Clew

Clew is a web onboarding tool for product teams that want to guide users inside their product. It suits teams that need to update guidance without another site release, particularly those with privacy or hosting requirements. Its visual editor and framework support are useful strengths, but the free tier is narrow and paid plans cap seats.

Overview

Once a team adds Clew’s script tag, it can build and publish tours, tooltips, modals and onboarding checklists in a visual editor. That lets product teams adjust guidance without waiting for another site release. The widget supports React, Vue, plain HTML and single-page apps, following client-side route changes; it is a web-focused option rather than a cross-platform mobile onboarding tool.

Setup guides cover Google Tag Manager, AI coding assistants, WordPress, Webflow and Shopify, giving teams several installation paths. Clew offers EU cloud hosting and a self-hosted option that it says keeps data within the customer’s perimeter.

Key features

Guidance, analytics and reliability

Clew’s analytics track views, completions and dismissals using an anonymous in-browser ID. The company says those counts do not use IP addresses or personal data. History ranges from one month on Free to unlimited on Self-hosted, so teams that need to compare onboarding performance over longer periods will need a higher tier.

When a tooltip can no longer find its target element, Clew flags and skips that step instead of crashing the tour. That is a practical safeguard for changing interfaces, though it does not remove the need to keep guidance aligned with product changes.

Experiments and AI workflow

Pro and higher plans include A/B testing, comparing a tour variant with a control group. Pro allows one active test; Business and Lifetime allow five, while Self-hosted has no stated cap. Pro also includes an MCP server for managing tours from Claude, Cursor and ChatGPT. Integrations and webhooks are marked as coming soon on Business, Lifetime and Self-hosted, so teams choosing those plans should not treat them as current capabilities.

Pricing

Clew’s cloud plans say visitor and tooltip-view counts are uncapped, subject to fair use. The meaningful limits are sites, seats, published tours, test concurrency and analytics history.

Free is a small evaluation tier: one seat and three published tours are restrictive for teams managing multiple products or collaborators. Pro is the entry paid option for a small team that needs more sites, a limited experiment and a 14-day analytics window beyond Free’s one month. Pro and Business offer a 14-day free trial without a credit card. Business suits larger teams needing unlimited tours and more concurrent tests; its higher price buys ten seats and longer history, not unlimited testing or analytics. Lifetime trades a larger one-time payment for unlimited sites and tours, but still caps seats at ten and analytics history at 12 months. Self-hosted is the fit for teams that need data kept within their perimeter and unlimited usage; its one-time price includes only one year of updates and support.

Platforms

Clew supports web products and offers self-hosted deployment. Its documented framework compatibility covers React, Vue, plain HTML and single-page apps; no mobile platform support is stated.

Who it's for

Clew is best for product teams that want to own onboarding content and publish changes independently of site releases. Its self-hosted plan is aimed at banks, the public sector and regulated industries. Small teams can start free, but organizations needing multiple seats or a meaningful tour library will quickly outgrow that tier.

Pros and cons

• Pro: A visual editor and script-tag setup let product teams publish guidance without another site release.
• Pro: React, Vue, plain HTML and route-change support cover several common web app structures.
• Pro: Self-hosting and EU cloud hosting give teams distinct deployment choices.
• Pro: A broken tooltip step is skipped rather than bringing down the tour.
• Con: Free allows only one team seat and three published tours, limiting its usefulness beyond evaluation.
• Con: Even Business caps seats at ten and concurrent A/B tests at five; only Self-hosted removes those stated caps.
• Con: Lifetime still limits analytics history to 12 months and includes one year of updates and support only on Self-hosted.

Alternatives

For a broader comparison, see User Onboarding Software. Consider Wakeline if Android, iOS or browser-extension coverage matters; its free tier allows three flows, 1,000 monthly active users and one teammate. Driver.js is a free option for teams seeking unlimited projects and personal or commercial use without attribution. Choose Candu if overlays are enough: its free plan permits three live experiences and unlimited user licenses. Guidez offers a free tier capped at 100 monthly active users, one team member and one environment.

Tour Kit may suit development, evaluation, testing, CI and preview deployments; production use requires a license key. Guida.js is a free open-source web option with an MIT license, roughly 4.8kB minified and gzipped, and no external dependencies. GuideMark is worth considering when monthly active-user volume is a central pricing choice; its Pro plan is €19 a month, billed annually, with selectable volume and a 14-day grace period after exceeding the limit. Intro.js offers lifetime-license plans, including a Starter option at $9.99, paid once for one project with no commercial support.

Verdict

Choose Clew if a web product team wants to publish in-app guidance independently, needs broad framework compatibility, or requires a self-hosted deployment. Its combination of a visual editor, route-aware widget and options for testing makes it a capable fit as needs grow. Look elsewhere if you need mobile coverage, many collaborators on a modest budget, or more than the free tier’s three published tours without moving to a paid plan.