10 Best WalkMe Alternatives for In-App Onboarding [2025]

10 Best WalkMe Alternatives for In-App Onboarding [2025]

If you're a product marketer or part of a technical team focused on reducing churn and improving activation, you've likely considered how improving the customer onboarding experience can help. Teams often turn to WalkMe for onboarding users, but many are now seeking WalkMe alternatives that are easier to use, faster to deploy, and more cost-effective. WalkMe is a powerful digital adoption platform, yet recent feedback highlights several pain points – from high costs to implementation headaches.

Our team at Hopscotch became obsessed with solving this onboarding problem and improving our growth ceiling while building our first SaaS product. We realized that getting users to their "aha!" moment faster was the key to increasing activation and converting free users into paying customers and increasing MRR. After struggling with clunky, enterprise-focused onboarding tools, we built our own: an easier, faster, and more flexible solution.

WalkMe has long been known for its robust digital adoption capabilities. But for many companies, from startups to large enterprise companies, it can be overly complex, challenging to deploy without bugs, and prohibitively expensive. In this article, we’ll explore why you might look for a WalkMe alternative and break down 10 of the best tools for interactive product tours, tooltips, and in-app messaging. Our goal is to help you find the right solution to drive user activation, reduce churn, and boost product adoption.

Also read: 18 of the Best Product Tour Software (for a broader look at onboarding tools) & Click-Through Demo vs. Interactive Product Tour (to understand different approaches to user onboarding).

Example of an in-app prompt inviting the user to take a product tour of a new feature. Modern onboarding tools can trigger contextual pop-ups like this to guide users through a redesigned interface.

Why Look for a WalkMe Alternative?

WalkMe has long been considered a leader in the digital adoption space, particularly for enterprises. But if you’ve ever tried to set it up, you know the process can feel more like launching a space shuttle than spinning up a simple onboarding flow.

Here’s what real users are saying on G2 Walkme reviews and Reddit:

• “Publishing and editing is a nightmare.”

• “It literally broke parts of our app.”

• “It’s powerful, but not worth it for our team’s use case.”

• “Too expensive and hard to maintain.”

If your team is product-led, time-strapped, and laser-focused on reducing churn, then a lighter, faster, and more intuitive tool might be what you need.

Key Limitations of WalkMe

• Heavy implementation: Often requires dedicated resources and developer support.

• Not ideal for lean teams: Better suited for enterprise environments.

• Clunky UI: Can feel outdated and overengineered.

• Slow time to value: Slows down teams trying to move fast.

Let’s explore the best WalkMe alternatives—tools that deliver elegant, in-app onboarding flows without the enterprise bloat.

What to Look For in a WalkMe Alternative

Not all onboarding tools are created equal. Here's what to prioritize:

• No-code setup for fast deployment

• In-app onboarding vs. external support centers

• User segmentation to personalize experiences

• Event-based triggers to show the right message at the right time

• Analytics to track engagement and activation

• Pricing transparency

Having a user onboarding isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s directly tied to the success of your product.

• 86% of users say they are more likely to stay loyal to a product that offers helpful onboarding.

• Improving onboarding can increase customer retention by up to 50%.

• With product-led growth on the rise, nearly 75% of SaaS companies now prioritize onboarding as a top growth lever.

🔗 Learn more about onboarding best practices

The Best WalkMe Alternatives

1. Hopscotch (Fastest to Set Up & Easiest to Use)

Best For: Product marketers and technical teams who want to get users to value—fast.

Hopscotch is the onboarding tool we wish we had right off the bat. Built by product people, for product people, it lets you create guided product tours, tooltips, checklists, and in-app messages in minutes—no dev team required.

Our team at Hopscotch became obsessed with solving churn while building our first SaaS product. We realized that getting users to their "aha!" moment faster was the key to increasing activation and converting free users into paying customers. After struggling with clunky, enterprise-focused onboarding tools, we built our own: an easier, faster, and more flexible solution.

Key Features:

• Drag-and-drop product tour builder

• Interactive onboarding checklists

• Behavioral triggers and segmentation

• Real-time analytics dashboard

Why It’s Better Than WalkMe:

• Set up your first tour in under 30 minutes

• No engineering support needed

• Affordable pricing for startups and mid-market companies

• Built specifically for in-app onboarding, not enterprise change management

🔗 Try Hopscotch -- Free Trial

Starting Price: $99/month

2. Appcues

Best For: Product teams that need flexibility and third-party integrations.

Appcues was one of the earliest players in the onboarding space and remains a strong option for teams looking to customize user experiences without code.

Key Features:

• No-code builder for onboarding flows

• Checklists, modals, and slideouts

• Integrations with Segment, Amplitude, Mixpanel

• User feedback collection via NPS

Pros:

• Rich analytics

• Easy to A/B test onboarding flows

Cons:

• Higher starting price point

• Somewhat steep learning curve

Starting Price: $859/month

3. Userpilot

Best For: Behavior-driven onboarding based on user actions

Userpilot provides product marketers with tools to create onboarding flows, run surveys, and track feature adoption—all inside the app.

Key Features:

• WYSIWYG onboarding editor

• Behavior-triggered walkthroughs

• In-app surveys and announcements

Pros:

• Powerful segmentation

• Lots of UI flexibility

Cons:

• Interface can be buggy

• Not always intuitive for new users

Starting Price: $249/month

4. Chameleon

Best For: Teams that want full control over branding and styling

Chameleon offers flexible design options and deep targeting capabilities for teams that want onboarding to feel like a native part of their product.

Key Features:

• Onboarding flows, banners, launchers

• Advanced CSS customization

• In-app microsurveys and feedback tools

Pros:

• Deep customization

• Strong targeting options

Cons:

• Steeper learning curve

• Limited analytics in lower tiers

Starting Price: $279/month

5. UserGuiding

Best For: Early-stage teams launching their first onboarding flows

UserGuiding focuses on simplicity and speed, offering a no-code builder and UI elements like tooltips and checklists.

Key Features:

• Product tours and onboarding flows

• In-app help centers and announcements

• Analytics dashboard

Pros:

• Intuitive interface

• Easy to get started

Cons:

• Limited styling and flexibility

• Reporting could be more detailed

Starting Price: $89/month

Do I need engineering resources to use WalkMe?

Yes—WalkMe often requires technical implementation and ongoing developer support. For many teams, this slows down onboarding updates and increases dependency on engineering cycles. No-code tools like Hopscotch and UserGuiding are designed to be managed by product, marketing, or customer success teams directly.

How much does WalkMe cost?

WalkMe doesn’t publish its pricing publicly, but most sources suggest it starts in the tens of thousands per year, depending on your organization size and use case. By contrast, tools like Hopscotch start at $99/month, making them significantly more accessible for startups and mid-sized teams.

Is WalkMe good for customer onboarding?

WalkMe is better suited for internal onboarding (e.g., employee training). While it can be used for customer onboarding, many users report that it feels too enterprise-heavy and not tailored for modern SaaS onboarding flows. Tools like Hopscotch and Appcues offer more intuitive, customer-facing onboarding experiences.

Final Thoughts

Choosing the right product onboarding software is one of the most impactful decisions a product team can make. Tools like WalkMe may work for large organizations with long implementation timelines—but for most modern SaaS companies, speed, usability, and in-product value delivery are critical.

Hopscotch is built for exactly that: get users to the “aha!” moment faster, reduce churn, and improve retention—all without needing to write code or wait on a dev sprint.

Try Hopscotch free and build your first onboarding flow today.