Looking for an Appcues alternative? We've got you covered.

Nickelled is a leading provider of user onboarding software.

Book a FREE demo to see Nickelled in action. Alternatively, read on for our full review of Appcues, and why Nickelled is a great alternative.

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Best Appcues Alternative Review: Updated For 2021

Our honest review of Appcues

Appcues offers some neat features for increasing user engagement, particularly for SaaS businesses. Setup is relatively simple (though requires some website code changes) and the products offers a selection of widgets which can be used to boost user engagement in specific parts of the website. The Appcues website guided tour appears on the website pages themselves, which means that they can’t be used in external demonstrations.

Alongside guided tours, Appcues offer a bunch of other user engagement prompts. We've seen varied success using these options, though some customers have reported that they work well.

Appcues Pricing Table

Appcues Pricing

Pricing is competitive, but is based on active users and scales fast, meaning Appcues will become expensive for businesses with a large number of monthly active users and may not be appropriate for businesses which need to share guides with viewers who aren’t product users.

As of 2021, minimum pricing for Appcues starts from $299 per month. That's compared to from $249 per month for Nickelled.

When should I choose Nickelled over Appcues?

We suggest using Nickelled over Appcues if you wish to produce guides which will run independently of the user’s status - for instance, if you wish to demonstrate functionality without the user needing to be logged in (or even signed up).

At scale, Appcues becomes expensive. Over 20,000 monthly active users requires a minimum monthly payment of $649, regardless of the technology deployed.

Nickelled also requires zero website changes, while Appcues requires the installation of javascript, which may lead to development backlogs. Agile teams may benefit from a solution which is platform-independent.

Users should also note that Appcues' free trial is limited to just 100 flows, which may make testing efficacy harder. Nickelled's free trial is totally unlimited.

Comparison Table

Appcues Nickelled
Indicative pricing $$$ $$
Price From $299/mo, but Appcues pricing is based on monthly active users (MAUs) Starting at $249/m
Free trial Appcues demo: 14-days Nickelled demo: 14-days
Installation Requires website code change (Javascript installation) None required, Chrome plugin optional
Guide styling Yes - including customization of CSS file Yes - able to change colors and step shapes. Full customization via CSS.
Formats Guides run in-app. Five key patterns designed to drive engagement on-page: modals, slideouts, hotspots, tooltips and coachmarks. Guides run out of app. Guided tours use modals and tooltips. In-app activation options include Mission Dock, embedded iFrame and easy-to-use links.
Multiple language support Yes Yes
Multi-page support Yes Yes
Guide step limit Unlimited Unlimited
Guide A/B testing Yes No
Guide analytics Yes - including ability to configure and measure custom goals. Yes - though no ability to configure custom goals.

They say about Appcues:

"Appcues is so powerful because it allows us to build our product marketing campaigns into a user’s natural workflow."
Jeffrey Vocell, Product Marketing Manager, HubSpot

They say about Nickelled:

"We love the way Nickelled lets us show users around our site. It took us no time to get up and running."
Luke Todd, Head of Customer Operations at Gumtree

Please note: Feature information correct as of September 2016. Nickelled has made every attempt to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information provided on this website. However, the information is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Nickelled does not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained on this website.