In September 2024, L2L acquired SwipeGuide and folded it into their Connected Manufacturing Operations Platform. The SwipeGuide website now redirects to l2l.com. The standalone product no longer exists as it once did – it is now one module inside a larger, more complex (and more expensive) manufacturing platform.

If you are evaluating SwipeGuide today – or if you were a SwipeGuide user looking for an alternative – this page gives you a clear picture of where things stand and how Manual.to compares.

Quick Comparison

What Is SwipeGuide (Now Part of L2L)?

SwipeGuide was founded in Amsterdam and became known for its mobile-first approach to digital work instructions. The platform let teams create visual, step-by-step guides with a drag-and-drop editor, share them via QR codes, and track usage across the shop floor. It was used by major manufacturers including HEINEKEN, ABB, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Johnson Controls.

SwipeGuide earned strong reviews for its simplicity: a 4.4/5 rating on Capterra from 63 reviews, G2 recognition as “Easiest to Do Business With,” and a reported 50% reduction in training time for its customers. The platform supported 52+ languages with auto-translation and offered skills matrix management alongside work instructions.

In September 2024, L2L acquired SwipeGuide. L2L is a Connected Manufacturing Operations Platform based in the US, serving enterprise manufacturing with five modules: Dispatch (shop floor execution), Maintenance, Production, Connect (system integration), and Studio (no-code app creation). SwipeGuide’s work instruction capabilities are now being integrated as the “Skills” module within L2L’s broader platform.

The practical implication: if you want SwipeGuide’s work instruction functionality today, you are looking at L2L’s full platform, which starts at $150/user/month and is designed primarily for large manufacturing operations. The lightweight, standalone SwipeGuide that attracted teams like HEINEKEN is now part of a much bigger (and differently priced) product.

What Is Manual.to?

Manual.to transforms videos into step-by-step visual manuals using AI. Upload a video and the AI transcribes the audio, analyzes the visual content, structures everything into logical steps, and generates a complete multilingual visual manual – ready to publish in 60 seconds. No templates to fill, no drag-and-drop editing, no manual transcription. The AI handles the entire process.

You can try it right now: go to manual.to and generate a free AI-powered manual. No account, no credit card, no sales call. Upload a video and see your manual. If you want to explore the full platform – version control, analytics, team management, enterprise security – a 7-day free trial is available.

Manual.to supports 200+ languages with text-to-speech, so workers can hear instructions in their preferred language. It integrates with Microsoft Teams and SharePoint, and is available on Microsoft AppSource as a certified partner. Enterprise features include SSO/SAML with Microsoft EntraID, dedicated EU hosting, ISO 27001 certification, and QR code sharing for offline access.

Founded in 2016, Manual.to has been recognized by Deloitte Private as one of the fastest-growing companies in EMEA. The platform serves over 100,000 users across manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, retail, food and beverage, and field service. It works for small teams and scales to global enterprise deployments.

Manual.to is and remains an independent company, fully dedicated to one mission: making it effortless to capture, structure, and share operational knowledge.

6 Key Differences

Who Should Choose What

Understanding the SwipeGuide Acquisition

When L2L acquired SwipeGuide in September 2024, both companies framed it as a natural expansion: L2L gained frontline training capabilities, and SwipeGuide gained access to a broader manufacturing operations ecosystem. L2L’s press release described the vision as creating “an end-to-end connected workforce solution.”

For existing SwipeGuide customers at companies like HEINEKEN, ABB, and Coca-Cola, the integration means access to additional L2L capabilities around maintenance management, production optimization, and shop floor execution. For teams that valued SwipeGuide specifically for its simplicity as a standalone work instruction tool, the transition introduces a more complex platform with different pricing dynamics.

The key question for anyone evaluating SwipeGuide today is: do you need a work instruction tool, or do you need a Connected Manufacturing Operations Platform? If you need the former, SwipeGuide no longer exists in the form that earned its reputation. If you need the latter, L2L is a legitimate option – but the entry point is $150/user/month, a significant step up from what SwipeGuide’s standalone pricing once looked like.

What SwipeGuide Users Valued Most

Based on user reviews and publicly available feedback, SwipeGuide’s strengths were clear: ease of use, mobile-first design, fast onboarding, visual quality of instructions, and the ability to share guides via QR codes. Reviewers consistently highlighted that SwipeGuide was simple to learn and quick to roll out – qualities that made it attractive to frontline teams who needed results without complexity.

Manual.to shares many of these same qualities – with the addition of AI that automates the creation process entirely. Instead of building instructions step by step in a drag-and-drop editor, you upload a video and get a finished manual in 60 seconds. The manual includes structured steps, visual frames, and instant translation into 200+ languages. The simplicity that made SwipeGuide popular is preserved in Manual.to, but the speed of creation is fundamentally different.

AI Capabilities: Generation vs. Assisted Editing

This is the most significant functional difference between Manual.to and what SwipeGuide offered.

Manual.to’s AI is generative and end-to-end. You upload a video. The AI transcribes the audio, analyzes the visual content frame by frame, identifies logical steps, structures the information, generates written instructions for each step, selects representative visual frames, and produces a complete multilingual manual. The output is ready to publish. The entire process takes about 60 seconds. If you want to edit the result, you can – but the AI delivers a finished product, not a starting point.

SwipeGuide’s AI (before and during the L2L transition) was assistive. The platform offered an AI-powered instruction builder with a drag-and-drop interface. The AI helped you create instructions, but the process was fundamentally author-driven: you structured the content, added visuals, wrote or refined the text. The AI made the editing process faster, but it did not generate complete manuals from scratch.

The difference matters when you consider scale. If you need to create 10 manuals, an editor works fine. If you need to create 100 or 1,000, having AI that generates the entire manual from a single video changes the economics of content creation.

Language Support

Manual.to supports 200+ languages with text-to-speech, meaning workers can both read and hear instructions in their preferred language. This is particularly important for workforces where literacy levels vary or where workers operate in noisy environments where visual + audio delivery increases comprehension.

SwipeGuide supported 52+ languages with auto-translation and crowdsourced content creation. This was solid for many use cases, but text-to-speech was not a documented feature. The difference between 52 and 200+ languages also matters for organizations with operations in regions where less common languages are spoken.

Pricing and Accessibility

This is where the acquisition has the most visible impact.

Before the acquisition, SwipeGuide was positioned as a standalone work instruction platform with its own pricing model. The company emphasized that “the more you use SwipeGuide, the less you pay” – suggesting volume-based pricing designed for broad adoption.

After the acquisition, SwipeGuide’s work instruction capabilities are part of L2L’s platform, which starts at $150/user/month according to publicly available sources. This price includes L2L’s full suite (Dispatch, Maintenance, Production, Connect, and Skills), which is significant value if you need the full platform – but a steep entry if you primarily need work instructions.

Manual.to takes a different approach to accessibility. You can generate a free AI-generated manual on the homepage for free right now – no account, no credit card. A 7-day free trial gives you access to the full platform. Paid plans scale from small teams to enterprise deployments, with pricing based on your scope, hosting requirements, and support level. You never have to buy a full manufacturing operations suite just to get visual work instructions.

Enterprise Security and Compliance

Manual.to offers dedicated EU hosting for organizations with GDPR and data sovereignty requirements, SSO/SAML with Microsoft EntraID (formerly Azure AD), and ISO 27001 certification. These are standard enterprise governance features built into the platform.

L2L offers enterprise security and compliance through their broader platform, including a dedicated trust center. The specifics of SwipeGuide’s security features within the L2L ecosystem may be evolving as integration continues. L2L’s platform is available on browser, Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS.

Both platforms serve enterprise customers. The difference is that Manual.to offers these features within a focused work instruction product, while L2L offers them as part of a comprehensive manufacturing operations platform.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

SwipeGuide was a well-regarded standalone work instruction platform acquired by L2L in September 2024. It no longer exists as an independent product – swipeguide.com redirects to l2l.com, and SwipeGuide’s features are now part of L2L’s Connected Manufacturing Operations Platform starting at $150/user/month. Manual.to is an independent work instruction platform where AI transcribes, structures, and generates complete multilingual visual manuals from video in 60 seconds. It supports 200+ languages with text-to-speech, offers enterprise security (SSO/SAML, ISO 27001, dedicated EU hosting), and integrates with the Microsoft ecosystem (Teams, SharePoint, AppSource). Manual.to starts free: anyone can generate a free AI-generated manual on manual.to with no account required. Paid plans scale from small teams to global enterprise rollouts. For teams that valued SwipeGuide’s simplicity and focus on work instructions, Manual.to is the closest independent alternative – with the addition of AI-powered creation that SwipeGuide never offered.