6 Alternatives to Oracle Guided Learning for Improved Digital Adoption

Every SaaS product that will be used by one or more users needs user training, offered one way or another.

And Oracle is no exception.

Thankfully, Oracle has come up with a learning cloud to support cloud learning in companies working with them and to streamline the learning experience they offer, being the big software they are.

But what if I told you that there are better alternatives to the Oracle learning cloud, a learning dashboard created FOR Oracle's learning management and BY Oracle?

Let me tell you all about it as we go through:

• What Oracle Guided Learning is and how it works,
• Why it may not be the best form of structured learning for your business,
• What alternatives there are out there and our experiences with them,
• Pricing and reviews for each of the alternatives from renowned websites like G2, Capterra, and Product Hunt,
• What use cases there are for each alternative, and how YOU can make use of them

Now, if you think that only Oracle can create effective learning paths for Oracle, I am about to prove you wrong.

If you're ready for it, we've got a good patch of alternatives coming.

What is Oracle Guided Learning?

Oracle Guided Learning is a part of Oracle University, one of the many services Oracle offers, which focuses on digital learning and even gives out Oracle cloud infrastructure proficiency certificates.

Going by the name Iridize before being acquired by Oracle, Oracle Guided Learning is a good solution if you want to get your employees or users certified in Oracle services.

With an Oracle Guided Learning Subscription, customers can guide their users inside Oracle apps and help them find certain cloud learning services within the app through a directory of courses, policies, and guides.

Oracle Guided Learning Pricing

Oracle learning cloud is actually a service included in Oracle University, and currently, there is no pricing publicly available.

Customers can reach out to a sales representative or get started with free training.

Oracle Guided Learning Reviews

👍 Pros:

“It was clean implementation with clear design capabilities.”

👎 Cons:

“Not intended for small companies, gamification feature is not included.”

Why you need an Oracle Guided Learning Alternative

You wouldn't go to Samsung to get a charger for your iPhone. But I happened to do precisely that once, and they had iPhone chargers for some reason.

I've been using the charger for a year now, no problems so far.

My point is an alternative can perform just as well or even better sometimes. And in Oracle Cloud's case, the original can cause problems too.

1- It is way too expensive

Although we don't know the exact price, we know that Oracle works with enterprises, and Oracle Guided Learning is an enterprise-based solution.

How do we know that?

Among their success stories are Baylor University with 16,000 students and Sinclair Broadcast Group with 193 stations in over 100 markets.

They sure do work with big establishments, but it must have a hefty price.

2- The UI is off-putting

Hardly a great look for a solution designed for big enterprises; Oracle Guided Learning is, to put it blatantly, ugly.

 Not only do the tooltips and step-by-step guides look distractingly boring, but also the modals and design options Oracle offers are limited.

As a result, even though it's third-party content, when users alter the guides, the onboarding turns up not-so-learner-friendly.

3- Works only in Oracle applications

Probably one of the most prominent deal breakers about Oracle Guided Learning is that even in the unlikely chance that a user likes the user experience content and would like to apply it on a different app, it is not possible.

Oracle Guided Learning only works on Oracle applications, making it quite an expensive purchase for virtually one use case.

Top Oracle Guided Learning Alternatives

Now that you know what Oracle Guided Learning is and the challenges people came across or might come across when using it, it is only natural you look for alternatives.

You've come to the right place.

Here are the top 6 alternatives to Oracle Guided Learning:

1. UserGuiding
2. Pendo
3. Wyzowl
4. Inline Manual
5. Intercom
6. Intro.js

I'll go over each tool, how it compares to Oracle Guided Learning, and in which cases they should be preferred.

Now without further ado, let’s start with our first product:

1- UserGuiding – No-code Interactive User Onboarding

UserGuiding is a no-code interactive onboarding solution that brings together ease of use and advanced features for an actually affordable price for all sizes of businesses.

Among the best features and services UserGuiding provides are:

• Interactive guides and product tours with templates,
• Checklists and in-app modals,
• Hotspots and tooltips,
• Resource centers,
• NPS surveys and feedback collection,
• Advanced analytics and analytics tool integrations,
• User segmentation and targeting,
• No code at all.

Well, basically everything Oracle Guided Learning lacks or does poorly. 

What makes UserGuiding better than Oracle Guided Learning?

• UserGuiding has plans for all company sizes starting from $82/month, while Oracle Guided Learning is designed directly for big corporations coming with a fitting price.
• UserGuiding provides fun, and gamified onboarding flows that make sure to raise completion rates; Oracle Guided Learning's UI works more like onboarding manuals available in-app.
• While Oracle Guided Learning is only available on Oracle-powered apps and thus is a single-use case product, UserGuiding Now, a UserGuiding service, makes it possible that users can create user flows even on apps they don't have a container code for.

UserGuiding Pricing

UserGuiding's pricing is based on the number of active users you have, offering a scalable experience. When billed yearly:

• Basic Plan: Starting from $69/month.
• Professional Plan: Starting from $199/month.
• Corporate Plan: Custom quote.

UserGuiding Reviews

👍 Pros:

“User Guiding is easy to set up and use. It made the onboarding so much easier for our clients. We particularly like the new resource center where we can add guides, checklists, video, support forms, external links, basically everything we need to guide our clients to success.”

👎 Cons:

“Initially the pricing, but they have reduced it to a reasonable amount.”

UserGuiding vs. Oracle Guided Learning

2- Pendo - User Experience Based On Insight

Among the leaders of the onboarding market, Pendo is a user experience-focused tool that makes use of actually insightful analytics.

Though Pendo requires technical knowledge and is also a pricey solution, it still has some qualities that make it a better alternative to Oracle Guided Learning. 

What makes Pendo better than Oracle Guided Learning?

• Pendo is really good for insightful feedback collection from users, while Oracle Cloud Learning doesn't necessarily try its hand at feedback.
• Integrations like Salesforce, Slack, HubSpot, and Zendesk are available for Pendo users; Oracle Guided Learning, on the other hand, offers Oracle integrations only.
• While Pendo's in-app training is not as full-fledged as Oracle Guided Learning's, Pendo offers a more user-friendly flow.

Pendo Pricing

Pendo offers a free plan as well as three other plans, all of which require talking to a sales rep as they don't offer a public pricing list.

Pendo Reviews

👍 Pros:

“The best thing about Pendo is the ability to deploy in-app educational content and resources to customers, real-time. Pendo's tagging makes it quick and easy for us to create user walkthrough guides to get our customers educated on our product. ”

👎 Cons:

“The onboarding for the app wasn't super simple - there's quite a bit going on here, and it took us a few iterations of passing our data to Pendo in order to make it work in the way we wanted.”

3- Wyzowl - Custom Video Learning

Wyzowl is a custom-made animated video agency and perhaps the video marketing leader on the onboarding market right now.

Now you're probably thinking, "video? really?", but let me tell you, sometimes video learning can be a lot better than learning through lectures on a screen.

What Wyzowl does is that they take your video request 👉 they offer you a plan and a price 👉 they come up with a script, voiceover, and all other components 👉 they deliver it to you.

Whatever reason it is that brings you to Wyzowl, you go home with a cool video at hand.

What makes Wyzowl better than Oracle Guided Learning?

• In-app isn't always the most practical practice, as Oracle Guided Learning has proved. So whether you put the Wyzowl video in-app or not, they are potentially more engaging.
• A custom-made onboarding video from Wyzowl might be more affordable in the long run.
• 86% of businesses use video as a content learning material, so you know a video onboarding might benefit you more than a clunky and boring onboarding flow.

Wyzowl Pricing

Though Wyzowl says that they have been using fixed pricing since 2011, the list is not public.

To get a custom video made, customers need to choose their use case, the video length and contact Wyzowl accordingly.

4- Inline Manual - Better Adoption Through Better Product Experience

Inline Manual is a digital adoption solution you can onboard your customers and employees likewise.

With powerful features like walkthroughs, hotspots, tooltips, and feedback gathering, Inline Manual can be a good alternative for Oracle Guided Learning.

The tool's best suit being its advanced analytics and good analytics integrations, you can start making the right onboarding decisions right away.

What makes Inline Manual better than Oracle Guided Learning?

• Though Inline Manual's own UX is not to die for, the in-app modals it offers for your app can be better than Oracle's when used right.
• If you especially feel the need to make insightful decisions, Inline Manual provides great analytics options and integrations while Oracle only integrates with Oracle products.
• Inline Manual comes for a fairly cheaper price while offering the very same onboarding UX patterns ORacle Guided Learning offers.

Inline Manual Pricing

Inline Manual starts from $158/month with 250 MAU, then increases as you increase your MAU.

Inline Reviews

👍 Pros:

“Easy configuration and have the 3 or 4 features we always use. We also like the pay as you go concept. Suspension mode when project is done and not yet live.”

👎 Cons:

“The main thing missing from this tool is the ability to customize our user data analytics. We can only set a certain number of user attributes that can be used to target or segment users, but we would like to have the ability to add more custom attributes.”

5- Intercom - Advanced Communication for Onboarding

Intercom is a platform essentially fortéing in customer communication, but it is also a well-known onboarding solution.

Being a jack-of-all-trades kind of tool, Intercom is a great alternative for Oracle Guided Learning, especially if you would like to create a chatbot or help center where your users can find what they are looking for later.

What makes Intercom better than Oracle Guided Learning?

• Intercom makes it possible to create an onboarding flow with better UI and UX than Oracle, though there are fewer UX pattern options.
• Intercom's help center and chat options can make learning more manageable than Oracle Guided Learning's in-app widget.
• While Oracle Guided Learning only works in and integrates with Oracle products, Intercom has integrations with 300+ apps.

Intercom Pricing

Intercom offers a $74/month Starter tier, however, using Intercom with product tours costs around $273/month.

The product tours add-on costs $199/month and to obtain the add-on customers need to buy a plan, which starts from $74/month.

Intercom Reviews

👍 Pros:

“It is effortless to navigate. What's good about it is you can also attach articles that are helpful to our customers. You'll also be able to see your personal performance and as a team. (...)”

👎 Cons:

“Their pricing model has also become increasingly confusing. If you plan on signing up to Intercom, be prepared to pay a premium, and bring someone with a maths degree with you to calculate the real-life cost for your business.”

6- Intro.js - Light-weight, User-Friendly Onboarding

Intro.js, as its tagline goes, is a lightweight, user-friendly onboarding tour library that is completely free for non-commercial projects and websites.

To use Intro.js as an alternative to Oracle's solution, you need two things: a good developer and some time.

But hey, it's really cheap and free for personal use.

What makes Intro.js better than Oracle Guided Learning?

• If the project isn't large-scale, rather than giving Oracle a ton of money, it is wiser to make use of Intro.js for free or for a really cheap one-time price.
• Intro.js gives developers the chance to design the onboarding flow however they like, if there is no coding issue, it can provide a way better flow than Oracle Guided Learning.
• You can use Intro.js on your own website or other apps as well, while Oracle Guided Learning is limited to Oracle products.

Intro.js Pricing

For non-commercial products:

• Completely free for non-commercial use,

For commercial products:

When the project is commercial, however, a lifetime license is required to be purchased:

• Starter pack without any official support for $9.99,
• Business pack with a month of official support and code review for $49.99,
• Premium package with a year of official support, code review, and unlimited projects for $299.99.

Intro.js Reviews

👍 Pros:

“One killer feature is the built-in responsive design, and in addition, this library also has several plugins available.”

👎 Cons:

“It's easy to use, however it's a bit lacking in terms of customizability, and I would appreciate a more flexible API.”

Conclusion

Let me just say that there is nothing wrong with using an Oracle product to onboard on Oracle products.

However, if you want to use an alternative that will be worth your money and be available on other websites, you can go for:

• UserGuiding, for when you want to get everything Oracle Guided Learning offers and more for a way better price,
• Pendo, for when you want to create your onboarding based on insightful user analytics,
• Wyzowl, for when you realize video onboarding is also a great method of onboarding
• Inline Manual, for when you want something simpler than Oracle Guided Learning for a better price,
• Intercom, for when you want to utilize user communication and help center options for better learning,
• Intro.js, for when you have a good developer team and you want to freely design your own onboarding for a very reasonable price.

‍