Appcues vs. UserGuiding 2023 Comparison

Appcues is a great product with a strong base and lots of mid-market customers. But does being the first in the market mean being the best?

That is where UserGuiding comes in.

UserGuiding is an amazing product adoption platform software that provides well-designed and engaging walkthroughs.

So which one is better for you?

Which one of these tools is the one that is the better fit for your needs and goals?

To help you find an answer to those questions, I will:

Introduce Appcues and talk about the tools cons and pros,
Introduce UserGuiding and talk about the tools cons and pros,
Compare those tool side-by-side for you to have a better overview.

And also, if you want to skip all those, you can benefit from this quick table:

TL;DR – Side-By-Side Comparison Table


Starting Price	$249/month	$89/month
G2 Rating	4.7⭐	4.7⭐
Interactive Walkthroughs	✅	✅
Tooltips	✅	✅
Hotspots	✅	✅
Onboarding Checklists	✅	✅
Announcement Modals/Banners	✅	✅
NPS Surveys	✅	✅
In-Product Surveys	✅	✅
In-App Resource Center	❌	✅
Avg. Deployment Time	2-3 Hours	15 Minutes
User Segmentation	✅	✅
User Analytics	✅	✅
Multi-Language Support	✅	✅
Easy Localization	✅	✅
User Tracking	✅	✅
Knowledge Base Integration	❌	✅
Learning Curve	😟 Steep	🤩 Smooth

UserGuiding also offers free migration services for your in-app content created using other software to minimize your switching costs.

Schedule a demo with one of our experts or start your free trial now:

Don’t Pay a Fortune for Other Tools!

UserGuiding starts from only $89/month.
Create tours, tooltips, and surveys without coding

What is Appcues?

Appcues is a pioneer of “no-code” onboarding tools on the market.

They have introduced various onboarding elements for the first time while offering great fundamental solutions to their customers.

With a strong focus on user onboarding to web apps and digital products, Appcues can solve all your digital adoption needs regarding your customers and help you become a product-led business.

Pros 🤩 Appcues is good for:

✅ Appcues can help you create beautiful and interactive product walkthroughs so that you can provide your customers with an engaging onboarding experience and get them to like your product easily.

✅ Appcues provides exquisite customer support. They are great at coming up with quick and highly personalized solutions to all your problems whenever you have one.

✅ Founded in 2014, Appcues is among the first comers of no-code digital adoption; it has a strong background and customer portfolio.

Cons 😮‍💨 Appcues isn’t good for:

❌ Appcues isn’t the best when it comes to analytics features. If you would like to get the best out of your customers, you will have to use integrations.

❌ No matter how friendly the UI is, Appcues has a steep learning curve that you must get past – which is only possible if you have enough technical knowledge.

❌ Appcues is also not affordable. Their starting price is not only above the market average, but they also don’t grant access to all features in the essentials package.

Appcues Pricing

The Essentials Package of Appcues starts at $249/month when billed annually with 2500 MAU.
The Growth Package of Appcues starts at $879/month when billed annually, again at 2500 MAU.
The Enterprise Package of Appcues doesn’t have public pricing, so you need to get a custom quotation.

What is UserGuiding?

UserGuiding is a product adoption platform that doubles down on customer and user onboarding with powerful in-app elements.

It is a “no-code” product that everyone, regardless of their technical background, can set up and start using immediately.

Also, UserGuiding costs below the average of similar products but provides the same value – if not more.

Here is what you can create with UserGuiding:

Interactive Product Tours,
Tooltips and Hotspots,
In-app messages
User Onboarding Checklists,
Resource Centers,
NPS Surveys and in-app surveys,
Easy localization,
In-Depth Analytics and activity details page,
And custom user segments.

Pros 🤩 UserGuiding is good for:

✅ The #1 strength of UserGuiding is the value it provides for the price it costs. UserGuiding offers a full set of no-code engagement and adoption elements for as little as $89/month.

✅ Unlike Appcues, UserGuiding’s interface is very user-friendly so that even first-time users can set up and publish their own product engagement sequences.

✅ UserGuiding is also very customizable. You can play with your engagement elements’ shape, color, positioning, and much more.

✅ UserGuiding provides 24/7 customer support. This means that customers can get help quickly – no matter which time they you are in – and solve their problems without friction.

✅ In terms of UserOnboarding, UserGuiding provides a full stack of features so that you won’t have to adopt multiple tools for different features.

Cons 😮‍💨 UserGuiding isn’t good for:

❌ Since UserGuiding’s main focus is onboarding, the analytics features it provides might not be enough for some companies. However, the tool provides various integration options with most analytics tools.

❌ Although you can use UserGuiding for employee training as well as user adoption, the features for employee engagement might be a bit simpler than you expect.

UserGuiding Pricing

14-day free trial (no credit card required)
Basic Plan: $89/month when billed annually for up to 2500 MAU
Professional Plan: $389/month when billed annually for up to 20000 MAU with unlimited guides
Custom Quotation Available for Larger Companies

Appcues vs UserGuiding

	Features
Appcues has been a cultivated tool since it was founded in 2014, and it definitely delivers what it promises. But in 2023, users agree that UserGuiding is a better and more modern onboarding solution.	Onboarding 🤩 ➡️	UserGuiding is rated higher in G2 in almost every single category that concerns user onboarding. Therefore, we could say that UserGuiding is the better choice.
Although Appcues does provide in-app analytics, since it is not the tool’s main focus, you might need an integration to handle the analytics.	Analytics 🤩 ➡️	UserGuiding isn’t a data collection tool. Still, it provides in-depth analytics about overall activity, and allows you to see user-specific data as well.
Appcues provides in-app NPS surveys and feedback collection modals. If you need other types of surveys, Appcues might not be the tool you are looking for.	Surveying 🤩 ➡️	UserGuiding provides various types of survey question types that can be mixed and matched to achieve the perfect survey.

	Pricing
Appcues’s pricing starts from $249/month – which is above the market average.	🤩 ➡️	UserGuiding’s pricing starts from $89/month for 2,500 MAU and all features (except for UserGuiding Now)

	Ease Of Use
Appcues is the first no-code DAP tool, but their understanding of no-code still involves technical aspects. In other words, technical knowledge is required to be able to use the product fully.	🤩 ➡️	From free implementation support to css-free customization, UserGuiding is one of the simplest digital adoption platforms. You can set up and get going with UserGuiding in under an hour.

	Customer Support
Appcues clearly cares about their customers, and this is why they provide fast and personalized customer support. Bear in mind that most of their users are mid-market users.	🤩 ➡️	UserGuiding has a score of 9.8/10 on G2 in terms of quality of customer support. Their dedicated support team is quick and provides Customer Support to all users worldwide, no matter which time zone you are in.

Appcues vs. UserGuiding 2023 Comparison – Which tool is the one you need?