# What pairs well with Candu > Candu is a onboarding tool, and a team running it still has 6 neighbouring categories to staff. The pick in each is Heap for product analytics & session replay, Hiver for customer support platforms, Stunning for retention & churn prevention, Courier for notification infrastructure, Patreon for community platforms and Gumroad for subscription billing, each the leading tool in that category on published criteria. - Profile: https://saastracker.org/products/candu - Category: Product Onboarding & PLG (https://saastracker.org/categories/product-onboarding) - Web version: https://saastracker.org/products/candu/stack ## The stack, category by category | Category | Ideal pairing | Because | Benefit | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Product Analytics & Session Replay | [Heap](https://saastracker.org/products/heap) (Ease of Use) | Candu lists analytics are experience-level rather than product analytics among its limits. Heap adds a free plan with 10,000 monthly sessions. | Feature usage and drop-off are measurable, so a roadmap argument can end with evidence. | | Customer Support Platforms | [Hiver](https://saastracker.org/products/hiver) (Ease of Use) | Candu is built for onboarding, not support. Hiver adds your email history. | Questions arrive in one queue with a history attached, instead of scattered across personal inboxes. | | Retention & Churn Prevention | [Stunning](https://saastracker.org/products/stunning) (Ease of Use) | Candu lists consumer and freemium products are explicitly routed to a separate among its limits. Stunning adds lifecycle email and a customer self-service billing portal. | Accounts at risk surface while there is still time to call, rather than at renewal. | | Notification Infrastructure | [Courier](https://saastracker.org/products/courier) (Ease of Use) | Candu lists the Starter to Growth jump is $600 per month among its limits. Courier adds simplest pricing in the category. | Product events reach people on the channel they actually read, without building a sender for each one. | | Community Platforms | [Patreon](https://saastracker.org/products/patreon) (Ease of Use) | Candu is built for onboarding, not community. Patreon adds largest installed mobile app base in creator memberships. | Customers answer each other in a space the company owns, rather than in a chat nobody can search. | | Subscription Billing | [Gumroad](https://saastracker.org/products/gumroad) (Ease of Use) | Candu is built for onboarding, not billing. Gumroad adds license key generation and verification. | Recurring revenue bills, retries and reconciles itself, including the tax nobody wants to calculate. | ### Heap for Product Analytics & Session Replay Candu lists analytics are experience-level rather than product analytics among its limits. Heap adds a free plan with 10,000 monthly sessions. Feature usage and drop-off are measurable, so a roadmap argument can end with evidence. Non-technical users can define events visually on the live site, so analytics work does not queue behind engineering. Amplitude holds Category Leader here, and is worth weighing if that is closer to the problem Candu leaves open. ### Hiver for Customer Support Platforms Candu is built for onboarding, not support. Hiver adds your email history. Questions arrive in one queue with a history attached, instead of scattered across personal inboxes. AI is bundled into the seat price from Growth upward with no per-resolution meter, so the monthly bill is genuinely fixed while competitors scale with volume. Help Scout holds Category Leader here, and is worth weighing if that is closer to the problem Candu leaves open. ### Stunning for Retention & Churn Prevention Candu lists consumer and freemium products are explicitly routed to a separate among its limits. Stunning adds lifecycle email and a customer self-service billing portal. Accounts at risk surface while there is still time to call, rather than at renewal. Every feature is included on every plan, so there is no tier gaming and no feature discovered to be locked after purchase. Paddle Retain holds Category Leader here, and is worth weighing if that is closer to the problem Candu leaves open. ### Courier for Notification Infrastructure Candu lists the Starter to Growth jump is $600 per month among its limits. Courier adds simplest pricing in the category. Product events reach people on the channel they actually read, without building a sender for each one. Drop-in Inbox components for React, JavaScript, iOS, Android, React Native, and Flutter with real-time cross-device read state. Knock holds Category Leader here, and is worth weighing if that is closer to the problem Candu leaves open. ### Patreon for Community Platforms Candu is built for onboarding, not community. Patreon adds largest installed mobile app base in creator memberships. Customers answer each other in a space the company owns, rather than in a chat nobody can search. Genuine discovery. Patreon's directory, recommendations, and automated growth tools can bring you members you did not already have, which nothing else here does at all. Circle holds Category Leader here, and is worth weighing if that is closer to the problem Candu leaves open. ### Gumroad for Subscription Billing Candu is built for onboarding, not billing. Gumroad adds license key generation and verification. Recurring revenue bills, retries and reconciles itself, including the tax nobody wants to calculate. Full merchant of record since January 2025, so global sales tax and VAT are calculated, collected, remitted, and legally owned by Gumroad rather than by you. Paddle holds Category Leader here, and is worth weighing if that is closer to the problem Candu leaves open. ## FAQ ### What is the best stack to run with Candu? Candu is a onboarding tool, and a team running it still has 6 neighbouring categories to staff. The pick in each is Heap for product analytics & session replay, Hiver for customer support platforms, Stunning for retention & churn prevention, Courier for notification infrastructure, Patreon for community platforms and Gumroad for subscription billing, each the leading tool in that category on published criteria. ### What do I pair with Candu for Product Analytics & Session Replay? Heap. Candu lists analytics are experience-level rather than product analytics among its limits. Heap adds a free plan with 10,000 monthly sessions. Feature usage and drop-off are measurable, so a roadmap argument can end with evidence. ### How many tools do I need alongside Candu? Candu sits next to 6 other categories in a working onboarding stack, and its own profile names the gap each one fills. Most teams staff the first two or three and add the rest as the motion grows. ### Is Gumroad worth adding alongside Candu? Candu is built for onboarding, not billing. Gumroad adds license key generation and verification. Recurring revenue bills, retries and reconciles itself, including the tax nobody wants to calculate. --- Source: SaaSTracker (https://saastracker.org), an independent editorial project. Pairings are the leading tool in each complementary category, chosen on published criteria: https://saastracker.org/methodology. Placement cannot be purchased.