Navattic vs. Tourial vs. HowdyGo - Compare interactive product demo tools
If you're a marketer evaluating interactive product demo platforms there are a variety of options on the market. These are the decision points we see as important factors:
TLDR;
The main differences in functionality between Navattic vs. Tourial vs. HowdyGo stem from how the demos are captured. Tourial takes static screenshots of your product while Navattic and HowdyGo capture your product in fully interactive HTML/CSS.
The platforms also differ significantly in pricing, with HowdyGo being a much more affordable option (starts at $79/month).
Screenshot demos (Tourial) are "clickable slideshows" that cycle through screenshots of your product. This limits their interactivity and your ability to customize them, but means that each "slide" can be anything, including a screenshot of a product that isn't web based.
HTML demos (Navattic and HowdyGo) are perfect clones of your product. Viewers can interact with elements on the page, scroll, hover and click on things like drop-down lists as if they were in your actual app. In addition, they allow you to edit the content of the captured app after recording (text, images, etc).
When should you choose Navattic?
If you have complex procurement processes, they offer SOC2 compliance and have a sales and account management structure to navigate those processes.
Navattic is suited to companies who need a product demo tool that will work for large, multi-team marketing functions. They've built a recognizable brand, and by all accounts are great to work with.
When should you choose Tourial?
You should consider Tourial if your product is not web based. Screenshot demos lack interactivity and customization but allow you to add any screenshot into them, including those not from web based products.
When should you choose HowdyGo?
HowdyGo is built from the ground up to get you up and running fast with pixel-perfect product demos. We provide friendly pricing and the guidance you need to prove the value of interactive product demos for your business.
Experiment friendly pricing
Fast learning curve
Individual guidance from the founding team
Starting with interactive demos can be daunting, but they've made it simple. We've easily integrated tools like Hubspot, we have clear reporting and attribution so we can track impact on things like conversion rates, and setting up/testing demos has been seamless."
Compare pricing
Building demos is a team sport and all three software options give you plenty of users. Where they differ considerably is in the pricing. HowdyGo is by far the most accessible option starting at $79/month for unlimited users and is the only one that provides a free trial.
Compare functionality
Demo quality and editability
As HowdyGo and Navattic capture HTML demos, they offer lots of powerful capabilities that screenshot demo platforms like Tourial can't. This includes editing anything like text and images in the recorded UI and personalizing it for prospects.
HowdyGo is the only platform that offers HTML Interaction Replay, the ability to smoothly replay transitions exactly as they happen in your platform. While traditional HTML demos jump between different screens of your product, HowdyGo can show any animated transitions that occur between steps (eg. drag and drop, animated charts, multiple cursors, etc.)
Annotation customisation
All platforms offer extensive customisations options for the annotations you use to guide viewers through a demo. When demoing complex platforms, breaking a long demo into smaller chunks using checklists and demo centers can be especially useful and HowdyGo and Tourial offer the most flexibility on this.
Demo analytics
Demo analytics are offered by all three platforms. You can capture leads using forms, identify companies viewing demos and track how many viewers are engaging. HowdyGo also offers the ability to drill down into individual demos, understand how they are performing and identify ways to optimize them.
Integrations
Extensive integrations are offered by all platforms with CRMs (Eg. Hubspot, Salesforce) and marketing tools (Eg. Marketo). Navattic and HowdyGo also provide integrations with your analytics stack (Eg. Google Analytics, Segment).
Compare support
Getting started with interactive tours can feel a little intimidating. What should I demo? How should I capture and tell the story? Where should I put it to get the most impact?
That's why getting support and guidance is fundamental to your success when you start experimenting - HowdyGo is the only platform that provides more than just product support.
Example demos built with each software
We've picked some of the best examples of interactive product demos built with each platform to help you understand what a finished demo is like.
This is is the probably the best way to get a sense of the differences in look, feel and interactivity between HTML demos (HowdyGo and Navattic) vs screenshot demos (Tourial).
HowdyGo example - Flagsmith
Navattic example - Drift
Tourial example - Partful
FAQs
They replicate a flow in your SaaS and let you easily add onboarding-style callouts to a walkthrough.
This means you can embed your product, loaded with data, into your website and let people self-educate/self-qualify at their own pace.
Unlike an onboarding tool, it shows your product in a state that demonstrates to prospects functionality without making them guess what it’s capable of, when they're still deciding whether they should sign up for an account or book a demo.
If you're comparing different vendors, it's important to understand that interactive demo tools are split into these two categories:
- Full interactive HTML demos like HowdyGo, which let you edit your app after capturing, personalize content and generally offer a more convincing experience to your prospects. They feel high quality, like getting a new iPhone vs. your old Nokia 3310.
- Screenshot capture demos are effectively slideshows of your app. These tools are typically cheaper, and it can be a bit easier to get started. You're also unlikely to run into any weird recording glitches.
Learn more in our article Interactive Product Demos Explained.
The most common use-case we see is an embedded walkthrough of your software on your website.
While there are a whole host of potential use cases (and you can see some of them in our documentation) we recommend starting out by just creating a simple Platform Overview demo of your software, or on a specific, popular portion of your software.
This is a great place to begin because it gives you something practical that can be shared on your website, or directly with prospects and leads.
This is our 5 step simple guide to making an interactive demo:
- Capture a flow of your app that often gets demonstrated by your sales team.
- Add annotations, reuse messaging and convey a simple story that highlights your value proposition.
- Delete or auto-progress through unnecessary steps, your prospects want you to get to the point.
- Publish your demo and copy the embed code
- Paste the embed code into your CMS (whether it's Webflow, Unbounce, Wordpress, Ghost, Wix, etc.)
Your first demo shouldn't be too complicated. Just get started and have a bit of fun. It's really easy to add new steps, change the order around, edit text, etc.
TLDR; You can't. But they are great source material for creating a more engaging demo experience.
HowdyGo is designed to capture interactive, responsive HTML. This allows you to do cool stuff like editing the content of your app after capturing it, personalize what's on screen with templated values, and get analytics that are driven by actual user interactions (not just passive views).
Not to mention the fact it really feels like they are using your app.
Videos serve a purpose, but a 10 minute walkthrough doesn't do your product justice.
Nope, capturing a HowdyGo demo is easier than recording a video!
However, we can do 2 things to help you get up and running asap:
- We'll help you. We've created hundreds of demos of hundreds of SaaS apps, we're technically minded and we want to help you succeed. We've literally deployed products on AWS and interacted with customer APIs to get demos off the ground.
- HowdyGo is accessible to the entire team. If someone signs up from the same company you can see, edit, duplicate and share demos across your team easily. This makes it easy to get anyone you need involved at your company.
We've built HowdyGo with integrations in mind, so when one of our customers needs a new one, we jump on it and make it happen.
There's good news though, everything in HowdyGo works without integrating (lead capture and analytics included), and, when we start building an integration it often takes less than a week to have it up and running.
Here's a quote from one of our customers:"Wow you guys are fast!!".
Jump in and get started, then have a chat with us and we'll move heaven and earth to get you up and running the way you want.
