Storylane vs. Walnut 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:

• Contract length and price should align with your marketing goals.
• The editing experience and demo quality should meet your and your team's expectations.
• Guidance and support you receive during and after onboarding should provide a capable, positive and fun experience.

TLDR;

If you're looking for a HTML demo tool, HowdyGo is by far the most affordable option, starting at $159/month for unlimited users. If you are a single user and only require screenshot demos, then Storylane will work best for you. Screenshot demos come with significant limitations, so we've tried our best to explain the differences below.

Screenshot demos (Storylane $40/month/user tier) 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 (Walnut, HowdyGo and Storylane $500/month tier) 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).

Screenshot demos (Storylane) 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 (HowdyGo, Storylane and Walnut) 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 Storylane?

You should consider their screenshot demos if your product is not web based or you need to insert custom images instead of product screenshots as part of your demos. It's a very affordable option, and if you are a single user and don't need the additional customisation and interactivity HTML demos offer it will get the job done.

You should consider their HTML demo tier if you need a bit from both worlds (maybe you have a web app and a native app you need to demo).

Compare Storylane and HowdyGo

When should you choose Walnut.io?

If you need to convince a lot of your colleagues to get on board before you get started, Walnut has a traditional sales approach that's suited to handling those conversations.

Their product is extensive and suited to teams who can have someone specifically responsible for demo creation to learn the process of building them. They've built a recognizable brand and their demos are high quality and full HTML.

Compare Walnut and HowdyGo

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

A full access free trial, monthly payment terms and affordable pricing that's designed to let you experiment and prove the value of interactive demos for your business.

See our pricing

Fast learning curve

You'll have your first demo in minutes because our recording and editing experience is simple, with one-click recordings, no manual step mapping and sensible defaults to get you up and running in no time.

See how to create a demo

Individual guidance from the founding team

We're a small business motivated to deliver a great experience to a group of exceptional customers. It's not just support - we're here to help as much as you need so that you get the most out of your interactive demos.

"First off, the HowdyGo team is fantastic. This was important for us. They're whipsmart and building a great interactive demo product, but they're also genuinely supportive and great to work with. They're thoughtfully building and go above and beyond to make sure users have all the tools they need.

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."

- Anna Redbond, Head of Marketing at Flagsmith

Compare pricing

Once you build your first few interactive product demos, you'll find there are loads of use-cases for them and you'll want to involve other team members in the process. Reprise has strict limits on the number of demos and users you're able to onboard.

Aside from allowing unlimited users and demos, HowdyGo's price point is also much more friendly to smaller marketing teams, and will allow you to prove the value of interactive product demos to your business without a large upfront investment.

Compare functionality

Demo quality and editability

All three platforms capture high quality HTML demos and offer the ability to edit anything like text and images in the recorded UI. For Storylane, this only applies from their $500/month tier and above.

HowdyGo is the only platform that offers HTML Interaction Replay, the ability to smoothly replay transitions between screens 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

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

Flagsmith uses a number of HowdyGo demos across their website to give users a deep understanding of their platform.

Storylane example - Clari

Clari uses Storylane to give a self-serve overview of their platform to visitors.

Walnut example - Sailpoint

Sailpoint uses Walnut demos to give users the ability to tour each of their main features.