User Onboarding · 7 min read
12 Best User Onboarding Software to Improve User Experience
User onboarding software adds product tours, checklists, tooltips and surveys inside your product, so new users reach value without a call. As of October 2026, entry plans priced by monthly active users cost $240 to $349 a month, depending on billing, for 1,000 to 2,000 users, while Userlane quotes every plan.
By Suay Çakırca
In short
Eight of the 12 tools here are compared on entry price, free plan and G2 rating as read in October 2026, then on what the cheapest plan caps and what happens when you pass your user limit. The cap matters as much as the price: two entry plans stop at 10 live experiences. The open-source libraries and the tools we haven't reviewed get a short, neutral note.
Search for user onboarding software and you'll land on vendor homepages and on lists that mix in-app guidance with customer onboarding project tools. This page sticks to in-app tools and answers what those pages skip: what the cheapest plan actually buys, and what happens when you outgrow it. Every price and limit below was read on the vendor's own pricing page on 19 October 2026.
What is user onboarding software?
User onboarding software lets a product team build in-app guidance (tours, tooltips, checklists, announcements, surveys) without shipping code for every change. It isn't the same as customer onboarding project software, which tracks an implementation with a client, or a digital adoption platform aimed at employees; our guides to customer onboarding software and digital adoption platforms cover those. For email, video and analytics tools around onboarding, see our user onboarding tools by category.
How much does user onboarding software cost in 2026?
Seven of the eight tools with dated data print an entry price, one quotes every plan, and one has a free plan. G2 ratings were read the same day as the prices.
| Tool | Entry price (October 2026) | Priced by | Free plan | G2 rating (October 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appcues | $3,600 a year (Spark, up to 1,000 MAUs, teams of 25 or fewer, plus a $250 one-time fee) | MAUs, installations, published experiences | None listed | 4.6/5 from 359 reviews |
| Chameleon | $279 (Startup, 2,000 MTUs; the card doesn't say per month or per year) | Monthly tracked users | None listed | 4.4/5 from 364 reviews |
| Intercom | $29 per seat a month, billed monthly (Essential), as most loads of its pricing page showed it | Seats, plus usage | None listed | Not shown |
| iorad | $200 a month (Individual, 1 creator) | Tutorial creators | Yes: unlimited public tutorials and learners | 4.7/5 from 52 reviews |
| Userflow | $300 a month billed monthly, or $240 billed annually (Essentials, 1,000 MAUs) | MAUs | None listed | 4.8/5 from 125 reviews |
| UserGuiding | $249 a month billed yearly, or $349 billed monthly (Starter, up to 2,000 MAUs) | MAUs | None listed | 4.7/5 from 781 reviews |
| Userlane | Custom quote | Per application (fixed yearly fee) or per user plus interactions | None listed | 4.7/5 from 81 reviews |
| Userpilot | $299 a month (Starter, up to 2,000 MAUs and 3 seats; billing period not stated) | MAUs | None listed | 4.6/5 from 1,020 reviews |
Most offer a free trial: 14 days with no credit card for Chameleon, Intercom, Userflow, UserGuiding and Userpilot, while Appcues's trial starts with a call.
MAU means monthly active users; MTU, monthly tracked users. Intercom's G2 listing now covers its Fin AI agent rather than product tours. The comparison hub holds the same prices beside head-to-head reviews.
What does the cheapest plan include?
The entry plan is where these tools differ most: seats, caps on live content and features held back for the next tier decide whether the headline price is what you'll pay. If you'll run more than 10 live experiences or need A/B testing from day one, price the second tier, not the first.
| Tool and entry plan | Users included | Caps and what's held back (per its pricing page) |
|---|---|---|
| Appcues Spark | 1,000 MAUs | 10 published experiences; every experience type, feature and integration included |
| Chameleon Startup | 2,000 MTUs | 10 live experiences; A/B testing, custom CSS and localisation listed from Pro |
| Userflow Essentials | 1,000 MAUs | Unlimited seats and experiences; 6 months of analytics history; custom CSS and the HubSpot and Salesforce integrations on Studio |
| UserGuiding Starter | 2,000 MAUs | 15 guides, 10 hotspots, 1 checklist and 1 survey; A/B testing, localisation and custom CSS on Growth |
| Userpilot Starter | 2,000 MAUs | 3 seats, 10 segments, 1 year of data; resource centre, session replay and localisation on Growth |
What happens when you go over your user limit?
Over-limit rules decide what a launch or a viral week costs you, and they vary more than prices do. Here is what each tool's pricing page or FAQ said in October 2026:
- Appcues: experiences keep running and Appcues contacts you about upgrading at the next billing cycle, with no surprise overage charges, according to its Spark page.
- UserGuiding: users stop seeing guides until you raise your quota or your MAU count falls back under it, according to its FAQ.
- Userpilot: its pricing page doesn't say, so ask sales before you sign.
Appcues counts an MAU as a user who signs into your product in a given month, so dormant accounts don't count; check how any other tool defines the term before comparing allowances.
Which user onboarding software suits which team?
Each tool below gets the same treatment: what it is, who it fits, and the most common praise and complaint from the G2 reviews we read on 19 October 2026. They're in the order of the original list.
Appcues
Appcues is a no-code tool for in-app flows, checklists, resource menus, banners and surveys, with email and push messages from the same platform. It fits teams that want every experience type on every plan rather than features unlocked by tier. Ease of use is praised in 186 of the 294 G2 reviews we read; missing features are the top complaint, in 86.
Intercom
Intercom is a customer service platform (shared inbox, help centre and the Fin AI agent) that also sends product tours, checklists and tooltips. Tooltips and banners come with every plan, but tours and checklists need a paid add-on on top of per-seat plans, and Fin is charged per outcome from $0.99. It fits teams already running support in Intercom; there's no G2 reading for it, for the reason above.
UserGuiding
UserGuiding is a no-code tool for product tours, checklists, resource centres and in-app surveys on web apps; its pricing FAQ says it doesn't support native mobile apps. Ease of use is praised in 164 of the 299 G2 reviews we read and quick setup in 101; missing features (61) and styling limits (49) are the top complaints.
Userpilot
Userpilot pairs no-code flows, checklists and surveys with product analytics and session replay. It fits SaaS teams that want analytics in the same tool, though session replay starts on Growth. Ease of use is praised in 166 of the 300 G2 reviews we read; the learning curve is the top complaint, in 97.
Userflow
Userflow builds product tours, checklists, tooltips, announcements, surveys and a resource centre in web apps, and its Studio plan adds an AI agent that answers users' questions. Every plan has unlimited seats, and its FAQ says it works best for products on the web. Ease of use is praised in 99 of the 125 G2 reviews we read; missing features (28) and price (16) are the top complaints.
Userlane
Userlane is a digital adoption platform built mainly for the browser-based software an organisation's own staff use, so it suits employee training more than onboarding customers to your product. Its support team is praised in 50 of the 81 G2 reviews we read; missing features are the top complaint (22), and none of its reviews is newer than December 2023.
Chameleon
Chameleon builds product tours, tooltips, microsurveys and checklists for your web app, priced by monthly tracked users, and prints prices for its smaller plans. It fits product teams that want to A/B test tours without developers, from Pro upwards. Ease of use is praised in 179 of the 300 G2 reviews we read; the learning curve is the top complaint, in 73.
iorad
iorad records the steps you click through in a browser or desktop app and turns them into interactive tutorials, priced per creator with unlimited learners. Its tutorials are standalone rather than tours inside your product; in-app live guidance is listed only on Enterprise. Ease of use is praised in 46 of the 52 G2 reviews we read; missing features are the top complaint, in 16.
Which other no-code onboarding tools were on this list?
One tool from the original list isn't in our review data, so we give no price or rating for it.
HelpHero
HelpHero builds product tours, checklists and hotspots without code, with a theme editor for colours, fonts and markdown text in each step.
Can an open-source library replace user onboarding software?
An open-source library can show a tour; it can't let a non-developer change one. With a library, your developers write every step in code, and targeting, analytics and "has this user seen it" tracking are yours to build. Our guide to onboarding with open-source libraries covers when that trade is worth it, and our list of free user onboarding software covers the free plans.
Intro.js
Intro.js is an open-source JavaScript library for step-by-step tours and hints. At the time of the screenshot its homepage had a separate Commercial use link, so read the current licence before you ship it in a paid product.
Shepherd
Shepherd is an open-source JavaScript library for guided tours in web apps. Its site, at the time of the screenshot, highlighted keyboard navigation and focus trapping for accessibility, and support for popular front-end frameworks.
Pageguide.js
Pageguide.js is an older jQuery plugin that puts numbered markers on page elements and explains each one in a drawer. It depends on jQuery, so check when it last had a release before you build on it.
About the author
Suay ÇakırcaSuay is a creative content writer focusing on UX design, growth, and product with a main focus on onboarding.
