7 Best Consensus Alternatives for Modern Demo Needs

Madhav Bhandari
Head of Marketing
7
min read
September 30, 2024

Consensus is a demo automation software that caters to the video demo needs of enterprise marketing teams. 

But, if you're looking for a tool that caters to modern demo needs of better interactivity, automated demos, customization, ease of use, and more, then this list of consensus competitors is for you.

We talked to our sales team, looked at customer reviews, asked for recommendations in LinkedIn and Slack communities, and here are our top picks:

  • Storylane: Best overall Consensus alternative for Interactive demos
  • Vidyard: For sales and marketing teams to scale video recording 
  • Relayto: For personalized microsites or demo centers 

Continue reading to know our full research and some other alternatives we shortlisted.

Best Consensus Alternatives: In-depth Comparison

1. Storylane

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Best for: Interactive, multimedia-rich demos

Demo capabilities: Screenshot, video, HTML demos

Storylane is the easiest and one of the strongest demo platforms that caters to both sales and marketing use cases.

It is also one of the fastest innovating platforms and offers a great alternative to Consensus' Demoboards feature with its Demohubs

Pros vs Consensus: 

  • Quick and easy demo creation: Get started for free and create your first demo in less than 10 minutes. Use our Chrome extension to capture your product as you interact with it, and our platform auto-links screens at every touchpoint. 
  • Multimedia demos: Enhance your product demos by embedding videos, GIFs, audio, or PDFs. No coding required. 
  • Advanced customization: Easily edit text, update visuals, blur sensitive information, and perform global search and replace. Tailor demos with precision by adding, removing, or hiding elements as needed. 
  • Better ROI: Easily adopted by both sales and marketing teams for live demos, leave-behinds, embedding demos on websites, emails, etc. 
  • Enterprise-Grade Security: Is SOC 2 and GDPR compliant and offers SSO, access control, white labeling, etc. 
  • Flexible Pricing: The tiered model accommodates businesses of all sizes, contrasting with Consensus's enterprise-focused approach.
  • Extensive Integrations: Connects with 30+ tools, including Hubspot, Salesforce, Intercom, and Marketo for presales, sales, and marketing teams.

Cons:

  • Fewer options for advanced video editing or production
  • No simultaneous webcam capture during screen recording   
  • No unlimited user seats

Pricing:

Generous free plan, with paid plans starting at:

  • $500/year for screenshot capture
  • $6000/year for HTML capture

2. Vidyard

Vidyard

Best for: Scalable video demo creation and management

Demo capabilities: Video demos

While not a demo automation platform like Consensus, Vidyard offers video hosting and screen/video recording capabilities at scale, along with features such as video CMS and digital sales rooms to shorten sales cycles. 

Pros vs Consensus:

  • Vidyard hubs: An alternative to Consensus's demo boards, Vidyard's content hubs let you upload, manage, and track all your videos. Use custom thumbnails, folders, and granular permissions to control access across teams, and share it with stakeholders, improving organization and security.
  • Lower entry barrier: A free plan to create, host, and share sales videos, making it a more accessible software option over Consensus
  • Simple user interface: Navigation is easier and poses a smaller learning curve for sales and marketing teams 
  • Sales and marketing integrations: Integrate with sales and marketing automation tools, such as Apollo, Gong, Salesforce, Salesloft, HubSpot, etc, to simplify sharing demos and tracking metrics within your CRM system. 
  • Detailed video analytics: Check detailed analytics on viewer engagement over time, engagement on CTRs within videos, view heatmap, etc. With team performance dashboards, track which reps have higher close rates.

Cons: 

  • Lacks advanced features such as branching logic found in Consensus
  • Features such as scrolling capture and text extraction are not available
  • Customers find lags while cropping or editing videos and delays with audio and video, leading to multiple takes 

Pricing:

Starts at $228/year

3. Relayto

RELAYTO

Best for: Immersive demo microsites with live chat

Demo capabilities: Video demos

While not a demo automation platform, Relayto is a strong Consensus alternative due to its ability to create interactive web-based microsites, similar to Consensus's demo board. 

Pros vs Consensus:

  • Microsite builder: Relayto creates interactive microsites for demos and content such as videos, PDFs, and forms, making the buying process interactive and offering a more immersive experience than Consensus's DemoBoards.
  • Document-wise analytics:  Provides detailed analytics on individual documents within content hubs, including view metrics, time spent, and demographic data of potential customers. 
  • Live chat integration: Live AI chat functionalities that reference demos or content without leaving the content hub, making buyer's journey interactive during demos or presentations
  • Role-based access: Collaborate seamlessly and boost buyer engagement with role-based access and easy invites to the dashboard
  • Enterprise-grade security: Compliance with ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type 2 standards

Cons:

  • Limited sales integrations
  • Personalization options may not be as extensive as Consensus
  • No option to customize the buyer experience within content hubs

Pricing:

Starts at $780/year

4. Loom

loom

Best for: Sharing one-off video explanations

Demo capabilities: Screen-recorded demos 

Loom as a software is primarily designed for quick, easy video creation and sharing, replacing Consensus's basic video recording functionality.  

Pros vs Consensus: 

  • Lower learning curve: With minimal training, sales and marketing teams can quickly create high-quality screen and webcam recordings.
  • Loom HQ video hubs: Loom HQ video hubs offer robust filtering options for categorizing videos by topic, project, or team member, along with options such as in-video commenting, making it a versatile tool for sales, internal communications, and customer onboarding. 
  • Personalized sales outreach:  You can also use videos as personalized sales "leave-behinds" in your sales cycle. Also, use AI-generated transcriptions to add context and accessibility to your leave-behinds. 
  • Bulk customization: Auto-personalize variables like prospect names, titles, and companies, saving time and effort when creating personalized video demos. You can also add CTA, customize as per the brand, color scheme, and add virtual backgrounds.

Cons:

  • Doesn't replicate the full functionality of Consensus demo boards
  • No options to add branching logic, annotations, and transitions for product interaction
  • Limited analytics- with the ability to track new views and total views over time 
  • No real-time editing or role-based access control on videos
  • Limited sales integrations

Pricing:

Loom is one of the most affordable tools on this list, starting at $150/creator/year.

5. Arcade

arcade

Best for: Cost-effective screen capture with in-video customization

Demo capabilities: screenshot and video demos

Arcade is a Loom-like interactive demo platform that captures screen, webcam, and audio. What makes ot stand out from Loom is its ability to add hotspots and tooltips in the video. It primarily caters to small marketing teams. 

Pros vs Consensus: 

  • Effortless demo creation: Arcade's Chrome extension makes it fast and easy to record screen activity, webcam, or both. The tool automatically stitches together screen recordings, images, and videos, saving significant time compared to manually editing video demos.
  • In-video customization: You can personalize demos for individual prospects by adding CTAs, hotspots, callouts, and even blurring or hiding specific content within the video itself.
  • For sales and marketing: Ideal for creating demos that can be easily shared as product demo videos, sales leave-behinds to drive sales, or embedded on websites and landing pages.

Cons: 

  • Depth of analytics doesn't match that of Consensus'
  • Video demos on Arcade may not offer features such as branching logic for personalization
  • Less sales-focused integrations compared to Consensus

Pricing:

Has a free plan with a limitation of 3 demos. Paid plans start at $384/year

6. Floik

floik

Best for: Self-service demo centers with branching scenarios

Demo capabilities: Video demos 

Unlike Consensus's focus on sales-driven, personalized demos, Floik offers a strong alternative focused on self-service learning and easier onboarding for buyers.

Pros vs Consensus: 

  • Mobile-friendly demo center: Floik's centralized demo center, like Consensus, organizes demos by personas and use cases to make buying easy. It stands out because of its mobile-friendliness.
  • “Choose your own adventure” feature: Use branched CTA's at multiple points within the demo to personalize the buyer journey or embed links to external resources or another demo.
  • Hassle-free user onboarding: Helps with buyer enablement by creating interactive video demos for onboarding tutorials. Add tooltips, and reduce friction for new users to navigate the product
  • Customize and export: Trim, crop the screen, transcribe audio, and even add AI voiceovers with a script. Add a custom CTA for each video before exporting in MP4 format or sharing a link.

Cons:

  • Limited analytics compared to other demo platforms in the market
  • Time-consuming to personalize the demo center with CTAs manually, compared to Consensus's question-based branching logic approach
  • No information on integrations or security and compliance

Pricing:

Starts at $319/year per user 

7. HowdyGo

howdygo

Best for: Marketing-focused interactive HTML demos 

Demo capabilities: HTML demos

While not a direct Consensus competitor, HowdyGo positions itself as an interactive demo platform for small marketing teams that want to embed videos within HTML demos. 

Pros vs Consensus:

  • Hosted demo center: Build a library of demos, and as a standout feature, setup a custom domain integration to host it on your own website and embed it in pages such as landing pages or PPC pages.
  • Embed video demos: HowdyGo streamlines the process by focusing on video demos embedded within an HTML framework. This helps save time for marketing teams looking to create engaging video presentations.
  • Drag and drop editor for demo building: Add new steps, rearrange, use customized templates, and add demo checklists or sections that viewers can refer back to.
  • Lead capture with forms: Similar to how Consensus allows capturing prospect information via forms within demo boards, HowdyGo offers embedded forms directly within your interactive demos.
  • Marketing and CRM integrations: Best suited for marketing teams with HubSpot, Google Analytics, Zapier, Adobe Marketo integrations 

Cons:

  • Unlike Consensus, HowdyGo does not offer integrations with sales tools apart from Salesforce, making it less suitable for sales teams.
  • Not an enterprise software like Consensus
  • Lack of information on compliance or security features 

Pricing:

Starts at $948/year

Final verdict: Which is the best Consensus software alternative?

With the alternatives offering unique features and capabilities, choosing one will ultimately depend on your specific needs and requirements. Here's a quick summary to make your decision easier:

Tool Best For Demo Capabilities Pricing
Storylane Interactive, multimedia-rich demos Screenshot, video, HTML demos Free plan, paid plans from $480/year (screenshot), $6000/year (HTML)
Vidyard Scalable video demo creation and management Video demos Starts at $228/year
Relayto Immersive demo microsites with live chat Microsites Starts at $780/year
Loom Quick, shareable video explanations Screen-recorded demos Starts at $150/creator/year
Arcade Cost-effective screen capture with in-video customization Screenshot and video demos Free plan, paid plans start at $384/year
Floik Self-service demo centers with branching scenarios Video demos Starts at $319/year per user
HowdyGo Marketing-focused interactive HTML demos HTML demos Starts from $948/year
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"Previously, there was scope for error and we’ve gone from a process that could be time consuming and painful to a process that’s super quick."
—CHRIS LANCASTER, SUPPLY CHAIN PROJECT

"Previously, there was scope for error and we’ve gone from a process that could be time consuming and painful to a process that’s super quick."

—CHRIS LANCASTER, SUPPLY CHAIN PROJECT

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