Arcade and Guideflow are two self-serve tools that let you build an interactive product demo without talking to sales. They are aimed at slightly different jobs. Arcade is built around how good a demo looks and how easily it becomes a video or landing-page asset. Guideflow is built around flexible capture and a low entry price.
This comparison uses each vendor's pricing pages, product pages and documentation, read between 24 and 26 October 2026. Where the sources disagree or are silent, that is called out.
The short version
- Arcade suits a marketing team that wants a polished hero-section demo, branching paths and MP4 or GIF exports, and is happy with screenshot-style fidelity.
- Guideflow suits a founder or small team that wants the cheapest working demo, a bigger free plan to experiment with, and the option of HTML or sandbox capture when it is needed.
Side by side
| Dimension | Arcade | Guideflow |
|---|---|---|
| Capture methods | Chrome extension, Mac and Windows desktop app, Figma plugin | Chrome extension, Mac and Windows app, Figma plugin |
| What gets captured | Click-by-click demo from screen capture; camera recording on all plans | Screen capture (screenshots and video), HTML capture, sandbox capture |
| HTML capture | Enterprise only, custom price | Startup tier: $499 a month billed yearly ($599 monthly) |
| Free plan | 1 seat, 1 published demo, unlimited views | 1 team member, 5 guideflows, watermark, unlimited viewers, 7-day analytics |
| Cheapest paid plan | Growth: $42.50 per seat a month billed yearly ($50 monthly), up to 10 users | Solo: $35 a month billed yearly ($40 monthly) |
| Branching | Growth and Enterprise | Branching option, conditional and advanced branching across tiers |
| Custom domain | Enterprise only | Advanced plan |
| SOC 2 | Type II | Type II, via Vanta |
Capture and the HTML question
Both tools record through a Chrome extension, a desktop app (Mac and Windows) and a Figma plugin. Arcade's desktop app can record a whole screen, a window or an area, and its page mentions recording mobile apps, including iOS. After a desktop recording the file opens in a browser tab with the same editor as the extension.
The bigger difference is what each plan lets you capture. Guideflow describes three methods: screen capture, HTML capture and sandbox capture. You can mix screen and HTML capture in one guideflow, which helps if a flow spans your app and a third-party site. HTML capture is on the Startup tier and above, and sandbox capture on Advanced and above.
Arcade's interactive demo pricing page lists HTML capture on Enterprise only. Its Enterprise page says demos "render natively" with offline access, but neither page explains technically what its HTML capture does differently from screen capture, so ask for a trial if that matters to you. On Growth you get a click-by-click demo built from screen capture, which is fine for many marketing demos but is not an editable copy of your page.
Editing and polish
Arcade splits its editor features by plan. On every plan, including Free, you get hotspots and callouts, chapters, AI voiceover, AI copy, camera recording, background music and a mobile view. Growth adds pan and zoom, video splitting, blur, autoplay, branching, CTA buttons, custom variables, forms, AI translations, watermark removal, custom branding and a custom landing page. Enterprise adds custom fonts, up to 10 brand kits and custom share links.
Guideflow's list is longer and gated by tier. Its pricing page lists blur for personal data, hide and blur for HTML elements, pan and zoom, hotspot, walkthrough and spotlight steps, find and replace, dynamic variables, presenter notes and branching in three levels. Its AI page describes AI translation in 100+ languages, voiceover in 40+ languages and AI-written callouts. A number of the more advanced editing features, such as text, picture and graph editing and advanced branching, are listed from Startup upward. On Solo, expect a simpler editor.
If you want something that looks cinematic with little effort, Arcade's automatic motion and styling is its strength. If you want to change numbers and names inside a captured screen, Guideflow's HTML editing is the tool that offers it, at the higher tier.
Sharing and exports
Arcade gives every plan a share link and iframe embed. MP4 and GIF export and step-by-step guide export are on Growth and Enterprise, which makes it easy to reuse the same demo in an email or social post. Collections, custom share links and a custom domain are Enterprise-only. Forms and CTAs capture leads inside the demo on Growth and Enterprise.
Guideflow offers a public link, an iframe embed, personalised share pages with UTM parameters and variables, email invitations, password protection, expiry dates and domain-based access, plus MP4, GIF and PDF export. Lead forms are listed from Solo up, and offline demos and custom domains from Advanced.
Analytics and integrations
Arcade's basic and advanced insights are Growth and Enterprise features. It tracks views, completion, CTA clicks, step drop-off and branching choices, and Enterprise adds per-account analytics and audience reveal. Its integrations page lists Amplitude, Clearbit, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, HubSpot, Intercom, Mixpanel, PostHog, Salesforce, Segment and Slack. A native Salesforce integration is Enterprise only.
Guideflow's free plan keeps seven days of analytics, and paid plans list advanced analytics. Its docs index lists integrations for Zapier, Slack, HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho, Marketo, Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Segment, Outreach and others, though the exact tier for most of them is not stated. The Slack or Teams channel is on Startup and up.
Security and teams
Both state SOC 2 Type II. Arcade's security page also lists TLS 1.2 or higher, AES-256 encryption, daily backups and a public status page. SSO, role-based access control and security reviews are Enterprise-only on Arcade. Guideflow lists GDPR and CCPA alignment, a DPA, a 99.9% SLA and SAML SSO on its Enterprise plan.
On seats, Arcade's Growth plan allows up to 10 people, with extra seats at $50 a month. Guideflow's Solo includes one member plus $35 for each additional user, and Startup includes ten members plus $50 for each additional. Guideflow's documentation is inconsistent on its free plan (one member in the pricing table, up to three in the FAQ), so check before you plan a team trial around it.
What it costs over a year
| Scenario | Arcade | Guideflow |
|---|---|---|
| One person, screenshot-style demos | Growth: $510 a year billed yearly | Solo: $420 a year billed yearly |
| Five people, screenshot-style demos | Growth: $2,550 a year billed yearly | Solo plus four users: $840 + $1,680 = $2,520 a year billed yearly |
| HTML capture | Enterprise: custom price | Startup (10 members): $5,988 a year billed yearly |
Monthly billing costs more on both: Arcade Growth $600 a year per seat, Guideflow Solo $480 a year. Arcade also runs a separate AI video product with its own credit-based plans, which is not the same as the interactive demo plans above.
Prices checked on each vendor's pricing page on 24 October 2026.
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Start building for free →Which should you choose?
- Choose Arcade if the demo is a marketing asset, you want branching, forms and video exports on one plan, and a $42.50 seat price fits your budget.
- Choose Guideflow if you need the lowest price, want to experiment with five demos on the free plan, or might need HTML or sandbox capture later without switching tools.
- Be careful with HTML needs. On Arcade it means contacting sales. On Guideflow it means a $499 plan.
Related comparisons:
- Supademo vs Arcade
- Arcade vs Navattic
- Navattic vs Guideflow
- Supademo vs Guideflow
- Arcade vs Storylane
Looking beyond these two? See Arcade alternatives and the full price comparison of interactive demo software.
