Appcues vs Userflow: What the Pricing Pages Don't Tell You

Your trial users are dropping off at step 3. Support tickets keep asking "where's the export button?" You know you need an onboarding tool, but $300/month feels steep when you're still at $2K MRR.

So you start comparing Appcues and Userflow. Both have clean websites. Both promise "no-code" setup. Both show happy customers in their case studies.

Here's what neither pricing page will tell you: by the time you're at 10,000 MAUs, one of these tools will cost you 3x more than the other. And the cheaper one might still be overpriced for what you actually need.

Let me break down the real economics.

The MAU Trap Nobody Warns You About

Both Appcues and Userflow charge based on Monthly Active Users (MAUs). Sounds fair—you pay for what you use. Except MAUs aren't "users who see tours." They're "users who log in."

Here's why that matters:

If you have 5,000 monthly logins but only 1,000 new signups, you're paying for those 5,000 MAUs even though most of your onboarding flows only target new users. Appcues counts every authenticated user against your MAU limit, whether they see a single tooltip or not.

Real example: A SaaS tool with 8,000 MAUs and 800 trial signups per month pays Appcues based on 8,000 MAUs ($299-879/mo depending on features), even though their product tours only fire for those 800 trial users. They're paying for 10x more users than actually need onboarding.

Userflow works the same way. At 10,000 MAUs:

• Userflow Startup: Can't handle it (maxes at 3,000 MAUs on base plan)
• Userflow Pro: $680/month minimum
• Appcues Essentials: $249/month (but missing key features)
• Appcues Growth: $879/month

Neither tool lets you pay based on "users who actually see tours." You're buying capacity for your entire user base.

What $249-879/Month Actually Gets You

Let's talk features, because this is where the pricing story gets messier.

Appcues Essentials ($249/mo for 2,500 MAUs):

• No onboarding checklists (the thing most users actually want)
• Limited to 5 user segments
• Only 10 custom event tracking slots
• No mobile app support

To get checklists and unlimited segments, you need Appcues Growth at $879/month. That's a 3.5x price jump for features that competitors include in base plans.

Userflow Startup ($240/mo for 3,000 MAUs):

• Unlimited flows and checklists (good)
• Only 3 team seats (bad if you have >3 people who need access)
• Just 2 survey questions (severely limited)
• Additional seats cost $16-20/mo each

Userflow Pro at $680/month unlocks unlimited surveys, team members, and integrations with Salesforce/HubSpot. But here's the gotcha: advanced features like localization and no-code event tracking aren't even available on Startup.

The Hidden Costs They Don't Advertise

Price escalation: Appcues increases pricing 8-15% annually at renewal for existing customers. A $879/month plan today becomes $1,011/month after one year, $1,162 after two years—with zero new features. Only customers who actively negotiate using competitive alternatives avoid these increases.

Integration costs: Need SSO? That's typically a $15,000-25,000/year add-on for Appcues Growth, according to negotiation data from Vendr. Userflow gates SSO behind their Enterprise tier (custom pricing, likely similar range).

Analytics gaps: Neither tool gives you proper product analytics. Userflow's analytics are "limited and can only be viewed by diving into the settings of each flow," per user reviews. Appcues is similar—you get basic completion rates, but to understand the why behind drop-offs, you need Mixpanel ($899/year minimum) or Amplitude (starts at $61,000/year for enterprise features).

So your $240-879/month onboarding tool becomes $240-879 + analytics platform + SSO add-ons + extra team seats. For a bootstrapped team at 10,000 MAUs, you're looking at:

• Userflow Pro: $680/mo + Mixpanel ($75/mo) + 5 extra seats ($80/mo) = $835/month minimum
• Appcues Growth: $879/mo + analytics + potential add-ons = $900-1,100/month minimum

Neither option is cheap. And we haven't even talked about whether product tours actually work.

The Thing Nobody Says Out Loud

Product tours have a 5-15% completion rate in production. Users skip them. Close them. Forget them immediately.

This isn't Appcues or Userflow's fault—it's just reality. Interrupted onboarding flows work for specific use cases (complex enterprise software where training is mandatory), but for most SaaS products, contextual tooltips triggered by user behavior work better than multi-step tours.

The tools both know this, which is why they've expanded beyond tours:

• Appcues added checklists, surveys, and "user paths"
• Userflow added resource centers, AI assistants, and in-app announcements

But if you're buying these tools primarily for tours, you're probably solving the wrong problem. Most successful products use:

• Empty states with one clear CTA (no interruption needed)
• Tooltips that appear when users hover over new features
• Optional checklists users can dismiss
• Getting users to their "aha moment" within 60 seconds

Tours are for explaining complex workflows users can't figure out intuitively. If your product needs extensive tours to be usable, the UX might be the real problem.

When Each Tool Actually Makes Sense

Choose Userflow if:

• You're under 5,000 MAUs and plan to stay there for 6+ months
• You need fast time-to-value (genuinely easier setup than Appcues)
• Your team is small (≤3 people need access)
• You don't need robust analytics (plan to use separate tools anyway)

Choose Appcues if:

• You're already over 10,000 MAUs and expect rapid growth
• You need mobile app onboarding (Userflow doesn't support this yet)
• Enterprise features matter (better security, support, custom contracts)
• You have budget to negotiate aggressively (Appcues discounts heavily for multi-year deals)

Choose neither if:

• You're under 2,000 MAUs and just need basic tooltips
• Your activation problem is UX, not education
• You can't justify $3,000-10,000/year minimum spend

What Indie Hackers Actually Need

Let's be honest: if you're a solo founder or 2-person team at $5K MRR, spending $240-879/month on onboarding tools is probably premature.

The cold truth is most indie products don't need sophisticated product tours. You need:

1. Fast time-to-value (≤60 seconds to first moment of usefulness)
2. Contextual help where users get stuck
3. Analytics to understand where they're dropping off
4. Affordable pricing that doesn't kill cashflow

At that stage, consider lightweight alternatives like Escourtly which offers similar features without the recurring monthly cost that kills cashflow for early-stage founders. For more comparisons, see our guides on Appcues vs Pendo, Appcues vs Chameleon, and Appcues vs WalkMe.

But here's what I'd actually recommend: before buying any onboarding tool, figure out if tours are your real problem.

The 48-Hour Test

Do this before signing up for anything:

1. Track your drop-off points (even manually in a spreadsheet)
2. Talk to 5 users who churned and ask "what confused you?"
3. Time how long it takes a new user to see value (not complete signup—actually use your product successfully)

If the problem is "users don't understand our core feature," a tour might help. If it's "users don't see value fast enough," you have a product problem, not an onboarding problem. No tool fixes that.

If you do need tours after that test:

• Under 3,000 MAUs: Userflow Startup ($240/mo) or affordable alternatives
• 3,000-10,000 MAUs: Negotiate hard with both vendors
• Over 10,000 MAUs: Appcues Enterprise (negotiate 40-60% off list) or build in-house

Want to see how these tools stack up against others? Check out Userflow vs Pendo and Userflow vs Userpilot.

The Bottom Line

Userflow is cheaper at small scale ($240 vs $249-879), but you hit their MAU ceiling faster and need to upgrade to Pro. Appcues is more expensive upfront but scales better if you're growing fast.

Neither tool is a magic bullet. Tours help 5-15% of users complete onboarding flows. The other 85-95% skip them or figure it out themselves.

For most bootstrapped founders: delay buying these tools until you're at $10K+ MRR. Fix your UX first. Use free alternatives like inline help text and better empty states. Save your cash for things that directly drive revenue.

And if you do buy one of these tools, negotiate. Appcues regularly discounts 40-60% off list for multi-year contracts. Userflow has less room to negotiate but will match competitors. Get quotes from 3 tools, mention you're evaluating alternatives, and push for annual discounts.

Your onboarding problem might not be tool selection. It might be UX, positioning, or targeting the wrong users. These tools are expensive band-aids if the real issue is product-market fit.

Start there instead.

Related comparisons: Appcues vs Pendo | Appcues vs Chameleon | Appcues vs WalkMe | Appcues vs Intercom