WalkMe, Pendo and Whatfix alternatives, honestly compared
Guidance tools for your own product with published prices, the enterprise options, and when an AI agent that does the work fits better.
Quick answer
If you want in-app guidance for your own SaaS without an enterprise contract, Userpilot publishes its prices (from $299 a month for up to 2,000 monthly active users), Appcues prices by monthly active users with a free trial, and Pendo has a free plan up to 500 monthly active users. WalkMe and Whatfix are quote-based and serve employee software as well as products. If your users want tasks done rather than shown, an in-app AI agent such as Verb does the steps for them.
A bias to declare: I build Verb, which is the last option below and a different kind of tool from the rest. Where a guidance tool is the better choice, this post says so.
WalkMe, Pendo and Whatfix are the best-known names in digital adoption: software that guides people through other software. People look for alternatives for three reasons: a price they can see without a sales call, a tool sized for one product rather than a whole company's software estate, or a different approach altogether. Every claim below about another product comes from its own pricing page, read on 31 October 2026.
First: guidance for employees, or for your customers?
WalkMe offers separate plans for employees and for customers, and Whatfix prices employee-facing and customer-facing applications separately. If you are rolling out software your company bought to its staff, those two are built for it. If you are guiding the customers of a product you build, the tools below are sized for that.
Pendo, on its free plan
What it is. Product analytics plus in-app guides. Its free-forever plan covers up to 500 monthly active users; past that, new guides, NPS surveys and segments wait until you upgrade. Paid plans, Base, Core and Ultimate, are priced on request.
Who it suits. An early product that wants analytics and a few guides without paying yet.
Userpilot
What it is. In its words, a "product growth and analytics platform" for onboarding, behaviour analytics and feedback without code. It publishes prices: Starter at $299 a month for up to 2,000 monthly active users, Growth from $849 a month, and a custom Enterprise plan.
Who it suits. A SaaS team that wants guidance and analytics together and a price it can see up front.
Appcues
What it is. In-app onboarding and engagement experiences, priced on monthly active users, installations and published experiences. Its Start plan covers up to 3,000 monthly active users and 10 published experiences. Dollar prices are not on the page; there is a free trial with no card.
Who it suits. Product teams that want flows, checklists and announcements running quickly.
Verb: an AI agent that does the steps
What it is. A different approach. Instead of showing users where to click, an AI agent inside your product does the steps for them when they ask, through your product's own API as the signed-in user, asking before anything changes. It is integrated in under an hour in most cases and starts with a free 30-day pilot.
Who it suits. Products whose users get stuck in long or rarely repeated workflows, where they want the outcome rather than a lesson. It does not suit a flow every user should learn and repeat daily; guidance is better there.
The verdict
- Software your staff use, across a company: WalkMe or Whatfix.
- A young product, no budget yet: Pendo's free plan.
- Guidance for your own SaaS with a visible price: Userpilot or Appcues.
- Users who want long tasks done, not explained: an in-app AI agent such as Verb.
Digital adoption platforms and AI agents explains the difference between the two approaches in more depth.
Sources
Each read on 31 October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest alternative to WalkMe?
Pendo's free plan, for up to 500 monthly active users, is the cheapest start. Among paid tools with published prices, Userpilot's Starter plan is $299 a month for up to 2,000 monthly active users, as of the date on this post.
Is Pendo free?
Pendo has a free-forever plan for up to 500 monthly active users; past that you cannot create new guides, NPS surveys or segments until you upgrade. Its paid plans are priced on request.
Do WalkMe and Whatfix publish their prices?
No. WalkMe asks you to request a quote, and Whatfix says its pricing combines a flat fee plus user licence fees, through a demo or its sales team.
Vishnu, founder of AskVerb @itsvishnups
Building the AI agent that lives inside a SaaS product and does the work its users ask for. Writing down what I learn along the way, including the parts I got wrong first.