Product tour software walks a new user through your product step by step. It highlights an element and explains what to do there before moving on. Every tool on this list can do that. I ranked them by how much work it takes to build those tours and keep them useful after launch.
My picks by situation: Frigade if you want an AI assistant that walks each user through the product on their screen and keeps up when the UI changes, Userflow if you want to write every step by hand, Chameleon if your designer needs control over every tooltip, Userpilot if you want tours and analytics in one tool, and Driver.js if an engineer is building it for free.
Six months in, you may find that most tours are getting skipped, and a product release has broken a step you haven't looked at since you wrote it. That's why I've considered what each tool does about skipped tours as well as the time you'll spend writing and updating them. I've included the open source libraries for engineering teams that want to build their own.
This list covers the step-by-step walkthrough a user gets on first run or after a redesign. If you also need help on individual screens or an assistant that answers questions inside the app, start with our in-app guidance tools ranking. You'll find some different tools there. We also have separate lists for Product adoption platforms and user onboarding tools. For examples you can watch, see our SaaS onboarding examples.
| Tool | Type | Starts at | Steps update when the UI changes | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frigade | AI walkthroughs from an in-product assistant, plus a tour builder | $1K/mo (Assistant); free tier (Engage) | Yes (Assistant) | Teams that want each user walked through the product without authoring or re-authoring tours |
| Appcues | No-code tour builder | Annual contract | No, steps are pinned to selectors | Product teams that want full manual control of every step |
| Userflow | No-code tour builder | $240/mo | No, steps are pinned to selectors | The cleanest hand-authoring editor in the category |
| Chameleon | No-code tour builder | $279/mo for 2,000 MTUs | No, steps are pinned to selectors | Design-heavy teams that style every tooltip |
| Userpilot | Tour builder + analytics | $299/mo | No, steps are pinned to selectors | Mid-size SaaS wanting tours and analytics in one tool |
| UserGuiding | No-code tour builder | $249/mo | No, steps are pinned to selectors | Early-stage teams shipping a first tour on a budget |
| Pendo | Guides inside an analytics suite | Quote-based | No, steps are pinned to selectors | Orgs already buying Pendo for analytics |
| Intercom Product Tours | Add-on to Intercom | $99/mo add-on | No, steps are pinned to selectors | Teams already on Intercom needing occasional tours |
| Driver.js | Open source library | Free (MIT) | No, you update the code | Engineers building a one-off tour by hand |
- Best for: teams that want each user walked through the product without authoring or re-authoring tours
- Starts at: free (Engage, up to 250 monthly active users); $1K/mo (Assistant)
- Watch out for: less pixel-level control than a manual builder
The Frigade Assistant is an AI assistant that lives inside your product and has already learned it by clicking through it. When a user needs to learn a workflow, it walks them through it on the screen they're on, taking the action with them when that's faster. You don't have to tag selectors. When the UI changes, the Assistant learns the updated interface so the walkthrough can follow it, without someone finding and reattaching each step.
If you want to build each step yourself, Frigade Engage is developer-friendly and has a no-code editor. It also includes checklists, announcements, and surveys. It's free up to 250 monthly active users and $300 a month after that. The teams we work with mostly build their launch tour in Engage and let the Assistant handle the hundreds of "how do I" walkthroughs they wouldn't have time to write individually.
If a marketing team needs to control the placement and appearance of every tooltip, I'd look at a manual builder. You get more control over those details when you edit each step yourself.
- Best for: product teams that want full manual control of every step
- Starts at: annual contract
- Watch out for: someone has to recheck tours after each release
Appcues has been building its no-code editor for a decade, and you can feel that when you use it. A product manager can put together a five-step tour in an afternoon without an engineer. The checklist and survey editors have had that same time to improve. You have to sign an annual contract now, which can be hard to justify for an early team. Each tour step is attached to a selector, so you'll also need someone checking the tours after product releases. Otherwise a customer may find the broken step before you do. Our Appcues alternatives page covers the editor and its maintenance in more detail.
- Best for: teams that want the cleanest hand-authoring editor
- Starts at: $240/mo
- Watch out for: you may need a second tool for deeper analytics
Userflow is the editor I'd choose if I were writing a multi-step tour by hand. It's fast, and you spend your time working on the flow without having to navigate a larger suite around it. It starts at $240 a month. I like that it stays focused on onboarding, though that means you may need another tool for deeper analytics. Our Userflow alternatives breakdown covers that and the enterprise requirements it can struggle with.
- Best for: design-heavy teams that style every tooltip
- Starts at: $279/mo for 2,000 monthly tracked users
- Watch out for: Growth jumps to $1,250/mo once you pass that limit
I'd look at Chameleon if your designer wants to style the tooltips to match the product closely. You can change enough of their appearance to make them look like part of your UI, which is where I'd choose it over Userflow. Check the pricing against your expected user count, though. Startup is $279 a month for 2,000 monthly tracked users, and Growth jumps to $1,250 once you pass that. If you're close to that limit, use the Growth price when you're comparing it with Userflow.
- Best for: mid-size SaaS teams that want tours, surveys, and analytics together
- Starts at: $299/mo
- Watch out for: Pendo's analytics go deeper, and the editor alone wouldn't justify the price
Userpilot gives you tours, checklists, surveys, and analytics for $299 a month. You can see who finished each flow without buying an analytics tool separately, which makes it a reasonable place to start for a mid-market SaaS team. I wouldn't choose it for the tour editor alone, and Pendo's analytics go deeper. At that price, though, I'd consider it if I needed all of those features in the same tool.
- Best for: early-stage teams shipping a first tour
- Starts at: $249/mo
- Watch out for: targeting and security reviews as you add personas
UserGuiding starts at $249 a month. You can get a first tour out in an afternoon, and it also gives you tooltips and checklists for the rest of your initial setup flow. That's enough to get an early-stage team started. Check whether it can handle the targeting you'll need as you add personas, and get your security requirements reviewed before committing. Those are the limits that can send you looking for another tool within a couple of years. We cover the options in our UserGuiding alternatives page.
- Best for: orgs already buying Pendo for analytics
- Starts at: quote-based
- Watch out for: a slower editor, and steps still break when selectors change
If you're already buying Pendo for analytics, I'd try its guides since they're included in the contract. Buying it just for tours is harder to justify. You have to get a quote, the editor is slower to work in, and you're still responsible for updating steps when their selectors break. Why teams leave Pendo covers those complaints; the analytics are rarely what they're unhappy with.
- Best for: support teams on Intercom that need a few simple tours
- Starts at: $99/mo add-on to an Intercom plan
- Watch out for: less control over targeting and styling than a dedicated builder
Intercom Product Tours costs $99 a month as an add-on to an Intercom plan. If your support already runs on Intercom and you need a handful of simple tours, you can add them through the vendor you've already installed. I'd be more hesitant to use it for all of your onboarding. Tours get less attention than Intercom's support features, and you'll have less control over targeting and styling than you would with a dedicated tour builder.
- Best for: engineers building a one-off tour by hand
- Starts at: free (MIT)
- Watch out for: you build per-user state, targeting, and analytics yourself
If an engineer is building your tour anyway, driver.js is a 5KB MIT-licensed library for rendering step-by-step highlights. Shepherd.js and react-joyride are alternatives for React, with Onborda and NextStep covering Next.js apps. The libraries are free. Your team still has to build per-user state and targeting, wire up analytics, and update the steps when the UI changes. I'd be comfortable doing that for a single launch tour. If you plan to add more onboarding flows, allow time to maintain all of them alongside the product. Our guide to building product tours walks through the implementation.
A demo will show you how to build and publish a tour. I'd also ask each vendor to show what happens to it six months later:
- Ask what happens to a live tour when the button it points at moves. Manual builders attach steps to selectors, and a broken selector can leave a user on a dead step before anyone on your team notices. The Frigade Assistant re-learns the updated interface and walks users through the new version. With the manual builders, someone on your team has to edit the affected tour.
- Check whether you can target a tour by account state. Sending the same tour to everyone gives people instructions they may have already followed, and the dismissal numbers show how often tours get closed. Try the targeting with the account conditions you actually need before you buy.
- Think about the questions your scripted tours won't cover. You'll have written the workflows you expected people to ask about, and users will still get stuck elsewhere. Pairing tours with an assistant that answers on the screen lets them ask for help there without your team writing fifty flows in advance.
I'd choose Frigade if I wanted an AI assistant that walks each user through the product and keeps up as it changes. For tours you write yourself, I'd start with Userflow's editor. Appcues has the longest-established no-code tooling if you can commit to an annual contract. Userpilot is worth comparing if you also need checklists, surveys, and analytics for $299 a month. UserGuiding costs less, and driver.js is free if you have an engineer to build with it.
Product tour software builds the step-by-step walkthrough a user sees on first run or after a redesign. In-app guidance also includes help elsewhere in the product, such as a hint beside a button or an assistant answering a question on the current screen. Banners are part of that category too. Tour builders often include some of those features, but if you're looking for guidance beyond tours, you'll also be comparing WalkMe, Whatfix, Pendo, and Frigade's Assistant. We cover those in the in-app guidance tools list.
It walks users through a product while they're using it. A tour usually has tooltips attached to UI elements, with steps that lead you through a workflow. You can also connect those steps with a checklist. Appcues, Userflow, Chameleon, Userpilot, and UserGuiding let you build tours in a no-code editor. Pendo and Intercom include them in a larger product, while driver.js and Shepherd.js give engineers libraries to build their own. With Frigade, an AI assistant that has learned the product walks users through workflows when they need it.
I'd look at Shepherd.js and react-joyride for hand-built React tours, or Onborda and NextStep if you're using Next.js. Frigade Engage has a React SDK if you also want checklists and need per-user state handled for you. You can add the Frigade Assistant's AI walkthroughs through the same install.
Driver.js, Shepherd.js, react-joyride, Onborda, and intro.js are all free. Frigade Engage is free up to 250 monthly active users and includes per-user state and targeting, so you won't have to build those yourself while you're on the free tier.
Yes. UserGuiding ($249), Userflow ($240), Chameleon ($279), and Userpilot ($299) all start below that. Frigade Engage is $300 on Growth and free below 250 MAUs. Intercom's $99 add-on is also under the limit, though you need an Intercom plan. Appcues and Pendo price by contract and usually come in above it.
Three to five steps. Completion falls off after that, and most tours get skipped entirely when there's too much to get through up front. Use those steps to help the user complete their first useful action. You can explain the other features with contextual help when they get to them.
