Comparing Top In-App Messaging Tools For Driving User Engagement

Research by Braze found that companies pairing in-app messaging with emails experience a 315% boost in engagement, compared to just 45% for email interactions. The report also showed in-app messaging outperforms email and push notifications when each is used on its own.

That lines up with what I see in my day-to-day work. In-app messages show up when users are already inside your product, which makes them far more likely to act on what they see.

The challenge is choosing the right platform. Not all in-app messaging tools are built for the same job. Some are designed to drive activation and feature adoption, others focus on retention across channels, and some are built for reliability at scale.

Most comparison guides lump all of these together, which makes it harder to figure out what actually fits your situation. I wanted this guide to be more useful than that. So instead of treating every tool as interchangeable, I’ve broken them down by use case and budget.

Here’s a side-by-side snapshot of the most relevant options before we go deeper into each one.

Tool	Category	Best for	Key differentiator	Common caveat	Pricing
Userpilot	DAP	B2B SaaS PMs — onboarding + adoption analytics	In-app building + native analytics in one tool for mobile and web applications	MAU-based pricing; not suitable for startups with limited budget	From $299/mo, billed annually.
Appcues	DAP	Mid-market SaaS — fast onboarding + multichannel	Native push + email alongside in-app	Shallow analytics; still needs separate analytics tool	$6,462 – $44,320 per year
Chameleon	DAP	Design-focused SaaS — highly customized in-app flows	Full CSS control; pixel-perfect customization	Requires frontend dev; steep learning curve	$13,200 – $109,325 per year
UserGuiding	DAP	Startups and small SaaS — budget onboarding basics	Cheapest full DAP; no sales call required	No session replay, autocapture, or mobile; weak analytics	From $2088 per year
Intercom	Support + messaging	SaaS support teams — chat + basic user onboarding	All-in-one inbox (AI, chat, onboarding, help docs)	Product Tours is an add-on	$5,970 – $206,273 per year
Braze	Engagement platform	Enterprise B2C — high-volume omnichannel campaigns	Real-time event processing; strong campaign orchestration	Heavy implementation; requires marketing engineers; expensive	$22,611 – $400,000 per year
CleverTap	Engagement platform	Mobile apps — retention-focused, analytics-led	10-year behavioral memory (TesseractDB)	Steep learning curve; config-heavy; limited templates	$29,708 – $108,000 per year
MoEngage	Engagement platform	Mid-market mobile apps — easier Braze alternative	Insights-led platform with native web personalization	Performance issues at scale; analytics not as deep as standalone tools	Avg. ~$186,725 per year
Pushwoosh	Engagement platform	SMBs and mid-market — push-first omnichannel messaging	Strong push infrastructure with simple journey builder	Limited product analytics; UI can feel dated	Avg. ~$14,000 per year
CometChat	Chat infrastructure	Apps needing real-time chat, voice, and video	SDK-first approach with built-in voice and video calling	Requires engineering resources; not built for product onboarding or analytics	From $239/mo billed annually.
OneSignal	Engagement platform	Developers and product teams — push-first messaging with in-app support	Developer-friendly APIs with strong push delivery and simple in-app messaging setup	Limited product analytics and user onboarding capabilities	$7,204 – $65,993 per year

What is in-app messaging?

In-app messaging refers to the different ways you can engage users while they are actively using your app.

The idea is to guide users through their journey by sending relevant messages at the right time.

In-app messages vs push notifications

In-app messages and mobile push notifications are often used interchangeably, but they are quite different.

Users receive in-app messages when they are actively using your app. They can appear in different sizes and are customized for individual users to boost conversion.

Push notifications are messages that users receive when the app is not in use. They appear via pop-ups or banners on their lock screen.

Push notifications are not as powerful as in-app messages because they can easily be buried alongside other notifications before a user even unlocks their phone.

On the other hand, in-app messaging works better because it targets active users and is delivered in context, when they are most likely to take action.

Key features of in-app messaging platforms

Some of the best in-app messaging solutions are built around key app features that help them deliver high-value messages that motivate action.

The key features include:

• No code builder/editor: A no-code builder is one of the most important in-app messaging features, allowing non-technical teams to create and customize messages with a simple drag-and-drop editor.
• Rich media support: You can embed rich media such as images, videos, and GIFs in your messages or in-app notifications to better engage users and capture attention.
• Advanced segmentation: In-app messaging tools have segmentation capabilities that let you deliver highly personalized messages to different user groups and prompt users to take specific actions based on their behavior
• Analytics insights: In-app messaging tools use real-time analytics to track clicks and impressions and trigger the right messages to active users. They can also analyze how users interact with these, so you can improve your in-app marketing campaigns.
• Experimentation tools for optimizing the conversion rates: Run tests to find the right wording, format, copy, and even timing for your in-app messages. You can test different message templates and variants to identify the best version for your users.
• User feedback collection tools: With these tools, you can collect in-app user feedback to identify user preferences, find opportunities for improvement, and enhance customer satisfaction.

Evaluating the most popular in-app messaging tools for SaaS companies

Now let’s take a closer look at the most widely used in-app messaging tools and where each one actually fits.

1. Userpilot: Best in-app messaging solution for web and mobile apps

Userpilot is a no-code product adoption platform built for PMs and CS teams that want to create in-app experiences and measure their impact without relying on engineering. You can build tooltips, modals, banners, checklists, and hotspots while tracking user interactions through built-in product analytics.

We were initially focused on web applications, but in 2025, we introduced a mobile SDK (iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter), effectively extending our in-app messaging and analytics across both web and mobile environments.

Key features

• Wide range of in-app messaging formats: Create modals, tooltips, slideouts, banners, hotspots, checklists, and in-app surveys to guide users through onboarding and feature adoption without writing code.
• Behavior-based triggering and segmentation: Trigger messages based on user actions such as clicks, hovers, or completed events, and segment users by behavior, attributes, or lifecycle stage to keep messaging relevant and boost engagement.
• Built-in product analytics: Track how users interact with each in-app experience, analyze feature usage, and tie messaging directly to outcomes without relying on external analytics tools.
• Cross-platform messaging (web and mobile): Deliver consistent in-app experiences across web and mobile apps using a single platform, with SDK support for iOS, Android, React Native, and Flutter.
• Experimentation and optimization tools: Run A/B and multivariate tests on messaging flows to identify what drives the highest engagement, conversions, and feature adoption.

To see how this works in a real product environment, it’s worth looking at how Jiminny uses Userpilot to connect analytics with in-app engagement and drive adoption at scale.

Jiminny’s product team needed a way to move beyond static announcements and actually guide users to new features while tracking how those features performed. By combining in-app messaging with built-in analytics, they were able to launch features, monitor adoption in real time, and follow up with targeted nudges when engagement dropped.

Instead of relying on engineering for every tracking update, the team set up events themselves and used that data to refine onboarding flows, segment users by role and plan, and personalize feature announcements. Over time, this created a repeatable loop of launching, measuring, and improving.

That shift had a measurable impact. Every in-app announcement led to visible spikes in feature adoption, and for enterprise customers supported with tailored flows, Jiminny saw a 79% renewal rate.

“Userpilot has become an important part of how we launch new features. With in-app flows, we can make sure users actually discover and try them. Tooltips in particular create an immediate spike in engagement because they encourage users to explore what’s new.” — Galya Dimitrova, Head of Product, Jiminny

Verdict

Userpilot is best suited for non-technical teams that want to manage in-app messaging, onboarding, and product analytics in one place. It helps you drive feature adoption and clearly see what is working through built-in analytics, without adding extra tools to your stack.

That said, it is not built for teams that need deep frontend control or highly custom implementations at the code level. The trade-off here is intentional. You gain speed and independence, but you give up some flexibility that developer-first tools provide.

Pricing: Userpilot uses MAU-based pricing, with plans starting at $299/month (billed annually) for up to 2,000 monthly active users. Higher tiers add advanced analytics, session replay, and enterprise features, with custom pricing for larger teams.

2. Appcues for fast onboarding and multichannel messaging

Appcues is geared toward product-led growth teams that want to improve onboarding and early user activation through in-app messaging. It enables teams to create flows and extend engagement beyond the product with native email and push capabilities.

Key features

• Visual builder for in-app flows: Design and launch onboarding experiences like modals, tooltips, and checklists directly on your interface without writing code.
• Multichannel messaging: Send email and push notifications alongside in-app messages from the same platform.
• Template library for common use cases: Start with pre-built patterns for onboarding, announcements, and feature adoption instead of building flows from scratch every time.
• Basic analytics and flow performance tracking: Monitor engagement metrics like views, clicks, and completions to understand how users interact with your flows, though deeper product analytics requires external tools.

Verdict

I’d pick Appcues when the priority is getting onboarding flows and in-app messages live quickly without leaning too hard on engineering. It’s a strong option if you want to move fast and keep things simple, especially in the early stages of building out your onboarding experience.

However, that simplicity can start to show limits as your use cases become more complex. While Appcues now supports multi-step workflows, managing and scaling those experiences can become harder over time. As you layer multiple conditions, user segments, and flows, it’s not always easy to maintain a clear view of how everything connects or performs together. Some users also report performance issues when running a large number of flows.

Pricing: Appcues no longer publishes detailed pricing publicly. Based on recent purchases tracked by Vendr, costs typically range from around $6,000 to $44,000+ per year, depending on your scale, features, and negotiation terms.

3. Chameleon for highly customized in-app messaging experiences

Chameleon is an adoption platform designed for teams that want full control over how in-app messages look and behave inside their product. It allows you to design flows that blend into your interface, with precise control over styling, positioning, and interaction patterns.

Key features

• Advanced styling with CSS control: Customize the look and feel of in-app messages using CSS so they match your product’s design system rather than feeling like overlays.
• Embeddables for native in-app UI elements: Build banners or cards that live directly inside your interface, making them feel like part of the product rather than temporary messages.
• Flexible UI placement and targeting: Position tooltips, banners, and modals precisely within your interface and anchor them to specific elements for more contextual guidance.
• Customizable tours and interactive flows: Create multi-step onboarding flows that can adapt to different user paths and use cases.

Verdict

In addition to advanced styling and customization, Chameleon works well for teams that already rely on external analytics tools like Mixpanel or Amplitude, since it acts as an execution layer for targeting and delivering in-app experiences based on that data.

Keep in mind that the platform is web-first, so you’ll need a separate solution if you’re looking to support mobile apps on iOS or Android. It also comes with a steeper learning curve, and getting the most out of its customization often requires more technical involvement than plug-and-play tools like Userpilot or Appcues.

Pricing: Chameleon offers a Startup plan starting at $279/month (billed annually) for up to 1,000 monthly tracked users. Higher tiers like Growth start around $15,000/year, with Enterprise plans available via custom pricing.

4. UserGuiding for simple, budget-friendly onboarding flows

UserGuiding is a solid option if you’re looking for a lightweight, budget-friendly way to handle onboarding and in-app messaging. It gives you the core building blocks to guide users inside your product, without the complexity or cost that comes with more advanced platforms.

Key features

• Interactive guides and tours: Create multi-step walkthroughs using a Chrome extension builder, with branching logic that adapts flows based on user interactions.
• Onboarding checklists: Use task-based checklists with progress tracking to encourage users to complete important setup steps and reach activation milestones.
• Hotspots and tooltips: Highlight features with subtle beacons and contextual hints that draw attention without interrupting the user experience.
• In-app surveys: Collect real-time feedback, including NPS and custom survey responses, directly within your product to understand user sentiment and needs.

Verdict

If you need a checklist, a resource center, and a few tours but can’t justify $1,000+/month, UserGuiding is a very practical choice. And I have to admit, it’s one of the easiest plug-and-play builders on this list. A marketer or CSM can have a basic tour live in under an hour without touching a line of code.

That said, the platform isn’t ideal for more complex or dynamic web apps. If your product relies on heavy frontend logic, like nested iframes or highly dynamic SPAs, the UserGuiding extension can struggle to consistently detect elements, which can lead to broken or unreliable tours. As your user base grows, the lack of more advanced governance and organization can also make things feel cluttered over time.

Pricing: UserGuiding offers a free plan for basic support features. Paid plans start at $174/month for the Starter tier and $349/month for the Growth plan (both billed annually), with an Enterprise plan available on custom pricing for larger teams.

5. Intercom for support-driven in-app messaging and chat

Intercom is the heavy hitter for teams that want in-app messaging, onboarding, and customer support to live under one roof. While most tools treat onboarding as a set of flows, Intercom approaches it as a conversation, allowing you to move a user from an automated message or tour into a live chat with a human agent.

Key features

• Product Tours and tooltips: Build walkthroughs to guide users through your product, with the option to embed videos or avatars in a way that makes onboarding feel more personal and less static.
• Posts and Notes for announcements: Use Posts for full-screen or large messages when you need to announce major product updates, and Notes for smaller, less intrusive tips that appear within the interface.
• The Messenger as a central hub: All in-app messages connect to the Messenger widget, so users can respond directly and turn a message into a conversation or support ticket without leaving the product.
• Fin AI agent for automated support: Use Intercom’s Fin AI agent to resolve customer questions in real time by pulling from your help center and past conversations. It can handle a large share of support queries automatically, while handing off more complex issues to human agents when needed.

Verdict

Intercom is not the right fit if you’re looking for a dedicated digital adoption platform. While it offers onboarding elements like product tours, they are relatively basic. For example, unlike tools built specifically for product adoption, Intercom’s tours are mostly linear (Step 1 → Step 2 → Step 3) and lack more advanced branching or flow logic.

Where it stands out is in combining messaging with real-time support. If your goal is to guide existing users while also giving them a way to ask questions and get help instantly, Intercom does that better than most tools.

Pricing: On the surface, Intercom’s pricing starts at $29 per seat/month (billed annually), but costs can increase quickly as you add more seats and pay for add-ons like Product Tours or advanced automation. Based on data from Vendr, companies typically spend anywhere between $5,970 and $206,273 per year, depending on usage and scale.

6. Braze for enterprise-grade omnichannel engagement campaigns

Braze is built for teams that need to orchestrate complex messaging campaigns from a single platform. It combines real-time event data with advanced segmentation to deliver personalized campaigns across channels like in-app, push, email, and SMS at scale.

Key features

• Customer journey builder: Design multi-step user journeys that adapt based on user actions, with branching logic to guide users through different paths.
• Dynamic personalization with Connected Content: Use Liquid templating and API calls to pull in real-time data, such as user-specific offers, customer loyalty points, or product recommendations. This helps you deliver messages that feel timely and relevant without relying on static content.
• Content Cards and inline banners: Deliver persistent messages through an in-app inbox with Content Cards, or embed banners directly into your UI so messages feel like part of the product rather than interruptions.
• Experimentation and optimization tools: Run A/B and multivariate tests across campaigns to refine messaging, timing, and channels for better performance.

Verdict

Braze is a strong choice if you have millions of users across web, iOS, and Android and need to run messaging at scale without performance issues. Because it integrates deeply with your backend or CDPs like Segment, you can use Liquid logic to pull in real-time data, such as user activity, subscription tier, or remaining usage limits, and use that information to trigger highly relevant in-app messages.

That said, Braze is not a no-code UI builder. You cannot simply point and click to create multi-step product tours that anchor to specific UI elements like you can with tools like Appcues or UserGuiding. To make those triggers work, your developers need to instrument events in your codebase. In other words, it is not a tool that a marketer or product manager can fully set up and manage on their own.

Pricing: Braze says they “don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all rate card,” so pricing is custom. Data from Vendr suggests it ranges from $22,611 to $400,000 per year

7. CleverTap for retention-focused mobile messaging and analytics

CleverTap is an integrated engagement and analytics platform designed primarily for mobile-first companies.

Instead of just pushing messages, it focuses on individualization at scale, using AI-driven insights to predict which users are likely to churn. It then automatically triggers personalized messages across in-app, push, SMS, and WhatsApp to keep them active.

Key features

• Behavioral segmentation with long-term data: Build user segments based on historical behavior, not just recent events, using CleverTap’s long-term data storage to understand behavior patterns over time.
• Journeys and automation builder: Create multi-step lifecycle campaigns that adapt based on user actions, allowing you to guide them through onboarding, engagement, and user retention flows.
• Native display for embedded experiences: Embed personalized content like loyalty badges, recommendations, or promotions directly into your app’s interface so it feels like a built-in feature rather than a message.
• App inbox for persistent messaging: Give users a central place to revisit updates, offers, or important notifications that don’t disappear after a single interaction.

Verdict

CleverTap works best for high-velocity B2C apps in industries like e-commerce, fintech, and gaming, where the goal is to keep users engaged through frequent, personalized touchpoints.

While you can use the platform for B2B SaaS, it is less suited for product-led onboarding and feature adoption. For example, it doesn’t offer the same level of UI-based onboarding elements like checklists, interactive walkthroughs, or in-app guidance tied directly to specific product actions, which are often critical in SaaS environments.

Pricing: CleverTap’s pricing starts at $75/month for smaller teams (up to 5,000 monthly active users). The more advanced plans are quote-based.

8. MoEngage for AI-driven lifecycle messaging and personalization

MoEngage is a cross-channel customer engagement platform built for teams that want to turn customer data into action without the typical enterprise bloat.

While it operates in the same category as Braze and CleverTap, it differentiates itself through an insights-first approach, using its AI engine to determine the best time, channel, and message for each user.

Key features

• Drag-and-drop campaign builder: Create in-app messages, push notifications, and multi-step journeys using a visual editor with pre-built templates for banners, modals, and full-screen experiences.
• Omnichannel journey orchestration: Design lifecycle campaigns that move users across channels and adapt based on behavior, ensuring consistent engagement throughout the user journey.
• Intelligent Path Optimizer: Automatically select the best channel (in-app, push, email, SMS) for each user based on their past engagement patterns.
• Merlin AI segment assist: Build complex audience segments using natural language prompts like, “target users who saw the upsell modal twice and are yet to upgrade.”

Verdict

MoEngage is a strong option if you like the idea of Braze but want something easier to get up and running. The platform leans heavily into guided workflows and AI assistance, so instead of manually configuring every journey or channel, tools like Merlin help decide how and when to engage users.

That said, the ease of use mostly applies once everything is in place. The initial setup still requires technical work. You’ll need developers to integrate the SDK, define events, and structure your data properly before the AI and automation features can deliver meaningful results.

Pricing: MoEngage operates on a quote-based model. Based on Vendr data, the average contract value is around $186,725 per year, though actual costs can vary significantly depending on usage and negotiation.

9. Pushwoosh for push-first omnichannel messaging journeys

Pushwoosh is a mobile engagement platform focused on delivering push notifications at scale, with supporting tools for in-app messaging and cross-channel campaigns.

It’s particularly well-suited for apps that rely on timely notifications, such as transactional alerts or real-time updates, where reliable and fast delivery directly impacts user experience.

Key features

• No-code visual editor: Use a drag-and-drop builder with pre-made templates to create in-app messages without engineering support.
• Push notification automation and segmentation: Trigger push notifications based on user behavior, location, or attributes, with scheduling and frequency controls to manage engagement.
• In-app stories: Deliver messages in a tappable, vertical “story” format similar to social media, which can drive higher engagement for announcements, promotions, and feature updates.
• Rich media and custom HTML support: Embed videos (YouTube, Vimeo) or build fully custom interactive experiences using HTML to create more engaging in-app content.

Verdict

Pushwoosh offers a similar level of omnichannel capability as Blaze and CleverTap, but is more accessible for startups and mid-market teams thanks to its flexible pricing model.

It is worth noting that its analytics are relatively basic. While it tracks metrics like clicks and views, it lacks the depth of platforms like CleverTap when it comes to understanding long-term user behavior.

Pricing: Pushwoosh offers a free plan for up to 1,000 MAUs. Paid plans start at $13/month for 2,000 MAUs and increase in a linear progression as your user base grows, for example, $26 for 3,000 MAUs, $39 for 4,000, and $52 for 5,000. Custom pricing applies once you exceed 230,000 MAUs.

10. CometChat for real-time chat, voice, and video messaging

CometChat is a Chat-as-a-Service platform designed for teams that want to build a fully functional, native messaging experience directly inside their product. It provides the infrastructure for real-time communication, enabling users to chat one-on-one, join group conversations, or interact with support agents.

Key features

• Real-time messaging: Enable private and group conversations with features like typing indicators, read receipts, reactions, and threaded replies to create a familiar chat experience.
• Voice and video calling: Add one-on-one or group audio and video calls directly into your app, which is essential for marketplaces, collaboration tools, or social platforms.
• AI-powered moderation: Detect and filter harmful content such as hate speech, spam, or abuse in real time using contextual AI, with support for multiple languages.
• Notification engine: Manage push, email, and SMS alerts with controls for delivery timing, quiet hours, and retry logic to ensure messages are seen without overwhelming users.

Verdict

CometChat is a great choice if messaging is a core part of your product, such as enabling conversations between different user groups like buyers and sellers, drivers and customers, or students and instructors.

However, it is not designed for product adoption or lifecycle messaging. You cannot use CometChat to build onboarding tours, feature announcement modals, or collect NPS feedback. Its scope is strictly focused on enabling real-time communication between users or between users and support teams.

Pricing: CometChat offers a free “Build” plan for development and testing. Paid plans start at $239/month (billed annually) for basic chat functionality and go up to $359/month for more advanced features like AI moderation and multi-channel notifications. Enterprise pricing is custom and typically starts at higher usage tiers (10,000+ MAUs).

11. OneSignal for developer-friendly push and in-app messaging

OneSignal is a messaging platform built for teams that want to implement push notifications and in-app messaging with minimal setup. It’s especially popular among developers for its straightforward APIs and quick integration.

Key features

• Visual message builder: Create push notifications and in-app messages using a simple drag-and-drop editor.
• Extensive SDKs and REST API: Integrate messaging across platforms like React Native, Flutter, Unity, iOS, and Android, with full API support for triggering transactional notifications from your backend.
• Soft permission prompts: Show a custom in-app “primer” before triggering native OS permission requests for push or location access, which helps improve opt-in rates.
• AI-powered messaging and delivery: Use AI to generate message copy and optimize send times, helping you reach users when they are most likely to engage.

Verdict

If you need to send your first push or in-app message today, OneSignal is hard to beat. Its SDKs are easy to install, and the interface is simple enough for non-technical teams to start launching campaigns quickly.

Where it starts to show limits is customization. The drag-and-drop builder works well for speed, but if you want messages to look like a fully native part of your product, you’ll likely need to rely on custom HTML. At that point, the simplicity gives way to more hands-on work, which is often where developers step in to take full control.

Pricing: OneSignal offers a free plan with access to core messaging features, making it one of the most budget-friendly tools on this list. Paid plans start at $19/month, with additional usage-based costs depending on the channels you use, while higher-tier plans come with custom pricing.

Choose the right in-app messaging tool for your needs

As mentioned earlier, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for in-app messaging. The right tool depends on your in-app messaging strategy, who is using the tool, and how your product is built.

• If your focus is onboarding and feature adoption without relying on engineering, consider Appcues, UserGuiding, or Chameleon.
• If you need enterprise-grade, omnichannel campaigns powered by data and real-time events, tools like Braze, CleverTap, and MoEngage are better suited.
• If messaging is part of your product experience, such as chat, voice, or video between users, CometChat is the right fit.
• If push notifications are your primary engagement channel and you want a lightweight, flexible setup, look at Pushwoosh or OneSignal.
• And if you need an all-in-one, cross-platform solution that combines in-app messaging with product analytics to drive adoption and retention, consider Userpilot.

👉 Book a demo to see how Userpilot can help you build, personalize, and optimize in-app experiences across web and mobile.