7 Pendo Alternatives for Product Adoption and/or Behavior Analytics

What Pendo Does Well

Besides great SaaS events and a cool website, Pendo has some pretty good benefits as a product, too.

1- Comprehensive analytics features

Pendo's whole value proposition is helping products understand their end users and analyze user interactions for better UX. And that doesn't happen without a good, comprehensive analytics feature.

Pendo's analytics can pinpoint the stages where users drop off or struggle or which features are underused. For example, Pendo's path analysis can reveal the most common journeys users take through an app, helping to optimize user flow and increase retention.

Pendo takes analytics pretty seriously. It is perfect if your main goal is to track UX and satisfaction. But it might not be as good if you're looking for a fully-fledged analytics tool.

2- Top-of-the-line tracking and reporting

Along the same vein as Pendo's analytics feature, it also does a great job empowering its users with top-of-the-line tracking and reporting capabilities.

Pendo boasts different types of tracking, like event tracking, which tracks key user actions. In visualizing this, Pendo's heatmaps come in handy. It also comes full circle with features like segmentation and custom reports.

So, basically, you can use Pendo to track the actions of specific users and segments and get custom reports for it. These are, of course, not super in-depth, but they do help keep a full watch over the surface level.

3- In-app feedback collection that integrates well internally

Yet another prominent feature of Pendo is its in-app feedback feature that helps streamline feedback collection. It also does a good job integrating the feature with the rest of Pendo for maximum efficiency.

If you're not looking for a standalone solution for feedback collection that will fully optimize your feedback cycle, Pendo is a good enough option primarily because of its internal integration with its analytics capabilities.

But hey, is Pendo perfect?

Nothing ever is. Let's take a look at:

Drawbacks of Pendo

Though Pendo is a fan-favorite for its analytics, even the most devoted fans report on a few problems.

1- Very hard to set up

When it comes to getting familiar with Pendo, the struggle is real.

Even the most fanatical G2 reviewers of Pendo point out that

• it has a pretty steep learning curve,
• the onboarding is way too technical and
• it takes months to feel somewhat trained in using Pendo.

And the hardship does not end there.

Pendo's customer support is known to be distant. You can always pay to get extra support, but other than that, customer support clearly prioritizes enterprise plan customers.

2- Feature Bloat

Pendo is widely known for doing it all.

It has every tool and feature to help you be better at satisfying your users. But this can easily be a double-edged sword.

Because with an abundance of features comes feature bloat.

A feature bloat is when a product has too many features, which inadvertently prevents success while trying to achieve it.

Sadly, this is the case with Pendo.

Unless you trust yourself to focus on the most important features while also paying in full for all the features, Pendo can get pretty counterproductive.

3- Hard to scale pricing

And finally, Pendo can be pretty expensive for non-enterprise customers.

Pendo offers 4 different pricing plans along with a start-free option that offers the most essential features. But of course, as it is with most all-in-one products, it is not quite sufficient.

This means that for an actually efficient product, you will need to pay.

And the base prices aren't for everyone's pockets. Pendo does not share a public pricing list, but for starters, customers are expected to part ways with thousands.

👉 Overall, Pendo is a great tool if your tech stack needs an above-average analytics tool that will also offer other features to enhance user satisfaction.

So, if you need a deep dig into user data, Pendo is not the one.

If you want to monitor a wider range of information about your users, Pendo can work for you. But as your operations scale, you will need to scale your efforts as well.

You might outgrow Pendo at that stage.

So then, what to do?

Let's take a close look at what you might prefer for a deeper dig and in-depth user experience optimization.

7 Best Pendo Alternatives

1- UserGuiding - the all-in-one product adoption platform

• G2: ⭐4.6/5 (231 reviews)
• Capterra: ⭐️ 4.7/5 (51 reviews)

Similar to Pendo, UserGuiding is a product adoption platform that aims to enhance in-app experiences. It empowers product people to improve UX and user satisfaction through user onboarding and engagement tools.

UserGuiding's main advantage is its user-friendly interface, which requires no code or technical knowledge. This means you can start creating user flows, feedback loops, product update pages, knowledge bases, and other elements within minutes.

The product focuses on the most essential tools to engage users and integrate them together. So, we can say that UserGuiding offers a whole hub for product people to interact with end users.

UserGuiding Features

UserGuiding offers a solid set of features; all laser-focused on the task of better in-app experiences.

These features power 3 main use cases: product adoption, feedback collection, and in-app engagement.

👉 Product Adoption

UserGuiding's initial value proposition is its user onboarding capabilities.

Using features like onboarding checklists, product tours, hotspots, and tooltips, the product empowers better adoption via gamification and personalization.

👉 Feedback Collection

UserGuiding's in-app surveys and NPS surveys, paired with product updates, work to create a feedback loop that brings product people and users closer.

The analytics for these features also support better reporting and decision-making.

👉 In-App Engagement

In-app engagement is powered by in-product messaging features like announcement modals, product update pages, and segmentation.

Using these features, it is easy to close the loop with feedback as well, which makes the use cases come full circle and complement one another.

Pricing

UserGuiding offers a 14-day free trial and its prices are adjustable according to MAU.

>2500 MAU

• Basic: $89/month
• Professional: $249/month
• Corporate: Custom quote

5K+ MAU

• Basic: $230/month
• Professional: $449/month
• Corporate: Custom quote

10K+ MAU

• Basic: $300/month
• Professional: $524/month
• Corporate: Custom quote

UserGuiding vs Pendo

In many ways, UserGuiding and Pendo are similar, but in many, they aren't.

We can find the most important differences within the tools just as we sign up. Since UserGuiding is a product adoption platform, it takes great care to make the onboarding super simple and quick. Pendo, on the other hand, gets too technical and takes a good while to adopt due to its overflowing features.

It's so much so that while the setup for UserGuiding takes minutes, Pendo's setup can take up to a few weeks.

But it doesn't end at the adoption of the product. The adoption features of the products differ a bit, too. Pendo is built to do it all for all, meaning its capabilities and features aren't specialized.

Meanwhile, being the type of platform it is, UserGuiding is better equipped for product marketing and product adoption. Features like product updates, resource centers, knowledge bases, onboarding tools, and in-app surveys empower product marketers and product managers.

Plus, if you need to customize the elements to match your brand, UserGuiding does a better job at visual customization.

From a business standpoint, there is a huge difference in the tools' pricing and pricing models. Pendo does not share public pricing, but it is known to be pretty expensive to start. UserGuiding's adjustable MAU ranges and fixed plans starting at $89/month make it much more affordable but, more importantly, scalable.  

Lastly, Pendo does not offer extensive customer support unless you are an enterprise-plan customer, and even then, it is not the best. On the other hand, UserGuiding is known for its stellar customer support for all customers.

2- Mixpanel - more affordable, in-depth analytics

• G2: ⭐4.6/5 (1098 reviews)
• Capterra: ⭐️ 4.5/5 (138 reviews)

Mixpanel is a product analytics tool with a mission to help SaaS people make better, data-based decisions through better product analytics. Though it is essentially an analytics platform, its value proposition revolves around helping people understand their users and how they use their products.

The platform also boasts robust analytics and real-time tracking, making Mixpanel a solid Pendo alternative.

Mixpanel Features

Mixpanel offers a powerful set of features that can be categorized into 3 different use cases.

👉 User Insights and Analytics

Mixpanel's primary use case is, of course, collecting insights. The tool does a great job with its analytics capabilities with features like event tracking, segmentation, funnel analysis and retention analysis.

👉 Product Optimization

Secondly, Mixpanel uses features like A/B testing, user profiles, and real-time data to offer a compact way of product optimization.

👉 Engagement and Interaction

And lastly we have Mixpanel's automated messaging feature that enables sending targeted messages based on user behavior. This feature lets Mixpanel users have their foot down on user engagement as well and makes the tool a multi-faceted one.

Pricing

Mixpan has a free version with up to 20 million monthly events. It also has 2 more plans:

Growth: from $28/ month

• For 10K events, price scales with events

Enterprise: Custom quote

• Up to 1 trillion monthly events

Mixpanel vs Pendo

When comparing Mixpanel and Pendo, we need to remember what these products offer.

Pendo is a product experience and digital adoption solution. Mixpanel is a product analytics tool.

Having looked at both, two things stand out: Mixpanel is naturally a better analytics solution, and it is easily much more affordable.

Mixpanel offers more advanced use cases of analytics and better data analysis features and breakdowns. But beyond data, it also does better visualization. Pendo naturally falls short in these matters.

Pendo does have better solutions for engaging users and enhancing user experiences. However, there are other standalone tools that do it, too.

So, our friendly advice would be to pair Mixpanel with a product adoption tool for maximum, ‎focused success while still paying less.

3- WalkMe - better for employee engagement and guidance

• G2: ⭐4.5/5 (407 reviews)
• Capterra: ⭐️ 4.4/5 (62 reviews)

WalkMe is a powerful digital adoption platform that excels at employee engagement and onboarding. Its main mission is to ease product adoption, and if your main priority is to do so for your employees, WalkMe is a great alternative.

WalkMe's primary value proposition is interactive guides that direct users step-by-step through various processes within applications.

WalkMe Features

WalkMe boasts a big set of features similar to Pendo, and we can see an overview of its most important features via 3 use cases:

👉 Onboarding and Training

WalkMe's main focus is user onboarding, so features like walk-throughs, smart tips, and task lists all come together to create cool onboarding flows. Keep also in mind that these flows will work best for employee onboarding.

👉 Productivity Enhancement and Support

In the same vein as employee onboarding, WalkMe uses features like shoutouts, search, and automation tools to increase productivity.

These can work well for user onboarding and engagement as well.

👉 Analytics and User Feedback

Lastly, WalkMe uses its insights, user sentiment analysis, and survey features to empower users with analytics capabilities.

Pricing

WalkMe offers two different tools: a DAP (Digital Adoption Platform) for customers and an employee DAP. It does not have public pricing.

WalkMe vs Pendo

WalkMe, as a digital adoption platform, can be a good alternative to Pendo if what you're looking for is more of an onboarding solution.

However, you should keep in mind that WalkMe is slightly more expensive than Pendo and that its analytics features are a bit more limited.

This really is the product you would want to prefer if your priority is employee guidance and training.

One positive sidenote is that WalkMe offers automated tracking, while Pendo requires manual tagging and some more effort. So, if you're really focused on effortless tracking, that might be a pro for you.

4- Whatfix - best for employee guidance for a more affordable price

• G2: ⭐4.6/5 (329 reviews)
• Capterra: ⭐️ 4.6/5 (77 reviews)

Whatfix is another digital adoption platform that is similar to Pendo and WalkMe. It offers DAP and product analytics as products and has different use cases, backed by many features.

It is best to note that Whatfix also works best when educating and engaging employees.  

Whatfix Features

Whatfix boasts a very similar feature set to Pendo, and thus its use cases are also quite similar.

👉 Onboarding and training

Whatfix features like interactive guides, task lists, and self-help menus are great for both user and employee onboarding.

👉 Analytics

Whatfix's user journey starts with analytics, and its product analytics feature backs this up. The feature is backed with reports and tracking capabilities as well.

👉 User Engagement

Like its fellow DAP platforms, Whatfix offers in-app messaging and Self Help widgets for higher user engagement and support.

Pricing

Much like WalkMe and Pendo, Whatfix does not share public pricing. However, the pricing and the tool's capabilities change whether you are looking for product analytics or DAP and whether it will be on desktop or mobile.

Whatfix vs Pendo

As we've already said, Whatfix is quite similar to Pendo, apart from a few differences.

Though the tools' pricing isn't public, the most striking difference is that Whatfix is much more affordable than Pendo.

And though the feature sets are quite similar, the customer bases must play a role in the use cases. Whatfix does a better job as a tool to educate and engage employees, while Pendo is directed at customer experience optimization.

Both tools also have a lot of integrations, but Whatfix seems to have the lead.

Overall, if you want what Pendo does with an employee onboarding perspective, Whatfix is the more affordable WalkMe.

5- Appcues - more affordable for user guidance

• G2: ⭐4.6/5 (305 reviews)
• Capterra: ⭐️ 4.8/5 (102 reviews)

Appcues is a leading product adoption platform designed to ease user onboarding and user experiences.

Appcues is known for its powerful features, which keep it on par with Pendo, especially if you're looking for an onboarding solution.

Overall, we can call Appcues the onboarding counterpart of Pendo.

Appcues Features

Much like Pendo, Appcues showcases a handful of use cases on its website, but we can categorize Appcues' capabilities into 3 use cases:

👉 User Onboarding and Education

Using its key features, such as in-app messaging, product tours, and onboarding checklists, Appcues offers tools to create user onboarding flows to educate users.

👉 Engagement and Retention

The onboarding features, paired with additional features like segmentation and personalization, surveys, and feedback collection capabilities, give Appcues users the chance to engage users and safeguard retention.

👉 Analytics and Optimization

Lastly, Appcues offers analytics features like A/B testing, goal tracking, and event tracking to help with decision-making in the onboarding process.

Pricing

Appcues offers adjustable MAU ranges and a free trial.

>2500 MAU

• Essential: $249/month
• Growth: $879/month

5K+ MAU

• Essential: $399/month
• Growth: $1149/month

10K+ MAU

• Essential: $499/month
• Growth: $1289/month

Appcues vs Pendo

As we've discussed above, if Pendo is a UX platform with onboarding tools, Appcues is an onboarding platform with UX tools. In this way, they are each other's counterparts.

But in terms of a real comparison, we'd have to discuss the price first. Possibly due to its market positioning, Appcues is much more affordable than Pendo.

In making up for the lower price, Appcues' analytics feature is slightly less advanced than Pendo's but still capable.

Appcues also naturally does user guidance and product adoption better than Pendo, since the former is a whole product adoption tool while Pendo prefers a broader approach.

6- Google Analytics - free analytics

• G2: ⭐4.5/5 (6354 reviews)
• Capterra: ⭐️ 4.7/5 (8013 reviews)

Google Analytics is a powerful web analytics tool by Google widely used to monitor website traffic.

The tool provides insights into user behavior, website performance, and marketing effectiveness. Because most of these user events happen via Google, the tool is a trustworthy companion for businesses of all sizes.

Of course, because Google Analytics is free, it is more often used by startups and smaller companies.

Google Analytics Features

Google Analytics might be a single-use tool, but it comes with a good set of key features.

The most commonly used key features of the tool are:

• Traffic analysis,
• Acquisition tracking,
• Behavioral insights,
• Conversion tracking,
• Custom reporting and segmentation

Pricing

Google Analytics is a free tool; however, for those looking to upgrade, Google Analytics 360 is an option.

This is inherently a different product, and the pricing starts at around $50,000/year.

Google Analytics vs Pendo

Comparing the capabilities of Pendo and Google Analytics is not necessarily productive since the former is a whole hub for digital experiences and the latter is a free web analytics tool.

However, for those looking to buy Pendo for its analytics features, Google Analytics is a great free alternative. Though its analytics capabilities are still limited compared to Pendo, Google Analytics can be a savior for product teams on a budget.

To add onto this, Google Analytics might be harder to set up compared to Pendo.

7- Intro.js - open source user onboarding

Intro.js is an open-source library designed to enhance user onboarding and the overall user experience. And well, it is similar to Pendo only in that way.

Still, Intro.js is a great alternative for those looking for a free, open-source solution for user experiences.

The tool is a library of guided tours for web applications, and it allows developers to create step-by-step introductions and highlight key features.

Intro.js Features

Among the key features of Intro.js comes a good bunch that can be more than expected for a free library:

• Step-by-Step Guides
• Customizable Tooltips
• Cross-Browser Compatibility
• JavaScript API
• Accessibility Support

Pricing

Intro.js is completely free to use for those using it for non-commercial reasons.

However, if you need a commercial license, Intro.js also offers lifetime pricing with more elements:

• Starter: $9.99/lifetime
• Business: $49.99/lifetime
• Premium: $299.99/lifetime

Intro.js vs Pendo

When comparing Intro.js to Pendo, we should remember what they both offer. While Intro.js is an open-source library, Pendo is a fully-fledged digital experiences platform.

Intro.js comes with a set of adequate user guidance features, but it completely lacks any sort of analytics and/or tracking.

However, it is also very affordable even with the paid option. It's also very customizable thanks to it being a library, and very reliable since it's barely a third-party tool.

Wrapping Up

When considering alternatives to Pendo, each platform offers unique strengths suited to different needs.

UserGuiding is ideal for those seeking a user-friendly, no-code solution for product adoption and user onboarding. It excels in creating user flows, feedback loops, and product updates with ease and affordability.

You can try UserGuiding for free for 14 days to see the tool in action.

For in-depth analytics and real-time tracking, Mixpanel is the go-to option, providing robust data analysis capabilities. WalkMe and Whatfix are excellent for employee engagement and training, with Whatfix offering a more budget-friendly approach. Appcues is cost-effective for user guidance and onboarding, providing strong engagement and retention tools.

Google Analytics remains a top choice for free web analytics. Intro.js is a highly customizable and affordable option for those needing a basic, open-source solution for user onboarding.