Software

WalkMe vs Userlane: Which Onboarding Tool is Right For Your Business?

July 08, 2021

Walkme vs Userlane Hero Image

tl;dr: For most businesses, we’d recommend Userlane over Walkme – it’s easier to use, more economical and seems better suited to all but the largest companies. You should also consider Nickelled, for reasons we explain below 😉

WalkMe is the biggest, most reputable onboarding tool out there, with top brands among their customer base. It is an absolute beast, but a program that is incredibly high maintenance if you’re to get the best out of it. Userlane, meanwhile, is the trendier, more user-friendly solution.

In this review, we’ll discuss how WalkMe and Userlane stack up against each other, and against our product, Nickelled. Of course, we can’t tell you which solution to invest in, but we do hope you’ll agree that our product is a fantastic alternative to both WalkMe and Userlane.

Points Of Comparison

Here are some of the factors you are likely to consider when choosing which solution is the right one for your company. This review will judge WalkMe, Userlane and Nickelled against these criteria.

  • Pricing – Out of the three, Nickelled has the most affordable pricing tiers, followed by Userlane
  • Set up – WalkMe is an incredibly complex tool that requires coding and more time to set up than Nickelled or Userlane, both of which require no coding knowledge to set up.
  • Triggering and user segmentation – The three products offer different levels of guided tour customization. While WalkMe offers advanced user segmentation capabilities, it is much harder to implement than the other two.
  • Reporting and analytics – These three tools have different ways of measuring the effectiveness of its guided tours. 
  • Scalability – While Nickelled’s and WalkMe’s pricing models depend on the number of tours created, Userlane charges based on the number of users guided.

 WalkMe & Userlane Alternative: Nickelled

Nickelled is an onboarding and product adoption tool that allows companies to create guided tours that help to get staff, customers, and visitors up to speed on their software quickly. Nickelled is used and trusted by major companies such as eBay, Sears, Gumtree, EDF Energy, and KPMG. British classified ads website Gumtree approached Nickelled for help in streamlining its customer service processes on its website. They used Nickelled to create step-by-step guides on their customer service page, reducing the number of phone calls they were receiving, and increasing their ROI by 470%.

Nickelled’s Key Features

Nickelled tour, open on page
Nickelled open on a form

The low price point and ease of use provided by Nickelled sets it well apart from the competition, especially when compared to WalkMe.

By making onboarding an interactive process, Nickelled helps users locate useful features quickly, and can help reduce onboarding time, support team backlog, churn, and drop-off rate.

An example of a Nickelled onboarding step on the page
  • Nickelled specializes in product adoption tools: guided tours, embedded videos, multiple triggering functions, etc.
  • Nickelled is completely available online, meaning you won’t have to download any software to set up
  • It is designed to be easy to use for both creators and users, with no web developers required
  • A fully interactive experience allows users to engage with onboarding and learn by doing
  • Real-time analytics allow you to see how your users are interacting with your content up to the minute

Nickelled’s Pricing

Pricing plans

Unlike Userlane and WalkMe, Nickelled is transparent about its pricing and offers a three-tiered model based on the number of onboarding tours, known as flows.

All three price bands also come with a 14-day free trial that offers unlimited access to the product, and a 30-day money-back guarantee for customers who are unsatisfied. So, essentially, new users get to use the full version of the product for 44 days without any financial commitment.

As well as being transparent, Nickelled is much more affordable than many of its competitors. The most expensive package works out at less than $5,000 a year, which is much cheaper than premium packages from both WalkMe and Userlane.

Nickelled Pros

Nickelled hotspot
An example of a Nickelled hotspot on the page
  • Nickelled offers both guides and hotspots
  • Pricing is cheaper and more transparent than WalkMe and Userlane
  • Easy to use for both guide users and creators, unlike WalkMe
  • Guides are easy to set up with little training, and no developers required
  • Detailed reporting and analytics allow you to analyze how users interact with your guides in real-time
  • Triggering & segmentation comes as standard
  • Users can upgrade or downgrade their package within the transparent pricing structure at any time 
  • Trusted by many small and medium-sized businesses, as well as larger enterprises

Nickelled Cons

  • Only available to use on web apps
  • Nickelled is customizable, however, some knowledge of CSS is required to do this

WalkMe vs Userlane: How Do They Differ?

WalkMe

WalkMe is one of the major players in the onboarding software world, and it has the price tag to match. Some of its clients include the biggest brands on the planet, such as Microsoft, PayPal, and Hershey’s.

WalkMe is an incredibly powerful tool if set up properly but from most clients we’ve spoken to, it requires a lot of work in the installation phase before it starts to provide tangible results. Therefore, it tends to remain the preserve of large companies who have huge implementation teams and lots of time to spend on setup.

WalkMe Key Features

WalkMe Analytics

With WalkMe, it’s a case of the more you put in, the more you get out. Don’t expect to install it and have everything ready to go on day one. However, if you put the time, money and effort into learning how it works, there’s no doubt that this software can support even the most complex learning requirements. Including:

  • Embedded software that needs to be installed and coded within your application
  • A browser extension which must be rolled out to all users if you can’t use their javascript (available for Edge and Mac as far as we can tell)
  • Flows can be programmed based on user actions, such as error messages, wrong turns, abandoned pages, etc.
  • Can be integrated with apps like Salesforce, Oracle, etc.
  • Advanced and highly customizable reporting and analytics

WalkMe Pricing

Walkme pricing plans
WalkMe pricing, free forever or ???

WalkMe is notably reluctant to communicate its standard pricing on its website. However, there’s no doubt that WalkMe is an expensive solution, and we’ve heard of companies paying as much as $50,000 per year. If you’re looking for more transparent pricing, you’d be better off going with another solution, such as Nickelled.

WalkMe Pros

  • Incredibly powerful when fully set up
  • Walk-Thrus can be triggered by segmented user action
  • Advanced reporting & analytics allow a company to track the effectiveness of its guides

WalkMe Cons

  • Prohibitively expensive for most budgets
  • Complex with a steep learning curve, and it can cost time and money to set up
  • The suitability for mid-sized businesses is unclear, as the pricing structure is so opaque
  • WalkMe must be coded into your software, which can take time

Userlane

Userlane is much easier to use and set up than WalkMe. Based in Berlin, they have worked with some major German companies including Deutsche Bahn and Commerzbank.

Userlane Key Features

Userlane key features

A big player in the European market, Userlane’s key selling point is its intuitive UI and platform that’s easy to use. But its lightweight analytics is a downside. Features include:

  • Interactive step-by-step guides
  • No-code tour editor
  • Superb customer service, with phone consultations offered to new users

Userlane Pricing

Like WalkMe, Userlane’s pricing is also far from transparent. Its pricing page offers two different packages, one for small businesses, and another for larger enterprises, but doesn’t provide any figures for either. 

Userlane pricing
Userlane’s very unhelpful pricing page

Userlane provides a bespoke quote based on its clients’ needs. From our understanding, Userlane is certainly more affordable than WalkMe, though there are better value options available such as Nickelled. As opposed to Nickelled, Userlane’s pricing structure is based on the number of users who will be guided and which features you want to use. Therefore, Userlane can become expensive if you need to create guides for a lot of users.

Userlane Pros

  • No coding required to set up
  • Userlane is relatively easy to set up and use
  • Designed well, and looks great
  • Good support offering

Userlane Cons

  • Its pricing structure may make it a less attractive option in terms of scalability, as opposed to Nickelled and WalkMe
  • Analytics can be a little lacking and aren’t highly customizable
  • While cheaper than WalkMe, it is still targeted at larger businesses and is significantly more expensive than Nickelled

Key Takeaways: WalkMe vs Userlane vs Nickelled

So, which solution is the correct one for your business? We can’t make that decision for you – each piece of software has its own pros and cons, and some of those will be more relevant to you than others. Here is a quick summary of WalkMe vs Userlane vs Nickelled.

WalkMe is a powerful but expensive and labor-intensive solution that is only likely to be effective for major companies with the budgets and resources to keep on top of it. However, if you have all of those things, it’s likely to be a great option.

Userlane is a user-friendly option that allows for quick and easy creation and use of guides. However, it lacks the flexibility offered by WalkMe and has a much higher price point than Nickelled. 

Nickelled is a great option for companies who are looking for a cost-effective solution that provides them with more bang for their buck. Nickelled is user-friendly, highly customizable, and proven to slash your onboarding time by weeks.

Free trial of leading onboarding software

Still not sure which to pick? Why not give Nickelled a try?

Nickelled offers an unlimited 14-day free trial with a 30-day money-back guarantee on top of that. During your trial you’ll get full access to the Nickelled platform without any paywalls. You can sign up for a free trial of Nickelled here.