Collecting In-App Feedback: The Ultimate Guide + 10 Best Tools

🥇 Our top pick: Featurebase, the all-in-one feature collection & management tool, best value for money.

Building a product is like setting sail on uncharted waters. Unless you're Steve Jobs, you'll most definitely need guidance from users, or you'll end up lost.

In-app feedback is one of the most effective ways to understand your customers' needs, preferences, and pain points.

Yet many startups overlook this goldmine and end up having feedback scattered between emails, spreadsheets, and review sites. It's a recipe for lost insights and unsatisfied customers.

Letting users submit feedback straight within your app not only increases engagement but also helps gather everything neatly in a single place.

In this article, I'll go over the best practices and top tools to help you effectively collect in-app feedback and put it to use. 👇

TL;DR - The Best In-app Feedback Tools in 2024:

1. Featurebase - All-in-one tool for feature voting, collecting, and managing product feedback - best value for money
2. Canny - Great for larger enterprises who can afford more expensive software
3. UserBack - For large teams with many products
4. Frill - Simple design and lightweight widgets for feedback collection
5. Sleekplan - Most affordable pricing, limited features
6. featureOS - Good for collecting feedback, poor for prioritizing it
7. Upvoty - Aged user interface but quite affordable
8. UserSnap - Very customizable widgets, best for enterprise use
9. Nolt - Simple and affordable tool for feature voting, limited widget customizations
10. UserVoice - Complete feedback suite for enterprise

Why Collect In-App Feedback?

Collecting feedback is crucial for startups, especially if you're in the early stages. It helps you understand what customers are expecting from your product and build the right features from the start.

But you probably know that by now.

So - leaving the general benefits of collecting feedback aside - let's take a look at why you should do it from inside your app.

Benefits of integrating feedback collection in your app:

• Increased submissions: Users can find the feedback form more easily, which increases the amount of feedback you get
• Better user experience: Users don't have to leave your product to visit any external sites or forms. Most feature voting tools even allow native screenshots during submissions
• Real-time feedback: Enables users to quickly submit bugs/suggestions and helps you fix them faster
• Contextual relevance: By using specific tools, you can easily see where users were on your app at the time of leaving feedback. You can also track additional data like their OS system, app version, etc.

Collecting and analyzing user feedback is one of the most effective ways to improve product/market fit. Why not gather it from everywhere you can?

Types of In-App Feedback

To put it simply, there are two main types of feedback your users will submit - general and contextual. It's your job to know how and when to collect each type.

General Feedback

General feedback is not focused on any particular part or feature of your app. It deals with your product's experience as a whole. Users can freely share whatever feedback they want about your app.

Examples of general in-app feedback:

• Feature requests: Users can ask for new features, updates to existing ones, or even new integrations with other apps. It's one of the most common feedback types.
• Bug reports: Users can submit issues, glitches, or bugs they encounter while using the app. Usually sent together with screenshots, OS system version, etc.
• Overall satisfaction & recommendations: When users express their general satisfaction with your app, including whether they would recommend it to others

You should always collect general feedback. If you're just starting out, this will give you the most insights into your product's overall experience.

Contextual Feedback

Contextual feedback is more specific. It focuses on a certain process or part of your app. E.g., a checkout process or a new feature. You'd want to ask it automatically after the user has interacted with that.

Examples of contextual in-app feedback:

• Feature usage feedback: When a user tries a new feature for the first time, you can automatically ask for their thoughts on it, measure its usefulness, and find out any difficulties they encountered.
• Setup process feedback: After a user completes the initial setup, you can queue a pop-up asking about their level of ease, any problems, etc.
• Post-update feedback: Following an app update, you can ask users who have interacted with the updated sections their thoughts on the changes.

They're very efficient for validating new features. You can quickly build the MVP, publish it for a set group of people, and use their feedback for the finishing touches.

So, instead of building the feature from start to finish based on guesswork, you can make it exactly the way your users want it to be (without any failed tries and wasted time).

How to Collect In-App feedback?

• Customer feedback widgets: A simple button that opens a widget inside your app that users can click any time to request features, report bugs, or simply share feedback.
• Community forums: An in-app link to a community forum or discussion board where users can post their feedback, vote on feature ideas, and offer suggestions for the app's improvement on a more general level.
• In-app surveys: You can periodically queue in-app popups to invite users to answer different satisfaction surveys, like Net Promoter Score (NPS) or Customer Satisfaction (CSAT).
• Ratings & reviews: Remind your users to rate and review your app in the app store or review sites like Capterra. In addition to direct feedback, this also enhances visibility and credibility on app platforms.
• Email feedback: Have your (support) email inside your app for users to write feedback or feature requests. This is the simplest but least effective way to collect feedback.

Pro tip: A lot of the tools below allow you to connect the feedback forms & widgets with the community forum, so everything ends up conveniently in one place. Users can then discuss and vote on each other's ideas for more insights.

The 10 Best In-app Feedback Tools in 2024

1. Featurebase

Featurebase is one of the best feedback tools on the market. It has a neat interface and many rich features, including in-app widgets, roadmaps, and a changelog, to get the most out of your feedback.

It comes with affordable pricing and a Free plan allowing unlimited feedback. You can set it up in minutes and always get quick help through live chat. ⚡️

Featurebase's key features:

• In-app widgets (see live demo)
• Feedback boards, changelog, and a roadmap
• Sort feedback by monetary value 
• Prioritization frameworks
• Automated notification emails
• Custom domain
• User segmentation
• Single Sign-On
• Over 6 + languages, including Spanish, German, French, etc.

Advantages of Featurebase:

• Intuitive interface - a neat and easy-to-use design for you and your users with gamified features like leaderboards to incentivize feedback
• AI duplicate post-detection - users & admins will see relevant similar posts before posting to reduce duplicates
• AI-powered search - always find that idea that you were looking for, even if you don't remember the exact wording
• Lots of customizations - have your boards look exactly the way you want by changing the colors, theme, text, and much more
• Replies and @ mentioning - intuitive comment section for lengthy discussions

Drawbacks of Featurebase:

• No HubSpot & Salesforce integrations

How much does Featurebase cost?

• Free Plan - unlimited posts, all basic features like a feedback widget, roadmap, and changelog to take your product to the next level
• Growth Plan ($40/month) - 4 managers, all integrations and widgets, custom domain, and seamless user login
• Premium Plan ($124/month) - 8 managers, API, SSO, and user segmentation

All plans let you collect unlimited feedback, and you can try the paid ones with a 10-day free trial. See pricing here →

Featurebase reviews:

• Product Hunt - 4.9/5

Conclusion

Featurebase is one of the best feedback tools for fast-growing startups. It allows you to capture and manage feedback without any unnecessary complexities while keeping users updated with automated emails and a public roadmap.

The onboarding is amazingly quick and you can migrate your existing feedback over in seconds.

Learn more here →

2. Canny.io

Canny.io is a popular feedback tool that targets enterprises. It offers in-app widgets, feedback boards, and changelogs. However, their paid plans cost a lot, and the free plan has a strict limit on monthly posts.

Canny's key features:

• Feedback boards, roadmaps, changelog
• Prioritization frameworks
• Feedback widget
• Automated email notifications
• Duplicate post-detection
• Custom domain

Advantages of Canny:

• SOC2 compliance for enterprises
• Modern & intuitive design

Drawbacks of Canny:

• Very expensive pricing 
• No changelog popups
• No bulk editing
• No prioritization matrices
• No follow-up questions like "How important is this for you?" for extra insights
• Customers complain about not being listened to
• Supports only English

How much does Canny cost?

• Free plan - limits active posts to only 100 a month. For very small companies only
• $99/month (Starter Plan) - custom domain, roadmap, 2 integrations. Very limited in features, equal to competitors' free plans
• $399/month (Growth) - for 5 admins, user segmentation, private boards, and more
• Business (talk to sales) - unlimited boards, pay by invoice, SOC2, etc.

Canny Pricing 2024: Is It Worth It →

Canny reviews:

• G2 - 4.5/5 (complaints)
• Capterra - 4.8/5
• GetApp - 4.7/5

Conclusion

Canny is a reasonable customer feedback tool for enterprises. They are SOC2 certified, support paying by invoice & have advanced moderation features. 

They offer a free plan that limits you to 100 posts. Furthermore, the most useful features are on the $399/mo plan, so it can get even quite expensive.

Check out these affordable Canny alternatives →

3. UserBack

Userback fits folks with many products or companies they want to manage into a single tool. In addition to in-app feedback collection, it also supports session replays and video feedback.

UserBack's key features:

• Feedback portal
• Widgets for feedback capturing
• Bug & issue tracking

Advantages of Userback:

• Session replays
• Screenshot/video recording widget
• Browser extension for internal feedback collection

Drawbacks of Userback:

• Bad duplicate post-detection system
• No changelog for closing the feedback loop
• Lacks customizations (+ no dark mode)
• No follow-up questions like "How important is this for you?" for extra insights
• No built-in prioritization frameworks for product managers

How much does Userback cost?

Userback's pricing is best for larger teams with different products:

• Startup plan - $59/month, allowing 10 admins and 5 projects.
• Company plan - $119/month, allowing 15 admins and 15 projects.
• Premium plan - $217/month, allowing 25 admins and 27 projects.

Note: 'Projects' are your companies or products, which you'd have to have a lot to get the most out of your money.

Userback reviews:

• G2. - 4.8/5
• Capterra - 4.8/5
• GetApp - 4.8/5

Conclusion

Userback is the best choice for large teams with many different products. As a plus, the session replay feature makes it stand out from the others.

It's a good tool to capture user feedback, but if you're a smaller company, other deals will make more sense as you'd be paying for empty admin seats.

Check out the best UserBack alternatives here →

4. Frill

Frill is a straightforward feature request tool with simple feedback boards and a widget. They have a pretty user interface but could improve their feedback management side.

The pricing and dashboard make it a more suitable option for smaller teams that don't get much feedback.

Frill's key features:

• Feedback boards, roadmaps, changelogs
• Feedback collecting widget & changelog popups
• Changelog notification emails
• Custom domain

Advantages of Frill:

• Minimalistic & straightforward UI
• Translations into any language

Drawbacks of Frill:

• Poor dashboard view for managing & moderating feedback
• No user segmentation
• No sorting feedback by customer revenue
• No changelog emails
• No duplicate post-detection system
• No built-in prioritization frameworks

How much does Frill cost?

Frill offers 4 plans to choose between. You can try out each one with a 14-day free trial.

• Startup ($25/month) - 50 active ideas at a time
• Business ($49/month) - removes the feedback limit
• Growth ($149/month) - unlimited feedback, white labeling, privacy features
• Enterprise (starting at $349/month) - SOC2 and a dedicated support manager

Frill reviews:

• G2 - 4.8/5
• Capterra - 4.6/5
• GetApp - 4.6/5

Conclusion

If you're looking for a simple way to collect feedback, Frill is a nice option. It offers in-product widgets, a changelog, and a custom domain.

The first plan costs $25/mo and is suited for smaller teams that don't get more than 50 ideas in a month. The next plans are still quite affordable, but a bit pricey compared to others.

Check out the best Frill alternatives →

5. Sleekplan

Sleekplan is one of the most budget-friendly feedback tools on the market. Besides idea boards, roadmaps, and changelogs, it also supports satisfaction surveys. It's a great deal for smaller startups that don't need complex features.

Sleekplan's key features:

• Feedback boards, roadmaps, changelogs
• CSAT and NPS satisfaction surveys
• Anonymous posting, commenting, and voting
• Customizable survey widgets
• Supports 10+ languages

Advantages of Sleekplan:

• Very affordable pricing - highest plan $45/month
• A lightweight tool, not too complex

Drawbacks of Sleekplan:

• Outdated UI & UX
• No changelog popups
• No duplicate post-detection system
• No bulk editing
• No follow-up questions
• Few integrations
• Run by a solo founder, so customer support might not be good

How much does Sleekplan cost?

Sleekplan offers 4 plans to choose from. Each allows unlimited feedback and end users.

• Indie (free) - 1 admin, 1 feedback board, and a changelog
• Starter ($15/mo) - 3 admins, changelog, roadmap, customer satisfaction surveys
• Business ($45/mo) - 10 admins, merge posts, white labeling, custom domain, and user segmentation
• Enterprise (custom) - Everything in Starter, plus unlimited admins

Their pricing seems (and is) affordable, but many critical features like post-merging are only on the third plan.

Sleekplan reviews:

• G2 - 4.8/5
• Capterra - 5/5
• GetApp 5/5

Conclusion

Sleekplan is a good choice for smaller teams that also want to measure customer satisfaction. It's a nice, affordable alternative, but you'll have to go with the $45/mo plan to access most of the useful features.

Check out the best Sleekplan alternatives →

6. featureOS

featureOS - once Hellonext - is another good feedback tool that's packed with many different features. If you want detailed control over every aspect of the feedback board, featureOS is a good choice.

featureOS key features:

• Changelog
• Widget for feedback collecting
• Duplicate post-detection
• A knowledge base feature
• Replies and @ mentioning

Advantages of featureOS:

• Modern design
• Lots of customizations
• Feature-rich

Drawbacks of featureOS:

• No changelog popups
• Can't sort feedback by monetary value
• No user segmentation
• No built-in prioritization frameworks
• Supports only English

How much does featureOS cost?

FeatureOS offers three pricing tiers:

• Runway ($29/month) - 2 boards, 1 admin, 1 integration
• Take Flight ($79/month) - 10 boards, 3 admins, 3 integrations
• Fly High ($149/month) - unlimited boards, 10 admins, SSO, API

You can try each out with a 14-day trial.

Note: They have offered free plans many times in the past and overall change the pricing rather often. Last time, they closed the free plan overnight.

featureOS reviews:

• Product Hunt - 4.5/5

Conclusion

featureOS is a great feedback tools with lots of features, including widgets, a changelog, and a knowledge base.

However, it's missing some important ones, like sorting feedback by revenue and prioritization frameworks.

They offer great pricing for companies that need to collect many different types of feedback. But they change it constantly, so there's always some uncertainty.

Check out the best alternatives to featureOS →

7. Upvoty

Upvoty is a feedback tool best suited for small and medium-sized teams. It comes with feedback boards, roadmaps, and changelogs. While it supports many languages, it unfortunately lacks lots of essential features and has an outdated user interface.

Upvoty's key features:

• Feedback boards, roadmaps, changelogs
• Feedback widget
• Custom domain
• Private boards
• Anonymous posting, voting, and commenting

Advantages of Upvoty:

• Supports 20+ languages
• Has a custom CSS option

Drawbacks of Upvoty:

• Outdated user interface
• No changelog widgets or popups
• No user segmentation
• No sorting feedback by customer revenue
• No follow-up questions like "How important is this for you?" for extra insights
• No built-in prioritization frameworks for product managers
• Customer support is provided by contractors and freelancers, and there have been a lot of complaints about it

How much does Upvoty cost?

Upvoty has quite a tricky pricing plan, with their starter plan costing $15 a month but limiting trackable users to 150 and having one board.

This is not much, yet the next plan costs $39/month while still limiting users. The Unlimited plan costs $75/month, removing all boundaries.

User limits make their pricing unpredictable and can cause anxiety, as you can never predict how many users will give feedback each month.

Upvoty reviews:

• Product Hunt - 3.4/5 (see complaints)
• G2 - 1.6/5 (see complaints)

Conclusion

Upvoty is a simple feedback software but lacks many crucial features. Their usage-based pricing makes it only viable for those not getting much feedback. The only real upside is that it supports more languages. 

Want more options? Check out these Upvoty alternatives →

8. UserSnap

UserSnap is an enterprise user feedback tool with a large learning curve. Some of the core features include bug reporting, video feedback, two-way integrations & customer surveys.

It has lots of widgets for all types of feedback. Examples include NPS scores, release note popups & feature satisfaction surveys.

UserSnap's key features:

• Feedback boards
• Surveys
• Different widgets (e.g. NPR, feature announcement, feature satisfaction surveys)
• Many integrations like Jira Server, Salesforce, HubSpot
• User segmentation

Advantages of UserSnap:

• SOC2 certification for enterprises
• Lots of customization possibilities

Drawbacks of UserSnap:

• No roadmaps
• Costs a lot
• The design is a bit outdated, which means widgets don't always look the best
• Very complex and confusing

How much does UserSnap cost?

UserSnap has four tiers of pricing that go up pretty high compared to UserBack.

1. Startup (€69/month) - 5 projects, 10 team members, screen capturing, surveys, 50+ integrations.
2. Company (€129/month) - 15 projects, 15 team members, error log recording, data export features.
3. Premium (€249/month) - 25 projects, 25 members, app surveys, API access.
4. Enterprise (€949/month) - Unlimited projects/members, advanced security, full API, and strategy consultation.

Conclusion

UserSnap is a versatile & enterprise-focused feedback tool. They have lots of widgets, large integrations, and a SOC2 compliance.

For pricing, UserSnap is a very costly tool. Their highest plan comes in at $949/month or $11,388/year.

If you want something more affordable, check out these top UserSnap alternatives →

9. Nolt.io

Nolt is a lightweight feedback collection tool that's best suited for small teams looking to collect feedback using simple features. However, it doesn't have changelogs and can get quite pricey for what it offers.

Nolt's key features:

• Feedback boards
• A roadmap
• Feedback collection widget
• Anonymous posting, commenting, and voting
• Password-protected boards

Advantages of Nolt:

• Simplicity (at the cost of many features)
• SAML 2.0 for enterprise
• Has over 10+ different translations

Drawbacks of Nolt:

• No admin dashboard
• No changelog for closing the feedback loop with users
• No duplicate post-detection system
• Only one widget
• No user segmentation
• No sorting feedback by customer revenue
• Doesn't scale well with many ideas (no bulk editing or filtering, etc.)
• No built-in prioritization frameworks for product managers

How much does Nolt cost?

• Essential ($29/month) - 1 board, roadmap, SSO
• Pro ($69/month) - 5 boards, API, and task management integrations
• Enterprise (talk to sales) - unlimited boards

The Essential Plan is great if you need SSO upfront, but otherwise, you'll find a better deal from other tools in this list.

Nolt reviews:

• G2 - 5/5
• Capterra - 4.9/5
• GetApp - 4.9/5

Conclusion

Nolt is a great feedback solution for smaller teams looking for simplicity and voting boards. However, it lacks many crucial features like changelogs, user segmentation, and a dashboard.

Their pricing isn't expensive, but most alternatives offer much more for the same cost.

Check out the best Nolt alternatives →

10. UserVoice

UserVoice is an enterprise-grade feedback suite. It's a complex, all-in-one solution that requires time to master and is meant for larger teams that need custom workflows. It's one of the most expensive solutions, with plans starting at $699/month.

UserVoice's key features:

• Idea Management
• User Analytics
• Roadmap Prioritization

Advantages of UserVoice

• Different features for internal alignment
• Satisfaction surveys
• More integrations
• Translations
• SOC2 certified

Drawbacks of UserVoice:

• Expensive, starting at $699/month
• No changelog
• No changelog widgets or announcement popups
• Outdated user interface
• Feature bloated, too complex for regular usage
• A steep learning curve that can slow down agile startups

How much does UserVoice cost?

UserVoice is mainly suited for larger Enterprises, as their pricing is extremely expensive.

It starts at $699/month for managing ideas you submit yourself on behalf of your users. And it's $899 to actually collect feedback. Connecting customer data to ideas costs $1,350/month, and you'll have to talk to a salesperson to start each plan.

Most of their competitors' prices don't even reach their starting point. For example, the equivalent to their most expensive plan in Featurebase costs just $82 a month.

Learn more about UserVoice's pricing and if it's worth it →

UserVoice reviews:

• G2 - 4.5/5
• Capterra - 4.2/5 (see complaints)
• GetApp - 4.2/5

Conclusion

UserVoice is an end-to-end product management tool for operating at scale. The additional features are excellent for enterprises but counterintuitive for SMBs looking to collect feedback and announce new features. It's also very expensive and targeted at enterprise companies.

Find more affordable alternatives to UserVoice →

Best Practices for Gathering Users' Feedback In-App

Setting up a good feedback tool will be a huge improvement to your feedback game but there are even more steps you can take to refine your workflow.

To set yourself up for success, there are certain best practices to collect feedback and ensure it provides value for your business.

Tips for effectively collecting and using in-app feedback:

• Make it simple: Ensure the feedback process is straightforward and accessible, encouraging more users to participate.
• Incentivize: Have a reward system or gamification features for users who take the time to provide feedback, boosting participation.
• Follow-up: For users who provide detailed feedback or report issues, follow up with them after addressing their concerns to show appreciation and confirm resolutions.
• Connect user data: Enrich feedback with customer data like company size, revenue contribution, etc., to effectively prioritize ideas based on impact.
• Time it right: Request feedback at moments when users are most likely to respond positively, such as after achieving a milestone or completing a task.
• Collect contextual feedback: In addition to general ideas, gather feedback about specific features or experiences within the app to make sure you get the details right. It's especially important for parts of your product that users engage with daily.
• Keep surveys short: Limit the number of questions in your surveys to respect users' time and increase completion rates. Asking specific questions instead of broad ones also helps.
• Ensure privacy: Make it possible to submit feedback anonymously to encourage honesty and ensure users that their privacy is protected.
• Act on feedback: Show users that their feedback is valued by implementing their suggestions and, most importantly, communicating these improvements.

Conclusion

Collecting in-app feedback from users is one of the most effective ways to find impactful ideas and improve your product.

Nowadays, there are countless tools that help you do this effectively and speed up the process. However, finding one that ticks all the boxes is quite difficult.

For most companies, Featurebase is the best pick for its all-in-one capabilities and value for money.

It comes with a Free Plan that allows unlimited posts. You can automatically import your existing feedback in seconds, so there's no downside to trying it. 👇

Start collecting in-app feedback with Featurebase today →

FAQ

What is in-app feedback?

In-app feedback means collecting user feedback and suggestions directly within an app, making it easier and more immediate than traditional methods like email surveys. It simplifies feedback collection by removing extra steps, like following a link or contacting support, and can include various methods like pop-up surveys.

What are the benefits of collecting in-app feedback?

Integrating feedback collection into your app simplifies the process for users, leading to increased feedback submissions. Moreover, it offers real-time relevant feedback, allowing for quicker resolutions on the company's side.

What is the best in-app feedback tool in 2024?

Featurebase is the best in-app feedback tool in 2024, providing the best overall value. In addition to feedback widgets, it offers voting boards, roadmaps, and changelogs to help you in every stage of building your product. It stands out for its user-friendly interface and advanced functionalities, which include AI duplicate post detection, prioritization frameworks, and gamification features.