Elva vs StepShot: Features, Pricing & Which Is Better (2026)

A side-by-side comparison of Elva and StepShot — features, pricing, and ideal use cases — to help you decide which AI tool fits your workflow.

Elva

Theneo

Freemium

Reads your repositories to discover every API, scores and governs them, then exposes them to developers and AI agents via hosted MCP servers.

Spec-Free API Discovery: Elva scans repository code directly to find endpoints and generates OpenAPI 3.1 as output, so no existing spec is needed to start.
Endpoint Scoring: Every collection is graded on design, developer experience, AI readiness, security and performance, with the weakest collection surfaced first.
AI Fix Pass: A one-click agent writes missing descriptions from code, types response schemas and documents auth, then rescores the collection.
API Contracts: Per-audience contracts pin the exact endpoints and fields a partner, internal team, public developer or MCP client receives, excluding PII and internal fields.
Breaking Change Enforcement: Each commit is diffed against published contracts, showing the schema diff, affected consumers and tools, and blocking publish by policy.
Hosted MCP Servers: Contracts generate MCP servers hosted behind Elva's gateway with OAuth2, scoped keys, per-tool authorization and exportable call logs.
MCP Playground and Agent Feedback: Test the server with a live model, then read the complaints agents file about confusing or failing tools, scored back into the catalog.
Multi-Target Publishing: One approved contract ships as OpenAPI spec, Theneo docs, MCP server, Postman collection and a typed TypeScript SDK in sync.

API Inventory Audit: Discover undocumented or forgotten endpoints across a large codebase and get a ranked list of what to fix first.
Agent Enablement: Expose an internal service to Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT as a governed MCP server instead of hand-writing tool wrappers.
Partner Integration Safety: Publish a restricted contract to an external partner and have Elva block commits that would break their integration.
PII Scoping: Keep customer emails and internal ops annotations out of a public or agent-facing surface while the same endpoints serve them internally.
Zombie Endpoint Retirement: Prove no active consumer references an endpoint before deleting it, using contract and call-log evidence.
Enterprise Security Review: Satisfy SOC 2, ISO 27001 and GDPR questions and wire agent access into an existing SSO and SCIM identity provider.
Documentation Drift Control: Keep docs, SDKs and Postman collections regenerated from code on every merge instead of maintained by hand.

Freemium

Mac app that records real workflows and uses AI to turn them into polished step-by-step guides, SOPs and training docs.

Automatic Step Capture: Watches each click and text input, capturing screenshots with element labels, roles and coordinates.
AI Cleanup and Narration: Uses AI to write meaningful step titles and descriptions from real system semantics, not the raw click log.
Two Capture Modes: Action-driven (one screenshot per click) or continuous H.264 recording with intelligent frame sampling for dynamic UIs.
Precision Editing: Merge, split, skip, and reorder steps; add arrows, highlights, blurs, numbering and callouts in a visual editor.
Multi-Format Export: One-click export to PDF (cover, footer, Letter/A4, tight or one-step-per-page), Markdown, or self-contained HTML.
Privacy by Default: Runs entirely on-device with no account required; export files contain no recoverable original pixels.
Enterprise-Ready Docs: Custom logo, theme color, page footer/watermark and secret-string redaction for compliant internal SOPs.

Employee Onboarding: Turn a manager's real task walk-through into a numbered SOP new hires can follow without shoulder-surfing.
Customer Support Answers: Produce annotated step-by-step replies with screenshots for tickets and help center articles.
System Migration Guides: Document a data or system migration path with proof-of-work screenshots for auditors.
Software Handoff Docs: Package internal software handoffs — approval flows, financial reconciliation, device provisioning — as sharable guides.
Course & Lesson Prep: Capture app walkthroughs for online courses or training material without a separate video editor.
Remote Assistance: Record a step sequence once and send a formatted PDF or HTML instead of scheduling a screen-share.