Onboarding, screen by screen
What a new user sees from first click to first feed. Six products, each signed up for with a fresh email address and a made-up persona.
Quora
Fast signup, one topic picker, straight to a feed.
Short form, then a run of single-question screens.
Longest flow. Two steps are skippable.
Goodreads
A four-step wizard with a visible progress bar.
Spotify
Three steps and straight into the player.
Substack
No password at all: a magic link, then you are in.
Side by side
| Product | Screens | Email check | Phone | CAPTCHA | Interests asked | Skippable |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quora | 4 | Email code | No | Auto (Cloudflare) | Pick 3+ topics | No |
| 7 | Email code | No | None seen | Pick 3+ ideas | No | |
| 9 | Email code | Offered, not required | None seen | Categories, then topics | Birthday, gender | |
| Goodreads | 6 | Email code | No | None seen | Genres, then rate 20 books | Friends, goal, rating |
| Spotify | 3 | None | No | Invisible (reCAPTCHA) | None on web | No |
| Substack | 3 | Magic link | No | None seen | None up front | Bio |
Patterns
- Shortest: Spotify and Substack, 3 screens each. Substack has no password at all, only a magic link. Quora is next at 4.
- Longest: Reddit, 9 screens, two of them skippable. Goodreads is the only one that names every step up front.
- Interest pickers: Quora, Pinterest, Reddit and Goodreads all ask. Quora and Pinterest require at least three. Spotify and Substack skip it and suggest things instead.
- Phone number: none of the six required one.
- Email check: every product except Spotify sends a code or link.
Captured 7 October 2026 on the web versions, using a new email address and a made-up persona. Mobile apps can differ. Screen counts leave out the landing page, the first feed and anything after it.