A lot of in-app guidance gets closed without being read (the tour dismissal numbers show how much), and in my experience the timing is usually to blame rather than the writing. The help showed up when nobody asked for it. A user who's halfway through setting up an integration doesn't want a welcome tour. They want the one setting they can't find.
So I sort in-app guidance tools by when the help shows up, and I think that's the most useful way to compare them. Tools either push guidance at users (tours, announcements), pin it to a specific screen or field (tooltips, smart tips), or let users pull it when they're stuck (in-app search, resource centers, assistants). Every tool below does at least two of these. Most are built around one, and the table shows which.
If you're only shopping for step-by-step walkthroughs, the product tour software list is the better fit, since it ranks tools by how much work tours take to build and keep current.
Pushed guidance starts on its own, like a tour on first login or a modal about a new feature. It's the right call when everyone needs to see the same thing, like a pricing change. It's the wrong call for anything that depends on what the user is doing, which is why so many tours get skipped.
Pinned guidance lives on a specific part of the UI. A tooltip next to a field, a hint on a button nobody uses. It shows up when the user reaches that spot. It works well for the handful of spots everyone trips over, and it needs someone to keep it attached as the UI changes.
Pulled guidance waits for the user to ask. An in-app search bar, a resource center, or an assistant that answers on the current screen. Complex products need this most, because you can't predict every place someone will get stuck, and you can't pin a tooltip on all of them.
| Tool | Built around | Starts at | Good fit for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frigade | Pulled: an assistant that answers and does the steps on the user's screen | Free tier (Engage); free trial, then $1,000/mo (Assistant) | Complex SaaS where users get stuck in places you can't predict |
| Pendo | Pushed and pinned guides inside an analytics suite | Quote based | Teams that want guides placed where analytics show drop-off |
| Appcues | Pushed: guided flows and checklists | Annual contract | Product teams that want to author every flow |
| Chameleon | Pinned and pulled: styled tooltips plus HelpBar search | $279/mo for 2,000 MTUs; HelpBar is free | Teams whose help center is good but hard to find from the app |
| Userpilot | Pushed flows plus an in-app resource center | $299/mo | Teams that want a self-serve help panel next to their flows |
| Intercom | Pulled: Fin answering in the Messenger | $99/mo Product Tours add-on; Fin $0.99 per outcome | Teams whose Messenger already gets the "how do I" questions |
| WalkMe | All three, for software you don't own | Quote based | Enterprise rollouts of Salesforce, Workday and similar |
| Whatfix | Pinned: field-level smart tips, plus self help | Quote based | Employee training on internal enterprise apps |
Prices are from each vendor's pricing page as of September and October 2026.
Frigade is built around pulled guidance. The Frigade Assistant learns your product by using it, so when a user asks "how do I connect Slack" it answers on the screen they're on and can do the steps with them. It keeps that knowledge up to date as the product changes, so nobody has to re-pin anything after a release. It can also start guidance on its own when an account's state says the user needs it, which covers some of the pushed side.
For the guidance you want to author yourself, Frigade Engage has hints, tours, checklists and announcements. It's developer-friendly and has a no-code editor, and it's free up to 250 monthly active users. If your product is simple enough that three tooltips cover it, the Assistant is more than you need. Our Frigade alternatives page compares it with the other options.
Pendo is mostly pushed and pinned guidance: walkthroughs, tooltips, and embedded guides that change the UI without code. What sets it apart is placement. The guides live next to Pendo's analytics, so you can see where users drop off and put a tooltip on that exact step. Every guide is still something your team writes and maintains, so the pulled side, help a user asks for, has to come from somewhere else. Our Pendo alternatives page covers when it's worth switching.
Appcues is strongest at pushed guidance. Guided flows, onboarding checklists, modals and slideouts, all triggered by what users do. The editor is mature and a product manager can ship without engineering. It's less focused on help the user asks for, so you'll likely pair it with a help center or a support widget for the questions the flows don't cover. We compared Appcues alternatives by price and fit.
Chameleon is the one I'd look at if your help content is good but nobody finds it. HelpBar is a free search bar inside your product that pulls from Zendesk, Intercom, your docs and your blog, with AI Answers on top, and it can launch a Chameleon tour from a search. The answers are only as current as the articles underneath them, so the docs still need keeping up.
Userpilot combines pushed flows with a Resource Center, a self-serve panel inside the app that can hold videos, checklists, surveys and knowledge base articles. At $299 a month, it's worth a look if you want flows and a help panel in one tool. Someone still has to fill the resource center and keep it current.
Intercom's guidance is mostly pulled. Users ask in the Messenger and Fin answers from your help content, with Product Tours as a $99 a month add-on for the pushed side. That works well for questions the help center already answers. Because Fin answers from your help content, for "how do I do this in the app" questions it explains the steps rather than taking the user through them. We compared Intercom alternatives separately.
WalkMe covers all three kinds: Smart Walk-Thrus for pushed guidance, plus Pinned, Proactive and On-demand AI. Where WalkMe shows up most is employee rollouts of software like Salesforce or Workday. For guidance inside your own SaaS product, it's usually more platform than you need. Our WalkMe alternatives page has more.
Whatfix is the pinned-guidance specialist. Smart Tips give field-level help on specific forms, Task Lists give each role a checklist, and Self Help surfaces help content in the moment. Its Task Lists and field-level tips fit employee training on internal apps best. For customer-facing products, the lighter tools above are a better fit.
Write down the five places users get stuck most, using your support tickets. If they're the same five every week, pinned guidance covers it, and Chameleon or Pendo will do the job (Whatfix, if it's an internal tool). If the list keeps changing, or it's long, pinned help can't keep up and you need something users can ask, either a help panel on top of good docs (Chameleon HelpBar, Userpilot's Resource Center) or an assistant that knows the product (Frigade). I'd keep pushed tours for the first session and for launches.
Software that helps users learn a product from inside the product. It covers pushed guidance like tours and announcements, pinned guidance like tooltips on a specific field, and pulled guidance like in-app search, resource centers and AI assistants that answer on the user's screen. Tools in the category include Frigade, Pendo, Appcues, Chameleon, Userpilot, Intercom, WalkMe and Whatfix.
For complex products, the help needs to be available wherever the user gets stuck, which favors pulled guidance. Frigade's assistant learns the product and answers on the current screen, Chameleon HelpBar makes existing help articles searchable inside the app, and on internal enterprise apps, Whatfix Smart Tips add field-level help to specific forms. Pinned tooltips alone rarely cover a complex product because there are too many places to pin them.
Yes. Frigade's assistant can walk a user through a workflow on the screen they're on, or do the steps for them, without anyone authoring the walkthrough first. Appcues and Pendo guide users through workflows too, with flows your team builds ahead of time. WalkMe has added AI on top of its authored Walk-Thrus, so ask in the demo how much still has to be built by hand.
For customers learning your product, Appcues and Userpilot are the common choices for authored training flows and checklists, and Frigade covers the questions users ask once they're past onboarding. For training employees on internal software, look at WalkMe and Whatfix.
Look at where the tool runs and what data it sees. Frigade can run in your own environment with your own LLM keys and is SOC 2 Type II, which helps when a security team restricts subprocessors. For every other tool here, ask for the SOC 2 report and data residency options before you start a trial.
Yes. Chameleon HelpBar is free and makes your existing help articles searchable inside the product. Frigade Engage is free up to 250 monthly active users and includes hints, tours and checklists, and the Frigade Assistant has a free trial. Pendo, WalkMe and Whatfix are quote based, so you'll need a sales call to compare.
Product tour software builds step-by-step walkthroughs, which is one kind of pushed guidance. In-app guidance also includes tooltips pinned to specific fields, in-app search and resource centers, and assistants that answer questions on the current screen. Our product tour software list covers the tour builders in more depth.
