You could build this. Here is when you should.
Plenty of teams never buy a demo tool. They wire up a tour library, keep a seeded demo account, or have an AI tool vibe-code a clickable prototype. All three are legitimate, and for some jobs they beat us. Here is the honest split.
What “build it yourself” usually means
Each of these solves a slightly different problem from a captured demo. Being clear about which one you mean is most of the decision.
A tour library on your live app
intro.js, Shepherd and similar libraries draw tooltips and highlights over your real product. They are code in your codebase: an engineer writes each step against a selector, and a viewer only sees the tour once they are inside your app.
A seeded sandbox or demo tenant
A real account in your real product, filled with believable fake data, that sales or prospects log into. It is the product itself, so it can do everything the product does, including the things you did not plan for.
A prototype vibe-coded with AI
Ask an AI coding tool for a clickable mock of your product and host it somewhere. Fast to get a first version, and it can show screens that do not exist yet.
The matrix
The right-hand column covers all three self-built options. Where the answer differs between them, the note says which one we mean.
| Feature | Peutly | Build it yourself |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering time to build A Peutly demo is recorded with a Chrome extension by whoever knows the flow. Tour libraries need code per step, a demo tenant needs seeding scripts and an environment, a prototype needs someone to prompt, review and host it. | None | Some to a lot |
| Looks exactly like the shipped product Peutly captures the real HTML and styles of the page. A tour library and a demo tenant are the real product too. An AI prototype is a reimplementation, so it drifts from the real UI from day one. | Depends | |
| Works on your website, before signup Peutly demos embed with a script snippet or open from a share link. A tour library only runs inside your app; a demo tenant needs a login. | Depends | |
| Viewer can do anything the product does A Peutly demo follows the path you recorded: every click you made becomes a step. A demo tenant is the real product, so a prospect can wander off the path. That is its biggest strength and its biggest support cost. | Sandbox only | |
| Keeping it current after a UI release In Peutly, text changes are an edit inside the captured UI, and a changed screen is re-recorded and inserted into the existing demo. Self-built options are maintained like any other code or data in your stack. | Edit, or re-record a part | Your backlog |
| Per-step analytics and lead capture Peutly records step viewed, CTA clicked and demo completed per session, and can put a lead form on any step. Self-built options get whatever tracking you wire in. | Pro+ | You build it |
| Show a feature that does not exist yet Peutly records what is on the page. You can rewrite text and swap images after capture, but you cannot record a screen nobody has built. A prototype can show anything. | ||
| Native, desktop or mobile apps Peutly records web pages in Chrome. Nothing else. | Depends | |
| Ongoing cost Peutly Starter is a flat price per workspace with unlimited users. Self-built options have no licence fee, but the time to build and maintain them is real and usually unbudgeted. | From $175/mo | Engineering time |
Where Peutly wins
Nobody files an engineering ticket
Whoever owns the demo, a marketer, an SE or a support writer, records it in Chrome and edits it in the browser. Engineering does not write tour steps, seed data or host a prototype.
It is the real UI, not a lookalike
Peutly stores the actual HTML and styles of the page, so the demo is pixel-for-pixel the product you shipped. An AI-built prototype is a copy, and copies drift.
It works where your product cannot
Embed it on the homepage, the pricing page, a help article or a sales email. A tour library needs the viewer inside your app; a demo tenant needs a login and an environment that is up.
Updating it is an edit, not a sprint
Rename a button with a text edit, or run find and replace across every step. When a screen changes, record that part again and insert the new steps. No seed scripts, no selectors to fix.
Measurement and leads come with it
On Pro, per-step drop-off, CTA clicks and completions are recorded for every session, and a lead form can sit on any step. Building the same into a sandbox or prototype is its own project.
When building it yourself is the right call
You need in-app guidance for signed-in users
Tooltips that sit on top of the live product, react to the user's real data and fire on their first login are what tour libraries are for. Peutly demos are a recording, not an overlay on your running app.
Buyers need to explore freely
If a technical evaluation means the prospect tries their own use case, a seeded sandbox is the honest answer. A recorded demo follows the path you took and nothing else.
The feature is not built yet
For a fundraising deck, user research or a pre-launch waitlist, a prototype is the only thing that can show a screen that does not exist. Peutly can only capture what is on the page.
You have the engineering time and want no vendor
Self-built options have no licence fee and no third party in the loop. If you have engineers with spare capacity and the demo rarely changes, that can be the cheaper route.
Your product is not a web app
Peutly records web pages in Chrome. Desktop software, native mobile apps and anything outside the browser are out of scope.
Build it when the viewer is already inside your product, or the product does not exist yet. Capture it when the viewer is not.
Tour libraries guide signed-in users, sandboxes serve hands-on evaluations, prototypes show what is not built. For showing the product you already ship to people who are not in it yet, on a website, in a sales email or in a help article, a capture is less work to make and less work to keep current.
Peutly or build it, the short answers
Yes, and many teams should. A tour library guides signed-in users through your live app. A Peutly demo shows the product to people who are not inside it yet: website visitors, prospects, readers of a help article. They solve different problems.
No. A Peutly demo is a recording of the real HTML of your product. Viewers click through the path you recorded, step by step. They cannot type their own data or wander into screens you did not record.
You can, and for screens that do not exist yet it is a good idea. For the product you already ship, a capture is the real UI rather than a reimplementation of it, it keeps up through edits instead of re-prompting, and it comes with analytics and lead capture you would otherwise build yourself.
Peutly Starter is $175 a month for the whole workspace, with unlimited users. Building it yourself has no licence fee; the cost is the engineering time to build it, host it and keep it current after every release.
Record the flow before you scope the build.
Capture the flow you were about to build a demo of, then decide. The trial runs 14 days.