Five of the nine digital adoption platforms below publish a self-serve price, and three are quote-only. The cheapest real options are Pendo's free plan (up to 500 MAUs) and Frigade Engage (free up to 250 MAUs, then 300 dollars a month for 2,500 MAUs). The cheapest paid entry plans are Userflow at 240 dollars a month (billed annually), UserGuiding at 249, Chameleon's Startup plan at 279, and Userpilot at 299. If you want an AI assistant that answers user questions inside the product and walks them through the workflow, the Frigade Assistant starts at 1,000 dollars a month. WalkMe, Whatfix, Appcues, and Pendo's paid plans are priced by quote.
Every price here comes from the vendor's own pricing page, checked on October 21, 2026. I build Frigade, so it's on the list. Where a vendor shows no price, this page says "quote" instead of guessing.
| Tool | Free tier | Entry paid plan | Priced by | Pricing page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frigade Engage | Up to 250 MAUs | $300/mo (Growth, 2,500 MAUs) | MAUs | frigade.com/engage/pricing |
| Frigade Assistant | Free demo, no free plan | $1,000/mo (Growth, 2,500 queries, unlimited seats) | Assistant queries | frigade.com/pricing |
| Pendo | Up to 500 MAUs | Quote (Base, Core, Ultimate) | MAUs | pendo.io/pricing |
| Userflow | Free trial | $240/mo billed annually (Essentials, from 1,000 MAUs) | MAUs | userflow.com/pricing |
| UserGuiding | 14-day free trial | $249/mo (Starter, 2,000 MAUs) | MAUs | userguiding.com/pricing |
| Chameleon | Free trial | $279/mo (Startup, 2,000 tracked users) | Monthly tracked users | chameleon.io/pricing |
| Userpilot | 14-day free trial | $299/mo (Starter, 2,000 MAUs) | MAUs | userpilot.com/pricing |
| Appcues | Free trial, starts with a sales call | Quote (Start, up to 3,000 MAUs) | MAUs, installations, published experiences | appcues.com/pricing |
| Whatfix | None listed | Quote | Flat fee plus user licenses | whatfix.com/pricing |
| WalkMe | None listed | Quote | Not stated | walkme.com/pricing |
Prices are list prices from each vendor's site in October 2026. Annual contracts, MAU volume, and add-ons change the final number, so treat this as where the conversation starts.
If your budget is under 500 dollars a month, you have six real choices:
- Pendo Free, if you have fewer than 500 MAUs and mainly want analytics with a few guides.
- Frigade Engage, free up to 250 MAUs and 300 dollars a month for 2,500 MAUs. It covers checklists, announcements, banners, and surveys. It's developer-friendly, so engineers can build flows in code, and it has a no-code editor for product and marketing.
- Userflow Essentials at 240 dollars a month billed annually.
- UserGuiding Starter at 249 dollars a month (2,988 dollars a year).
- Chameleon Startup at 279 dollars a month for 2,000 tracked users.
- Userpilot Starter at 299 dollars a month for up to 2,000 MAUs.
Two plans sit just above the line: UserGuiding Growth at 499 dollars a month, and Userflow Studio at 400 billed annually.
For AI user guidance specifically, meaning an assistant that answers "how do I do this" inside the product and takes the user through the steps, nothing in this list is under 500 dollars a month. The Frigade Assistant starts at 1,000 dollars a month. Userflow sells AI credits on top of its plans (500 credits for 50 dollars a month), which is worth comparing if you already use Userflow.
- Monthly active users. Almost every tool here prices on MAUs, so the bill grows with your user base, not your team. Check how each vendor defines an MAU. Chameleon counts users sent to it in the last 30 days, Appcues and Userflow count users who sign in.
- Plan limits. Entry plans cap things like the number of published experiences (Appcues), product environments (Userflow), or seats. Hitting a cap usually means the next tier, not a small add-on.
- Employees versus customers. Whatfix prices employee-facing apps by the number of users with access, and customer-facing apps by MAUs. WalkMe splits its offering the same way.
- Usage-based AI. AI features are usually priced on usage. The Frigade Assistant is priced on queries, and Userflow sells AI credits.
- Upkeep. The invoice is only part of it. With an authored flow builder, someone on your team writes the guides and fixes them when the product changes, and that time is a real cost.
WalkMe and Whatfix are built for rolling out third-party software like Salesforce and Workday to thousands of employees, with training records and a team running the program. If that's the job, the quote is the price of the category. If you're guiding customers inside your own SaaS product, the self-serve tools above usually cover it for a lot less. For a ranking by fit instead of price, see our best product adoption platforms list and the state of digital adoption platforms in 2026.
It ranges from free to a custom enterprise contract. Pendo has a free plan up to 500 MAUs and Frigade Engage is free up to 250 MAUs. Self-serve paid plans start at 240 to 300 dollars a month (Userflow, UserGuiding, Chameleon, Userpilot, Frigade Engage). WalkMe, Whatfix, Appcues, and Pendo's paid plans are priced by quote. Prices are from each vendor's pricing page in October 2026.
Pendo Free (up to 500 MAUs) and Frigade Engage (free up to 250 MAUs) cost nothing. The cheapest paid entry plan is Userflow Essentials at 240 dollars a month billed annually, followed by UserGuiding at 249 dollars a month.
Not as a full in-product assistant. The Frigade Assistant, which answers questions inside your product and walks users through the workflow on the screen they're on, starts at 1,000 dollars a month. Userflow sells AI credits as an add-on to its plans, starting at 50 dollars a month for 500 credits.
Pendo is free up to 500 MAUs. Its paid plans (Base, Core, and Ultimate) are priced by quote based on MAUs, according to Pendo's pricing page.
WalkMe doesn't publish prices. Both of its offerings, for employees and for customers, are quote-only on WalkMe's pricing page.
Frigade Engage is free up to 250 MAUs and 300 dollars a month on Growth (2,500 MAUs). The Frigade Assistant starts at 1,000 dollars a month on Growth, with 2,500 queries and unlimited seats included. Enterprise plans for both are custom. See frigade.com/pricing.
