and modifying onboarding flows effortless, giving teams complete control over the user journey without coding.
• Lightning-Fast Setup – Unlike Appcues, which requires manual configurations and more technical effort, Userflow only requires a simple copy and paste of a code line to get started with tooltips, checklists, nps surveys and more. 
• Lightweight, Yet Powerful – Userflow runs natively within your app without adding performance lag, ensuring a seamless experience for users.
• Scales with Your Growth – Whether you’re a startup, mid-sized SaaS, or scaling enterprise, Userflow adapts to your evolving needs with advanced segmentation, automation, and product analytics
• Advanced features – Userflow offers dynamic user segmentation, no-code event tracking, and AI-powered assistance to personalize onboarding. Its localization support, comprehensive analytics, and real-time adaptive flows ensure an optimized user experience.

Userflow Pricing

• Startup Plan – Starts at $240 per month for 3,000 MAUs. 
• Pro Plan – $680/month (billed annually) for 10,000 MAUs. This essentials plan has everything from startup plus additional advanced features. 
• Enterprise Plan – For those who need a custom solution at scale, you'll need to contact the Userflow team. 

For teams looking for a faster, easier, and cost-effective alternative to Appcues, Userflow is the clear winner. 

Cheaper Alternatives 

If affordability is an issue, then here are two options that could be better for your budget. 

Intro.js – A Free and Affordable DIY Alternative

Intro.js is a lightweight, open-source JavaScript library that helps developers create step-by-step product tours and user onboarding guides. It offers extensive customization and integration into various applications without requiring a subscription. The downside obviously is that you need dev resources to actually get this working. 

Key Advantages of Intro.js over Appcues

• Free for non-commercial use – making it ideal for startups and small teams who want to test surveys out.
• Highly customizable – as long as you have dev resources available, you can create tailored onboarding flows. 

Intro.js Pricing

• Free for non-commercial use, with a one-time payment starting at $9.99 for commercial licenses. no monthly subscription fees like Appcues.

UserGuiding – A Cost-Effective Onboarding Solution

UserGuiding is a product adoption platform that has all the essentials including interactive product tours, onboarding checklists, in-app surveys, tooltips and resource centers, though it does lack in many places like integrations and advanced features. But it's a good option for those who want to get into product adoption at a fraction of a cost. 

Key Advantages of UserGuiding over Appcues

• Affordability – UserGuiding starts at $69 per month for 1,000 Monthly Active Users (MAU), making it significantly more budget-friendly than Appcues.
• Comprehensive Features – In addition to product tours, UserGuiding includes a knowledge base, announcement modals, and NPS surveys, providing a well-rounded user engagement solution.

UserGuiding Pricing

• Basic Plan – $69 per month for up to 1,000 MAUs (billed annually).
• Professional Plan – $199 per month with advanced features and higher MAU limits.
• Corporate Plan – UserGuiding offers custom pricing tailored to enterprise needs.

Advanced Customization 

Chameleon – Advanced Customization Solution for User Onboarding

Chameleon is a product adoption platform designed to provide super sophisticated features for creating in-app user experiences. Though it offers what is possibly the most advanced customization options, it also comes at a high price tag. 

Key Advantages of Chameleon over Appcues

• Extensive Customization: Chameleon offers deep control over the appearance and behavior of in-app elements, allowing for a truly native user experience. Users can customize components, add engaging visuals, and apply custom CSS to align with brand guidelines.
  
  
• Deeper Integrations: Chameleon provides robust integrations with a wide range of tools, including analytics platforms like Mixpanel and Heap, CRM systems like HubSpot and Salesforce, and data management tools like Twilio Segment and Fivetran.
  
  
• Advanced Flow Control: With features like flexible triggering based on user behavior, rate limiting to control experience delivery, and detailed change history tracking, Chameleon enables precise management of user onboarding flows.
  
  

Chameleon Pricing

Chameleon's pricing is structured to accommodate various business needs:

• Startup Plan: Starting at $279 per month at 2000 MTUs
  
  
• Growth Plan: Starting at $1,500 per month at 2000 MTUs
  
  
• Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing tailored to enterprise requirements, offering additional features like multi-product accounts, user permissions, localization, and enhanced security options.
  
  

Userpilot – A Feature-Rich Product Adoption Platform

Userpilot is a product growth platform designed to enhance user onboarding, engagement, and retention. Userpilot offers a wide array of features, including customizable in-app messaging options arranging from slideouts to banners, as well as product analytics, and user feedback collection.

Key Advantages of Userpilot over Appcues

• Advanced Customization: Userpilot provides extensive customization options, allowing teams to tailor onboarding flows based on user properties, behaviors, and engagement levels. This ensures personalized user experiences that align closely with brand identity.
  
  
• Comprehensive Analytics: With Userpilot, businesses gain access to in-depth product analytics, including funnel analysis, trend analysis, retention reports, and session recordings. These tools offer actionable insights into user behavior, facilitating data-driven decision-making.
  
  
• Cost-Effective Pricing: Userpilot offers transparent and competitive pricing plans that provide greater value, especially for startups and mid-sized businesses. Its plans include a comprehensive set of features without hidden costs.
  
  

Userpilot Pricing

• Starter Plan: Priced at $249 per month (billed annually), this plan includes up to 2,000 monthly active users (MAUs).
  
  
• Growth Plan: Starting at $799 per month (billed annually) at custom MAUs
  
  
• Enterprise Plan: Userpilot offers custom pricing tailored to enterprise needs, providing premium integrations, priority support, custom contracts, and advanced security features.
  
  

Better Analytics 

Pendo – A Robust Product Experience Platform

Pendo is a comprehensive product experience platform that combines in-depth product analytics with user engagement tools. Pendo enables businesses to monitor product usage, analyze user behavior, and create in-app guides to enhance user onboarding and feature adoption.

Key Advantages of Pendo over Appcues

• Advanced Analytics: Pendo offers robust product analytics features, including path analysis, funnel analysis, and session replays, providing deeper insights into user behavior compared to Appcues.
  
  
• Comprehensive User Feedback: Beyond Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys, Pendo allows for the collection of qualitative feedback through in-app polls and integrates with platforms like Salesforce and Zendesk to consolidate feedback from various sources.
  
  
• Unified Platform: Pendo combines analytics and in-app guidance in a single platform, reducing the need for multiple tools and ensuring seamless data flow between product analytics and user engagement features.
  
  

Pendo Pricing

Pendo offers customized pricing plans based on the specific needs of a business. While exact figures are not publicly disclosed, Pendo does provide a free plan for up to 500 monthly active users, making it accessible for startups and small teams.

For larger organizations requiring advanced features and higher user limits, Pendo offers tailored plans to align with business objectives and growth stages.

Better Internal Onboarding Alternatives

Onboarding has two verticals. One is internal onboarding that is more geared toward employees, and another is external onboarding that is more about users. Appcues is good for user onboarding, but it may not be as suitable for employee onboarding. For that, here are two options. 

Whatfix – A Comprehensive Digital Adoption Platform for Internal Onboarding

Whatfix is a digital adoption platform designed to enhance employee onboarding and training through interactive in-app guidance and support. Whatfix enables organizations to create contextual walkthroughs, tooltips, and self-help resources directly within their applications, facilitating seamless internal onboarding experiences.

Key Advantages of Whatfix over Appcues

• Enterprise Focus: Whatfix is tailored for large organizations, offering robust solutions for internal software adoption and employee training, whereas Appcues primarily targets small to medium-sized businesses with a focus on customer-facing onboarding.
  
  
• More Comprehensive In-App Guidance: Whatfix provides a wide range of in-app guidance capabilities, including flows, surveys, and checklists, with support for branching workflows and automation of repetitive tasks, features that are limited in Appcues.
  
  
• Dedicated Support: Whatfix provides comprehensive customer onboarding and success services, including a dedicated customer success manager and content support, ensuring effective implementation and utilization.
  
  

Whatfix Pricing

Whatfix offers customized pricing plans based on the specific needs of an organization. While exact figures are not publicly disclosed, Whatfix provides tailored solutions to align with business objectives and scale.

WalkMe – An Enterprise-Level Solution for Employee Training and Onboarding

WalkMe is a digital adoption platform that focuses on improving employee productivity and training through in-app guidance and automation. WalkMe enables organizations to create interactive walkthroughs, tooltips, and workflow automation to streamline internal processes and onboarding.

Key Advantages of WalkMe over Appcues

• Employee Training Focus: WalkMe is designed primarily for internal use, offering comprehensive tools for employee training and onboarding, whereas Appcues is more oriented towards customer onboarding and product adoption.
  
  
• Advanced Automation: WalkMe provides workflow automation capabilities, allowing organizations to automate repetitive tasks and processes, a feature not available in Appcues.
  
  
• AI-Powered Analytics: WalkMe offers sophisticated, AI-driven analytics to identify inefficiencies in workflows and provide actionable insights to improve operational efficiency.
  
  
• Comprehensive Support: WalkMe provides extensive support and resources for implementation and ongoing use, catering to the complex needs of large enterprises.
  
  

WalkMe Pricing

WalkMe offers customized pricing plans based on the organization's requirements. Specific pricing details are not publicly available, so you'd have to contact WalkMe's team.  

Summary of Appcues Alternatives

So here is a quick snapshot of all alternatives based on your different needs. 

For fast and simple onboarding → Userflow
Userflow is a no-code platform with a drag-and-drop Kanban builder, deep customization, and seamless integrations—ideal for startups and SaaS teams.

For enterprise-grade solutions → Whatfix
Built for large organizations, Whatfix offers AI-powered personalization, LMS integrations, and compliance-focused automation.

For product-led growth teams → Userpilot
Userpilot drives self-serve adoption with in-app messaging, no-code walkthroughs, and advanced feature tracking.

For analytics-driven decisions → Pendo
Pendo combines deep product analytics with onboarding, offering behavioral tracking, sentiment surveys, and multi-platform support.

For deep customization → Chameleon
Chameleon offers full control over onboarding with custom CSS, A/B testing, and highly configurable UI elements.

For budget-friendly onboarding → UserGuiding
UserGuiding is a cost-effective onboarding tool with customizable product tours, checklists, and guides for startups and small teams.

For large enterprises and employee training → Opt for WalkMe
WalkMe provides AI-powered automation and deep analytics, perfect for enterprise-scale customer and employee onboarding.

Final Thoughts: The Right Alternative for the Right Need

There’s no one-size-fits-all onboarding tool—what works for a scrappy startup won’t necessarily suit an enterprise juggling multiple platforms. That’s why finding the right Appcues alternative depends on what you actually need—it’s about choosing a tool that aligns with your growth, resources, and user experience goals. 

Now, when it comes to ease and simplicity, there are definitely better options than Appcues. Because when your onboarding tool needs its own onboarding, something’s off. Appcues might work for some, but if you want a faster, simpler, and more flexible alternative, Userflow is the way to go.

With a drag-and-drop builder, lightweight setup, and powerful customization (without the dev headaches), Userflow lets you create seamless user journeys in minutes, not months. No steep learning curves, no bloated pricing—just smooth, intuitive onboarding that scales with you.

Why overcomplicate things? Try Userflow today and keep your onboarding as effortless as it should be.