Choose a replacement by who you're guiding and how much you want measured for you. Startup-friendly no-code builders get tours and checklists live quickly, while enterprise adoption suites add deeper analytics, training and compliance features. Decide what must be tracked automatically and where that data should live, then shortlist from one camp.
Userflow belongs to a category usually called digital adoption: software that sits inside your product or website, shows people around and tells you what they did next. The eight tools below do the same broad job for product and marketing teams, in no particular order. The table comes first so you can scan the field, then the full list.
Onboarding tools compared
| Tool | Type of tool | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Apty | Enterprise digital adoption | Process compliance and onboarding in internal software |
| Chameleon | In-app guidance with friction detection | Spotting friction and building guidance for it |
| Pendo | Product analytics and adoption | Understanding usage across apps and AI agents |
| Product Fruits | No-code user onboarding | Tours, checklists and help built without developers |
| UserGuiding | No-code in-app experiences | Onboarding, feedback and behaviour analysis without code |
| Userpilot | Product growth platform | Onboarding and feature adoption on web and mobile |
| Usetiful | Lightweight digital adoption | Product tours, tooltips and onboarding checklists |
| Whatfix | Enterprise in-app guidance and training | Simulation training and adoption tracking for staff software |
The list, A to Z
Alphabetical and in no particular order. Each line reflects how the vendor describes its own product.
Apty
Best for: Enterprises rolling out internal software who care about onboarding and process compliance; the vendor frames it as a digital adoption platform.
Chameleon
Best for: Product teams that want the tool to find friction in their product, create in-app guidance and watch the outcome, as the vendor describes.
Pendo
Best for: Larger product organisations wanting usage context across the apps and AI agents they build or buy, tied to adoption, per the vendor.
Product Fruits
Best for: Small SaaS teams building flows, checklists, tours and in-app help with no developer time; the vendor names a free trial.
UserGuiding
Best for: Startups wanting onboarding, engagement, feedback collection and behaviour analysis without coding; a free plan is named on the vendor's site.
Userpilot
Best for: Growth and product teams covering onboarding, feature adoption and retention on web and mobile with a no-code, AI-assisted builder, says the vendor.
Usetiful
Best for: Teams that want simple product tours, smart tooltips and onboarding checklists to help with retention, as the vendor sets out.
Whatfix
Best for: Organisations training staff on enterprise software, with in-app guidance, simulation training and adoption tracking listed by the vendor.
Tracked for you, or set up by hand?
Userflow calls itself a product adoption engine for building onboarding, guiding users in the moment and learning what to improve. When you compare alternatives, the thing to test is what each one tracks automatically and what you have to set up by hand, and where the data ends up.
Some tools capture clicks and page views from the moment you install a snippet. Others only record the events you define, which means someone has to decide what matters and tag it. Both work, but the second approach can leave gaps when nobody remembers to track a new feature. Ask each vendor where usage data is stored, whether you can export it to your own analytics or warehouse, and how it handles privacy settings for your users.
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I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.
Targeting is the other half of the job. A tour that's perfect for a new trial user can annoy someone who's used your product for years, so check how each tool decides who sees what, whether that's by plan, role, behaviour or a property you send from your own app. If you can't target cleanly, you'll end up switching guides off rather than improving them, and that's a waste of a good tool.
Startup builders and enterprise adoption suites
UserGuiding, Product Fruits and Usetiful lean towards smaller SaaS teams who want tours, checklists and tooltips live without waiting on developers. Userpilot and Chameleon add more around feature adoption, friction and growth, which suits product teams with clear adoption goals.
Pendo, Whatfix and Apty are aimed at bigger organisations, often helping staff adopt internal software as well as guiding customers. Expect deeper analytics and training tools, and a longer setup.
Advice for product teams replacing an onboarding tool
Rebuild your three most-used flows first, not everything. Most teams have a long tail of old tours nobody sees, and a switch is a good moment to retire them. Check how each tool behaves on mobile and inside single-page apps, because that's where guides tend to break. Keep a before-and-after view of activation so you know whether the move helped. If you're a small team, don't buy an enterprise suite for features you won't touch for a year; it's easier to grow into a tool than to justify one you can't use yet. And whoever builds the flows should own them: if nobody's responsible for keeping guides current, they'll go stale the moment your product changes. For more on measurement, see my guide to analytics tools every business owner should know and my list of Product Hunt alternatives for launching what you build.
Questions for every demo call
- What's captured automatically after install, and what do we have to tag ourselves?
- Where is user data stored, and can we export it to our own tools?
- Can non-developers build and edit flows, and how do changes get reviewed?
- How does it handle single-page apps, mobile views and users who dismiss a tour?
- How do we target guides to different user groups or plans?
Do you make user onboarding or product adoption software? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
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Frequently asked questions
What is a digital adoption platform?
It's software that sits inside an app or website to guide people with tours, tooltips and checklists, and to measure how they use features.
Do I need developers to set up in-app onboarding?
Usually only to install a snippet. Most onboarding tools let product or marketing teams build flows without code after that.
Is onboarding software the same as product analytics?
They overlap. Onboarding tools focus on guiding users and often add some analytics, while dedicated analytics tools go deeper on measuring behaviour.
Can these tools work on mobile apps?
Some support web and mobile, others are web only. Check the platforms you need before you sign up.
How do I know if an onboarding change worked?
Compare activation or feature use before and after the change for similar groups of users, and give it enough time to settle.
