Product tour library comparison

The best open-source product tour libraries, compared

The most used open-source product tour libraries for JavaScript are Intro.js, Driver.js, Shepherd.js and React Joyride. GlowTour.js is a newer, MIT-licensed alternative: one TypeScript engine with first-party integrations for React, Vue, Angular, Solid and vanilla JavaScript. This page compares all five on framework support, server rendering, customization, accessibility and license, using each project's official documentation and source code. We maintain GlowTour.js, so every claim links to its source.

What is a product tour library?

A product tour library highlights elements of your interface one step at a time, usually with an overlay that dims the rest of the page and a popover that explains the highlighted element. It is how you build onboarding tours for new users, feature announcements, walkthroughs of a complex form, or in-app help, without a hosted onboarding platform. The differences that matter between libraries are which frameworks they integrate with, whether they survive server rendering, how far you can restyle the popover, how accessible it is to keyboard and screen reader users, and whether the license fits a commercial product.

Feature comparison

GlowTour.js, Intro.js, Driver.js, Shepherd.js and React Joyride compared feature by feature
Feature	GlowTour.js	Intro.js	Driver.js	Shepherd.js	React Joyride
Vanilla JS	Native (custom elements)	Native	Native	Native	No
React	Native integration	Community wrapper	Compatible, no native adapter	Official wrapper	Native (React-only)
Vue	Native integration	Compatible, no official adapter	Compatible, no native adapter	Official wrapper	No
Angular	Native integration	Compatible, no official adapter	Compatible, no native adapter	Official wrapper	No
Solid	Native integration	Generic JS API	Compatible, no native adapter	Generic JS API	No
Framework-agnostic core	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
SSR & hydration	Verified in Next.js, Nuxt, SolidStart, Angular	Client-side only, import needs a DOM	Safe to import, client-side only	Safe to import, client-side only	SSR-safe, renders client-side only
TypeScript	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
CSS customization	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Custom/composable UI	First-class (composable components)	Step options + CSS classes	CSS + DOM hooks	Step options + CSS classes	Custom React components
Custom layouts	Yes	HTML inside the step template	Via onPopoverRender	Within the step template	Yes (custom tooltip)
Chainable builder API	Yes (chainable)	No (steps option)	No (config object)	No (imperative addStep)	No (steps prop)
Accessibility (ARIA, focus, keyboard)	Yes	Dialog role + keyboard, no focus trap	Keyboard + focus trap, open ARIA issues	Yes	Yes
Automated screen reader tests	VoiceOver + NVDA, in CI	None (jest-axe checks only)	None in its repository	None in its repository	None in its repository
License	MIT	AGPL-3.0 or paid commercial	MIT	AGPL-3.0 or commercial	MIT

Built in
Possible, with caveats
Not supported

Checked in September 2026 against Intro.js 8.6.0, Driver.js 1.8.0, Shepherd.js 15.3.0, React Joyride 3.2.0. "Native integration" means components shipped by the project for that framework; "Official wrapper" means a project-maintained package around the core library; "Generic JS API" means the library is called from framework code directly. Projects change, so confirm details in the sources below.

Which product tour library should you choose?

All five are open source, but two of them (Intro.js and Shepherd.js) are licensed under AGPL-3.0 with a paid commercial license for closed-source products. The right choice depends on your stack, how far you need to take the UI, and your licensing constraints.

Choose GlowTour.js if you want first-party React, Vue and Angular integrations, deep UI composition and a builder-style API, under the MIT license.
Choose Intro.js if you want the most widely used vanilla JavaScript tour library, with hints and a large community, and a paid commercial license (or AGPL-3.0) fits your project.
Choose Driver.js if you want a lightweight, dependency-free library you can call from any stack and customize through CSS and DOM hooks.
Choose Shepherd.js if you want a mature framework-agnostic solution with official framework wrappers, and AGPL-3.0 or a commercial license fits your project.
Choose React Joyride if your application is React-only and you want a React-focused library, including support for React versions before 18.

GlowTour.js is newer than the other four and ships as ESM only. Server rendering is verified for its React, Vue, Solid and Angular adapters; see the compatibility page for the exact versions before adopting it.

Framework-specific tour libraries

Some libraries only target one framework. They can be a good fit for a single-framework app; check how recently they were released against the framework version you run.

Vue product tour libraries

vue-tour: Vue 2 only (depends on vue ^2.6); latest release 2.0.0, published March 2021.
v-onboarding: Vue 3 onboarding component, MIT, actively released (2.12.4, May 2026).
vue3-tour: A Vue 3 port of vue-tour; latest release 1.0.3, October 2024.

Angular product tour libraries

ngx-joyride: Latest release 2.5.0, published January 2022.
ngx-ui-tour: Actively released (17.0.0, June 2026), with separate packages per UI kit such as Angular Material; depends on @angular/router.

React product tour libraries

Reactour: @reactour/tour 3.8.0 (May 2025), MIT, React 16 to 19.
intro.js-react: Community wrapper around Intro.js (1.0.0, May 2023); Intro.js licensing still applies.

Versions and dates from npm, checked in September 2026. GlowTour.js covers these frameworks with one engine, so a tour behaves the same in each: see the Vue, Angular and React pages.

Sources

GlowTour.js: Compatibility Builder API Accessibility guide SSR guide GitHub
Intro.js: Website GitHub License
Driver.js: Theming docs GitHub Open accessibility issue #434
Shepherd.js: Website GitHub
React Joyride: GitHub

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