# What pairs well with UserGuiding > UserGuiding 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/userguiding - Category: Product Onboarding & PLG (https://saastracker.org/categories/product-onboarding) - Web version: https://saastracker.org/products/userguiding/stack ## The stack, category by category | Category | Ideal pairing | Because | Benefit | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Product Analytics & Session Replay | [Heap](https://saastracker.org/products/heap) (Ease of Use) | UserGuiding lists the published MAU curve stops just under 10,000 users among its limits. Heap adds retroactive event definition. | 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) | UserGuiding lists the company is small and lightly funded among its limits. 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) | UserGuiding is built for onboarding, not retention. Stunning adds deepest recovery channel mix at this. | 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) | UserGuiding is built for onboarding, not notifications. Courier adds visual template designer with multi-channel preview on one canvas. | 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) | UserGuiding is built for onboarding, not community. Patreon adds exportable email lists. | 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) | UserGuiding is built for onboarding, not billing. Gumroad adds built-in audience and email layer. | Recurring revenue bills, retries and reconciles itself, including the tax nobody wants to calculate. | ### Heap for Product Analytics & Session Replay UserGuiding lists the published MAU curve stops just under 10,000 users among its limits. Heap adds retroactive event definition. 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 UserGuiding leaves open. ### Hiver for Customer Support Platforms UserGuiding lists the company is small and lightly funded among its limits. 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 UserGuiding leaves open. ### Stunning for Retention & Churn Prevention UserGuiding is built for onboarding, not retention. Stunning adds deepest recovery channel mix at this. Accounts at risk surface while there is still time to call, rather than at renewal. Setup takes minutes and requires no developer, with pre-written templates ready to send from day one. Paddle Retain holds Category Leader here, and is worth weighing if that is closer to the problem UserGuiding leaves open. ### Courier for Notification Infrastructure UserGuiding is built for onboarding, not notifications. Courier adds visual template designer with multi-channel preview on one canvas. Product events reach people on the channel they actually read, without building a sender for each one. Batching, throttling, delays, and conditions cover the notification-fatigue problem that most in-house implementations get wrong. Knock holds Category Leader here, and is worth weighing if that is closer to the problem UserGuiding leaves open. ### Patreon for Community Platforms UserGuiding is built for onboarding, not community. Patreon adds exportable email lists. Customers answer each other in a space the company owns, rather than in a chat nobody can search. Zero fixed cost. No subscription, no trial clock, and no bill until members pay you, which no other product in this category offers. Circle holds Category Leader here, and is worth weighing if that is closer to the problem UserGuiding leaves open. ### Gumroad for Subscription Billing UserGuiding is built for onboarding, not billing. Gumroad adds built-in audience and email layer. 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 UserGuiding leaves open. ## FAQ ### What is the best stack to run with UserGuiding? UserGuiding 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 UserGuiding for Product Analytics & Session Replay? Heap. UserGuiding lists the published MAU curve stops just under 10,000 users among its limits. Heap adds retroactive event definition. Feature usage and drop-off are measurable, so a roadmap argument can end with evidence. ### How many tools do I need alongside UserGuiding? UserGuiding 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 UserGuiding? UserGuiding is built for onboarding, not billing. Gumroad adds built-in audience and email layer. 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.