20 Best User Onboarding Software Shortlist
Here's my pick of the 20 best software from the 32 tools reviewed.
The best user onboarding software helps you create interactive product tours, checklists, and in-app messages that guide users to value—without relying on engineering support. Without it, onboarding often feels clunky or disconnected, leading to drop-off, support tickets, or poor activation rates.
I’ve tested 20+ onboarding tools and know how hard it is to balance customization with ease of use. In this guide, you’ll find platforms that help product teams launch tailored onboarding flows fast, measure engagement, and continuously improve the user journey.
Why Trust Our User Onboarding Software Reviews
We’ve been testing and reviewing user onboarding software since 2021. As product managers ourselves, we know how critical and difficult it is to make the right decision when selecting software.
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The Best User Onboarding Software Comparison Chart
Here is a table with all the tools we just covered in the overviews.
| Tool | Best For | Trial Info | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Best for AI product tours | Free trial available | From $96/month (billed annually) | Website | |
| 2 | Best for all-in-one online product training | 14-day free trial | Pricing upon request | Website | |
| 3 | Best for turning support questions into learning | 14-day premium trial + free plan available | From $119/month (billed annually) | Website | |
| 4 | Best for engaging self-serve training modules | Free trial + free demo | Pricing upon request | Website | |
| 5 | Best for creating how-to onboarding videos | Free plan available | From $25/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
| 6 | Best for creating engaging user onboarding checklists | 14-day free trial + free plan available | From $174/month (billed annually) | Website | |
| 7 | Best user segmentation for personalized onboarding | 14-day free trial | From $299/month | Website | |
| 8 | Best for converting trial users to subscribers | Free demo available | Pricing upon request | Website | |
| 9 | Best for tracking onboarding KPIs | 14-day free trial | From $300/month (billed annually) | Website | |
| 10 | Best for user onboarding task lists | Free demo available | Pricing upon request | Website | |
| 11 | Best for interactive website walkthroughs | Free demo | Pricing upon request | Website | |
| 12 | Best user onboarding paired with customer support services | Free demo + 14-day free trial available | From $0.99/ AI resolution | Website | |
| 13 | Best user onboarding software for feature discovery | 14-day free trial + free plan available | Pricing upon request | Website | |
| 14 | Best product tours and tutorials for mobile apps | 21-day free trial | From $499/month | Website | |
| 15 | Best for building a contextual and personalized resource center | 14-day free trial available | From $20/month (billed annually) | Website | |
| 16 | Best lightweight, open source user onboarding library | Free plan available | From $9.99 (lifetime purchase) | Website | |
| 17 | Best for interactive walkthroughs | Free plan available | From $120/month | Website | |
| 18 | Best user onboarding for SaaS companies | Free plan available | From $36/month (billed annually) | Website | |
| 19 | Best embedded guidance and design flexibility | Free demo available | From $279/month | Website | |
| 20 | Best for personalized user onboarding | 14-day free trial | Pricing upon request | Website |
Best User Onboarding Software Reviews
Here’s a brief description of each user onboarding platform to showcase each tool’s best use case and standout features.
Targeting businesses seeking to improve user onboarding, Product Fruits offers an intuitive solution for enhancing user engagement and satisfaction. This no-code platform is tailored for web applications, providing tools like AI-powered product tours and personalized onboarding flows. These features help transform new users into loyal advocates by addressing challenges like user confusion and low feature adoption, ensuring your team can guide users effectively from day one.
Why I Picked Product Fruits
I chose Product Fruits for its AI-powered product tours, which cater to businesses aiming to enhance user onboarding experiences. The platform's AI-driven builder automates the flow creation, suggesting content that you can easily tweak, reducing manual effort significantly. Additionally, personalized onboarding flows allow you to tailor user experiences based on attributes and behavior, ensuring a smooth journey. These features directly address the need for efficient user engagement, making Product Fruits an excellent choice for businesses focused on improving their onboarding processes.
Product Fruits Key Features
In addition to its AI-powered product tours, Product Fruits offers several other valuable features:
- Onboarding Checklists: Helps your team guide users through essential tasks, ensuring they don't miss critical steps.
- Feedback Widgets: Allows users to provide real-time feedback within the application, enabling you to address concerns promptly.
- Hints and Tooltips: Offers contextual assistance to users, helping them navigate your product effortlessly.
- In-App Support Tools: Provides instant support options within the app, reducing the need for external help resources.
Product Fruits Integrations
Integrations include Google Analytics, HubSpot, Salesforce, Intercom, Slack, Zendesk, Mixpanel, Segment, Trello, and Microsoft Teams.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Feedback widgets facilitate direct user input collection.
- Affordable pricing makes it accessible for small businesses.
- Interactive product tours enhance user engagement significantly.
Cons:
- Lengthy setup process due to complex integrations.
- Limited native options for survey interactions.
New Product Updates from Product Fruits
New Generation Onboarding with Elvin AI
Product Fruits has launched its AI-driven onboarding with Elvin AI, offering personalized guidance to boost user activation. For more information, visit Product Fruits's official site.
SkyPrep's online training software is designed to cater to your organization's onboarding needs by automating training processes and enhancing employee productivity. Tailored for businesses focused on improving team efficiency and knowledge retention, SkyPrep helps solve challenges associated with time-consuming training methods. By streamlining the onboarding process, it empowers you to focus on nurturing talent and driving growth within your team.
Why I Picked SkyPrep
I picked SkyPrep for its unique position as the best all-in-one online product training platform, especially beneficial for those seeking user onboarding solutions. With features like centralized content management and social learning capabilities, SkyPrep allows your team to easily access and share training materials, fostering a collaborative learning environment. The platform's robust reporting analytics provide insights into learner progress, helping you identify areas for improvement and ensuring that your team is on track. This combination of features makes SkyPrep an ideal choice for organizations looking to optimize their onboarding process.
SkyPrep Key Features
In addition to its all-in-one training capabilities, SkyPrep offers several other features that enhance user onboarding experiences:
- User Management: Streamline the onboarding process by managing user roles and permissions within the platform.
- Course Creation: Develop customized courses with multimedia support to engage learners and cater to various learning styles.
- Virtual Classrooms: Facilitate interactive learning sessions with integrated web-conferencing tools.
- Automated Notifications: Keep your team informed with automated reminders and updates on training progress.
SkyPrep Integrations
SkyPrep offers a variety of native integrations to enhance its online training software. Integrations include Google Analytics, HubSpot, LinkedIn, Optimizely, and AddThis, and an API is available for custom integrations.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Quick implementation process supports fast onboarding of new users.
- Centralized training materials improve accessibility and learning efficiency.
- Effective course authoring tools enhance training management.
Cons:
- Limited reporting features restrict detailed training analysis.
- Lack of 24-hour customer support can delay issue resolution.
You get a user onboarding platform in TalentLMS that helps you guide new customers from first login to long-term adoption through clear, structured training experiences. If you’re trying to reduce early churn or help trial users reach meaningful product value faster, TalentLMS gives you the tools to deliver personalized, on-brand learning journeys that match each customer’s needs.
Why I Picked TalentLMS
I picked TalentLMS because its branching and segmentation features make it easy to onboard different customer groups with training tailored to their product tier, permissions, or use case. You can turn real customer questions, support tickets, or product feedback into full-onboarding courses using the built-in AI course creator, which helps you close knowledge gaps before they lead to churn. I also like that role-based permissions let you control exactly what each customer type sees, ensuring that onboarding flows stay organized and relevant.
TalentLMS Key Features
Aside from the targeted onboarding and AI-generated course capabilities above, you also get features that help your team deliver smooth and consistent customer learning experiences:
- eCommerce Controls: Provides flexible checkout setups and discount options when selling onboarding programs or premium training.
- Branded Training Environments: Lets you match colors, logos, and certificates to your product, creating onboarding that feels native rather than external.
- Gamification: Engages learners through points, badges, and leaderboards, making the onboarding process interactive and motivating.
- Mobile Learning App: Gives customers the option to complete onboarding steps on the go, reducing friction and keeping momentum.
TalentLMS Integrations
Integrations include BambooHR, Salesforce, Intercom, ADP Workforce Now, Zendesk Chat, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, GoTo, and BigBlueButton.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- AI course creation turns real user questions into onboarding modules.
- Branches let teams deliver onboarding tailored to product tiers.
- Identifies struggling new users early through structured onboarding data.
Cons:
- Large media onboarding files may require external hosting.
- Onboarding analytics lack deeper funnel breakdown views.
Absorb LMS empowers your team with a user-friendly learning management system that enhances the onboarding experience by providing tailored learning paths and automated workflows. It appeals to businesses across various industries, from small enterprises to large corporations, looking to improve employee integration and productivity. By addressing the need for personalized and dynamic training modules, Absorb LMS ensures that your team members are well-equipped and engaged from day one, ultimately reducing turnover and fostering a positive company culture.
Why I Picked Absorb LMS
I picked Absorb LMS for its exceptional capability in delivering engaging, dynamic self-serve training modules, which are crucial for effective user onboarding. The platform's course authoring tool allows you to create interactive and personalized learning paths, catering to the specific needs of your new hires. Additionally, its social learning features foster collaboration and knowledge sharing among employees, enhancing the onboarding experience. With Absorb LMS, you also benefit from advanced analytics that provide insights into learner progress, ensuring that your team receives the support they need to succeed.
Absorb LMS Key Features
In addition to its standout self-serve training modules, Absorb LMS offers several other features that enhance the onboarding process for your team:
- Automated Workflows: Streamline onboarding tasks with automated reminders and notifications that keep new hires on track.
- Mobile Access: Ensure that your team can access training materials anytime and anywhere with mobile-friendly content.
- Gamification: Engage learners by incorporating gamified elements into your training programs, motivating them to complete courses.
- Content Library: Access a vast array of expertly curated courses to supplement your onboarding curriculum.
Absorb LMS Integrations
Integrations include ADP, BambooHR, Namely, Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, UKG Pro, Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoom, and Webex. Additionally, the platform supports custom integrations through APIs and webhooks.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Interactive modules engage users and boost retention.
- Comprehensive analytics provide insights into learner progress.
- Gamification elements motivate users and enhance engagement.
Cons:
- Integration with HRIS systems may present challenges.
- Cost may be higher compared to some competitors.
Guidde is a generative AI app that simplifies the creation of how-to onboarding videos. Its AI is trained to assist in creating clear, instructional content for onboarding customers or new hires. The platform allows users to quickly generate, organize, and distribute video tutorials and guides without needing extensive technical knowledge.
Guidde is particularly useful when you need to create professional onboarding content faster and share it in multiple formats such as a link, MP4, PDF, or HTML, with analytics reports to see the impact. It is also integrated with top tools like Zoom, Slack, Notion, GitLab, Google Drive, Confluence, and more, for easy distribution of video guides.
You’ll find it easy to capture workflows, because the AI automatically breaks the content into step-by-step instructions, adding highlights and callouts in a way that’s engaging and easy to follow. Your team can also use Guidde via the web browser plugin or the desktop app and create spaces for cross-team collaboration.
The platform’s tagging and organization system also helps your team ensure that all videos are easy to find and categorize, reducing the time spent searching for the right content. You can even create customizable spaces for specific customers to tailor their onboarding experience.
UserGuiding helps product teams create step-by-step user onboarding walkthroughs without requiring any coding. This helps to simplify the initial steps users need to complete to get up and running in a new software system, eliminating friction and potential frustration.
UserOnboarding transforms your onboarding to-do list into a simple and interactive checklist. A progress bar that indicates how long the checklist is also helps to keep users engaged and motivated to finish the workflow setup.
You can also use UserGuiding's product walkthrough feature to help increase the digital adoption of new product features. This is a savvy option for proactively avoiding user confusion if the changes to your user experience are substantial. In this way, you'll also improve your overall customer success rate for your software system's new features.
Integrations include HubSpot, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Intercom, MixPanel, Segment, Slack, and Woopra.
Paid plans start at $89/month when billed annually.
Userpilot is cloud-based software that helps businesses improve product adoption and customer onboarding. Admins can segment users, based on certain attributes or in-app events. They can also create multilingual walkthroughs or add tips and hits to improve the client's overall experience.
The software gets new users up and running faster by offering a personalized user onboarding experience. Enterprises can add custom triggers or conditions and preview them across staging and production environments. To optimize performance, they can also perform A/B testing, set up milestones, and track engagement rates.
This tool integrates with platforms such as Google Analytics, Amplitude, Intercom, and Segment.
Userpilot costs from $249/user/month. A 14-day free trial is also available.
Apty is designed to support enterprises in refining their user onboarding and maximizing software adoption. If you're in sectors such as CRM, LMS, ERP, or project management, Apty offers solutions that simplify complex software interactions, making it a suitable choice for those aiming to boost productivity and user engagement. By offering real-time support and analytics, Apty tackles challenges in software adoption, ensuring a smooth onboarding experience for both users and businesses.
Why I Picked Apty
I picked Apty for its unique capability in converting free trial users into paying subscribers, a critical aspect of user onboarding software. Apty excels with its guided workflows and onboarding checklists, which provide structured paths for users to explore software features comprehensively. Additionally, its in-app announcements keep users informed about new features or updates, enhancing engagement. These features, combined with robust analytics, allow you to track user interactions and tailor experiences, ensuring trial users see the full value of your software.
Apty Key Features
In addition to its user onboarding strengths, Apty offers several other features that make it a valuable tool for your team:
- Guided Workflows: Create step-by-step processes that help users navigate complex software applications with ease.
- Onboarding Checklists: Provide users with a clear list of tasks to complete, ensuring they don't miss important steps during onboarding.
- In-App Announcements: Communicate important updates and feature releases directly within the application, keeping users informed and engaged.
- Robust Analytics: Gain insights into user behavior and interactions, allowing you to optimize onboarding processes and improve user engagement.
Apty Integrations
Integrations include Salesforce, Workday, ServiceNow, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle, SAP, Slack, Zendesk, Jira, and Google Workspace.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- In-app announcements enhance communication with users.
- Strong analytics tools offer insights into user interactions.
- Seamless integration with popular platforms like Salesforce and Workday.
- In-app announcements enhance communication with users.
- Strong analytics tools offer insights into user interactions.
- Seamless integration with popular platforms like Salesforce and Workday.
- In-app announcements enhance communication with users.
- Strong analytics tools offer insights into user interactions.
- Seamless integration with popular platforms like Salesforce and Workday.
Cons:
- Initial setup can be complex, requiring technical skills.
- Limited features for advanced user onboarding, like surveys.
- Initial setup can be complex, requiring technical skills.
- Limited features for advanced user onboarding, like surveys.
- Initial setup can be complex, requiring technical skills.
- Limited features for advanced user onboarding, like surveys.
Appcues delivers native-looking onboarding experiences designed to engage users, increase activations, and improve retention. Using the no-code builder, you can drag and drop images, change text, or adjust buttons.
Segmenting and targeting users by persona, plan tier, lifecycle stage, or account owner is easy. You can track the impact of each onboarding flow, to better guide and support users.
Appcues measures how flows impact key business metrics, so you can identify areas where improvements are needed. You can make adjustments and iterations to maximize the number of free-to-paid conversions.
Appcues integrates with Salesforce, Marketo, HubSpot, Zendesk, Slack, Intercom, Mailchimp, Heap, Mixpanel, Amplitude, Google Analytics, Segment, and others. Plus, a paid plan through Zapier can unlock even more integration options.
Appcues costs from $249/month (billed annually) and offers a free trial for up to 50 onboarding “flows” and 10 tracked events.
GuideCX is client onboarding software that turns the learning process into a series of tasks lists with status indicators for progress checking. Using the fundamentals of digital project management, GuideCX lets you build a customer onboarding workflow populated with learning materials that you set up yourself. You can white-label the system, so it’s all in line with your personal branding.
Key features include time tracking, resource management, a reporting/analytics engine, collaboration tools, and a client portal (no login required!). You also get a mobile app, flexible user permissions settings, private internal communications channels, automated dependency logic, end date forecasts, a timeline view, and storage/attachment capabilities.
GuideCX integrates natively with Salesforce, Hubspot, Gainsite, Slack, and Jira. You can unlock more integrations through Zapier, but this may require a paid plan.
GuideCX offers customized pricing upon request. They offer a free trial and a free demo.
WalkMe is a cloud-based interactive guidance platform that helps you manage customer experiences on your company website. Using automated tip balloons, the software drives customers to specific walkthroughs. You can play these automatically or allow the user to initiate them.
You can use segmentation to change the display based on a user's role, location, and language. You can also embed content into walkthroughs such as videos, articles, and more. Thanks to the analytics feature, you can track user interactions with the platform and modify the way they are guided through the site.
WalkMe integrates with Salesforce, AWS, Segment, Gainsight, Google Analytics, Heap, Slack, Google Workspace, LiveAgent, Intercom, Livechat, Zendesk, and other apps.
WalkMe costs from $2-3000/annually. It comes with a free demo.
Intercom is a sales, marketing, and support solution that helps businesses acquire, engage, and support customers. The software includes a bot-based algorithm, targeted emails, push and in-app messages, and an integrated helpdesk.
Intercom includes a product tour function designed to produce polished, engaging onboarding tutorials. Simple to use, this feature makes it possible for anyone to create an effective, engaging onboarding guide.
For more complex apps, custom bots can be built. These automatically capture new users' intent, then send them on the appropriate tour directly from the bot conversation.
Intercom integrates with Stripe, Instagram, WhatsApp, Google Analytics, Segment, Heap, Outlook, Slack, Salesforce, and hundreds of other options. You can also access their robust API for additional DIY connections.
Intercom costs from $74/month (billed annually) for small businesses and increases from there. You can try it for free for up to 14 days.
Pendo personalized in-app guides help you create better product experiences with in-app web and mobile communication. Out-of-the-box user onboarding tours, product walkthroughs, and in-app support help optimize the user experience.
The software includes a visual design studio for building targeted in-app guide campaigns across both desktop and mobile apps. You can deliver tooltips and best practice advice in-app, to increase user retention and reduce customer support inquiries.
Marketing teams can serve tailored messages to users, based on their behavior and segmentation. In addition, Pendo’s retroactive analytics help you determine when, where, and how to guide users to successful activation.
Pendo integrates with apps like Slack, Zendesk, Confluence, Salesforce, Fivetran, Intercom, Segment, HubSpot, and Drift. Integrations are limited to paid plans.
Pendo is free for up to 1000 monthly active users. You can contact them for paid plan pricing when you’re ready to expand.
Plotline is an in-app engagement platform that can be used to create custom user onboarding flows in your product. Product tours and tutorials can be built to showcase different product verticals and features using in-app videos, tooltips, and animations. Personalized onboarding flows can be set up in the system by segmenting users based on real-time events and attributes of the user.
Plotline allows you to segment users, run tests, and communicate with your user base inside your app (mobile or web). It is also possible to collect user feedback on new product launches or the onboarding experience with the in-built in-app surveys feature.
Integrations include Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, Mixpanel, Slack, Clickhouse, Amplitude, Segment, Rudderstack, and OneSignal. Paid plans start from $499 per month, and a 21-day free trial is available.
Paid plans start from $499 per month, and a 21-day free trial is available.
Userflow assists your team in building customized in-app onboarding tours to convert more customers and increase customer retention. You can preview flows immediately inside your app, with no installation required. The software deploys a visual, intuitive interface that requires no technical skills. You can point and click or drag and drop to build product tours.
The element selection algorithm identifies elements in your app based on simple text. You can easily preview and edit flows in draft mode before publishing them live.
Userflow integrates with Amplitude, Heap, HubSpot, Mixpanel, Rudderstack, Segment, and more using a paid plan through Zapier.
Userflow costs from $20/month (billed annually) and comes with a 14-day free trial.
Intro.js is a user onboarding software built to increase the adoption of applications. Built with Javascript, it offers a lightweight library for creating detailed onboarding tours fast. Intro.js can be set up in just a few steps, with only two main files to install. It has no external dependencies, so it's never a drag on system resources.
Despite its simplicity, Intro.js can be used to build advanced tutorials. Every step of the process can be customized to meet specific requirements.
Using RESTful APIs, you can connect Intro.js to many tools you already use.
Intro.js starts at $9.99 (lifetime purchase) but also has a free, open-source version for personal and non-commercial sites.
Compass is a customer onboarding software designed to simplify the process of guiding your users through your digital ecosystem. With its AI-powered features, Compass ensures that both employees and customers can efficiently navigate, learn, and excel within your platform.
Compass offers application walkthroughs, which provide step-by-step guidance for complex tasks. These interactive guides are invaluable for ensuring users consistently complete processes with minimal errors, reducing frustration and the need for extensive training.
Another reason I picked Compass is its AI-powered chat assistance. This feature leverages insights from your content—like walkthroughs and knowledge articles—to deliver instant and accurate support. This capability not only accelerates onboarding but also enhances user satisfaction by providing immediate solutions without needing human intervention.
Other features include the ability to create a knowledge base for both internal and external users. This ensures your team has access to comprehensive resources while offering self-help options to customers.
Hopscotch is a user onboarding software for building interactive product tours that educate users about your product and guide them to becoming long-term customers. It ensures that a user's first experience in the app is positive, guides them to new features, or resurfaces existing features that have not been seen.
Using Hopscotch, you can show users a new tip each time they visit your app, notify them about new features, or inform them of scheduled app maintenance. They can click buttons and links or fill in form fields to progress through the guide.
Conditional logic allows you to segment in-app messaging based on individual user activity, while tooltips highlight essential features within the app. You can customize the look and feel to match your brand.
Hopscotch does not list integrations on their website.
Hopscotch costs from $99/month
Chameleon’s user onboarding software is designed to improve user retention by delivering personalized, non-intrusive in-app experiences. Though you can create traditional modals and product tours in Chameleon, their approach focuses on elements that blend into the product's interface instead of disrupting the user experience. For example, their inline “Embeddables” (embedded banners and cards) look like a native part of the software they appear in.
A standout feature of Chameleon is its flexibility in customization. This allows product teams to design onboarding flows, tooltips, and walkthroughs that align closely with their brand’s visual style and goals. This level of customization helps create a cohesive experience, making onboarding feel like an integral part of the product rather than an external layer.
Additionally, Chameleon offers robust analytics, allowing teams to track user behavior and refine onboarding flows based on actionable insights, which is critical for improving user retention.
Integrations include HubSpot, Salesforce, Heap, Mixpanel, Twilio Segment, Fivetran, Google Analytics, Intercom, Slack, Zapier, Zendesk, and Amplitude. You can create a free account to test out all of Chameleon’s features in a sandbox environment, or in your own product through a free trial. Paid plans start at $279/month.
Stonly is a knowledge management platform designed to enhance user onboarding and support processes. It empowers organizations to create interactive guides and articles, facilitating self-service for customers and improving support efficiency.
Why I Picked Stonly
I chose Stonly because of its ability to personalize knowledge for users. It offers tailored information that helps customers resolve issues on their own, which can significantly improve their onboarding experience. Additionally, Stonly's AI integration provides reliable assistance, enhancing the overall support experience for both users and agents.
Another reason for picking Stonly is its process automation feature. This simplifies complex procedures and reduces training time for support agents, making it a valuable tool for onboarding new users. By automating repetitive tasks, your team can focus on delivering a better experience to your customers right from the start.
Standout Features
Features include AI integration, which offers accurate responses and assists in ticket summarization and resolution suggestions. Stonly also provides extensive knowledge management tools, such as versioning and user analytics, to help manage information at scale. Additionally, the platform empowers customer self-service, leading to a significant reduction in support tickets and an increase in first-touch resolution rates.
Integrations
Integrations include Slack, Salesforce, Google Sheets, Harvestr, Google BigQuery, Jira Software Cloud, monday.com, Google Docs, Pipedrive, Discord, Microsoft Excel, and Gmail.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- user-friendly interface
- customization options
- detailed analytics providing insights into user interactions and onboarding
Cons:
- pricing concerns, as some users noticed
- customers need coding knowledge for event tracking and user targeting
Other User Onboarding Software
Here are a few more that didn’t make the top list but are worth your consideration.
- Mitratech Perform
For product onboarding paired with industry upskilling
- iSpring Cloud AI
For rapid online course creation
- Customer.io
User onboarding centered around data-driven emails, push notifications, and SMS messages
- Process Street
Process and workflow management that can be used for onboarding clients of professional service providers
- Hotjar
Heatmaps and screen recording to track user onboarding flow for product usage optimization
- Vimeo
Record and share video tutorials for detailed product adoption training and feature tutorials
- Constructor Tech
For interactive learning environments
- Inline Manual
Digital adoption platform for interactive walkthroughs, tooltips, surveys, and support articles
- Helppier
Easy-to-build welcome messages and product tours with a quickstart template library
- Zumvie
Interactive product demos that don’t require a customer to log in anywhere before getting taking a test drive
- VidGrid
Enterprise video software that can be used for recording, sharing, and embedding product tutorials
- Userlist
SaaS email automation that can be used for various product onboarding messages
Related Product Management Software
If you still haven't found what you're looking for here, check out these tools closely related to user onboarding software, that we've tested and evaluated.
- Best Product Planning Software
- Best UX Design Tools
- Best Product Development Software
- Best Product Analytics Tools
- Best Product Development Software
- Best Product Marketing Tools
Selection Criteria for User Onboarding Software
Selecting customer onboarding solutions involves a careful evaluation of how well they align with the specific needs, pain points, and goals of guiding and educating new users. Throughout my experience of researching and trialing various user onboarding platforms, I've developed a set of criteria that are crucial for evaluating these solutions. Here is the framework I developed to assess each tool, with each criterion weighted to reflect its overall importance in the selection process.
Core User Onboarding Software Functionality (25% of total weighting score): To be considered for inclusion on my list of the best user onboarding software, the solution had to support the ability to fulfill common use cases. These include:
- Guided tours for first-time users
- Interactive tutorials for complex tasks
- Customizable onboarding checklists
- In-app messages for ongoing guidance
- Analytics for tracking user engagement and progress
Additional Standout Features (25% of total weighting score): Beyond basic functionality, standout features can significantly enhance the onboarding experience, making it more engaging and effective. This criterion assesses the software's ability to offer innovative solutions and capabilities that set it apart from competitors, thus providing a unique value proposition. These can include:
- Advanced personalization capabilities to tailor the onboarding experience to individual user needs
- Integration with other tools for a seamless workflow
- AI-driven insights to optimize the onboarding process
- Gamification elements to increase user engagement
Usability (10% of total weighting score): Usability testing is key to ensuring that both users and administrators can navigate and utilize the software efficiently without unnecessary complexity. This criterion focuses on the balance between offering powerful features and maintaining an intuitive, user-friendly interface that enhances the overall experience. When evaluating usability, I look for:
- A clean, intuitive interface that simplifies navigation
- Balance between powerful capabilities and ease of use
- Quick access to frequently used features and information
Onboarding (10% of total weighting score): A software's own onboarding process for new users is a reflection of its efficacy and user-centric design. I evaluate this aspect to determine how well the software supports new users post-purchase, ensuring they can quickly migrate, learn, and derive value from the tool. Evaluating a software's onboarding process involves:
- The availability of training videos and templates
- Interactive product tours and chatbots for immediate assistance
- Webinars and other resources to help users migrate and realize value quickly
Customer Support (10% of total weighting score): Effective customer support is essential for addressing issues and questions that arise during the use of the software. This criterion assesses the quality, availability, and range of support options provided, ensuring users have access to timely and helpful assistance. In assessing customer support, I consider:
- The responsiveness and availability of the support team
- The range of support channels offered (e.g., live chat, email, phone)
- The depth of the knowledge base and FAQs for self-service support
Value For Money (10% of total weighting score): Ensuring that the software provides good value for money is critical for businesses, especially those with limited budgets. This criterion evaluates the cost relative to the features, benefits, and overall impact of the software on user onboarding and long-term engagement.
- The pricing structure relative to the features and benefits provided
- Flexibility of plans to suit different sizes and types of businesses
- Free trials or demos to test the software before committing
Customer Reviews (10% of total weighting score): Customer reviews offer invaluable insights into the real-world performance and impact of the software. By evaluating these reviews, we can gauge user satisfaction, software reliability, and the effectiveness of the onboarding process from a diverse range of perspectives. Customer reviews are scrutinized for:
- Consistency in positive feedback across different user segments
- Specific mentions of how the software addressed particular pain points
- Insights into long-term value and user satisfaction
Through this detailed evaluation framework, potential buyers can make informed decisions, ensuring that their chosen user onboarding platform not only addresses the essential requirements but also offers a distinctive, valuable, and user-friendly experience. This methodical approach to selection guarantees that the software both meets immediate needs and supports future growth and user engagement.
How to Choose User Onboarding Software
With so many different user onboarding software solutions available, it can be challenging to make decisions on what user onboarding software is going to be the best fit for your needs.
As you're shortlisting, trialing, and selecting user onboarding software consider the following:
- What problem are you trying to solve - Start by identifying the user onboarding feature gap you're trying to fill to clarify the features and functionality the user onboarding software needs to provide.
- Who will need to use it - To evaluate cost and requirements, consider who'll be using the software and how many licenses you'll need. You'll need to evaluate if it'll just be the product management professionals, or the whole organization that will require access. When that's clear, it's worth considering if you're prioritizing ease of use for all, or speed for your user onboarding software power users.
- What other tools it needs to work with - Clarify what tools you're replacing, what tools are staying, and the tools you'll need to integrate with, such as accounting, CRM or HR software. You'll need to decide if the tools will need to integrate together, or alternatively, if you can replace multiple tools with one consolidated user onboarding tool.
- What outcomes are important - Consider the result that the software needs to deliver to be considered a success. Consider what capability you want to gain, or what you want to improve, and how you will be measuring success.
For example, an outcome could be the ability to get greater visibility into performance. You could compare user onboarding features until you’re blue in the face, but if you aren’t thinking about the outcomes you want to drive, you could be wasting a lot of valuable time. - How it would work within your organization - Consider the software selection alongside your workflows and delivery methodology. Evaluate what's working well, and the areas that are causing issues that need to be addressed.
Remember, every business is different — don’t assume that because a tool is popular that it'll work in your organization.
Trends in User Onboarding Software in 2025
The evolution of user onboarding tools in 2025 reflects significant advancements in technology and a deepening understanding of user needs, with a specific aim towards streamlining the learning curve and boosting user engagement from the first interaction. Here are some key trends I have identified that shed light on the future direction of user onboarding technology.
Trends in User Onboarding Software and Technology
- Increased Use of AI and Machine Learning: There's a noticeable shift towards integrating AI to personalize the onboarding experience. This technology helps in predicting user needs and providing customized guidance, making the onboarding process more efficient and engaging.
- Gamification Elements: Incorporating game-like elements into the onboarding process is rapidly evolving. This approach increases user engagement by making learning fun and rewarding, which is crucial for retaining users beyond the initial stages.
- Integrated Helpdesk Solutions: More companies are integrating helpdesk software like Help Scout and Zendesk to provide real-time support during onboarding. Features like shared inboxes, live chat, and AI-driven chatbots help users resolve issues quickly without leaving the product.
- Self-Service Resource Centers: Businesses are also leveraging knowledge bases, community forums, and automated ticketing systems to empower users to find answers independently. This reduces friction, improves onboarding efficiency, and enhances user retention.
- Advanced Analytics and User Insights: There's a growing emphasis on leveraging data analytics to understand user behavior better. This functionality allows for the continuous improvement of onboarding processes based on actual user interactions and feedback.
- Session Recording and Heatmaps: Session recordings allow teams to see exactly how users navigate the onboarding flow, where they get stuck, and which features they engage with most. Heatmaps provide a visual representation of user interactions, highlighting areas of high engagement and potential drop-off points. By leveraging this data, businesses can optimize onboarding flows, improve UX design, and ensure a more seamless introduction to their product.
Novel and Unusual Functionality
- Voice-Activated Interfaces: An emerging trend is the incorporation of voice commands into user onboarding. This novel approach caters to the growing demand for hands-free navigation and accessibility, providing a more inclusive user experience.
- AR/VR Onboarding Experiences: Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are being explored for more immersive onboarding experiences. This unusual functionality can significantly enhance the understanding of complex software by simulating real-world applications.
Most Important and In-Demand Features
- Interactive Tutorials and Walkthroughs: The demand for interactive tutorials that guide users step-by-step through the software remains high. These features are crucial for reducing the initial learning curve and enhancing user confidence in navigating the software.
- Customization and Personalization: The ability to tailor the onboarding experience to individual user preferences and needs is increasingly important. Customization ensures that users receive relevant information, improving their overall satisfaction and engagement with the software.
Declining Importance and Demand
- Lengthy Text-Based Instructions: There's a declining interest in long, text-based onboarding content. Users prefer quick, visual guides that allow them to start using the software without extensive reading, indicating a shift towards more interactive and engaging formats.
- One-Size-Fits-All Onboarding Processes: Generic onboarding experiences that do not account for different user roles or levels of expertise are becoming less popular. Users expect more tailored experiences that recognize their specific context and goals.
The trends in user onboarding software for 2025 reflect a broader move towards more personalized, engaging, and technologically advanced features. As product management professionals, understanding these trends is essential for selecting and developing onboarding solutions that meet the evolving needs of users, ensuring a smooth and enjoyable introduction to software products.
What is user onboarding Software?
User onboarding software is a tool that helps new users quickly understand and adopt a product by guiding them through key features and tasks. Product managers, growth teams, and UX designers use it to reduce early drop-off, streamline setup, and boost activation rates. It solves common onboarding friction—like unclear UI, lack of guidance, or delayed value realization—by offering interactive tutorials, checklists, and in-app messaging.
Features of User Onboarding Software
When selecting user onboarding software, keep an eye out for the following key features:
- Customizable onboarding flows: Create step-by-step guidance tailored to your product and users, making the first experience clear and comfortable instead of overwhelming.
- Interactive walkthroughs: Provide hands-on, in-app tours that guide users through key features, making learning by doing easy and memorable.
- Progress tracking: Show users how far they’ve come in their onboarding journey, keeping motivation high and making the experience feel achievable.
- Contextual tooltips: Offer timely, relevant tips that appear within the interface when users need them most, helping prevent confusion or stalls.
- User segmentation: Deliver specific onboarding content based on user roles, industries, or needs, so everyone gets the information that suits them best.
- Analytics and reporting: Track onboarding completion rates, user behaviors, and drop-off points so you can continually improve the process and spot friction fast.
- Feedback collection: Let users easily share thoughts or report issues during onboarding, so you can fix problems early and keep people happy.
- Integrations with other tools: Connect your onboarding flow with your CRM, help desk, or analytics platforms, ensuring smoother operations and a connected experience.
Common User Onboarding Software AI Features
Beyond the standard user onboarding software features listed above, many of these solutions are incorporating AI with features like:
- Automatic content suggestions: Enable AI to recommend the best resources, tutorials, or tips based on what a user has done so far, keeping them moving forward confidently.
- Personalized onboarding paths: Automatically adjust onboarding steps based on user behaviors or preferences, creating a more relevant and engaging experience for each user.
- Automated support responses: Let AI chatbots answer user questions instantly within the onboarding flow, reducing wait times and freeing up your support team.
- Predictive drop-off analysis: Use AI to identify which users are most likely to abandon onboarding, so you can proactively intervene with actionable tips or incentives to keep them engaged and less likely to drop-off.
- User sentiment analysis: Let AI assess feedback and interactions to gauge user satisfaction or frustration, helping you quickly address trouble spots before they become bigger issues.
Selecting user onboarding software with these features is essential for creating an engaging, informative, and smooth introduction to any software or application. These features not only help in educating new users, but also in building a strong foundation for their long-term engagement and success with the software, enhancing user satisfaction and retention.
Benefits of User Onboarding Software
Effective onboarding goes beyond a user’s first-run experience—it needs to support ongoing product adoption throughout the customer lifecycle.
According to Krystal Higgins, Lead UX Designer at Google, onboarding should be a continuous process that guides users through different stages of engagement.
Without this, users risk forgetting key features, struggling with adoption, or disengaging over time—a phenomenon known as the forgetting curve.
Onboarding software helps combat this drop-off by providing continuous, adaptive guidance that keeps users engaged and learning. The best tools do more than introduce features—they:
- Familiarize users with the product through interactive walkthroughs and tooltips.
- Teach them how to use it effectively with progressive onboarding flows and spaced learning.
- Convert users into committed customers with timely nudges and feature highlights.
- Guide them continuously with lifecycle emails, product updates, and contextual support.
Higgins points to AirTasker, which allows users to follow tasks before committing, and TurboTax, which reintroduces features when users return after a long break. These strategies prove that onboarding isn’t just for new signups—it’s an ongoing process that keeps users engaged long-term.
Key Benefits of User Onboarding Software
1. Increased User Retention & Product Adoption
Users are more likely to stay engaged when they understand a product’s value early and continue discovering new features over time. Onboarding software reduces friction, encourages exploration, and keeps users returning, leading to higher retention and deeper product adoption.
2. Reduced Support Costs
Providing in-app guidance, self-service resources, and interactive help reduces the need for direct customer support. This minimizes support tickets, lowers operational costs, and allows teams to focus on more complex user needs.
3. Faster Time-to-Value
The faster users grasp key functionalities, the more likely they are to stick with the product. Onboarding software accelerates learning, ensuring users reach their first "aha" moment faster, increasing satisfaction and brand loyalty.
4. Data-Driven Insights for Continuous Improvement
User onboarding software includes analytics and behavior tracking, helping businesses refine their onboarding processes. By analyzing drop-off points, engagement trends, and user feedback, companies can optimize workflows, improve product experiences, and drive innovation.
Costs & Pricing for User Onboarding Software
Choosing the right user onboarding software is a pivotal decision for businesses looking to enhance the experience of new users. With a variety of plan options available, it's important to understand the differences in features, functionalities, and pricing to ensure you select the best fit for your needs.
Pricing and features typically vary based on the size of your user base, the complexity of your onboarding needs, and the level of customization and support you require. Here, we'll explore the common plan options for user onboarding software, providing insights into the average pricing and features included in each to help guide software buyers who may be navigating this landscape for the first time.
Plan Comparison Table for User Onboarding Software
| Plan Type | Average Price | Best For: | Common Features Included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $50 - $100 per month | Early-stage startups | Access to standard onboarding flows, basic analytics, email support |
| Professional | $100 - $500 per month | Growth-stage startups | Advanced customization options, integration capabilities, enhanced analytics, priority support |
| Enterprise | $500 - $2000+ per month | Mature/enterprise organizations | Full customization and branding, dedicated support and training, advanced integration and analytics, access to all features and premium support |
| Free | $0 | Pre-seed startups | Limited onboarding flows, basic analytics, community support |
When considering which plan to choose, it's essential to evaluate the scale of your needs against the features and support offered by each option. Keep in mind that while a free plan may be appealing for budget-conscious businesses or those with minimal needs, investing in a paid plan can provide valuable advanced features and support that can significantly enhance the user onboarding experience.
User Onboarding Software Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to common questions other people ask about this topic.
What are the average setup times for user onboarding platforms?
Setup times for user onboarding software usually range from a few hours to several weeks. The timeframe depends on platform complexity, the amount of customization you need, and how many integrations your team implements. For most teams, easy plug-and-play tools can be launched in a day, while more robust solutions that require development input take longer.
How can onboarding be personalized for different user segments?
You can personalize onboarding by creating flows that target roles, use cases, or behaviors within your product. Good onboarding software lets you trigger different steps, tooltips, and messages based on user actions, job titles, or account types. This approach helps users get value faster and reduces drop-off in the early stages.
What metrics should be tracked to measure the success of user onboarding?
Track activation rates, feature adoption, time-to-value, completion rates for onboarding steps, and churn during onboarding. Most onboarding tools include built-in analytics for these metrics. These help you see if new users are finding value and where they’re getting stuck so you can refine the experience.
What integrations should I look for in user onboarding software?
Look for integrations with CRM tools, analytics platforms, support desks, and product communication tools (like Intercom or Slack). These integrations streamline your data, automate messaging, and allow you to trigger onboarding actions based on user activity or support needs.
How do user onboarding tools support A/B testing and experimentation?
Onboarding tools that support A/B testing let you create and compare different flows, screen messages, or walkthroughs. This helps your team learn which content drives better activation or retention and iterate quickly. Many leading platforms have built-in testing features for experiments without development resources.
Can onboarding software help reduce customer support tickets?
Yes, onboarding software can lower support volume by guiding users through common questions and setup tasks before they run into issues. Proactive tooltips, videos, and walkthroughs address frequent user challenges so fewer users need to reach out for help.
How do I choose between no-code and developer-driven onboarding tools?
If you want a fast launch or your team doesn’t have engineering resources, no-code tools are best. Choose developer-driven platforms if you need deep customization, unique UI patterns, or complex integration with your app logic. Weigh your product’s needs, your team’s skills, and desired control when deciding
What's Next?
We have a great guide that goes deeper into product onboarding that shows you five tips you can follow for a successful implementation.
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