• Multi-channel rivals like Pendo, Customer.io, and Braze bring strong analytics, segmentation, and out-of-product messaging but often overlook deep in-app guidance—creating potential gaps in product adoption.
• In-product-only solutions such as Userpilot, Chameleon, and Userflow excel at walkthroughs and tooltips but can’t re-engage users once they leave your app, forcing teams to juggle multiple tools.
• Out-of-product contenders like Vero and Dotdigital specialize in sending external notifications (email, SMS) to bring users back, yet offer no in-app follow-through to ensure a smooth onboarding flow.
• Appcues differentiates itself by delivering both robust in-app guidance and tailored out-of-product messaging in one platform—crucial for B2B SaaS where full lifecycle engagement drives retention.
• For teams comparing alternatives, Appcues uniquely stitches together the strengths of each DAP category—allowing customer success and product teams to manage the entire user journey without technical complexity.
If your trialers and new customers mysteriously vanish after signup, you’re no doubt looking for answers.
And a remedy.
For sure, user abandonment drains acquisition investments and stunts growth potential. But you can turn around your KPIs if you get to the root cause of abandonment: a poor user onboarding experience.
Digital adoption platforms (DAPs) provide SaaS teams with the tools needed to improve a customer's onboarding process so that they adopt your product and stick around for the long haul.
These tools analyze user behavior to create in-app experiences that engage users with software through messaging, product tours, tooltips, and other helpful features.
DAPs are in high demand these days. Just peek at G2, where a whopping 97 platforms are in its digital adoption platform category.
To help you navigate all your choices, we’ll review the major categories of DAPs and where Appcues fits in.
Digital adoption platforms take distinct approaches to user engagement.
Some focus on guiding users through in-product messaging, while others concentrate on messaging to return users to the product. Yet, other platforms combine the best of both in- and out-of-product messaging.
Here's how all three of these approaches compare.
In-product messaging platforms create experiences that guide users while they're actively using your software. These solutions focus on in-app interactions through tooltips, product tours, and contextual guidance. While these platforms excel at helping users navigate your product in the moment, IPM platforms don’t provide teams with ways to re-engage users who’ve stepped away from your product.
Noteworthy platforms in this space include:
Out-of-product messaging platforms specialize in reaching users outside your software through email, SMS, and push notifications. These solutions excel at re-engaging users and delivering timely updates. However, OPM platforms cannot guide users once they return to your product, creating a disconnect between external messages and the product experience.
Noteworthy platforms in this space include:
Multi-channel platforms combine in-app guidance with external messaging to create coordinated user journeys. This unified approach ensures users receive consistent, contextual support, whether in or out of your product.
When in-app and out-of-app messaging work together, each channel amplifies the other. These “Wonder Twins Powers” turn what could be disjointed touchpoints into seamless, complementary experiences that drive higher adoption.
Noteworthy platforms in this space include:
Purpose-built for B2B SaaS organizations, Appcues helps teams create multi-channel personalized user onboarding flows that adapt to each stage of the adoption journey. The platform combines native in-app guidance and product tours with perfectly timed emails and mobile notifications for non-technical teams.
While in your product, users benefit from contextual guidance that feels like a natural part of the interface. When away, they stay connected through relevant emails and notifications that bring them back to valuable features.
Appcues generates measurable improvements in key performance metrics by coordinating these interactions in the same platform. This digital adoption platform combines in-app and out-of-app messaging to deliver its customers stronger results than a single channel could achieve alone.
Beyond its multi-channel approach, Appcues lets product and customer success teams gain control over the entire user experience. Teams can:
For example, Vidyard's online video platform used Appcues to increase user activation by 55%. Email marketing solution Litmus improved feature adoption by 2,100% with Appcues. The eCommerce marketing tool saw a 50% increase in new user retention through Appcues' combination of in-app and out-of-app messaging.
Let's examine how the prominent players in each DAP category help B2B teams looking to boost user adoption.
This first group of Appcues alternatives has broader functionality by offering product-focused messaging in and out of a product.
Here's how Pendo, Customer.io, and Braze, the leading competitors in this category, measure up. We'll reveal whether these platforms' breadth of functionality matches the depth needed to promote product adoption.
Pendo empowers teams to enhance software experiences by combining product intelligence with in-app guidance.
Top strength: Pendo has a long-standing reputation for providing in-depth product analytics to track user behavior and product usage. This Pendo user enjoys using the platform's valuable product insights to better understand their software product.
Other capabilities:
Challenges to consider:
Pricing:
Why Appcues might be a better fit: Pendo built its platform around analytics, not user guidance. This shows in their basic in-app messaging capabilities, which lack the depth and flexibility that B2B SaaS teams need for meaningful user engagement.
Appcues delivers more sophisticated, flexible in-app experiences because its platform was built around user guidance. This gives teams the control and flexibility to hit key product adoption metrics.
Customer.io is a customer engagement platform that empowers teams to create personalized user onboarding experiences through automated email, push notifications, text messages, in-app messages, and webhooks.
Top strength: Strong email workflow and automation capabilities to reach users out-of-product. This customer.io user calls the platform a "one-stop solution for email marketers."
Other capabilities:
Challenges to consider:
Pricing: Customer.io's Essentials plan starts at $100/mo and includes a free trial. Their Premium plan begins at $1,000/mo with custom email and profile volume limits. Enterprise pricing is available for larger organizations.
Why Appcues might be a better fit: Customer.io built its platform for email marketing teams, leading to limited in-app capabilities that fall short for many product-led companies.
Appcues delivers deeper user engagement by centering on robust in-app experiences, supported by complementary email and push notifications that drive product adoption.
Braze is a customer engagement platform that helps brands build real-time connections with their audience. The platform lets marketing teams create personalized campaigns using product usage data from various sources.
Top strength:
Other capabilities:
Challenges to consider:
Pricing: Braze doesn't publicly list its prices, but Vendr suggests that the average deal might run an average of $15k/mo.
These platforms reveal a crucial difference in both approach and results. By treating in-app and messaging as an afterthought to their core capabilities, they limit their effectiveness for B2B software adoption
Appcues alternatives in this second bucket promote in-app customer onboarding through walkthroughs, tooltips, and checklists. Let's explore three leading in-app messaging platforms: Userpilot, Chameleon, and Userflow.
As a well-known alternative to Appcues, Userpilot is a low-code product adoption platform that enables product, growth, and marketing teams to drive user engagement with personalized in-app experiences.
Top strength: Session replays help teams analyze how users move through your product. Product teams can see where users navigate smoothly and where they get hung up.
Other capabilities:
Challenges to consider:
Pricing: Userpilot has three pricing tiers. Its Basic plan starts at $249/mo for up to 2,500 monthly active users (MAUs) with core onboarding features. The Growth tier at $799/mo adds product analytics and user surveys. Enterprise pricing is available upon request.
Chameleon is an Appcues alternative that lets SaaS teams create in-product guidance, like product tours and feature announcements, that engage and support users.
Top strength: Advanced customization options for tooltips, walkthroughs, and banners let teams match their brand to the user's journey. This G2 reviewer marvels at the endless tweaks a user can make—like a chameleon does in real life. (Get it, "chameleon?")
Other capabilities:
Challenges to consider:
Pricing: Chameleon's Startup plan runs $279/mo for up to 2,000 users after a 14-day trial. Teams needing A/B testing and unlimited microsurveys can opt for the Growth plan at $1,500/mo. Enterprise pricing is available for larger teams.
Userflow is a user onboarding platform that provides in-app experiences emphasizing quick, no-code deployment.
Top strength: Lightweight, easy-to-use tool for creating fast onboarding flows. This reviewer on G2 praises the platform's "slick" user experience.
Other capabilities:
Challenges to consider:
Pricing: Userflow's Startup plan costs $240/mo for up to 3,000 monthly active users with a 14-day trial period. The Pro plan at $680/mo supports up to 10,000 MAUs and includes unlimited NPS surveys. Enterprise pricing is available for larger organizations.
These three in-app messaging tools offer specific strengths but create gaps in the user experience by limiting teams to a single channel. Appcues, however, provides a complete solution by joining in-app experiences with strategic email and mobile communication designed to increase the adoption of B2B software.
This third category includes digital adoption platforms that hone in on effective communication when users have hopped away from your product.
Vero is a customer engagement platform that helps product-led teams coordinate messaging across email, SMS, and push notifications.
Top strength: Its API easily connects with automation tools, databases, and customer data platforms.
Other capabilities:
Challenges to consider:
Pricing: Vero offers two plans: Starter and Professional. Starter offers 10,000 emails and 20,000 push notifications per month but no SMS messaging. The Professional plan provides SMS messaging and customized limits of emails and push notifications. Those who pay prepay annually get a 10% discount.
This cross-channel marketing automation platform allows teams to personalize a user’s experience across email, text, push notifications, and other marketing channels.
Top strength: Its use of AI and chatbots. For example, its WinstonAI helps marketers create personalized MMS strategies for eye-popping text messaging.
Other capabilities:
Challenges to consider:
Pricing: Dotdigital’s plans are categorized by focus. Subscribers choose from one of three options: Marketing automation, e-commerce personalization, or the “all-in-one” combining automation with e-commerce. Pricing and limitations are given by request.
After reviewing these Appcues alternatives, the choice becomes clear for B2B SaaS teams.
Only Appcues focuses on personalized, multi-channel onboarding experiences, real-time analytics, and user behavior data to improve product adoption and encourage long-term retention.
For B2B SaaS companies focused on user adoption, Appcues delivers a complete solution without unexpected costs or technical complexity.
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