WalkMe used to be the platform you picked once your product had outgrown lightweight onboarding tools and needed enterprise-grade solutions. However, since SAP bought WalkMe for $1.5 billion in 2024, its product support and development roadmap now serves SAP’s Joule initiative first and independent SaaS customers second. That’s not a knock against the product itself but something to be aware of if you’re considering investing heavily in WalkMe.

The question of whether to use it is now partially dependent on whether you’re an enterprise running SAP software that WalkMe now serves natively or an independent SaaS company that needs an onboarding tool built specifically for your needs rather than the wider organizational initiatives of another parent company. This guide will go over what’s changed in WalkMe since its acquisition and compare it with Userpilot across four key categories:

  1. User onboarding.
  2. Product analytics.
  3. Feedback collection.
  4. Subscription pricing.

User onboarding is where most teams begin their comparison, so let’s start there.

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Userpilot vs WalkMe for user onboarding

Category Userpilot WalkMe
Building blocks Tooltips, modals, driven actions, resource centre, segmentation Onboarding Tasks, SmartTips, ShoutOuts, and Launchers
AI-assisted creation Lia drafts a flow from a plain-language description Not part of this onboarding suite
Tooltip targeting Native tooltips attach to the UI element itself SmartTips surface through SAP’s Joule action bar
Mobile onboarding Native mobile SDK with carousels, push notifications, and mobile analytics Browser and desktop only, no dedicated mobile SDK
Workflow enforcement Guidance-first; steps can be skipped Non-skippable steps lock users into a required sequence, built for compliance use cases
SCORM/LMS export Not supported Exports Walk-Thrus as SCORM packages for LMS integration
Implementation timeline Self-serve, ship a flow the same day Weeks to months, configured by a digital adoption team
Who typically builds it Product managers Digital adoption team
Best fit Any SaaS product SAP-ecosystem products

Userpilot for user onboarding

Userpilot's building blocks, Lia AI-assisted creation, native mobile SDK, and same-day setup for user onboarding.

Userpilot’s no-code builder lets you install a browser extension, pick a UI pattern, and ship an entire onboarding flow just minutes later. You don’t have to build these flows entirely by hand either because Userpilot’s AI agent, Lia, can draft an onboarding flow from a plain-language description, then let you edit from there instead of starting from scratch with a blank canvas. Native tooltips attach to the UI element itself instead of a fixed page location, funnel reports track conversions step by step, and user segmentation filters users based on multiple properties.

userpilot-tooltip-editor-GIF
Userpilot’s no-code flow builder.

Userpilot also ships mobile onboarding patterns, including carousels, push notifications, and mobile-specific analytics, so teams building native iOS or Android apps aren’t stuck bolting on a separate tool. This makes Userpilot the natural fit for mobile-first applications because of its self-serve, user-friendly setup process (compared to WalkMe’s mobile SDK integration that often requires developer assistance).

userpilot-mobile-onboarding-flow
Userpilot’s no-code mobile onboarding flows.

WalkMe for user onboarding

WalkMe's onboarding stack, Joule action bar surfacing, workflow enforcement, SCORM/LMS export, and implementation timeline.

WalkMe’s onboarding stack still centers on the same building blocks it’s always had with Onboarding Tasks, SmartTips, ShoutOuts, and Launchers. However, Smart Walk-Thrus are increasingly surfaced through SAP’s Joule action bar rather than as a standalone WalkMe overlay. This is a better experience if your users already live inside SAP applications but can feel awkward and clunky if they don’t.

walkme-smarttip
WalkMe’s SmartTips let you embed contextual guidance within UI elements.

WalkMe can also enforce workflow steps rather than just suggest them, using Onboarding Tasks that lock users into a required sequence until each step is completed. That non-skippable enforcement is arguably WalkMe’s strongest pitch for compliance-heavy enterprises that need employees to complete mandatory steps in a specific order. WalkMe can even export Walk-Thrus as SCORM packages for upload into a corporate LMS, which matters for enterprise L&D teams that need training content to live inside their existing learning management system.

Because SmartTips and Onboarding Tasks are typically configured by a digital adoption team working through SAP’s Joule action bar, implementation timelines usually run weeks to months rather than the same-day setup Userpilot offers. The practical difference is that Userpilot flows are meant to be built by product managers, while WalkMe’s onboarding tasks are typically configured by dedicated digital adoption teams (and are strongest when the target application falls within the SAP ecosystem).

Userpilot vs WalkMe for product analytics

Category Userpilot WalkMe
Product analytics Trend reports by feature or segment, funnel reports that pinpoint drop-off points, and usage data that syncs with third-party tools like Amplitude or Segment (not all of our features) Deep analytics surface process friction, automation opportunities, and Joule performance
Named analytics product Product Analytics WalkMe Insights
Automation layer No dedicated bot; teams ship fixes directly with no-code tooltips and checklists ActionBot automates the manual steps analytics flag
Acting on insights Closes activation drop-off using no-code tooltips and checklists built directly in the tool Flags areas where manual steps in SAP processes can be automated
Adaptive learning Tailors experiences to actual behavior Relies mainly on static rules
Built for Product teams reading funnels and shipping fixes the same day Digital-adoption teams tracking usage across their SAP suite

Userpilot for product analytics

Userpilot's trend reports, funnel reports, third-party sync, adaptive targeting, and same-day fix workflow.

Userpilot’s product analytics lets you build trend reports by feature or segment, review funnel reports that show exactly where users get stuck, and connect integrations that sync usage data with other platforms like Amplitude or Segment.

Userpilot product usage dashboard
Userpilot’s product usage dashboard tracks active users, product stickiness, and feature engagement without manual setup.

When we shipped Userpilot’s own email feature, our activation funnel showed a sharp drop-off right at domain verification. Instead of filing a ticket and waiting on the engineering queue, I built a targeting tooltip and a short checklist directly inside Userpilot in a few hours, and the drop-off closed within days, without a single line of code. That’s the thing product analytics tools rarely admit: a suggestion from the data, or from an AI summary of the data, is still just an experiment until you ship the fix and watch what happens.

As our CEO Yazan Sehwail pointed out, adoption challenges only compound as feature velocity increases:

“As producing and building features become a lot cheaper, instead of every quarter, you’re releasing one or two features, now you’re releasing 7, 8, 9. It becomes even harder for product teams to manually have to track each one and understand usage for each one.”

WalkMe for product analytics

WalkMe Insights reporting, ActionBot automation, process-friction detection, and Joule performance tracking.

WalkMe’s analytics are genuinely deep, but they’re built around application usage inside the SAP ecosystem to identify which processes cause friction, where automation can replace manual steps, and how Joule’s contextual assistance is performing. WalkMe packages these analytics under WalkMe Insights, its dedicated reporting product, while ActionBot, WalkMe’s automation and chatbot layer, is what actually executes the manual-step automation the analytics flag rather than just recommending it.

walkme-digital-adoption-analytics
WalkMe’s analytics dashboards track application usage and digital adoption.

Userpilot vs WalkMe for feedback collection

Category Userpilot WalkMe
Survey capabilities 14 templates, behavioral triggers, and automated localization NPS, feedback, and knowledge-test surveys
Response context Pairs each response with session replay Primarily captures quantitative scores
Results rollup NPS dashboard compiles response data across every survey WalkMe Insights combines detractor, promoter, and passive breakdowns
Built for Product managers who ship fixes after reading responses Digital adoption teams who report scores upward to executive decision-makers

Userpilot for feedback collection

Userpilot's survey templates, behavioral triggers, localization, session replay pairing, and NPS dashboard rollup.

Userpilot’s survey builder ships with 14 templates, event-specific behavioral triggers, and native translation through either automated localization or manual CSV/XLIFF uploads.

Userpilot NPS dashboard
Userpilot’s NPS dashboard compiles response data across every survey without manual exports.

Userpilot also pairs survey responses with session replays, so you can watch what NPS detractors actually did in the product instead of guessing what motivated their score from the response alone.

WalkMe for feedback collection

WalkMe's survey types, frequency controls, and WalkMe Insights rollup for feedback collection.

WalkMe runs NPS, feedback, and knowledge-test surveys with frequency controls or manual triggers at the end of walkthroughs, then rolls the results up in WalkMe Insights, the same analytics product it uses to track application usage:

walkme-survey-builder
WalkMe’s survey builder lets you adjust frequency and trigger surveys after Walk-Thrus are completed.

The main difference is in who the dashboards were built for and how they were meant to be used. WalkMe dashboards assume a digital adoption team is reporting satisfaction scores to a C-Suite to monitor the broader health of an entire product suite. This is different from Userpilot’s survey analytics, which assume a product manager is reading the results and shipping a fix themselves.

What Userpilot and WalkMe actually cost

Category Userpilot WalkMe
Published pricing Starts at $299/month Pricing isn’t public
Pricing model Scales with monthly active users Custom enterprise contracts
Typical annual cost Starts at $3,588/year $80,000 to $500,000+/year
Professional services Live chat on all plans, priority troubleshooting on Growth or higher Additional $30,000 to $150,000/year
Time to first value Days, self-serve setup Weeks to months, dedicated implementation project
Built for Mid-market SaaS companies looking to increase growth and retention Large enterprises already spending heavily on SAP products

Userpilot pricing

Userpilot’s pricing starts at $299/month and scales with monthly active users. Every plan includes the full set of UI patterns and access to live chat support. Because there’s no implementation project to budget for, most teams are live within the same billing cycle they sign up in.

userpilot-pricing
Userpilot’s $299/month starting price, MAU-based scaling, live chat support, and same-cycle time to value.

WalkMe pricing

WalkMe doesn’t publish its pricing publicly, so most of these estimates are based on anecdotal reports from their customers. Mid-market deployments typically cost between $80,000 and $130,000 a year while large enterprise deployments can cost over $500,000 annually, with professional services adding another $150,000 on top of the annual contract value. That contract value typically also buys a multi-week to multi-month implementation, run by WalkMe’s own services team or a partner, rather than a self-serve setup.

walkme-pricing
WalkMe’s custom enterprise contracts, professional services add-on, and implementation timeline.

Sticker shock aside, this isn’t too surprising when you remember that WalkMe was built and priced for enterprises already investing heavily into the SAP ecosystem with large digital transformation budgets. Userpilot was built and priced for mid-market SaaS companies where onboarding tools have to produce tangible outcomes in the form of revenue growth or user retention in order to provide a direct ROI on the subscription cost.

Should you use Userpilot or WalkMe

Scenario Pick Why
You run a SaaS product and are onboarding your own customers Userpilot Built for product teams, priced for direct ROI, no engineering time required
Your organization runs primarily on internal SAP applications WalkMe Native integration with SuccessFactors, Ariba, Concur, Joule, and other SAP products
You need product analytics that feed directly into in-app fixes Userpilot Funnels, trends, and segmentation built for product decisions, not executive reporting

WalkMe is no longer an independent digital adoption platform courting any customers willing to use it. It’s now the guidance layer within SAP’s own product. Since the acquisition, SAP has already wired WalkMe into SuccessFactors, Ariba, Concur, and Sales and Service Cloud. If your organization already runs on SAP applications, then WalkMe becomes native infrastructure. However, customers outside the SAP ecosystem should be aware that they’re evaluating a vendor whose roadmap is now more dependent on synergistic strategy than user feedback.

Mid-market SaaS companies who are growing their user base and shipping in-app guidance flows themselves will greatly benefit from the hands-on feature set, no-code implementation, and affordable pricing that Userpilot offers. If that description matches your growth stage and use case, book a demo so we can walk you through how Userpilot rapidly supports product-led onboarding without requiring those lengthy enterprise rollouts!

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About the author
Abrar Abutouq

Abrar Abutouq

Product Manager

Product Manager at Userpilot – Building products, product adoption, User Onboarding. I'm passionate about building products that serve user needs and solve real problems. With a strong foundation in product thinking and a willingness to constantly challenge myself, I thrive at the intersection of user experience, technology, and business impact. I’m always eager to learn, adapt, and turn ideas into meaningful solutions that create value for both users and the business.

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