The free plan comparison
Tango's free plan, as listed on its pricing page on 28 September 2026, includes browser capture, link and embed sharing and five shared workflows. PDF, HTML and Markdown export, screenshot blurring and unlimited workflows are on the Pro plan, listed at $26 per user a month, or $22 billed yearly, for one or two users.
Showsteps has one tier and it is free: unlimited guides, every export format, blur and manual redaction.
Side by side
| Feature | Showsteps | Mimik | Scribe | Tango |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where your guides live | In your browser and in files you save. No network requests after install. | On your device. Its README notes site icons come from Google's favicon service, and optional AI features call the provider you set up. | Scribe's servers. Its docs describe blurring before capture so blurred data never reaches them. | Tango's cloud, hosted on AWS. No on-premises option. |
| PDF, HTML and Markdown export | Free. Also DOCX. | Free. Also DOCX, MP4 and GIF. | Not on the free Basic plan. Included in Pro. | Not on the free plan. Included in Pro. |
| Blur or redact screenshots | Free. Password fields and card numbers, tax IDs, IBANs and keys on the page are masked as you record; draw your own blur or crop. | Free. Smart Blur for emails, phone numbers, SSNs, cards, IP and MAC addresses, plus a manual picker. | Not on Basic. Editing and redacting screenshots is a Pro feature. | Not on the free plan. Annotation and blurring are in Pro. |
| Free plan limits | None. No account, no watermark. | None listed. No account. | Basic: web apps only, no unlimited guides. | Free: 5 shared workflows. |
| Paid price | $0. Optional support. | $0. MIT licensed. | Pro Personal listed at $35 a month, or $25 a month billed yearly. | Pro listed at $26 per user a month, or $22 billed yearly, for 1 to 2 users. |
| Replayable script or skill for an agent | Yes: SKILL.md, steps.json and a Playwright replay.spec.ts, plus a CLI and MCP server. | No CLI, MCP or Playwright export mentioned. Has a live walkthrough inside the extension. | Not listed on its pricing page. | Not listed on its pricing page. Automations are an Enterprise feature. |
| Desktop app capture | No. Chrome tabs only. | No. Browser workflows; also on Firefox and Edge. | Yes, on paid plans. | Yes, on Pro. |
| Team comments, viewer insights, SSO | No. It is a personal tool that produces files. | None mentioned. | Yes, on higher tiers. | Yes, on higher tiers. |
| Share by link | No hosted links. Send the file, or host the HTML anywhere. | None mentioned. Exports files. | Yes. | Yes. |
Details come from each vendor's own pricing, security and documentation pages, and from Mimik's README, as they were on . Plans and prices change; check their sites before deciding. Mimik is a free, MIT-licensed extension with video and GIF export and Firefox and Edge support that Showsteps does not have; see the full comparison. Scribe, Tango and Mimik are trademarks of their owners, and Showsteps is not affiliated with any of them.
Where your data goes
Tango describes itself as cloud-based and not available for on-premises deployment, with infrastructure on Amazon Web Services. That is a normal way to build a SaaS product, and it is also a reason some teams cannot use it for anything that touches customer data.
Showsteps has no server. Recording, editing and export happen inside the extension. The extension asks for a short list of Chrome permissions, each explained on the privacy page, and it makes no network requests after install.
Where Tango is ahead
- Desktop capture on Pro. Showsteps only records Chrome.
- Shareable links, embeds and a shared workspace for a team.
- Viewer insights and version history on Pro; SSO and audit logs on Enterprise.
- Enterprise features such as Guide Me and Automations, which run inside Tango.
If you need the guide to live inside a team workspace and to be seen by dozens of people with analytics on who read it, Tango is designed for that. If you need the guide as a document, and you need it today, keep reading.
Guides for people, scripts for agents
Tango's Enterprise plan lists automations and guided walk-throughs that run inside Tango. Showsteps takes a different route: the same recording exports as a replay.spec.ts Playwright script and a SKILL.md a coding agent can read. You own the script, it runs wherever Node runs, and you can edit it in any editor.
There is a command line (showsteps export guide.showsteps --format skill --json) and a local MCP server for agents that prefer tools over shell commands. Details are on the agents page.
How to switch a workflow over
- Open the workflow in Tango and note the title and intended audience.
- Install Showsteps, open the same starting page, press Record and do the task once, slowly.
- Stop, then read the generated step titles. Edit any that read badly and add a note step where a decision is needed.
- Export as PDF or HTML and replace the old link where you had it.