What Trails does

Trails is an AI-powered process documentation platform developed by Third Arc Inc., a privately held company founded in 2024 and headquartered in San Francisco, California. The product converts a single rough screen recording into a synchronized pair of outputs: a written step-by-step guide and a branded AI-narrated training video with automatic screenshot annotation. Edits to guide text regenerate the video automatically, eliminating the dual-asset maintenance burden common in process documentation. Underlying capabilities include generative AI for step text and video narration, computer vision for on-device sensitive-data detection and blur, and multi-modal conversion that ingests existing video recordings (e.g., Loom, Zoom) to produce structured guides. Capture surfaces include a Chrome Web Store extension and native Mac and Windows desktop applications.

Trails monetizes through a tiered SaaS subscription model: a free tier offering unlimited public guides, a Creator plan at $29/month for individual use, a Team plan at $49/month for five users (with additional users at $10/month), and a Business plan with custom pricing for unlimited users, SSO, multi-language translation, AI narration, and priority support. The go-to-market is primarily product-led growth with a freemium entry point, supplemented by an enterprise demo motion for the Business tier. The target customer base spans operations, customer support, HR and training, IT, product, and consulting teams across small-to-mid-market businesses and select larger organizations, with named users including ClassRanked, Canary Technologies, Teacher's Health, Conestoga Valley School District, Degy Entertainment, and BadgePass.

The company is bootstrapped with no disclosed external funding and operates with 1-10 employees. It has invested early in enterprise trust infrastructure, achieving SOC 2 compliance (powered by Sprinto) and pursuing HIPAA compliance. Distribution and acquisition rely on SEO-optimized competitor comparison content (vs Scribe, Tango, Guidde, Loom, Trainual, Folge), the Chrome Extension marketplace, and embeds into knowledge management and support platforms including Zendesk, Confluence, Notion, and SharePoint. Core infrastructure dependencies include Digital Ocean and AWS for cloud, OpenAI and Anthropic for AI subprocessing, and Stripe for payments.

Name

Trails

Legal name

Third Arc Inc.

Website

https://trails.so

Company type

Private

Founded year

2024

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Trails is a San Francisco-based AI process documentation platform, founded in 2024, that converts screen recordings into synchronized step-by-step guides and AI-narrated training videos. It serves operations, support, HR, IT, and consulting teams at SMBs and select enterprises via a freemium SaaS model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Process Documentation Software

NAICS

Postproduction Services and Other Motion Picture and Video Industries (51219), Professional and Management Development Training (611430)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)

akta.pro primary industry

Higher Education Digital Courseware & Modules (EDAGAEAB)

Keywords

• Process documentation software
• SOP creation platform
• AI training video generation
• Screen recording guides
• Workflow documentation

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Subscription Revenue - Creator Plan: Monthly/annual subscription at $29/month for single user access, 50 guides/month, AI video generation, and all export formats including PDF, HTML, Markdown, and MP4.
2. Subscription Revenue - Team Plan: Monthly/annual subscription at $49/month for 5 users with additional users at $10/month. Includes shared workspace, video-to-guide conversion, embeds, and branded output.
3. Subscription Revenue - Business Plan: Custom pricing for unlimited users, translations, AI narration, priority support, SSO, and bespoke integrations. Company-wide access model rather than per-seat pricing.
4. Free Plan (Lead Generation): Free tier offering unlimited public guides, screenshot annotation, share by link, unlimited public viewers, AI titles and descriptions, embed anywhere, guide editor, basic support, and on-device secure blur. Converts users to paid tiers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Trails is a process documentation SaaS platform that converts rough screen recordings into both a polished step-by-step written guide and an AI-narrated branded training video from a single capture. Editing the guide text automatically regenerates the video, keeping both formats synchronized. The platform supports video-to-guide conversion from existing Loom, Zoom, or MP4 recordings, automatic screenshot annotation, on-device smart blur for sensitive data, multi-language translation, and export to PDF, HTML, Markdown, and MP4 or embeddable in third-party knowledge bases.

Product overview

Trails is a unified process documentation platform offered as a single SaaS product with tiered pricing (Free, Creator, Team, Business plans). The platform provides screen recording capture via Chrome Extension or Desktop App that automatically generates both step-by-step written guides and AI-narrated branded training videos. Key features include video-to-guide conversion (importing existing videos to create documentation), automatic screenshot annotation, smart on-device blur for sensitive data, multi-language translation, and various export formats (PDF, HTML, Markdown, MP4). The Free tier provides unlimited public guides while paid tiers add AI video generation, team collaboration, translations, and SSO capabilities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Trails Platform Cloud-based process documentation SaaS that converts rough screen recordings into synchronized step-by-step guides and AI-narrated branded training videos. Supports video-to-guide ingestion, automatic screenshot annotation, on-device blur, multi-language translation, and export to PDF, HTML, Markdown, and MP4. Sold via Free, Creator, Team, and Business subscription tiers for operations, support, HR, IT, product, and consulting teams.
• Trails Chrome Extension Browser extension for Google Chrome that captures workflows directly in the browser and feeds screen recordings into the Trails Platform for automated guide and video generation. Distributed via the Chrome Web Store and used as a primary capture method for browser-based processes.
• Trails Desktop App Native desktop application for macOS and Windows that records on-screen workflows in any application (not just the browser) and feeds them into the Trails Platform for automated guide and video generation.

Quantifiable outcome

• Documentation time reduced from hours to minutes through automatic screenshot annotation and AI-generated descriptions
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

AI capability9 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Digital OceancoreTechnology or IntegrationDigital Ocean is listed as a cloud infrastructure provider and subprocessors. They provide the underlying cloud infrastructure for Trails' operations and data storage.
• OpenAIcoreTechnology or IntegrationOpenAI is listed as an AI subprocessor, providing AI models for step text generation, video generation, and voiceover features in the Trails platform.
• AWScoreTechnology or IntegrationAWS is listed as an IT infrastructure provider, part of the cloud infrastructure ecosystem supporting Trails' platform and services.
• AnthropiccoreTechnology or IntegrationAnthropic is listed as an AI subprocessor, providing additional AI model capabilities within the Trails platform ecosystem.
• GooglecoreTechnology or IntegrationGoogle is listed as a subprocessors providing various services including organization email and documents management, analytics, and advertising integration.
• SprintocoreTechnology or IntegrationTrails uses Sprinto, a continuous monitoring system, for security compliance management, automated reporting, and alerting. Powers the Trust Center security documentation and compliance attestations.
• Better StackcoreTechnology or IntegrationBetter Stack provides the status page infrastructure (status.trails.so) for Trails, powering uptime monitoring and incident reporting.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Scribe: Scribe is the closest direct competitor and category leader in browser-based step-by-step documentation generation from screen recordings. Trails' comparison pages explicitly position against Scribe on price, video capability, and AI features, signalling near-substitutable workflows.
• Guidde: Guidde generates AI-narrated video documentation from screen recordings, mirroring Trails' signature video+guide workflow. Trails explicitly compares against Guidde on capabilities, pricing, and AI video output — a near-parallel product targeting the same customer base.
• Folge: Folge is a step-by-step guide and documentation tool used for user onboarding and process documentation; explicitly referenced in Trails' comparison pages. Both compete for product, support, and IT use cases where interactive guides replace static docs.
• Trainual: Trainual is a playbook and SOP platform for training and onboarding small/mid-market teams. Trails is named alongside Trainual as a comparison target in the same buyer journey of process documentation and employee training.
• Tango: Tango converts clicks into step-by-step browser guides and is named alongside Scribe as a primary competitor in Trails' marketing. Overlapping target segments (operations, support, IT) and a similar PLG, per-seat SaaS model make it a direct substitute.
• Loom: Loom is a screen recording and async video platform that Trails references as both an upstream tool (videos recorded in Loom can be imported) and a competitor (users may prefer pure video). It serves overlapping customer use cases for training and process documentation.

Broad incumbents

• Document360: Document360 is an established knowledge-base and documentation platform with overlapping use cases (SOP creation, internal documentation, customer-facing help). It targets mid-market and enterprise customers and represents a broader incumbent in adjacent documentation tooling.
• Notion AI: Notion is a broad workspace and AI-powered documentation platform where HR, ops, and product teams already create SOPs and process docs. While Notion is a horizontal doc tool rather than a screen-recording capture tool, it competes for some of Trails' drafting and lightweight documentation use cases.

Emerging players

• Iorad: Iorad converts screen activity into interactive tutorials with significant overlap to Trails' core functionality. It is a smaller emerging player in the same documentation-creation niche, focused on enterprise onboarding flows.
• Walnut: Walnut creates interactive product demos and walkthroughs for sales and customer success teams. While more demo-focused than Trails, both compete for the same buyer budget for scalable customer education content.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Trails