Independent. No onboarding vendor owns this site or pays to be on it.
Prices checked 19 Oct – 3 Nov 20266,688 G2 reviews readHow we review →
Both put guides and tooltips inside your product without code, but they start from different places. UserGuiding is an onboarding toolkit for web apps with printed prices, checklists, a resource center and a knowledge base; Pendo is product analytics first, with guides on web and mobile apps, a free plan for up to 500 MAUs and every paid plan quoted on request.
By Yağmur Çiftçi · Published 22 Oct 2026 · Updated 4 Nov 2026 · How we compared
UserOnboarding Academy isn't owned by UserGuiding, Pendo or any other tool compared here. No vendor reviewed this page before publication.
UserGuiding
$249 / mo
entry price, Starter, billed yearly ($2,988 / year), or $349 / mo billed monthly; the price covers up to 2,000 MAUs
Choose UserGuiding if
Pendo
Custom quote
entry price, Base, Core and Ultimate are 'Request pricing' with custom MAU volume
Choose Pendo if
Pick UserGuiding if you run a web app, care more about onboarding content than analytics, and want the price up front: Starter is $249 / mo billed yearly for up to 2,000 MAUs and brings tours, checklists, a resource center, surveys and a knowledge base. Pick Pendo if product analytics is the main job, if you need guides inside native mobile apps, or if you want to start free: Pendo Free covers up to 500 MAUs, but every paid plan is quoted on request, and surveys and session replay depend on the plan you buy.
Reviewers praise each for a different thing. Analytics leads Pendo's praise (1,393 of the 1,791 reviews we read, against 100 of 782 for UserGuiding); ease of use leads UserGuiding's (456 of 782, against 720 of 1,791 for Pendo). Pendo's reviewers name the learning curve (428) and builder and feature-tagging friction (306) more often than UserGuiding's (78 and 95), while UserGuiding's name missing features (182 of 782 against 362 of 1,791) and styling limits (99 against 68) more often.
UserGuidingA web onboarding toolkit with printed prices and content quotas set plan by plan.
UserGuiding covers tours, hotspots, checklists, resource centers, surveys and NPS, a knowledge base and a product-updates page. Its analytics report on how that content performs and on your segments; Growth adds no-code event tracking, advanced reporting, session replay and A/B testing. Its FAQ says it doesn't support native mobile apps.
Our UserGuiding reviewPendoProduct analytics first, with in-app guides on web and mobile, sold by quote.
Pendo pairs product analytics, with data history from the day it's installed, with walkthroughs, tooltips and embedded guides that can branch on users' choices. Core adds session replay; Ultimate adds NPS and other surveys, product discovery and journey orchestration, which are paid add-ons on the smaller plans. Its mobile page lists SDKs for native iOS and Android, React Native, Flutter and other frameworks.
Our Pendo reviewUserGuiding figures read on userguiding.com 19 Oct 2026; Pendo figures read on pendo.io 19 Oct 2026.
| UserGuiding | Pendo | |
|---|---|---|
| Priced by | Monthly active users (MAUs) | Monthly active users (MAUs) plus the functionality in the plan |
| Free plan | Not listed | Free plan: Pendo Free, up to 500 MAUs, with product analytics, in-app guides, Pendo-branded roadmaps and Pendo-branded NPS surveys, unlimited web and mobile app keys |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial, no credit card needed; can be extended on request | 30-day free trial of the full platform, arranged through sales |
| Entry price | $249 / mo, Starter, billed yearly ($2,988 / year), or $349 / mo billed monthly; the price covers up to 2,000 MAUs | Custom quote, Base, Core and Ultimate are 'Request pricing' with custom MAU volume |
| Plans | Starter, Growth, Enterprise | Free, Base, Core, Ultimate |
| What the plans change | Features and per-type quotas | Functionality (replay, surveys, discovery) and MAU volume |
| Next plan up | Growth: $499 / mo billed yearly, up to 2,000 MAUs | Core, Ultimate: on request |
| Over the MAU limit | Guides stop showing until you raise the quota; no extra charge | Paid plans keep running and a rep gets in touch; on Free, no new guides, NPS surveys or segments |
| Paid add-ons | Extra quotas, seats, containers, white-label branding; EU hosting on Starter | Session replay on Base; surveys, discovery and orchestration on Base and Core; Predict; Agent Analytics |
| Refund | 30-day money-back guarantee | Not listed |
UserGuiding's page opens on yearly billing: Starter's $249 / mo is $2,988 a year, or $349 a month billed monthly, and covers up to 2,000 MAUs. Pendo prints no paid price: Base, Core and Ultimate are 'Request pricing' with a custom MAU volume. Its FAQ says the cost per MAU falls as MAUs grow, volume and bundle discounts are built in, and the number of applications you track doesn't change the price. Pendo Free costs nothing for up to 500 MAUs.
| Capability | UserGuiding | Pendo |
|---|---|---|
| Product tours and tooltips | Included | Included |
| Checklists and resource center | Included | Not listed |
| In-app surveys and NPS | Included | Ultimate; add-on on Base and Core; Pendo-branded NPS on Free |
| Product analytics | All plans; advanced reporting Growth plan and up | All plans, including Free |
| Session replay | Growth plan and up | Core and Ultimate; add-on on Base |
| Native mobile apps | Not supported | Included |
| Localization | Growth plan and up, with AI auto-translate | Not listed |
Feature by feature
A tick means the vendor’s pages list the feature on every plan or name no plan; text names the plan or version they put it on. A dash means the pages we read don’t mention it, which is not proof the product lacks it. “Only differences” keeps the features just one of the two lists.
| Feature | UserGuiding | Pendo |
|---|---|---|
| Experiences | ||
| Product tours | Included | All plans, including Free (pricing page) |
| Tooltips and hotspots | Included | All plans, including Free (pricing page) |
| Checklists | Included | Guides and Guides Pro (help center); task lists on Guides Pro only |
| Resource center | Included | Guides: one Resource Center with limited modules; Guides Pro: one per app with full access (help center) |
| Knowledge base | All plans; private versions Growth plan and up | Not listed |
| Localization | Growth plan and up | Guides Pro (help center) |
| Custom CSS and themes | Growth plan and up (custom CSS) | Not listed |
| Modals and banners | Included | Guides and Guides Pro (help center); embedded guides on Guides Pro only |
| Announcements | Not listed | Included |
| Feedback | ||
| In-app surveys | Included | Pendo-branded NPS on Free; NPS, PMF and CSAT on Ultimate, and as an add-on on Base and Core |
| Targeting and analytics | ||
| Segmentation and targeting | Included | Included |
| Product analytics | All plans; advanced reporting Growth plan and up | All plans, including Free |
| Session replay | Growth plan and up | Core and Ultimate; add-on on Base |
| A/B testing | Growth plan and up | Not listed |
| Event tracking | Growth plan and up | Included |
| Goal tracking | Growth plan and up | Not listed |
| AI | ||
| AI insights | Included | Included |
| AI assistant | Included | Not listed |
| MCP server | Included | Included |
| AI content creation | Included | Guides Pro (help center) |
| Agent analytics | Not listed | Add-on (any plan) |
| Platforms and channels | ||
| Mobile apps | Not supported | Included |
| Web apps | Included | Included |
| Integrations | ||
| CRM integrations | Included | Included |
| Analytics integrations | Included | Included |
| Support tool integrations | Included | Included |
| API and webhooks | Included | Included |
| Data warehouse integrations | Not listed | Included |
| Security and admin | ||
| SSO | Enterprise | Paid add-on |
| Data hosting | Growth and Enterprise; add-on on Starter | Included |
| Roles and permissions | Growth plan and up | Included |
| Compliance | Enterprise | Included |
From UserGuiding's and Pendo's own pages (pricing, product, integrations and help-center pages), checked 3 Nov 2026.
UserGuiding| Area | Strength | Limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Starter and Growth prices printed, with a 14-day trial without a card and a 30-day money-back guarantee. | No free plan among its plan cards; above 2,000 MAUs, and for Enterprise, it's a quote. |
| Onboarding content | Checklists, resource centers, a knowledge base and a product-updates page on every plan. | Starter caps active content: 15 guides, 10 hotspots, 1 checklist and 1 survey. |
| Platforms | Guides display in any modern browser, on any device. | No native mobile apps, according to its FAQ. |
| Reviews | Ease of use (456 of 782 reviews read), its flow types (310) and the support team (298) lead the praise; 162 name no dislike. | Missing features (182) and styling limits (99) lead the complaints; analytics is praised in 100. |
Pendo| Area | Strength | Limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Analytics | Product analytics on every plan, including Free; it's the most-praised theme in 1,393 of the 1,791 reviews we read. | Reporting depth is criticised in 446 of the same reviews. |
| Platforms | SDKs for native iOS and Android, React Native, Flutter, SwiftUI, Jetpack Compose, MAUI and Compose Multiplatform. | Its mobile FAQ says supported capabilities vary by framework. |
| Pricing | A free plan for up to 500 MAUs, and paid plans keep running past the MAU limit. | No paid price is printed, and the 30-day trial starts with a sales conversation. |
| Reviews | Guides and other flow types (862 of 1,791) and ease of use (720) follow analytics in the praise. | After reporting depth, the learning curve (428), missing features (362) and builder and feature-tagging friction (306) are the most-named complaints; 119 say setup needs developers or a lot of time. |
UserGuiding4.7
782 reviews on G2 · read 3 Nov 2026
Reviewers most often praise ease of use (456 of the 782 reviews read), the range of in-app content such as tours, tooltips, checklists and announcements (310), the support team (298), quick install and setup (238) and building flows without developers (184). The most common criticisms are missing features (182), styling limits (99), friction in the builder and Chrome extension (95) and the learning curve (78), while 162 reviews name no dislike.
G2’s star split
G2 counts a 4.5 with the 5-star reviews.
Where the reviews we read came from
Praised for
Criticised for
162 of 782 name no dislike at all.
All 782 reviews on G2, each read and tagged by an AI model against a fixed list of themes. Written 2019–2026; 68 in the year before 3 Nov 2026.
4.5/5 15 Jan 2026
PraiseEasy to use
“To create a guide, all I need to do is add URL details, triggers, and templates, and I can train any of my team members on creating guides in less than 10 minutes and get the job done.”
Invited by UserGuiding · Incentivized · UserGuiding review on G2: “Time-Saving Tool with Easy Setup”
5.0/5 10 Sept 2026
PraiseFlow types: tours, tooltips, checklists, modals
“It’s great when we need to share an urgent message with all our customers (for example, if the site is down), as well as for announcing new features, providing guidance on how to complete a task that isn’t done often, and supporting our knowledge base.”
Invited by UserGuiding · Incentivized · UserGuiding review on G2: “Simple to Use, Gets Urgent Customer Updates Live in Minutes”
5.0/5 22 Oct 2025
PraiseQuick install and setup
“In just two days, we managed to integrate the platform without any difficulty, which greatly facilitated our operations.”
Organic · UserGuiding review on G2: “Quick Implementation and Cost Savings with UserGuiding”
5.0/5 9 Apr 2026
ComplaintMissing features
“The Checklist does not have a way to be configured to follow a logical sequence. For example, I created 6 checklists that I need to be presented to users in sequence: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.”
Invited by UserGuiding · Incentivized · UserGuiding review on G2: “Complete and intuitive platform, with accessible support and a powerful Resource Center”
3.5/5 11 Sept 2025
ComplaintStyling limits
“There are limits to the customizations available, so the ultimate visual design of the elements displayed in our app is dictated by the controls available in their WYSIWYG editor.”
Invited by UserGuiding · Incentivized · UserGuiding review on G2: “Accessible, flexible platform for FTUEs and in-app notifications”
3.5/5 13 May 2026
ComplaintBuilder or browser-extension friction
“There were a lot of settings that needed adjusting and then to save you need to save and then publish, you can also navigate away and lose your changes without any prompt preventing you from doing so.”
Invited by UserGuiding · Incentivized · UserGuiding review on G2: “User-Friendly with Customizable UI Options”
Pendo4.4
1,827 reviews on G2 · read 3 Nov 2026
Reviewers praise Pendo most for its analytics and product insights (1,393 of 1,791 reviews), then its guides, tooltips and other flow types (862) and ease of use (720). They criticise most the depth of its reporting and analytics (446), then its learning curve and hard-to-find settings (428), missing features (362) and friction with the guide builder and feature tagging (306).
G2’s star split
G2 counts a 4.5 with the 5-star reviews.
Where the reviews we read came from
Praised for
Criticised for
133 of 1,791 name no dislike at all.
1,791 of the 1,827 reviews on G2, every one its filters let us reach, each read and tagged by an AI model against a fixed list of themes. Written 2016–2026; 259 in the year before 3 Nov 2026.
3.5/5 25 Sept 2026
PraiseAnalytics and product insights
“One thing I find particularly useful is the regex-based tracking, which makes it easier to maintain the same tracking configuration across multiple product environments without having to create separate configurations for each environment.”
5.0/5 6 Apr 2026
PraiseFlow types: tours, tooltips, checklists, modals
“The guides are particularly helpful for new merchants when they sign in to the application for the first time.”
Organic · Pendo review on G2: “Simplicity and Efficiency with Robust Guides”
5.0/5 22 May 2026
PraiseEasy to use
“Pendo is both intuitive and robust. You can get value quickly, and still uncover additional layers after using it for several years.”
In-app prompt · Pendo review on G2: “Intuitive tools and people who are crazy for their customers”
1.0/5 24 May 2026
ComplaintLearning curve, hard-to-find settings
“In my company douzens of people needed training on Pendo but we end up always pinging the same person because it's just work learning your software.”
In-app prompt · Pendo review on G2: “Confusing interface.”
5.0/5 24 May 2026
ComplaintBuilder or browser-extension friction
“The Designer tool always gets in the way, I would much prefer to be able to edit the guides in-line.”
In-app prompt · Pendo review on G2: “Pendo is of huge value to our organisation”
3.0/5 17 Jun 2026
ComplaintReporting and analytics depth
“Certain widgets in dashboards don't update equally and have filters apply differently. Some can be edited directly in the widget, some you need to permanently edit the report, some will update by simply updating dashboard filters.”
In-app prompt · Pendo review on G2: “Pendo has potential to be very insightful, but lacks ability to gain depth and context”
Prices, plans and limits come from each vendor’s own pages, read on the dates below through a US browser session; nothing is taken from memory or from other review sites. UserGuiding's were re-checked against screenshots of its live pricing page 19 Oct 2026. Pendo's were re-checked against screenshots of its live pricing page 19 Oct 2026.
UserGuiding on G2: 4.7 / 5 from 782 reviews, read 3 Nov 2026. All 782 reviews on G2, each read and tagged by an AI model against a fixed list of themes.
Pendo on G2: 4.4 / 5 from 1,827 reviews, read 3 Nov 2026. 1,791 of the 1,827 reviews on G2, every one its filters let us reach, each read and tagged by an AI model against a fixed list of themes.
Feature cells say “Not listed” when a vendor’s pages don’t mention the feature, not that it’s missing. Spotted something out of date? Write to hello@useronboarding.academy.
UserGuiding prints its prices: Starter is $249 / mo billed yearly ($2,988 a year) for up to 2,000 MAUs, and Growth $499 a month billed yearly. Pendo prints none for its paid plans, so a comparison needs a quote; its FAQ says the cost per MAU falls as MAUs grow. Up to 500 MAUs, Pendo Free costs nothing; UserGuiding's pricing page shows no free plan among its plan cards.
Pendo does: its mobile page lists SDKs for native iOS and Android, React Native, Flutter and other frameworks, covering analytics, session replay, feedback and in-app guides, and says supported capabilities vary by framework. UserGuiding's FAQ says it doesn't support native mobile apps, though its content displays in modern browsers on any device.
Pendo is built around analytics: it's on every plan, including Free, and it's the most-praised theme in 1,393 of the 1,791 Pendo reviews we read, though 446 criticise reporting depth. UserGuiding reports on how guides, checklists and surveys perform, and adds no-code event tracking and advanced reporting on Growth; 100 of the 782 UserGuiding reviews we read praise its analytics and 68 criticise their depth.
In the reviews we read, UserGuiding: ease of use is praised in 456 of 782 and the learning curve criticised in 78. Pendo: ease of use is praised in 720 of 1,791, and the learning curve is the second most-named complaint, in 428, after reporting depth; 119 say setup needs developers or a lot of time, against 30 UserGuiding reviewers.
On UserGuiding, your users stop seeing guides until you raise the quota or your MAU count falls, and there's no extra charge. On a paid Pendo plan, service keeps running and an account rep gets in touch; on Pendo Free, going over 500 MAUs stops you creating new guides, NPS surveys or segments until you upgrade.
UserGuiding offers a 14-day free trial without a credit card, which it says it will extend on request. Pendo offers a 30-day free trial of the whole platform, started by talking to sales, and Pendo Free for up to 500 MAUs.
UserGuiding is rated 4.7 out of 5 from 782 reviews and Pendo 4.4 from 1,827, as read on 3 Nov 2026. In the reviews we read, 428 of 782 for UserGuiding were invited by the vendor or by G2 on its behalf, against 1,155 of 1,791 for Pendo, where 255 came through a G2 charity campaign; the source chips above show the split.
We read UserGuiding's pricing and integrations pages and Pendo's pricing, guides, mobile and integrations pages on 19 Oct 2026 and recorded only what they state, then had an AI model read G2 reviews of both (all 782 of UserGuiding's, and 1,791 of Pendo's 1,827, every one G2's filters let us reach) and tag each against a fixed list of themes. The method section above lists every page and date.
