Pendo offers in-app guidance through the Guides product, which allows you to deliver targeted messages, walkthroughs, tooltips, announcements, and more. Depending on your subscription, you have access to either Guides or Guides Pro.
This article explains the difference between the two plans, clarifies what we mean by "guides" in different contexts, and helps you understand what's included with each level of functionality. This helps you choose the right level of functionality for your needs and understand what features you can access based on your subscription.
What the Guides product is
Guides is a Pendo product that helps you communicate with users inside your application using in-app messages. You can use guides to onboard users, introduce features, run surveys, and provide contextual help.
Note: Guides is focused on in-app messages only. To build cross-channel journeys that include both in-app messages and emails, see Overview of Orchestrate.
When we refer to the Guides product, we mean the full set of tools and functionality available in your subscription, not individual guides. Depending on your plan, you might have access to a basic or advanced version of this product.
What a guide is
A guide is an individual in-app message or walkthrough that you create using the Visual Design Studio. There are multiple types of guides, including:
- Overlay guides, such as tooltips, lightboxes, and banners.
- Embedded guides, which is inline content placed in your app.
All guides are built using building blocks and styled using themes and layouts. The types of guides and features you can use depend on whether you have the Guides or Guides Pro plan.
For more information on individual guides, see Guides overview.
Feature comparison: Guides vs Guides Pro
The following table summarizes what’s included in each plan to help you choose the right level of functionality for your needs and understand what features you can access based on your subscription:
| Feature | Guides | Guides Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Web and mobile guides | Included ✅ | Included ✅ |
| Guide layouts and themes | Included ✅ | Included ✅ |
| Guide scheduling and ordering | Included ✅ | Included ✅ |
| Accessibility features | Included ✅ | Included ✅ |
| Embedded guides | Not included ❌ | Included ✅ |
| Task lists | Not included ❌ | Included ✅ |
| Cross-app guides | Not included ❌ | Included ✅ |
| Guide A/B experiments | Not included ❌ | Included ✅ |
| Guide logic and automation | Not included ❌ | Included ✅ |
| Designer custom code (code blocks) | Not included ❌ | Included ✅ |
| Theme copying | Not included ❌ | Included ✅ |
| Guide edit history | Not included ❌ | Included ✅ |
| Guide widgets in dashboard | Not included ❌ | Included ✅ |
| AI guide creation | Not included ❌ | Included ✅ |
| AI writing assistant | Not included ❌ | Included ✅ |
| AI localization | Not included ❌ | Included ✅ |
| Internationalization and localization | Not included ❌ | Included ✅ |
| Resource Center access | Included (1 total, limited access*) ✅ | Included (1 per app with full access) ✅ |
*Limited access means you can’t use the announcement, external website, or code block modules in the Resource Center. For more information, see Overview of the Resource Center.
To request an upgrade to Guides Pro, contact your Pendo account representative.