Arcade and Navattic both claim the interactive demo category, but they solve fundamentally different problems. Arcade makes product storytelling look good fast. Navattic makes product experiences behave correctly at the cost of speed and price. The choice between them is not about which is better, it is about whether your priority is style or substance.
This is the decision facing most mid-market B2B teams in 2026. Marketing wants polished walkthroughs on the website by Friday. Product wants prospects to actually interact with the UI so sales conversations start at the right depth. Arcade makes the marketing team happy. Navattic makes the product team happy. Neither fully satisfies both.
This article breaks both platforms down across five dimensions that matter for a 5-person team building demo content at scale: capture and editing, output formats, pricing, AI features, and analytics. At the end, we cover a third option that bridges the gap.
TL;DR
Pick Arcade if you need beautiful product demos on your site this week, your team values speed over interactive fidelity, and you want GIF/MP4 export for social and outbound. Budget: $32/user/month (Pro) or $297.50/month for 5 seats with HTML capture (Growth).
Pick Navattic if your demos must behave like the real product (form fills, dropdowns, live navigation), you are marketing to enterprise buyers who expect fidelity, and your team can commit annually. Budget: approximately $500/month (Base) or $1,000/month (Growth with sandbox).
Pick Saltfish if you want both: polished video content and interactive HTML demos from one capture, plus sandbox environments, video bubbles, and visual assets without switching tools. Budget: €79/month (Starter) or €399/month for 5 seats (Growth).
Head-to-head comparison
| Dimension | Arcade | Navattic |
|---|---|---|
| Capture method | Chrome ext, desktop app, Figma plugin | Chrome extension (HTML only) |
| Demo format | Screenshot (Pro), HTML (Growth+) | HTML only |
| Output formats | Demo, GIF, MP4, widget | HTML demo, sandbox (Growth) |
| AI features | AI voiceover (Avery), translations, data redaction | AI Copilot for demo creation |
| Pricing (5 seats) | $160/mo (Pro) or $297.50/mo (Growth) | ~$500/mo (Base) or ~$1,000/mo (Growth) |
| Free tier | Yes (3 demos) | Yes (1 demo) |
| Contract | Monthly available on Pro | Quarterly/annual commitment |
| Best for | Marketing storytelling, social content | Enterprise marketing, HTML fidelity |
Capture and editing
Arcade offers three capture paths: a Chrome extension for in-browser recording, a desktop app for anything outside the browser, and a Figma plugin for design-to-demo workflows. On Pro, capture produces screenshots that Arcade stitches into a guided narrative. On Growth, the Chrome extension also records the DOM for interactive HTML playback. Editing is drag-and-drop: reorder steps, add annotations, adjust timing. The whole flow is optimized for speed.
Navattic takes a single approach: HTML capture via Chrome extension. Every demo is a full DOM snapshot that preserves interactivity, hover states, and navigation. There is no screenshot mode and no desktop app. The trade-off is clear: fewer capture options, but what you get is more faithful to the actual product experience. Editing happens in a visual builder where you define which elements are interactive and which are locked.
Winner: Arcade for speed and flexibility. Three capture methods and a screenshot path mean faster production for teams that publish frequently. Navattic wins on fidelity if your demos must behave exactly like the real product.
Output formats
Arcade produces four formats from a single capture: interactive demo, GIF, MP4, and embeddable widget. This makes Arcade useful beyond the website. The GIF and MP4 exports work for LinkedIn posts, sales emails, help docs, and onboarding sequences. The widget embeds inline anywhere you can drop a script tag.
Navattic produces HTML demos on all plans and adds sandbox environments on Growth. A sandbox lets prospects navigate freely rather than follow a prescribed path. There is no video export, no GIF, and no visual asset generation. If you need a product walkthrough in your email sequence, you are adding a second tool.
Winner: Arcade for format breadth. Four outputs versus two. Navattic wins if your only goal is deep HTML interactivity and sandbox exploration, but teams that repurpose content across channels will find Arcade more versatile.
Pricing showdown
Arcade offers a free tier with 3 demos, Pro at $32/user/month (screenshot demos only), and Growth at $297.50/month for 5 seats (adds HTML capture, custom branding, and advanced analytics). Pro is monthly, Growth requires an annual commitment.
Navattic offers a free tier with 1 demo. Paid pricing is no longer publicly listed, but Base is reportedly around $500/month for 5 seats and Growth is approximately $1,000/month. Both require quarterly or annual commitments. There is no monthly option.
The math for a 5-person team: Arcade Growth costs $297.50/month for HTML demos. Navattic Base costs roughly $500/month for the same. To get sandbox on Navattic, you are looking at $1,000/month. That is 3.4x Arcade Growth for the added sandbox capability.
Winner: Arcade on value. At every tier, Arcade is more affordable and more transparent with pricing. Navattic justifies the premium if HTML fidelity and sandbox access are non-negotiable for your buyers.
AI features
Arcade ships AI voiceover with a synthetic narrator (Avery), AI-powered translations for multi-language demos, and automated data redaction that masks sensitive information in captures. The voiceover is ready to use without uploading audio or scripting manually. Translations let one demo serve multiple markets.
Navattic offers an AI Copilot that assists with demo creation: it suggests flows, writes tooltip copy, and helps structure multi-step narratives. It is useful during the build phase but does not produce audio, translate content, or automate post-production tasks.
Winner: Arcade.AI that reduces production time after capture (voiceover, translations, redaction) has more impact than AI that helps during setup. Navattic’s Copilot is useful but does not change the output.
Analytics and integrations
Arcade provides view counts, completion rates, and step-level engagement metrics. Growth adds CRM integrations and the ability to identify viewers. The analytics are aggregate-first: you see how a demo performs overall, then drill into segments.
Navattic offers deeper engagement analytics: time per step, interaction heatmaps, and CRM syncs (HubSpot, Salesforce) that push demo engagement into deal records. The analytics are account-level by default, which makes Navattic more natural for enterprise sales motions where you need to know which prospect engaged with which feature.
Winner: Navattic.Account-level analytics with CRM attribution give Navattic a clear edge for teams that need demo engagement tied to pipeline. Arcade’s analytics are sufficient for marketing reporting but less useful for sales follow-up.
Verdict
Arcade is the right choice for marketing teams that need to publish frequently, repurpose content across channels, and stay under budget. It wins on speed, format breadth, AI production features, and price. If your demos are primarily top-of-funnel content that shows what the product does, Arcade delivers.
Navattic is the right choice for enterprise marketing and product teams that need prospects to experience the product, not just watch it. It wins on HTML fidelity, sandbox depth, and account-level analytics. If your buyers expect to interact with forms, navigate pages, and trigger real UI states, Navattic justifies the premium.
The score across our five dimensions: Arcade wins capture, output formats, pricing, and AI features. Navattic wins analytics. It is 4-1 on paper, but that undersells Navattic: if HTML fidelity is a requirement (not a nice-to-have), none of Arcade’s advantages compensate for it.
Third option: Saltfish
The reason most teams struggle with this decision is that they need both: polished visual content for marketing and interactive depth for product-led motions. Saltfish eliminates the trade-off by producing five formats from one capture: interactive demo, sandbox, product video, video bubble, and visuals.
- Interactive demos with HTML fidelity comparable to Navattic, built from the same capture that produces your video content
- Sandbox environments on all paid tiers (not locked to a $1,000/month plan) so prospects can explore freely
- Product videos with AI voiceover in 99 languages, replacing the GIF/MP4 workflow Arcade handles today
- Video bubbles for in-product onboarding, a format neither Arcade nor Navattic offers
- Visuals for social, docs, and sales collateral generated automatically from the same recording
Pricing starts at Free, then €79/month (Starter) and €399/month for 5 seats (Growth). That is less than Navattic Base and roughly matches Arcade Growth, while covering both use cases.
For marketing teams that need channel-ready content and sales teams that need interactive leave-behinds, product teams building onboarding flows, and customer success teams reducing support tickets, Saltfish is one tool instead of two.
FAQ
Is Arcade or Navattic better for PLG companies?
Arcade is better suited for PLG companies that prioritize speed and visual polish. Its Chrome extension and desktop app let marketing teams produce demos in minutes without engineering support. Navattic is stronger when the PLG motion depends on prospects actually interacting with the product via HTML fidelity, but the setup time and price point are harder to justify for fast-moving product-led teams.
Which is more affordable, Arcade or Navattic?
Arcade is significantly more affordable at every tier. Pro starts at $32/user/month and Growth (with HTML capture) is $297.50/month for five seats. Navattic Base is reportedly around $500/month for five seats, with Growth at approximately $1,000/month. Navattic also requires annual commitments while Arcade Pro is available monthly.
Can Arcade produce HTML demos?
Yes, but only on the Growth plan at $297.50/month for five seats. Pro users ($32/user/month) are limited to screenshot-based demos. The HTML capture uses a Chrome extension and records the DOM for interactive playback, though it is less deeply interactive than Navattic’s HTML-native approach.
Does Navattic export to video or GIF?
No. Navattic produces HTML demos and sandbox environments (sandbox is Growth-only at approximately $1,000/month). There is no native video, GIF, or MP4 export. Teams that need video output from the same capture typically add a second tool or evaluate Saltfish, which produces product videos and video bubbles alongside interactive demos from one recording.
Is there one tool that covers both use cases?
Yes. Saltfish produces five formats from one capture: interactive demo, sandbox, product video, video bubble, and visuals. It covers the visual storytelling that Arcade excels at and the interactive depth that Navattic provides, starting at €79/month. This eliminates the need to choose between style and substance or pay for two separate platforms.