- Appcues has three plans: Start (up to 3,000 monthly active users), Grow (from 3,000 MAUs) and Enterprise (custom volumes). Every capability is included in every plan.
- Prices are not listed on the Appcues pricing page. Third-party sources report Start at roughly $249 to $300 per month billed annually.
- Price is based on monthly active users, number of installations and published experiences. Plans differ mainly in limits, reporting history and support.
- Vendr data puts the median Appcues contract at about $15,000 per year. There is a free trial but no free plan.
Appcues is one of the original no-code onboarding tools. Product and growth teams use it to build product tours, modals, checklists, tooltips and mobile flows without waiting for engineering. It has a clear plan structure, but it no longer lists prices on its pricing page, which makes budgeting harder.
This guide explains the Appcues plans as of October 2026, how monthly active users (MAUs) affect cost, what buyers report paying and when a cheaper tool might be the better choice.
Quick answer: Appcues has three plans: Start (up to 3,000 MAUs), Grow (from 3,000 MAUs) and Enterprise (custom). All plans include every capability; they differ in MAU volume, published experiences, reporting history and support. Appcues does not list prices, but third-party sources report Start at roughly $249 to $300 per month billed annually, and Vendr reports a median contract of about $15,000 per year. There is a free trial but no free plan.
Appcues plans at a glance
| Plan | MAUs | Published experiences | Reporting history | Extras |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | Up to 3,000 | 10 | 12 months | All capabilities |
| Grow | From 3,000 | 25 | 24 months | All capabilities |
| Enterprise | Custom | 100 | 36 months | Priority support and services support |
Plan details from the Appcues pricing page, checked October 2026.
The key point is that Appcues does not hold features back for higher plans. A Start customer can use the same flow types, checklists, targeting and analytics as an Enterprise customer. What changes is how many users you can reach, how many experiences you can publish at once and how long your data is kept.
How Appcues calculates price
Appcues says its pricing is based on three things:
- Monthly active users. The total number of users who sign in to your product in a given month. Dormant users who do nothing are not charged.
- Number of installations. How many products or apps you install Appcues on.
- Published experiences. How many flows, checklists and other experiences you have live at once.
Because every plan includes every feature, your price is mostly a function of scale. A product with 2,000 monthly active users and one web app sits comfortably in Start. A product with 20,000 MAUs across a web and mobile app will be on Grow or Enterprise.
What counts as a published experience?
Each live flow, checklist, banner or similar item counts towards your limit. Drafts and unpublished experiences do not. If you like to run many small, targeted flows, the limit of 10 on Start can fill up quickly, so check how many you plan to run before choosing a plan.
What happens if you go over?
Appcues says your experiences keep running if you exceed your plan limits, and a team member contacts you about upgrading at your next billing cycle. That is friendlier than tools that stop showing content, but it means growth in MAUs will show up in your next renewal.
How much Appcues costs in practice
Appcues removed prices from its pricing page, so the public figures come from third parties. They do not all agree, partly because older articles describe earlier plan names and MAU bands.
| Source | What it reports |
|---|---|
| Third-party pricing guides (2025 to 2026) | Start from roughly $249 to $300 per month, billed annually |
| Vendr buyer data | Median contract about $15,000 per year; reported range about $6,300 to $44,200 |
| Vendr estimate for higher tiers | Growth-level deals from roughly $879 per month at lower MAU volumes |
Figures checked October 2026. Treat them as a guide and get a quote for your own MAU volume.
A few practical takeaways:
- Small products can expect a starting budget of a few thousand dollars a year on Start.
- Most buyers on Vendr pay somewhere between $6,000 and $45,000 a year, with the middle around $15,000.
- Enterprise deals for tens of thousands of MAUs can go well beyond that.
What every Appcues plan includes
Because Appcues includes all capabilities on every plan, even Start gives you:
- Flows: product tours, modals, slideouts, tooltips and hotspots
- Checklists to guide new users through key setup steps
- Banners and pins for announcements and contextual help
- Mobile flows for iOS and Android apps
- Targeting and segmentation using user properties and events
- Experience analytics showing views, completions and goals
- Integrations with tools such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Intercom, Slack, Mixpanel, Heap, Jira and Zapier
- AI-assisted building to draft flows faster
Enterprise adds priority support, services support and higher limits, which matter most for large teams with many products.
Add-ons and extra costs
Appcues lists Premium Services for teams that want help migrating from another tool, shipping new experiences faster or extending their team’s capacity. Pricing for these services is not published.
Other costs to plan for:
- MAU growth. If your product is growing quickly, your Appcues bill will follow at renewal.
- Additional installations for new products or apps.
- Builder time. Someone needs to design, write and test flows. Our guide to SaaS user onboarding best practices covers what good onboarding looks like.
- Analytics. Appcues reports on its own experiences, but deeper product analytics usually comes from a separate tool such as Mixpanel, Amplitude or Heap.
Free trial and startup options
Appcues offers a free trial that lets you build and test with unlimited flows during the trial period. The trial starts with a call, and no credit card is required. There is no permanent free plan.
For early-stage companies, Appcues runs a Spark programme aimed at teams with fewer than 25 people. Pricing is not published, so ask during your trial call.
Is Appcues expensive compared with alternatives?
Appcues sits in the middle of the market. Here is how its pricing model compares with similar onboarding tools, using published prices where they exist.
| Tool | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|---|---|
| Appcues | Not listed; reported about $249 to $300/month | No (free trial) |
| Userpilot | Starter $299/month (up to 2,000 MAUs) | No (14-day trial) |
| UserGuiding | Starter from $249/month | No (14-day trial) |
| Product Fruits | Starter from $111/month billed annually | No (free trial) |
| Hopscotch | Starter $99/month (up to 1,000 users) | No (free trial) |
| Chameleon | Pro from $750/month | No (14-day trial) |
| Pendo | Free up to 500 MAUs; paid by quote | Yes |
Prices checked October 2026.
Appcues is good value if you want every feature from day one, need both web and mobile flows and have a team that will publish a moderate number of experiences.
Look elsewhere if budget is tight (Hopscotch or Product Fruits), you want built-in product analytics alongside onboarding (Userpilot or Pendo), or you prefer to see a published price before talking to sales. Our comparisons of Userpilot vs Appcues and Appcues vs Userflow go into more detail, and our guide to Appcues alternatives covers more options.
Appcues pricing by company stage
Early-stage products
If you have a few hundred to 3,000 monthly active users, Start covers you, with every feature included. The main constraint is the limit of 10 published experiences. A typical early setup, such as a welcome flow, a setup checklist, two feature announcements and a feedback survey, fits comfortably. If you are a team of fewer than 25 people, ask about the Spark programme before you sign.
Growing SaaS companies
Once you pass 3,000 MAUs, or you want to run more than 10 experiences at once, you move to Grow. You also get 24 months of reporting history, which helps when you compare onboarding results across the year. At this stage, the number of installations matters too: adding a mobile app or a second product increases scope.
Large and multi-product companies
Enterprise suits companies with many products, large MAU volumes or many teams publishing content. The jump to 100 published experiences and 36 months of history, plus priority and services support, is what you pay for. Expect a custom quote and a longer sales process.
Is Appcues worth the price?
Appcues is worth it if you want a mature, reliable builder with every feature on every plan and both web and mobile support. Its simple plan structure makes it easy to start small and grow. It is less compelling if you need built-in product analytics, want to see a price before talking to sales, or have a very tight budget, where tools with published entry prices may be a better first step.
How to choose the right Appcues plan
- Count your monthly active users today and estimate them 12 months from now.
- List the experiences you will run at the same time, such as a welcome tour, a setup checklist, two feature announcements and an NPS survey.
- Decide how much reporting history you need. If you compare onboarding results year on year, 12 months on Start may be too short.
- Check how many products you will install on, including mobile apps.
- Use the trial to build one real flow and measure its effect on activation before committing.
Tips for getting a better price
- Commit annually rather than monthly if you are confident in the tool.
- Share competing quotes, for example from Userpilot or UserGuiding, during negotiation.
- Ask about the Spark programme if you are a small team.
- Agree what happens at MAU thresholds so renewal costs are predictable.
- Keep experience counts in check by retiring old flows you no longer need.
Prices and plans change. Always confirm current Appcues pricing directly with Appcues before you buy.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Appcues cost?
Appcues does not list prices on its pricing page. Third-party sources report the Start plan at roughly $249 to $300 per month billed annually, and Vendr reports a median contract of about $15,000 per year, with deals from about $6,300 to $44,200 (checked October 2026).
Does Appcues have a free plan?
No. Appcues offers a free trial with unlimited flows during the trial period and no credit card required, but there is no free plan. Startups with fewer than 25 people can ask about the Spark programme.
How does Appcues count monthly active users?
Appcues counts the total number of users who sign in to your product in a given month. Dormant users who log no activity are not charged.
What is the difference between Appcues Start and Grow?
Both include every capability. Start covers up to 3,000 MAUs with 10 published experiences and 12 months of reporting history. Grow starts at 3,000 MAUs with 25 published experiences and 24 months of history.
What happens if I go over my Appcues plan limits?
According to Appcues, your experiences keep running if you exceed your limits. A team member contacts you about upgrading at your next billing cycle.
Arjun writes about in-product onboarding, activation and the tools SaaS product and growth teams use to help users reach value faster.
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