Appcues
Flows, checklists, surveys and messaging for product teams, with web and mobile support. Experiences are built in the Appcues Builder. AI can draft them from a prompt; your team approves what goes live.
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Appcues alternative: flows you never have to build
Appcues is a strong platform for in-product experiences prepared by your team. HelpAlive is an AI product expert: it lives inside your app, answers users' questions, builds guides on the fly from your docs and the page they're on, and does the steps for them. The difference is when help appears and how it fits the user's task. Someone who has already completed most of a setup may need help with just one step. In Appcues, your team prepares a Flow, with or without AI, approves its publication, and configures who sees it and when. Targeting can make it relevant, but the experience still needs to be prepared in advance. HelpAlive generates the guide at runtime for that user and the task they just asked about, on the page they are on. It works on any web app in the browser and does not replace Appcues' surveys, checklists or messaging.
What each is for
HelpAlive
Personalized help for users inside the web product you sell. It reads published documentation and the current page, then guides the user or does the steps for them. You control which customers and users receive actions.
Side by side
| Comparison | Appcues | HelpAlive |
|---|---|---|
| Who authors the guide | A person, in the Appcues Builder (a Chrome extension). Appcues AI creates a draft; "nothing goes live until you explicitly approve." | Nobody. Every guide is generated at runtime for that user, from your docs and the page they are on. |
| Covers a task nobody wrote a guide for | No. A Flow appears on page load, on an event or by manual launch, to users who match its targeting rules; it has to be built and approved first. | Yes. There are no pre-built guides, so there is no gap between the flows you built and the questions users ask. |
| Answers a question mid-task | Not within Flows. A Flow is a sequence of modals, slideouts, tooltips and hotspots; there is no place in it to ask. | Yes. The user can pause a guide and ask about the task or the control in front of them, then continue. |
| Does the steps for the user | No. Flows show modals, slideouts, tooltips and hotspots; the user clicks. | Yes. HelpAlive clicks, fills fields and scrolls in the user's session when you allow actions. You choose guidance or actions per customer account and per user. |
| Setup | A script in the page <head> with your Appcues ID, then Appcues.identify(); then build and publish experiences. | One script plus identify(), then connect your documentation. Guides work on the first page a user opens. |
A draft waiting for approval is not a generated guide
Appcues AI creates drafts and suggests fixes for your team to approve. HelpAlive creates the walkthrough when asked, pauses for needed input, and stops with a recap if it cannot finish.
Appcues prices on monthly active users, installations and published experiences: 10 on Start, 25 on Grow, 100 on Enterprise, each tier sold through a call. HelpAlive has no experience count, because nothing is published in advance. You pay for Assists, at prices listed in USD on the pricing page.
Choose Appcues when
- You need mobile SDKs for iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter or Ionic.
- You want targeted announcements, checklists, Launchpads, Pins or Banners.
- You need NPS, surveys, email or push messaging.
- You want Goals analytics for experiences your team builds.
Choose HelpAlive when
- Users need walkthroughs for tasks your team has never built a Flow for.
- You want permitted actions, controlled per customer account and per user.
- You want help that follows the current UI without rebuilding experiences.
Keep Appcues, add generated walkthroughs
Keep Appcues for announcements, checklists, surveys and messaging; add HelpAlive for how-to questions. Each runs from its own script, so you can use both without connecting their data.
Read what an AI product expert is, see the features, or watch a demo.
Frequently asked questions
Can we keep our announcements and add HelpAlive?
Yes. Keep Appcues for announcements, checklists and surveys; add HelpAlive for walkthroughs. Both install as a script and neither depends on the other.
Do we still need to build and approve flows?
Appcues AI produces drafts for your approval before users see them. HelpAlive builds each walkthrough from published documentation and the current page when a user asks.