Shepherd.js is an open-source JavaScript library for building guided product tours. Your developers create a tour object, add steps and attach them to elements in code. It works with React, Vue, Angular, Ember or plain JavaScript and runs in the browser with no backend service. It’s dual licensed: AGPL-3.0 for open-source and non-commercial use, and a paid commercial licence for commercial products.
Cueston is a different kind of tool. Your product or customer success team builds tours, tooltips, banners, checklists and surveys in a Chrome extension, and changes them without a release. Targeting, guide analytics, goals and AI answers come with it. The trade-off is a monthly bill and less control over every line.
| Feature | Cueston | Shepherd.js |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free plan; paid from $39/month | Free for non-commercial use; commercial from $50 one-time |
| Priced by | Monthly active users | Projects (5 or unlimited) |
| Step-by-step tours | Yes | Yes |
| How tours are built | No-code Chrome extension | JavaScript code |
| How a tour is changed | In the editor, live without a deploy | A code change |
| Runs without a backend service | No | Yes |
| Source code in your repo | No | Yes |
When Shepherd.js is the better fit
- Your engineers want full control of the tour code, styling and behaviour inside your own repo.
- You need a few static tours that rarely change, so editing them in code is no burden.
- You want a one-time cost. A commercial licence is $50 for up to 5 projects or $300 for unlimited projects, with no subscription.
- You can’t load a third-party script or send data to another service.
When Cueston is the better fit
- Product or CS people should change copy, steps and targeting without filing a ticket and waiting for a deploy.
- You want to show guides to the right people: by URL, user traits, events in the last 90 days, other guides seen or finished, or segments.
- You want to know if a guide works. Set a goal, hold back a control group of up to 50% on Ascent and Orbit, and read results at 95% confidence.
- You want more than tours: checklists, banners, surveys with NPS, announcements, AI answers from your help docs and help offered on rage clicks or long pauses.
What each costs
Shepherd.js: free for open-source, personal and non-commercial sites. Commercial use needs a licence: Business at $50 one-time (up to 5 projects, 1 month of support) or Enterprise at $300 one-time (unlimited projects, 6 months of support). Consulting is quoted on request. The developer time to build and maintain tours is on top. See Shepherd.js pricing and our build vs buy calculator.
Cueston: a free plan (3 live guides, 1,000 monthly active users, 50 AI answers a month), then Launch at $39 a month billed yearly (15 live guides, 2,500 users, 500 AI answers), Ascent at $79 (unlimited guides, 10,000 users, 2,000 AI answers) and Orbit at $199 (50,000 users, 10,000 AI answers). See Cueston pricing.
Moving from Shepherd.js to Cueston
- Install the Cueston snippet and identify users with an ID and the traits you want to target on.
- Rebuild each tour in the Cueston Chrome extension by clicking the elements, or reuse the CSS selectors from your Shepherd steps. There’s no import.
- Remove each Shepherd tour from your code once its Cueston version is live.
Frequently asked questions
Is Shepherd.js free?▾
For open-source, personal and non-commercial projects, yes, under AGPL-3.0. For a commercial product, Shepherd’s licence says you need a paid commercial licence, from $50 one-time.
Is Cueston cheaper than Shepherd.js?▾
Not on licence cost: Shepherd’s commercial licence is a one-time $50 or $300. The real cost of a library is developer time to build, change and measure tours. Our build vs buy page lets you put in your own numbers.
Can I keep Shepherd.js and add Cueston?▾
Yes. They don’t conflict. Some teams keep a code tour for one core flow and use Cueston for everything the product team changes often.