Arcade alternative for HTML interactive demos

HowdyGo is an Arcade alternative that lets you build full HTML interactive product demos rather than screenshot demos.
HowdyGo logo
Starts at $79/month
Unlimited users
HTML demos
HTML editing
Support from founding team
Walnut.io logo
$32/month
Per user
Screenshot demos
No HTML editing
Standard support

Arcade is a screenshot demo tool, while HowdyGo is a HTML demo tool. In order to understand the differences between the 2 platforms, it's worth covering the difference between screenshot and HTML demos before diving any deeper.

Difference between screenshot and HTML demos

Screenshot demos are essentially "clickable slideshows" that cycle through screenshots your product. This limits their interactivity, but can be more flexible since each "slide" can be anything, including a screenshot of a product that isn't web based.

HTML demos are perfect clones of your product. Viewers can interact with elements on the page, scroll, hover and click around as if they were in your actual app. On top of that, they allow you to edit the content of the captured app after recording (text, images, etc).

When should you choose Arcade?

Arcade is probably the easiest to use screenshot demo tool in the market. You should consider screenshot demos 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.

How is HowdyGo different?

HowdyGo is built from the ground up for HTML demos - high quality, pixel-perfect replicas of your product. We provide an easy to use platform and the guidance you need to prove the value of interactive product demos for your business.

HTML demos under all pricing tiers

HTML demos are pixel-perfect copies of your product. They behave and feel just like your app and give you the ability to edit and personalize the content of the demo after recording.

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.

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.

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."

HowdyGo vs Arcade features

Searching for a specific feature or simply to see what functionality HTML demos unlock vs screenshot demos? We've got you covered.

Pricing

Starting price
$79/month for unlimited users
$32/month per user
Free trial

Recording

Interactive HTML capture
HTML Interaction Replay
Recording process
One-click capture a flow as you go through your app
One-click capture a flow as you go through your app

Editing

Hotspots and tooltips
Brand colors and fonts
Demo checklist
Edit HTML content and images in the recording
Find & replace HTML content everywhere
Personalize demo with prospect info
Only annotation text, not recorded content

Analytics

Lead capture
Track viewer engagement
Demo optimization dashboard
Integrations
CRM
Requires custom code by your development team
Marketing
Requires custom code by your development team
Analytics
Requires custom code by your development team
Custom integrations
Yes, on enterprise plan
Support
In-app chat support
Shared Slack channel
Support

FAQs

Everything you need to know about the product and billing. Can’t find the answer you’re looking for? Please chat to our team.
What is an interactive product demo?

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.

How do I use an interactive product demo?

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.

How do you make a product demo?

This is our 5 step simple guide to making an interactive demo:

  1. Capture a flow of your app that often gets demonstrated by your sales team.
  2. Add annotations, reuse messaging and convey a simple story that highlights your value proposition.
  3. Delete or auto-progress through unnecessary steps, your prospects want you to get to the point.
  4. Publish your demo and copy the embed code
  5. 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.

I've already got a walkthrough video, can I use that?

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.

Do I need to involve my sales engineering / engineering team?

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
I can't see my CRM/Analytics as an integration

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.

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Edit anything in your UI with HTML demos
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