Top Tango Alternatives for How To Guides

Tango is a process documentation tool known for creating step-by-step guides efficiently. It excels at making interactive walkthroughs from real-time captures. Use cases include:

• How-to guides: Product managers use Tango to create detailed user guides.
• Onboarding: HR teams improve onboarding by documenting processes. 
• Tutorials: Freelancers support customers with custom tutorials.
• SOPs: Small teams create Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Tango users value Tango for these features:

• User-friendly interface: Make it simple for anyone to create step-by-step instructions. 
• Automatic guide creation: Capture your screen, automatically generating content. 
• Interactive walkthroughs: Guide users with a screen overlay.
• Team collaboration: Notify team members of updates through Microsoft Teams.
• Seamless integration: Integrate with Microsoft Teams, Zapier, Google Docs, Guru, and Notion.
• User analytics: Report on content usage and other insights.

Pricing and Plans

• Free plan: It limits workflows to 25 and users to 25. It also limits capture to the Google Chrome extension. Content has a watermark.
• The Pro annual plan ($192/year) offers unlimited creation, desktop recording, blurring, and extra administrative controls.

Why seek an alternative to Tango software

These pain points are the typical reasons that users seek other options:

Capability	Tango
Editing	Time-consuming editing
Images	Minimal image capture and editing. Markup is limited to arrows, boxes, text, and blur
Videos	Not supported to capture recordings. Not supported to include a video.
Brand	Cannot personalize content, such as brand themes for color, font, and style

Let’s look at six great options to consider based on these needs.

1. Snagit: Best for how to guides and video recording

Overview of Snagit

Snagit is the leading screen capture and recording tool. It lets you take screenshots, record videos, create GIFs, and create documents using templates. It also has powerful editing tools for images and videos designed for technical documentation. 

Snagit vs. Tango

Both products create content through image capture. Snagit also provides screen recording.

Strengths: Snagit is excellent at creating how-to guides and video recordings. It offers robust editing tools for images and videos, personalization, and efficient workflow automation.

• Tip: Upcoming features in v25 include automatic step-by-step guide creation and automatic redaction to hide sensitive information.

Snagit features include:

Screen capture

• Snagit supports up, down, left, and right scrolling captures.

Screen recording with Live Draw and webcam

• Snagit captures mouse movement and system audio for rich video content. It also records microphone narration and offers various markups for clarity. 
• Optional webcam content provides a personal touch.

Image mark-up and editing

• Snagit provides efficient screenshot editing with rich markup features like Magnify and Spotlight. It can blur or redact information to hide personal details. The tool offers an automatic Simplified User Interface (SUI) to reduce future updates and translation costs.

Personalization and consistency

• Users can create custom presets and set brand themes. Snagit includes a library of professionally designed templates that users can customize further.

Efficiency and workflow automation

• Batch processing lets users apply effects to multiple images quickly. Keyboard shortcuts enable fast captures, enhancing productivity.

Organization and secure sharing

• Snagit helps organize content with automatic metadata and custom tags. Unlike Loom, it allows users to choose between its cloud or secure options to keep content inside the firewall or on approved platforms.

Weaknesses: Snagit lacks interactive experiences and detailed usage analytics compared to Tango.

• Snagit provides basic analytics, such as tracking content views. Its commenting feature supports interactive Q&A with viewer identification. 
• Video documentation is advantageous over closed systems like Tango because videos are compatible with many third-party tools. Tools like Interact.video, PlayPosit, and EdPuzzle can add interactive video features and collect more analytics.

More on Tango vs. Snagit:

Capability	Snagit
Editing	Automated creation of step-by-step guides (v25)Robust editing for images and videosCutting, trimming, and combining videosAI-assisted features like Smart Move and Simplified User Interface (SUI)
Image	Automatic redaction (v25)Captures high-resolution screenshotsSupports scrolling capture for long screenshotsIntegrated asset libraryMore mark-up options than in Tango, including arrows, sequences, squares, circles, highlights, text, and blur effects
Video	High-definition video recordingRecording of the screen, webcam, system audio, and narration plus live draw
Brand	Personalization options for both images and videosBrand themesEditable templates

Pricing and plans

• Snagit costs $39.99 per year. Snagit version 24 is available for a one-time purchase of $62.99. 
• Optional plans for expanded cloud usage and asset library. 
• Snagit offers site-wide plans and has many site customers. 
• It does not have a free plan but does offer a free trial.

2. Scribe: Best for SEO-friendly content

Overview of Scribe

Scribe creates text-based how-to guides and processes content.

Tango vs. Scribe

Both products automate the creation of text-based guides with screenshots. They both offer a choice of a desktop application or a Chrome extension.

Strengths: Scribe is best for SEO-friendly content with extensive personalization options.

Weaknesses: Scribe has limited user analytics and interactive features.  

Additional Scribe vs. Tango comparison:

Capability	Scribe
Editing	Automated creation of step-by-step guidesMore text generation than Tango for less editing time
Image	Captures high-resolution screenshotsBasic mark-up Automatic redaction of sensitive information
Video	Not supported – but allows embedding of videos into guides
Brand	More personalization options than TangoCan tailor guides

Pricing and plans

Scribe offers a free version with limited features. Paid monthly plans start at $29 per user for additional personalization and integration features.

3. Loom: Best for usage analytics

Overview of Loom

Loom offers video messaging. It does not specialize in tech documentation and provides minimal screenshot capture features.

Videos are an excellent choice for content creation. Studies show that 83% of people prefer learning with videos.

Tango vs. Loom

Both products allow administrators to track who has access to content. 

Strengths: Loom focuses on screen recording with strong consumption analytics. 

• For example, Loom includes a feature to track view counts based on completion rates. In enterprise plans, Loom tracks viewers’ emails and exports usage data.

Weaknesses: Loom has minimal screenshot capture and markup.  It lacks automatic step-by-step documentation creation or interactive features.

Review of Loom vs. Tango:

Capability	Loom
Editing	Basic video editing, such as trimming
Image	Limited support – capture screenshots during video recordings
Video	Ability to record screen, voice, and camera
Brand	Custom branding options like adding logos and changing color schemes

Pricing and plans

Loom’s minimum paid plan is $150/year. Loom also offers a free plan, but recently removed editing features like trimming from its free plan.

4. ScreenSteps: Best for comprehensive knowledge management

Overview of ScreenSteps

ScreenSteps offers comprehensive features for knowledge management and training that Tango does not. 

Tango vs. ScreenSteps 

Both products support process-oriented content creation by combining screenshots with text information. 

Strengths: ScreenSteps supports comprehensive knowledge management features, including course creation and LMS integration. It supports detailed content creation with robust editing tools.

Weaknesses: ScreenSteps requires a higher learning curve and investment. It also needs quick interactive guide creation.

More on ScreenSteps vs. Tango:

Capability	ScreenSteps
Editing	Robust editing: text formatting, table of contents, bullet points, checklists, decision treesMore comprehensive than Tango
Image	More mark-up options than Tango: arrows, sequences, squares, circles, highlights, text, and blur effects
Video	Not supported – but allows the embedding of videos
Brand	Custom PDF templatesSite changes using CSS, HTML, and JavaScript

Pricing and plans

Pricing for ScreenSteps is provided with consultation with their sales team.

5. Trainual: Best for performance management

Overview of Trainual

Trainual is a powerful platform for employee development focusing on performance management.  

Tango vs. Trainual

Both products allow organizations to create content that combines images and text.  

Strengths: Trainual is excellent for performance management with features for tracking user progress and integrating media.

Weaknesses: Trainual has a higher learning curve and cost; not ideal for quick process documentation.

More on Trainual vs. Tango:

Capability	Trainual
Editing	Text editing and AI assistance
Image	Not supported – however, it allows the embedding of images
Video	Not supported – but supports embedding of videos
Brand	More options than Tango, including templates and role-based access

Pricing and plans

The minimum paid plan is Small Business, which starts at $300 per month for up to 50 employees.

6. iorad: Best for interactive experiences

Overview of iorad

iorad is a tutorial builder that captures user actions in real time to create interactive, step-by-step tutorials. 

Tango vs. iorad

Both iorad and Tango use overlay techniques to guide within applications.

Strengths: iorad is best for interactive features and engagement, as well as the real-time capture of user actions. It offers extensive editing features and media integration.

Weaknesses: Complexity, setup time, and pricing may be barriers for some users.

More on iorad vs. Tango:

Capability	iorad
Editing	Extensive editing: adding, duplicating, deleting, and reordering steps
Image	Captures high-resolution screenshotsAutomatically adds markup
Video	Add a video to each tutorial stepAbility to add voice overs with text-to-speech
Brand	Themes and branding

Pricing and plans

iorad’s monthly pricing starts at $200 for a single license, with additional features in higher-tier plans.

Conclusion: Finding the right alternative to Tango

When choosing an alternative, consider your needs and use cases.

• Tango: Creates interactive, step-by-step guides with real-time captures, ideal for how-to guides and onboarding. However, it lacks strong editing, image markup, and video features.
• Snagit: Excels in screen capture and video recording with extensive editing tools for print and video technical documentation. Version 25 will add automatic step-by-step document generation and automatic redaction features. Third-party products can enhance interactive features and tracking data.  
• Scribe: Offers SEO-friendly content creation with automatic text-based guides but lacks interactive features.
• Loom: Focuses on screen recording with strong analytics but has limited screenshot and interactive features.
• ScreenSteps: Provides comprehensive knowledge management features but lacks interactive features.
• Trainual: Great for performance management with digital media integration but is costly and complex.
• iorad: Offers rich interactive features through real-time action capture but can be complex and expensive.

Snagit is the best alternative to Tango for creating how-to guides, video walkthroughs, and general documentation. But the best alternative depends on your own specific needs for interactive features, personalization, or video.