Best User Onboarding Software

A no-code builder where seats, experiences, checklists and the resource center are unlimited on every plan, and the price follows monthly active users.

Userflow builds tours, tooltips, checklists, surveys and a resource center in a visual builder, then shows them to segments of users or companies. A developer installs a JavaScript snippet or the userflow.js package once. The app then calls identify() with a user ID and attributes, group() to attach the user to a company, and track() to send named events. Company attributes are the data behind company-level targeting, which the pricing table lists. Checklists can be triggered by role or lifecycle stage and tick steps off automatically from user behavior, so a CSM doesn't mark progress by hand.

The feature that matters most to a CS team is the CRM link. On Studio and above, the Salesforce integration can start an onboarding flow when a deal closes or a contact is created, and send onboarding milestones back. The Segment integration works in both directions as well. Essentials lists Zapier and Slack; the other integrations appear to need Studio. Analytics history is 6 months on Essentials and 12 on Studio.

A no-code builder where the pricing page says every plan includes every experience type, flows start from a page, an audience or a tracked event, and plans are capped by monthly users and published experiences.

Appcues builds flows in its Studio builder or from a Chrome extension on the live page. Steps are modals, slideouts, tooltips or hotspots with text, images, video, forms and surveys. Under Target and Publish a flow gets page rules, an audience, a frequency and a priority, and it can be tested in a staging environment before it goes live for matching users.

Installation has three parts: the SDK (snippet, npm, Segment or Google Tag Manager), identify() for users and groups, and track() for events. User ID is the only required property, and account-level attributes go in as group properties. HubSpot, Salesforce and Mixpanel data is matched by User ID, so a CSM can target by plan, role or a CRM list. A flow can also start from a single event, though the docs say event attributes can filter the trigger but can't be used in audience targeting, and that event triggering is on select plans or an add-on.

Users like

Easy to use, easy setup and creation

Users dislike

Limitations and missing features

Source: G2, 359 reviews

A no-code builder for web apps with a Chrome extension editor, published entry prices and a 14 day trial, capped by how many checklists and segments are active at once.

UserGuiding builds tours with tooltips, modals and progress bars in a Chrome extension, chains them into onboarding sequences and shows them only to segments based on user attributes, behavior or events. Each tour reports views, completions, completion rate and drop-off by step. Separate no-code event tracking records clicks, hovers, inputs and page views, so a CSM can track clicks and page views without asking a developer for a new event.

Installation is a container code snippet placed in the head of the app, or loaded through Google Tag Manager. User attributes go in through identify(), and company attributes go in a company object in the same call, which needs a company ID. The help center lists Company page articles, which suggests account data can be viewed there; we read only the titles. The limit to plan for is the content quota: the pricing page appears to cap active checklists and surveys at 1 on Starter and 5 on Growth, and segments at 10 and 25; the table layout was ambiguous.

Users like

Ease of use, quick setup, responsive support

Users dislike

Limited customization, basic analytics, weak mobile support

Source: G2, 772 reviews

A no-code builder where checklists and resource centers are built as Launchers and priced by monthly tracked users, with checklists, segmentation and CRM connections starting on Pro.

The Chameleon pricing page lists four experience types: Tours (single or multi-step overlays), Launchers (an on-demand menu used for onboarding checklists and resource centers), Microsurveys for NPS, CSAT and feature feedback, and HelpBar, a search box that surfaces your knowledge base in the app. Experiences are built in a Chrome-based builder on the live product, or drafted with Copilot, an AI agent that writes the copy, sets targeting and builds a campaign for review.

A developer installs the npm package, a script tag or a Segment, Google Tag Manager or Freshpaint connection, then calls chmln.identify(). Account data goes in a nested company object with a uid, name and plan. Salesforce contact and account records can decide who sees guidance, HubSpot and Mixpanel sync both ways, and Slack gets alerts. Completion leaves Chameleon as a webhook, for example tour.completed or response.finished, with a JSON payload to your own endpoint.

Users like

Easy interface and no-code building with fast support.

Users dislike

Steep learning curve for advanced features and some bugs.

Source: G2, 364 reviews

An in-app engagement and analytics tool where a Chrome extension builds flows and checklists, targeted by segment, event or page, with the Resource Center starting on Growth.

Userpilot flows are modals, slideouts, tooltips and driven actions, and they can branch by a signup answer or by segment. A welcome survey on first login can sort users by role, use case or goal. Checklists are built without code, and older docs list a maximum of 15 tasks; each task can do nothing and complete automatically, go to a page, trigger a flow or run a script. The Resource Center holds guides, FAQs, video tutorials and knowledge base content inside the product.

A developer installs a JavaScript snippet, npm package, Segment or Google Tag Manager, then identifies users with identify(), companies with a company object that needs an ID, and events with track(). Dashboards cover signups, activation and trial-to-paid conversion, with funnels, paths, retention and cohorts, and the vendor lists session replay, A/B tests and event autocapture. The pricing page appears to list up to 10 segments on Starter and unlimited segments on Growth and Enterprise.

A product analytics platform with a no-code Visual Design Studio for in-app guides, free up to 500 monthly active users, with paid plans on quote.

Pendo guides are built in the Visual Design Studio against the live app URL and activated automatically, by a badge, by a confirmation or on a target element, with up to two methods combined. A guide can be limited by status (staged or public), page, device type, throttling, localization and custom code, and targeted to a segment; the in-app guides page says targeting works at user or account level, while the activation docs describe visitor-level controls. The in-app guides page describes embedded guides, walkthroughs, tooltips, branching and guides on web and mobile.

The CS link is the two-way Salesforce sync. Pendo pulls Salesforce attributes such as region, customer status and account owner in for segmenting and guide targeting, and pushes usage and NPS columns back to the account, for health scores. The sync runs about once a day, and Pendo doesn't say which plan includes it. Installation uses the Pendo Web SDK with a public app ID, and Pendo recommends keeping visitor and account IDs the same across dev, QA and production.

Gainsight's product experience product for in-app guides, surveys and analytics, targeted by user and account, with a native link to Gainsight Customer Success.

Gainsight PX needs a developer for the PX tag in the page head and an identify call with a required user ID and a required account ID. Accounts then appear in Account Explorer and users in Audience Explorer, and segments combine user and account rules such as role, plan, feature usage and custom events with AND and OR logic. Guides are built in an in-app editor from your product URL, with badge, tooltip and hotspot steps mapped to elements on the page, and a launch is blocked until steps are mapped and audience rules are saved.

What sets it apart for a CS team is Journey Orchestrator. A program in Gainsight CS can trigger a PX dialog, slider, guide or survey, so a CSM reacts to an account signal with an in-app message. That needs both CS and PX subscriptions and a PX connector. PX also lists goals measured by a feature or custom event, throttling to limit user fatigue, and surveys such as NPS, CES and CSAT. One caution: the product page mentions onboarding checklists, but the engagement types in the docs we read don't name checklists or a resource center.

Users like

in-app engagements and audience targeting are flexible, analytics are useful out of the box

Users dislike

a learning curve and complex setup, and editor previews that don't always match the live result

Source: G2, 243 reviews