React Native onboarding comparison
Recus vs Frigade
The honest comparison: features, pricing, and which one actually works for React Native.
Last updated: May 2025
TL;DR
Frigade is a great tool for web product tours, checklists, and feature announcements. Their React Native SDK was abandoned 3 years ago.
Recus is built specifically for React Native onboarding: server-driven forms, navigation enforcement, field-level analytics, and structured data storage. Different product, different problem.
Choose Frigade if you need web product tours. Choose Recus if you need React Native onboarding with data collection and enforcement.
What is Frigade?
Frigade (YC W23) is a developer platform for building onboarding experiences. They raised $3M from Craft Ventures and Y Combinator.
Their core product is a React SDK for product tours, checklists, banners, and feature announcements. They recently launched Frigade AI, an in-app support agent for web SaaS.
Frigade is well-built, well-funded, and actively maintained. Their web product is strong.
Their React Native SDK (@frigade/react-native) was last published 3 years ago on npm and has effectively zero active usage. Mobile is not their focus.
What is Recus?
Recus is onboarding infrastructure for React Native apps.
Install one package. Design flows in a dashboard. The SDK renders them natively. No App Store release needed to change anything.
Recus focuses on structured data collection, mandatory field enforcement at the navigation layer, field-level analytics, and server-driven UI that PMs can control without filing tickets.
The key difference
Frigade answers: "How do I show users what to do inside my app?"
Recus answers: "How do I collect what I need from users before they can use my app, and enforce it?"
These are fundamentally different jobs. A product tour guides users through an existing UI. A Recus flow collects structured data, validates it, stores it, and blocks navigation until the required fields are complete. You cannot swap one for the other.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Recus React Native onboarding | Frigade web onboarding |
|---|---|---|
| React Native SDK | Native | Abandoned* |
| Web / React SDK | Coming | Strong |
| Product tours and tooltips | Coming | Core feature |
| Onboarding checklists | Coming | Core feature |
| Server-driven form schema | Yes | No |
| Add fields without code change | Yes | No |
| Navigation guard | Yes | No |
| Mandatory field enforcement | Yes | No |
| Field-level analytics | Yes | No |
| Structured data storage per user | Yes | No |
| Webhooks on completion | Yes | Yes |
| A/B testing | Roadmap | Yes |
| User segmentation | Yes | Yes |
| Works with Expo Go | Yes | Yes |
| Dashboard for non-devs | Yes | Yes |
| Free tier | 500 MAUs | Limited |
| Starting price | $79/mo | $99/mo |
| Pricing model | MAU-based | MAU-based |
* @frigade/react-native last published 3 years ago. Zero dependent packages in the npm registry. Frigade's own docs recommend their JS SDK for React Native, which is a compatibility layer, not a native implementation.
Pricing comparison
| Plan / volume | Frigade | Recus |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Limited | 500 MAUs, 1 flow |
| Growth | $99/mo | $79/mo annual, 5,000 MAUs |
| Pro | Custom | $199/mo, 25,000 MAUs |
| At 5,000 MAUs | $99/mo | $79/mo annual, 20% cheaper |
| At 25,000 MAUs | Custom, contact sales | $199/mo, transparent and self-serve |
Who should choose what
Choose Frigade if:
- You are building web SaaS, not mobile.
- You need product tours, checklists, and announcements.
- Your primary platform is React on the web.
- You want a mature, well-funded web onboarding product.
Choose Recus if:
- You are building a React Native app.
- You need to collect structured data during onboarding.
- You want PMs to change flows without filing tickets.
- You need mandatory field enforcement at the navigation layer.
- You want field-level drop-off analytics.
Bottom line
Frigade is a great product for the wrong platform. If your app is React Native, their abandoned SDK and web-first architecture means you are not really supported.
Recus was built specifically for this problem on this platform. Start free: 500 MAUs, no card.
Try Recus freeFAQ
Is Frigade a good React Native onboarding SDK?
Frigade is strong for web onboarding, but its React Native SDK has not been actively maintained for years. For native React Native onboarding, Recus is purpose-built.
What is the best Frigade alternative for React Native?
If you need server-driven forms, navigation guards, structured data storage, and field-level analytics in React Native, Recus is the more direct fit.
Does Recus support web product tours like Frigade?
Not today. Recus focuses on React Native onboarding infrastructure. Web tours and tooltips are a separate use case.