# 9 Best User Engagement Tools to Boost Retention in 2026

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## Table of contents

- What are user engagement tools?
- 9 best user engagement tools
- Conclusion

Users stop engaging with SaaS products for all sorts of reasons - missing features, clunky UX, slow support, or simply not seeing enough value. Whatever the cause, once engagement dips, churn isn't far behind.

In this article, we're breaking down the top **user engagement tools** SaaS teams should know about in 2025. These tools help you personalize communication and create product experiences worth sticking around for.

## What are user engagement tools?

**User engagement tools are software that helps you interact with users at key moments and engage them to drive actions, build habits, and reduce churn.**

They're ultimately designed to guide users towards the product value. These could be anything like completing onboarding, discovering underused features, or offering support at the right moment.

### What are the different types of user engagement tools?

As we said, there are multiple ways of defining user engagement and so there are multiple ways of engaging the users as well. Let’s go over a few different types of tools that you may use to engage your users.

-   **In-app engagement tools:** These tools deliver tooltips, modals, walkthroughs, and checklists directly inside the product to boost [user engagement](https://www.mailmodo.com/guides/user-engagement/). They help guide users in real-time, often based on their current activity or progress. <br>Example: Appcues, Chameleon.
    
-   **External channel-based engagement platforms:** These tools engage users outside the product through different channels like [email marketing](https://www.mailmodo.com/guides/saas-email-marketing/), [social media](https://www.mailmodo.com/guides/saas-social-media-marketing/) and [SMS](https://www.mailmodo.com/guides/sms-marketing/) via personalized emails, push notifications, and so on. They're especially effective when users need nudges to return to your product to complete an action, or discover something new. <br>Example: Mailmodo, Pushwoosh
    
-   **User feedback tools:** These tools capture the why behind user actions through surveys, NPS scores, and suggestion boxes. They uncover intent, friction points, and unmet needs. Example: Canny, Userback.
    

## 9 best user engagement tools

Now let’s dive into the top user engagement tools you should consider for your SaaS product:

1.  ### Appcues
   
<a href="https://www.appcues.com/" rel="nofollow">Appcues</a> has been the go-to product adoption platform since it entered the scene, especially for SaaS teams looking to improve user engagement without needing to write any code. Its focus has been helping new users reach their "Aha!" moment more quickly, and it offers the tools to do just that.

The platform offers a wide range of onboarding features, such as in-app guides, tooltips, checklists, and hotspots. It also lets you welcome users with custom flows, ask questions with in-app surveys, and show different messages to different users based on who they are.

**Key features:**

-   In-app messaging to guide users with native-looking prompts, tooltips, and modals that appear at the right moment.
    
-   Emails to send targeted messages outside the app and push notifications to re-engage users and bring them back to the platform.
    
-   User segmentation to deliver relevant content to users based on their behavior, profile, or lifecycle stage.
    
-   Resource centers to give users instant access to helpful content without leaving the product.
    
-   Surveys to collect in-app feedback and understand what keeps users satisfied, engaged, or at risk.
    
-   Behavioral analytics to track how users interact with onboarding flows.
    

**Pricing:**

Appcues structures its pricing based on the number of Monthly Active Users (MAUs). The platform offers three main pricing tiers, including:

| Plan | Starting price (billed annually) | Description |
|------------|----------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| Start | Starts from $300 per month | 1 app, 5 user licenses |
| Grow |Starts from $750 per month | 1 app, 15 user licenses |
| Enterprise | Custom Pricing | Unlimited user licenses |

2.  ### Chameleon
    
Most digital adoption platforms help users learn about your product, but <a href="https://www.chameleon.io/" rel="nofollow">Chameleon</a> goes a step further by letting you shape that experience exactly how you want. The platform offers advanced CSS options to give you full control over how onboarding and guidance appear.

It also has an in-app product widget known as Chameleon Launcher, which doubles as a personalized self-serve menu. It helps users discover features, find support, and track their progress right inside your product.

**Key features:**

-   Onboarding checklists to help users finish setup tasks and get started quickly with your product.
    
-   AI-powered A/B testing for in-line banners to auto-publish the best-performing variant.
    
-   Easily customizable tooltips to match your product's branding using a WYSIWYG editor.
    
-   Behavior-based triggers to launch [product tours](https://www.mailmodo.com/guides/product-tours/) at the right moment.
    
-   Sentiment-based microsurveys to target users by attributes such as plan type, user role, or past interactions.
    
**Pricing:**

​Chameleon's pricing is primarily based on Monthly Tracked Users (MTUs), which represent the number of unique users tracked each month. It offers 4 pricing plans, including:

| Plan | Pricing |
|------------|----------------------------------------------------------|
| Free | $0 |
| Startup | $279 per month |
| Growth | Starts at $1500 per month |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing |

3.  ### Customer io
    
<a href="https://customer.io/" rel="nofollow">Customer.io</a>  is designed for teams that want to send targeted, behavior-based messages without needing a full engineering sprint to set it up.

You can trigger emails, SMS, and push notifications based on what users do (or don't do) inside your product. This could be something as simple as welcoming a new user or as specific as nudging someone who abandoned a key feature.

You can also use broadcasts to send scheduled messages to your entire audience, such as product updates or seasonal announcements.

**Key features:**

-   Drag-and-drop email builder to create newsletters, campaigns, and transactional emails easily.
    
-   Rich push notifications with images, links, and sounds directly to users' devices.
    
-   Visual workflow builder to design and automate multi-step customer journeys with ease.
    
-   Email performance analytics to track user engagement through open rates, click-through rates, and other key metrics.
    

**Pricing:**

​Customer.io pricing is primarily based on the number of profiles (which include both people and objects) in your account, as well as the volume of emails sent. They offer three main pricing plans, including:

| Plan | Starting Price | Profile count |
|------------|------------------------|--------------------------------|
| Essentials | Starts at $100/month | Starts at 5K profiles |
| Premium | Starts at $1,000/month | Custom profile volume |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing | Custom profile volume |

4.  ### Mailmodo
    

A lot of businesses use email marketing to engage users, but [Mailmodo](https://www.mailmodo.com/) lets you take this approach a step further with AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) capabilities.

It allows you to create interactive emails where recipients can engage directly within the email—whether it's filling out forms or answering surveys. As a result, engagement rates rise, and users have a more intuitive experience without ever having to leave their inbox.

**Key features:**

-   Email automation to automate email sequences and send campaigns based on events and triggers.
    
-   A/B testing to test email design and content variations to understand what resonates best with the recipients.
    
-   Email analytics to monitor email campaign performance.
    
-   Dynamic segmentation to keep email lists updated at all times based on predefined criteria.
    
-   A library of pre-made email templates to customize and use for your email campaigns.
    
-   AI tools like subject line generator, email signature generator, email writer, and campaign planner to make the process easier.
    

**Pricing:**

Mailmodo's pricing is based on the number of email sending credits, custom events, and team members required, as well as the level of integrations and support needed. The platform offers 3 main plans, including:

| Plan | Pricing | Sending credits |
|-----------|---------------------| ---------------- |
| Lite | Starts at $39 per month | 20,000 email sending credits |
| Pro | Starts at $79 per month | 25,000 email sending credits |
| Max | Starts at $159 per month | 37,500 email sending credits |

  

<div class="inline_cta"><div class="ctaBox"><div class="leftdiv"><p>Create and send AMP emails without coding in minutes</p><div class="button_container"><a href="https://manage.mailmodo.com/auth/signup?utm_content=inline-cta-s&utm_term=/guides/user-engagement-tools/"><button class="primary_button">Try Mailmodo for free</button></a></div></div><div class="rightdiv"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/mailmodo/image/upload/v1712747193/strapi/Group_1110165064_1_57b7027899.png" width="290" height="230" alt="cta-img"/></div></div><div class="gradient"></div></div>

  

5.  ### Pushwoosh
    

If you're running multi-channel campaigns and want a no-code platform that keeps everything in one place, <a href="https://www.pushwoosh.com/" rel="nofollow">Pushwoosh</a> is worth looking into.

The platform offers a Customer Journey Builder with a drag-and-drop interface, pre-built touchpoints, and support for all major channels—so you can design, test, and launch campaigns visually without writing a single line of code.

**Key features:**

-   Cross-platform reach to deliver web push notifications across all major browsers and operating systems, including mobile and desktop.
    
-   Rich media push notifications to enhance messages with images, icons, and sounds that grab user attention and boost engagement.
    
-   Ready-made templates to launch email campaigns in no time.
    
-   Automated campaigns to trigger notifications based on user actions or schedule them for optimal timing and relevance.
    
-   Performance analytics to track delivery, open, and click-through rates.
    

**Pricing:**

Pushwoosh pricing is primarily based on the number of subscribers in your account and the messaging channels you use, such as push notifications, email, and in-app messaging. They offer:

| Subscriber count | Pricing |
|---------------------|-------------------|
| Up to 1,000 | Free |
| From 5K | Starts at $12 per month |

6.  ### Canny  
    
<a href="https://canny.io/" rel="nofollow">Canny</a>  is a robust user feedback tool designed to capture, manage, and prioritize customer feedback efficiently. It provides an organized space for users to submit their ideas and requests, ensuring that product teams can stay aligned with user needs.

With its intuitive feedback board, Canny encourages users to upvote ideas they find most valuable, giving teams a clear picture of which features are most in demand.

**Key features:**

-   ​Feedback board to collect customer feedback in one place and highlight the most requested ideas through upvoting.
    
-   Canny's autopilot to automatically detect and merge duplicate feedback entries.
    
-   Canny identify to connect feedback to user accounts and track their votes along with SaaS-specific details like subscription plans and usage data.
    
-   Feedback investigation to see who requested a feature and easily ask them for more details through comments.
    
-   Feature prioritization to rank and score feature requests based on customizable criteria.
    

Pricing:

​Canny pricing is primarily based on the number of admin seats. It offers 4 plans, including:

| Plan | Annual Pricing | Admin Seats Included |
|------------|----------------|----------------------|
| Free | $0 | 3 |
| Starter | $79 per month | Starts at 3 |
| Growth | $359 per month | Starts at 5 |
| Business | Custom pricing | Starts at 5 |

7.  ### Userback
    

<a href="https://www.chameleon.io/" rel="nofollow">Userback</a> takes feedback collection to the next level by combining in-app surveys with session replays, so you not only gather user input but also see the exact context behind their responses.

Feedback can be captured directly within your product via customizable widgets, allowing users to report bugs, suggest features, or share their thoughts without leaving the app. Once the feedback is collected, you can easily prioritize it based on urgency or impact, ensuring that teams can focus on what's most important.

**Key features:**

-   Feedback widget to embed directly into your app and to collect multiple feedback types in real-time.
    
-   Session Replays with Feedback to automatically capture user sessions alongside their feedback for full context and faster issue resolution.
    
-   User Identification to tie feedback to specific users while collecting details like browser, device, and user ID for better analysis.
    
-   [Feedback management tools](https://www.featurebase.app/blog/feedback-management-tools) to prioritize and categorize feedback based on urgency or similarity.
    
-   Feedback templates to quickly launch the NPS and CSAT survey
    
**Pricing :**

Userback's pricing is primarily based on the number of team members and the features included in each plan. They offer three main pricing tiers:

| Plan | Pricing (Billed yearly) | Team members |
|----------|-------------------|--------------|
| Starter | $49 per month | 5 |
| Scale | $109 per month | 15 |
| Premium | Starts at $219 | Custom |

8.  ### Survicate
    
What's useful about <a href="https://survicate.com/" rel="nofollow">Survicate </a> is how it lets you tailor the flow of a survey based on each user's responses. For instance, if someone says they're struggling with a feature, the next question can dig into what's confusing—while someone who's satisfied might get a different follow-up or skip ahead entirely. This branching logic keeps surveys short, relevant, and more likely to get completed

**Key features:**

-   AI survey builder to generate entire surveys using simple prompts, helping you launch faster without starting from scratch.
    
-   Advanced survey logic to guide users through personalized question paths based on their responses.
    
-   Visual editor to customize survey design with brand colors, fonts, and real-time previews.
    
-   Multichannel Delivery to send surveys via email, website, mobile apps, or in-product to reach users wherever they are.
    
-   Email Redirect Surveys to include a link within the email that directs recipients to a hosted survey page.
    

**Pricing:**

Survicate pricing plan is based on the number of responses. It offers 3 plans, including :

| Plan | Pricing (billed annually) | Number of responses |
|-----------------------|-------------------|----------------------|
| Free | $0 | 25 responses per month |
| Starter | Starts at $79 per month billed monthly | Starts from 100 per month |
| Growth | Starts at $49 per month billed annually| Starts at from 100 per month |


9. ### BlockSurvey  

What sets [BlockSurvey](https://blocksurvey.io/) apart is its privacy-first approach, ideal for organizations that collect sensitive information and want to ensure data security and respondent anonymity. With end-to-end encryption, no trackers, and full respondent ownership, BlockSurvey offers peace of mind while still delivering a polished, customizable survey experience.

**Key features:**

-   AI survey builder to create question flows quickly with simple text prompts — no technical knowledge required.  
      
    
-   End-to-end encryption ensures that no one but you can access survey responses, protecting respondent privacy.  
      
    
-   Advanced logic and branching to deliver relevant follow-up questions based on user responses.  
      
    
-   Custom design themes to match your brand with logos, fonts, and layout control.  
      
    
-   Multichannel distribution via links, QR codes, web embeds, social media, or email — reach users wherever they are.  
      
    
-   Zero tracking & cookie-free so user data stays private and compliant with global data laws.    

**Pricing:**

BlockSurvey’s pricing is based on features and the number of responses. It offers three main plans:


| Plan | Starting price (billed annually) | Number of responses|
|------------|----------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| Free | $0 | 20 responses per month |
| Standard |Starts from $24 per month | 6,000 responses per year|
| Premium | Starts at $40 per month | 36,000 responses per year |


  
## Conclusion

Every SaaS team has different goals, whether it's improving onboarding, bringing back inactive users, or capturing high-impact feedback.

Do you need in-product guidance to shorten the path to value? Or something like Mailmodo to automate your emails at scale? Either way, the right tool isn’t just about features—it’s about fitting seamlessly into how your team works and how your users engage.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### What types of user engagement tools are there?

There are three main types: in-app engagement tools, external channel-based engagement platforms, and user feedback tools.

### What is the difference between in-app engagement tools and external channel-based engagement tools?

In-app engagement tools deliver real-time guidance inside the product, while external tools (e.g., emails, SMS) engage users outside the product to bring them back or prompt actions.

### How do segmentation features in engagement tools work?

Segmentation helps deliver personalized content to users based on their behavior, role, or stage in the customer lifecycle.

### Are there any user engagement tools that don't require coding knowledge?

Yes, platforms like Appcues and Chameleon are designed for non-technical users and allow easy setup of engagement elements without coding.

### Can engagement tools integrate with other software platforms?

Yes, most user engagement tools offer integrations with CRM, analytics, and support platforms, allowing a seamless workflow across teams.

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---

**Author: Mashkoor Alam**

Mashkoor has always been passionate about writing. He used to write short stories on his blog before he started writing for SaaS companies years back. He aspires to have a book under his name.

