Appcues

Company Overview

Appcues was founded in 2013 by Jonathan Kim and Mike Phelan. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. As of 2026, Appcues has raised approximately $30 million in total funding ($23M Series B in 2020).

Appcues is a leading platform in User Onboarding and Product Adoption, helping SaaS companies build in-app guidance experiences with no code to improve user activation, feature adoption, and customer retention. The platform serves thousands of SaaS customers including Ipsy and Hopin.

Related provider: Appcues User Onboarding

Key Milestones

• 2013: Founded by Jonathan Kim and Mike Phelan in Boston
• 2015: Launched no-code Flow Builder, lowering the barrier for creating guidance flows
• 2018: Released Checklists and Goals features, expanding product adoption capabilities
• 2020: Completed $23M Series B funding round
• 2022: Launched NPS Surveys for feedback collection
• 2024: Released Appcues AI for AI-powered guidance generation
• 2026: Continues optimizing product portfolio and AI capabilities

Product Portfolio

Flow Builder

• In-App Guidance: No-code drag-and-drop creation of step guides, tooltips, and modals
• Smart Triggers: Auto-display guidance based on user behavior, attributes, and page paths
• Multi-Step Flows: Support for multi-step wizard-style guidance with progress indicators
• Style Customization: Branded custom styling for seamless integration with app UI

Checklists

• Onboarding Checklists: Create onboarding checklists for new users to guide key actions
• Progress Tracking: Real-time task completion progress to motivate user exploration
• Auto-Completion: Tasks auto-mark complete when users perform the target action

Goals

• Behavior Goals: Define key user behaviors as goals and track completion rates
• Funnel Analysis: Visualize goal completion funnels to identify drop-off points
• Activation Analysis: Measure user activation success rates to optimize onboarding

NPS Surveys

• In-App Surveys: Launch NPS and CSAT surveys at key moments in the user journey
• Auto-Analysis: Automatically aggregate scores and categorize promoters/passives/detractors
• Feedback Collection: Open-ended questions for qualitative user feedback

Appcues AI

• AI Guidance Generation: Auto-generate guidance content and copy based on product UI
• Smart Recommendations: Analyze user behavior data to recommend optimal guidance timing
• Content Optimization: AI-assisted A/B testing for automated guidance conversion optimization

Core Strengths

No-Code Simplicity: Drag-and-drop guidance builder, no development resources needed, product managers can work independently
Lightweight Integration: Lightweight JavaScript SDK with basic setup in under 15 minutes
Precise Targeting: Smart trigger engine based on user behavior and attributes for precise targeting
Ready-to-Use Templates: Rich library of guidance templates and best practices for quick launch
Transparent Pricing: Per-active-user pricing model, SMB-friendly

Market Position

Appcues competes with the following providers in the user onboarding and product adoption market:

• Pendo: Full-featured analytics and guidance platform, more comprehensive but complex, suited for mid-large enterprises
• Userpilot: User onboarding and product adoption platform focused on product-led growth strategies
• Whatfix: Enterprise Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) focused on employee training and app guidance
• WalkMe: Digital Adoption Platform focused on enterprise-level SalesForce/SAP application guidance
• Chameleon: Lightweight user guidance tool focused on tooltips and feature promotion

Key Funding